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All of these gaming laptops really do suck. I feel like these days your better off having a small form factor pc or just remote into your machine from far away.




I never understood the point/market for gaming laptops. They seem popular enough for OEMs to still keep them around, but in almost every way you are much better off with a desktop if you need that much compute.

They can't be used on battery; the discrete GPU will chew through your battery in minutes. They are heavy, loud, hot.

Tried one for a while a long time ago, hated it. I never wanted to bring it anywhere it was so heavy and bulky, so I figured what's the point in having a laptop if I never want to take it with me.

Got a powerful desktop for gaming now, and my portal device is either my iPad or a Macbook air, and I can just remote into my desktop anytime I need.


When I was younger these type of machines were great for me. I usually used them at home but sometimes in my bedroom (aka office) and sometimes in the living room (group games, playing music, just watching TV with the roommates). I would also occasionally take them to school or other people's house (projects, LAN parties).

So it was used primarily like a desktop, and as my only system having power was useful. But the fact that I could put it in my backpack and transport it was super valuable.

Now I do have a more portable laptop and a full desktop setup. But at the time that wasn't the best option.


It’s for know-nothing assholes to buy, so they can either say “it’s fine, it’s a gaming PC”,

or not review/understand their required specs,

or both!


Very good take.

I actually ended up buying a travel router and 60% of my gaming was done by remoting into my ROG Ally from my work laptop (they didn't block Steam). The remaining 40% of gaming was done plugged into a TV + controller.

For normal browsing I would use RDP - though it would be amazing if Apple supported some kind of displayport in on the MacBook so it could be used as a screen for an external device.

I've been considering selling my Ally and buying a mini PC with a half decent APU as I seldom use it as a handheld.


I'm still using my M1 air for personal use... though I opted for 16gb and 1tb storage, I will wireguard+ssh to my desktop as needed... remote editing in VS Code is nice AF.



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