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Key Takeaways
- Gaming laptops are typically heavy, bulky, and run loud and hot. Handheld gaming devices offer a more convenient and comfortable gaming experience.
- Any laptop can be turned into a gaming laptop using cloud gaming services, eliminating the need for high-end specs.
- Gaming laptops are expensive, while handheld gaming devices and cloud gaming offer more cost-effective options. However, traditional gaming laptops still offer better performance and customization.
There are a lot of great gaming laptops out there for all kinds of budgets. You can pick up an excellent laptop with high-end specs, like Intel’s best 14th-generation Core i9 CPU and even Nvidia RTX 40-series laptop GPUs, or you can opt for a cheap gaming laptop with a Core i5 CPU and older 30-series GPUs if you’re looking for something more friendly to your wallet,
But with the rise of gaming handhelds and other kinds of products, I had a serious thought. Is buying a gaming laptop even worth it anymore? Do you even need one, or is it better to have a more convenient device that can let you play games through the cloud? It might be worth thinking twice about why you’d need a gaming laptop.
1 PC handhelds like the Steam Deck are more convenient
Easy to hold, better to game on
Gaming laptops have always had one benefit over traditional gaming consoles like the Xbox Series X or even a dedicated gaming desktop with high-end cooling: You can take them anywhere and enjoy your games while away from a big screen. The issue with that is that gaming laptops are typically heavy, bulky, and run extremely loud and hot, especially if you want to use them away from a power source and on battery.
Take something like the Alienware m16, for example, which is nearly 7.28 pounds. Even the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 16 is 5.29 pounds, and a low-cost 15-inch laptop like the Lenovo LOQ 15 is 5.3 pounds/
The issue with that is that gaming laptops are typically heavy, bulky, and run extremely loud and hot.
Considering new gaming handhelds, like the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go, can all run PC games just fine and are considerably smaller and lighter, a heavy laptop doesn’t seem worth the trouble. Of course, you can’t run these games at full 4K resolution and the highest possible settings. However, just having a smaller screen that you can hold in your hands or slide into a bag is much more convenient. You can even use these devices as tablets, for web browsing, or plug them into the big screen for work tasks. So you get the same computing experience as a gaming laptop.
Since I got my hands on a Lenovo Legion Go, I find myself playing Forza Motorsport on it more than on my laptop. It just feels so much more comfortable. I don’t mind the lack of a high resolution or playing on lower settings, and I love sitting on my couch with a lightweight console rather than a hot and heavy laptop. I even purchased a stand for my Legion Go that lets me connect it to my monitor as a mini PC tower, and I use it daily for work.
2 You can turn any laptop into a gaming laptop with cloud gaming
We’re already online anyway, right?
You might find some excellent specs on gaming laptops, but you might not even need those specs anymore. Any laptop can be turned into a gaming laptop if you have the internet speeds to use cloud gaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Just buy the game through Steam, subscribe to GeForce Now, and as long as it’s in the service’s library, you can play it normally, as long as you have a steady internet connection. There are even alternate services like Boosteroid, which can rent you a full-on cloud gaming rig you can access through the web.
You can even play on your phone now, too. There are plenty of gaming phones on the market with high-end processing and cooling, and devices, like Razer Edge 5G, can help you connect to cloud gaming when on the go. Even Chromebooks are into gaming now. There’s a new line of dedicated Chromebooks with the same aesthetics as gaming laptops to help you enjoy gaming on a smaller budget. I reviewed Nvidia GeForce Now and the Acer Chromebook 516 GE, and let me tell you, the experience was a delight. When it comes down to it, there are a lot of ways to play in 2023 beyond just gaming laptops. You just might need a separate controller.
3 Gaming laptops are expensive
You save through the cloud or with a handheld
Now that I talked about cloud gaming and PC handhelds, It is time to address the elephant in the room: pricing. A good gaming laptop can cost you well over $1,000, while a top pick, like the Legion 9i (2023), can cost almost $4,000. That’s a lot of money to spend, on top of buying PC games on Steam or another platform.
As alternatives, a Steam Deck will only set you back $400, and a newer OLED model $549. An Asus ROG Ally, meanwhile, is about $700, and a Lenovo Legion Go is $749. As I mentioned, these handhelds aren’t the most powerful compared to gaming laptops, but they still give you a basic gaming experience just fine. And, if you want something better, you can always stream your games from the cloud on these devices and play a higher quality that way. Of course, you’ll have to subscribe, but it’s still a good way to save.
There are some faults
I won’t lie. I love gaming laptops and review tons of them for a living. As cost-effective, convenient, and the variety you can get when not gaming on a laptop, there are still some benefits to a traditional gaming laptop. You get much better performance and more customization, and you don’t have to deal with poor user interfaces that handheld gaming or cloud gaming might bring. Though I still find myself gaming more on my Legion Go, it’s hard to go back.
** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
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