Gaming notebooks: purchase advice with a market overview

Gaming notebooks

Gaming notebook instead of gaming PC?

Today's special is about gaming notebooks as a PC alternative, including a market overview with 56 models or model series up to 2000 euros. As far as gaming graphics cards for PCs are concerned, things are currently looking extremely bad, which we discussed again last week. Many graphics card series such as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super or AMD RX 5700 are completely sold out, of other series there are only one, a maximum of two to three models available, but then for surcharges of usually 70 percent and more compared to the price level of October 2020 or the newer graphics cards released since September 2020 compared to their release price.

Table of contents

Page 1 Gaming notebooks: PC replacement; Disadvantages of Notebooks 1.1 Disadvantages of Notebooks Page 2 Gaming Notebooks: Advantages; Graphics card performance 2.1 Graphics card performance of notebooks Page 3 Gaming notebooks: Tips for buying; Market overview 3.1 Tips for making a purchase 3.1.1 Market overview up to 2000 euros: 56 models or model series Page 4 Image gallery for "Gaming notebooks: purchase advice with market overview" Anyone who already has a gaming PC and is simply no longer completely satisfied with the performance should can just sit out this misery. But if you don't have a PC yet or have such a weak system that a new PC is due, you have to pay such high prices for a new PC that a gaming notebook is currently a real alternative - this was not the case before autumn 2020.

Asus ROG Strix G17 Source: Asus Actually for years we have always tried to emphasize the not particularly good price-performance ratio of notebooks in our specials on notebooks when it comes to gaming. We mentioned many disadvantages of notebooks and explained that a desktop PC is the better choice, especially if you are not only looking for entry-level gaming power. Even if the argument in favor of a laptop is that you need a mobile device for work or for training, buying a game PC and office laptop separately is better off in the end - or: you got off better.

In the meantime, gaming notebooks can be a very good choice because of the horrendous desktop graphics card prices, also with a view to the price-performance ratio, at least if you wanted to buy a completely new PC anyway, maybe even plus Monitor. In the entry-level segment with graphics cards such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 and GTX 1660, this is true anyway, but a laptop can currently also be a solid choice above that. An Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 for a normal PC currently costs at least 500 euros, if one is available at all. If we put together a PC with a Core i5-10400, 16GB RAM and an SSD with 1000GB storage space, then we come to around 1000 euros for such a PC. From 900 euros there are currently offers with notebooks that rely on a mobile RTX 2060 or GTX 1660 Ti, which in the end is hardly weaker than our example PC. Windows is often included with notebooks and there is no need to buy a monitor. In this respect, the price of such notebooks is absolutely okay. However, the disadvantages of laptops remain - we will now deal with them.

Disadvantages of notebooks

A notebook always has a very compact design compared to a desktop PC. Therefore, there is hardly any space for cooling that is good enough, but also cools quietly. Gaming notebooks are therefore quite loud during load - although you can get used to the type of noise on many models, and if you play with a headset, you won't hear much of it anyway. But with a PC, the cooling could very easily be implemented much quieter, and the PC does not have to be directly in front of the user - a notebook is usually right in front of you, maybe even on your lap.

Acer Predator 300 Helios PH315 series Source: Acer So that the components can be cooled well and even fit into the case of a notebook, there is again an expense that makes a gaming notebook more expensive. Currently, due to the misery of graphics cards, this effort does not play as big a role in the end as it used to be in terms of price, but as a rule, especially with the more powerful graphics cards, you have to expect that a notebook is around 50 percent more expensive than a comparable PC. A second disadvantage with notebooks is that they practically cannot be upgraded in terms of performance. A faster SSD or more RAM: this is usually feasible. But changing the CPU or even the graphics card can be done away with. As a rule, the graphics card is the weakest point first, but the CPU is still strong enough for the latest games - with a PC, the graphics card can be upgraded (at least if prices are normalized) for 250 to 350 euros, and you have up to two to three three years his rest. In the case of a notebook that is no longer sufficient for your own requirements, all you have to do is sell the device and buy a new notebook. Of course, notebooks also have advantages - we will describe these next.

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