Laptop gaming. Where do you see it 5 years time?

We all know that desktop PCs are the most powerful gaming systems, but the second most powerful systems are laptops. Before you think to yourself "Laptops are not good for games", keep in mind that the Dell XPS M1730 laptop can completely max BioShock at 1920x1200 resolution and run at an average of 74 frames per second (Proof: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3242&p=7 )

The biggest problem with gaming laptops is the high price. I think that the reason why they are priced high is because there is not enough competition within the gaming laptop industry to warrant any large price drops. This should change within a few years, seeing that laptops are increasingly replacing desktops. When consumer demand for gaming laptops grows, you will see price cuts galore, as companies compete with eachother more heavily.

So, do you think many hermits will be laptop gamers in a few years time? Do you think laptop gaming is a great alternative to console gaming? Would you take advantage of a laptops portability to even replace a Nintendo DS and a PSP? What are your thought on this? :)

The problem is thanks to brands like Vaio, Macbook, HP and XPS, people concieve gaming laptops (and powerful laptops in general) to be too expensive. My own laptop cost me only £425 and it can run games like Half Life 2and Prey at the highest specs at a good frame rate. The main issue is screen size with many laptops having rediculous resolutions, gaming laptops being the biggest offenders with their 17 inch screens also their size and weight means they aren't portable, negating the point of having a laptop.

For me I hope to see more laptops that don't come with intergrated graphics cards, stick to smaller screens to allow for ese of portability and the running of games. However while the current market still seems to think "big laptop=uber power," I am afraid we may not see any push towards this any time soon.

I have had very little issue with my laptop and think its a great alternative to desktops. While many people complain of WiFi and touchpads not being suitable for gaming I say pish to this, I find the touchpad to be absolutly delicious for FPS games and WiFi more than adequite for online game (my ping rate is always lower than everybody else I play, and they are using deskptops and fiber optic connections, suckers....)

Asus C90

Completely upgradeable laptop.

Guess that is where the future is going i suppose.

Gaming laptop cons

- Generally HUGE peices that are heavy
- Like zero battery life when gaming
- Never really contending with high end Desktops
- Price is higher
- Plus yhe usual cons laptops have

Pros

- Easier to take to your friends??? still heavy as though, wouldnt want to cart it round for uni
- Umm.... Yeah. The only good thing about a laptop is its more portable then a Desktop.

Gaming laptop cons

- Generally HUGE peices that are heavy
- Like zero battery life when gaming
- Never really contending with high end Desktops
- Price is higher
- Plus yhe usual cons laptops have

Pros

- Easier to take to your friends??? still heavy as though, wouldnt want to cart it round for uni
- Umm.... Yeah. The only good thing about a laptop is its more portable then a Desktop.

metalisticpain

Probkem is i have to consider one for uni, one that is capable of running NWN2 and the UE3 engine well, wheras i'd much rather just upgrade ye desktop.

Almost twice as much as my whole PC with monitor, and grossly inferiour hardware, for portability. grah.

Asus C90

Completely upgradeable laptop.

Guess that is where the future is going i suppose.

skrat_01

I'm a hermit/cow, and I play most of my PC games on my notebook PC, a light 15.4" laptop which can run Assassin's Creed (PC) on medium-high settings, 2X AA, and 1024x640 resolution (no shadows though) (looks good considering native resolution is only 1280x800), a perfect system for a gamer-on-the-go like me who studies abroad and moves about between classes and the apartment.

I only paid 1500$ two years ago for it. It's a humble 2.0GHz Dual Core 4GB 667MHz 120GB 5400RPM GeForce Go 7600 (OC'd) laptop, so consolites who say gaming is expensive clearly have no clue, considering this system can feasibly play PS3/360 ports with most of the settings at a slightly lower level of resolution and graphics, but with good framerates.

Flash games, yeah, games like crysis, AC, Bioshock etc... not so much. A laptop is seen as a portable device and cant imagine seeing someone playing these games on the bus stop, train, cafeteria etc... Another issue is the battery life that such a powerful machine would require. I couldn't Imagine a laptop running these games for more than 1 hour w/a full battery. My laptop only gives me like 2 1/2 hours on a full charge ad that's only for typing and some websurfing. It's an excelllent idea but a futile one imo.El-Visitante

you really don't have a decent gaming laptop. my xps 1530 can run crysis pretty good on med and for 2 hours on battery. It sound like you have a old laptop as my xps 1530 can easily run for 4 hours web brosing on battrey if not 5-6. batteries are getting pretty good now. many people use laptops on ferry trips in cafes sometimes at the bustop. the 8600m gt and core 2 duo don't need very much power and completly destroy all consoles. face it a 8600m gt and core 2 duo hasthe power to run crysis on med and every other game maxed or high. all that needs to be down to make laptop gaming more viable is making 7200rpm drives standard or at least cheaply avaliable and make the gpus slot into a socket just like the cpu. (yes laptop cpus are fully upgradble) as is ram and hdd.

Gaming laptop cons

- Generally HUGE peices that are heavy
- Like zero battery life when gaming
- Never really contending with high end Desktops
- Price is higher
- Plus yhe usual cons laptops have

Pros

- Easier to take to your friends??? still heavy as though, wouldnt want to cart it round for uni
- Umm.... Yeah. The only good thing about a laptop is its more portable then a Desktop.

metalisticpain

that's only the 17" models. my 15" xps 1530 runs every game better than ps3/x360 can game for 2 hours on battery and is highly portable, more power than consoles and under 1/4 the size with a monitor. laptops are not that far behind desktops any more, just gpus aren't upgradable most of the time. Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9500 (2.6GHz/800 FSB/ 6MB Cache) is hardly slower than desktop cpus, its just nvidia has some catchup to do til you get high performance gpus in thin and light laptops. why buy a slower bigger more power hungry console over a 15" gaming laptop if money is no object? price is the only argument against gaming laptops

The problem with gaming on a laptop and gaming on a PC is the price and some other things. If you take a laptop and a PC that are on equal power then you can be assured that the price is far from equal. A laptop with similar hardware to a PC can almost be 50% more expensive. So I wouldn't say that laptop gaming is a good idea if you cherish your money.

And on the other hand, most people use PC desks. Monitor on the table and keyboard/mouse under the table. It just doesn't feel very comfortable playing FPS games on a laptop because I'm always watching down and my neck gets sore.

i dont see the use of Gaming on laptops... i mean honestly dont consider it as an alternative to handhelds... even reducing their size and making them lighter, most probably the high costs would not attract much of an audience...

I dont see much of a future for laptop gaming (imo)

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]

Asus C90

Completely upgradeable laptop.

Guess that is where the future is going i suppose.

El-Visitante

3.1kg

6.8 pounds

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?

I find this topic interesting because I have been debating on replacing my desktop with a laptop. I mainly play RPG's and RTS's on my PC and the thought of being able to take them with me when I want to is intriguing. I'm not thinking of playing them where I can't use a plug, so much so as just having my PC being portable... So battery life isn't really an issue for me. But performance has been a question on my mind.

Are FPS's more hardware intensive than RPG's/RTS's? Could I get away with using a decent laptop to enjoy these games?

I find this topic interesting because I have been debating on replacing my desktop with a laptop. I mainly play RPG's and RTS's on my PC and the thought of being able to take them with me when I want to is intriguing. I'm not thinking of playing them where I can't use a plug, so much so as just having my PC being portable... So battery life isn't really an issue for me. But performance has been a question on my mind.

Are FPS's more hardware intensive than RPG's/RTS's? Could I get away with using a decent laptop to enjoy these games?

Terami

while i agree that you might not want to play a game where you can't use a plug, what about surfing the web or checking email, writing documents, etc. you know the typical laptop stuff that most ppl want to do without needing to be plugged in. this laptop only gets 1 hour of surfing time while others I've seen (nongaming ones) can get 3 hours or more.

also, yes FPS's are more intensive in general. RPG's/RTS are less and you can get away with a less powerful laptop.

Just looked at more of the article and this thing wieghs 13.6 lbs with the powerbrick that you'll need to bring. that's a lot to carry all over the place. and it's got a lot of fans and looks very fat.

[QUOTE="Terami"]

I find this topic interesting because I have been debating on replacing my desktop with a laptop. I mainly play RPG's and RTS's on my PC and the thought of being able to take them with me when I want to is intriguing. I'm not thinking of playing them where I can't use a plug, so much so as just having my PC being portable... So battery life isn't really an issue for me. But performance has been a question on my mind.

Are FPS's more hardware intensive than RPG's/RTS's? Could I get away with using a decent laptop to enjoy these games?

Ontain

while i agree that you might not want to play a game where you can't use a plug, what about surfing the web or checking email, writing documents, etc. you know the typical laptop stuff that most ppl want to do without needing to be plugged in. this laptop only gets 1 hour of surfing time while others I've seen (nongaming ones) can get 3 hours or more.

also, yes FPS's are more intensive in general. RPG's/RTS are less and you can get away with a less powerful laptop.

I have a PC and a laptop that I carry with me in school. Why would you have two? Well, it's because a powerful laptop can actually be more expensive than a good PC+quality battery life laptop. You can argue that you can't bring your PC everywhere with you but let's be honest, if I travel then the last thing on my mind would be gaming. From my own personal experience, I would only use laptop for surfing web, watching movies (my PC monitor isn't widescreen), and writing down your notes at school.

Also, it might be all great at home where you got a good desk but when you put your laptop on your lap then it's a whole other story. Where are you going to put your mouse? It's irritating and annoying to play games with your touch pad, your neck will get quickly sore and the heat what your laptop is producing will eventually make your legs uncomfortable.

Gaming laptop cons

- Generally HUGE peices that are heavy
- Like zero battery life when gaming
- Never really contending with high end Desktops
- Price is higher
- Plus yhe usual cons laptops have

Pros

- Easier to take to your friends??? still heavy as though, wouldnt want to cart it round for uni
- Umm.... Yeah. The only good thing about a laptop is its more portable then a Desktop.

metalisticpain

My MacBook Pro says Hi. Its 1" Thick when its closed shut..abut .75" when open...has pretty decent battery life for this type of device and gets 60fps in UT3 in 1024x760 res High Quality......

Price IS the only problem with gaming on a laptop....but if you're buying one to begin with its clearly not an issue.

[QUOTE="El-Visitante"]Flash games, yeah, games like crysis, AC, Bioshock etc... not so much. A laptop is seen as a portable device and cant imagine seeing someone playing these games on the bus stop, train, cafeteria etc... Another issue is the battery life that such a powerful machine would require. I couldn't Imagine a laptop running these games for more than 1 hour w/a full battery. My laptop only gives me like 2 1/2 hours on a full charge ad that's only for typing and some websurfing. It's an excelllent idea but a futile one imo.imprezawrx500

you really don't have a decent gaming laptop. my xps 1530 can run crysis pretty good on med and for 2 hours on battery. It sound like you have a old laptop as my xps 1530 can easily run for 4 hours web brosing on battrey if not 5-6. batteries are getting pretty good now. many people use laptops on ferry trips in cafes sometimes at the bustop. the 8600m gt and core 2 duo don't need very much power and completly destroy all consoles. face it a 8600m gt and core 2 duo hasthe power to run crysis on med and every other game maxed or high. all that needs to be down to make laptop gaming more viable is making 7200rpm drives standard or at least cheaply avaliable and make the gpus slot into a socket just like the cpu. (yes laptop cpus are fully upgradble) as is ram and hdd.

I have a PC and a laptop that I carry with me in school. Why would you have two? Well, it's because a powerful laptop can actually be more expensive than a good PC+quality battery life laptop. You can argue that you can't bring your PC everywhere with you but let's be honest, if I travel then the last thing on my mind would be gaming. From my own personal experience, I would only use laptop for surfing web, watching movies (my PC monitor isn't widescreen), and writing down your notes at school.

Also, it might be all great at home where you got a good desk but when you put your laptop on your lap then it's a whole other story. Where are you going to put your mouse? It's irritating and annoying to play games with your touch pad, your neck will get quickly sore and the heat what your laptop is producing will eventually make your legs uncomfortable.

Supafly1

I have a PC and a laptop that I carry with me in school. Why would you have two? Well, it's because a powerful laptop can actually be more expensive than a good PC+quality battery life laptop. You can argue that you can't bring your PC everywhere with you but let's be honest, if I travel then the last thing on my mind would be gaming. From my own personal experience, I would only use laptop for surfing web, watching movies (my PC monitor isn't widescreen), and writing down your notes at school.

Also, it might be all great at home where you got a good desk but when you put your laptop on your lap then it's a whole other story. Where are you going to put your mouse? It's irritating and annoying to play games with your touch pad, your neck will get quickly sore and the heat what your laptop is producing will eventually make your legs uncomfortable.

Supafly1

Ive plugged my USB mouse into my macbook pro while on my bed, with the laptop on my lap...put the mousepad on top of a book on the bed next to me and it works quite well....not saying it prefer it over a desk but it works...you dont NEED to use a trackpad to game...and if its an fps game its pretty much not worth trying if you're not creative and intend on playing with a trackpad.

i was a laptop gamer for a while. college and all that. so instead of getting a cheap laptop and a good desktop..i though i would just get a better laptop for the money i had (which wasnt huge).

the good points:

1) there portable. some are less portable than others and some require the use of a forklift to transport..but there portable :P.

2) high end laptops are pretty darn pokey. there not up to desktop standards but there not too far behind.

3) u can still connect ure laptop to a monitor/telly and a keyboard and mouse....so u can create the desktop experience with it if u want. i use to have it setup so that i could just plonk in my old monitor and a good mouse and it would do a better job at games compared to my old desktop (my newer lappy was far more powerful than my old desktop of course).

but the bad side:

1) driver support is crap. maybe its changed since i gamed on a laptop...but i remember that i had to poke around dinternet for drivers that were actually from other manufacturers. ATI didnt offically support their mobile chips with drivers so i was depentand on my laptop manufacturer to update drivers....which they never did.

2) most hardware cannot be changed. the CPU is out of bounds on alot of laptops, as is the GPU. there was a puhs for replaceable GPUs in laptops but that is dead now. the only things that can be easily updated are the hard drives and the ram. so if u want ure lappy to last as a gaming device then u need to pony up alot of cash.

3) although u can play games on the go....doing so will absolutely munch through ure battery. u would be lucky to get an hour out of a full charge if u were playing a demanding game. so u need to bring ure power supply with u.

if we ever saw fully upgradeable laptops though..using industry standard connections and parts (so i dont need to buy a GPU for my dell from dell say...i could use any GPU thats compatible with my socket) then i think the desktop would be finished. but im talking, interchangebale screen, keyboard, trackpad, chassis..everything. basically i should be able to build my own laptop without too much trouble..using parts sourced from many places and from many different manufacturers. thats a big hurdle to cross mind but if they did it, the conveniernce and flexibility of it would absolutely cream any benefit a desktop would bring.

Feast your eyes on an amazingly cheap laptop for what you are getting...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8651167&type=product&id=1195599780039

Though the battery life is some what of a minus for all big laptops.. But yet again even being in college when I do use my laptops in ****or other such places, I am right next to a outlet. Very rarely am I ever using the battery.

Thats my Dell Vostro 1500. It cost me 900$ Cdn with tax which was 13% at the time of purchase.

Specs

1.4Ghz C2D

2 GB DDR2

120 GB HDD

nVidia 8600 GTm 256mb DDR2

I can run Crysis all medium at 25+ fps. I primarily bought it for school but I wanted to be able to game on it so I payed the extra. I can run C&C 3 Maxed out at 35+ fps. It isn't the gaming machine of the future but it is very nice.

Feast your eyes on an amazingly cheap laptop for what you are getting...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8651167&type=product&id=1195599780039

Though the battery life is some what of a minus for all big laptops.. But yet again even being in college when I do use my laptops in ****or other such places, I am right next to a outlet. Very rarely am I ever using the battery.

sSubZerOo

2-3 years behind desktop pcs like all ways? as for that of course laptop pcs are 2nd most powerful...didn't know there was more then 2 catagories in the pc world...Desktop, laptop.WilliamRLBaker

There are subnotes and ultra-mobile PCs. Like the Eee PC (which would be horrible for gaming).

When I said laptops were second most power ful gaming systems, I was saying they are more powerful than consoles too.

Gaming laptops are too big and to heavy for me to buy, I dont think it will change that much in the future. I want my laptop to be something that I can take with me everywhere I go. Also at the size I want (13-15.4in) the screen is really to small for serious gaming. I play Diablo2 on mine right now and that is about it, even thought it can play better stuff.

lol, some of you people underestimate laptops way too much. I do the majority of my PC gaming on my laptop since I move around a lot and while I could certainly use an upgrade, it plays most games and medium quality while still costing less than $1000. There are two problems however that if laptop manufacturers can get over, will improve them greatly. 1st of them is to make the screens smaller. I know we all love playing on some monstrous 1900+ resolutions, but even if its reduced from 19 in to 15 in, that will greatly reduce price and power consumption. The 2nd thing they need to do is ditch integrated graphics cards. Seriously, they are majorly killing off the potential that many laptops have. 3rd, they need to make laptops upgradable. That's one thing that prevents laptops from keeping up with desktops is the inability to improve itself.

I hope that within 5 years, these problems can be overcome. If so, I expect the prices of gaming laptops to go down as well, which would make me very happy. I know most people perfer desktops for gaming, but I'm not rich enough to afford both a high-end gaming desktop and a good laptop, so I need something portable that's strong enough to game, but also serve well for everything else, which is why I hope they become cheaper in the future.

Meh, I find laptop gaming impractical. My brother is always playing Crysis, UT3, and CS at school, but the problem is that the laptop is just too big. If you're going to get a laptop make sure that it's actually portable and not a clunky beast. Renegade_Fury

In 5 years gaming laptops should be quite popular barring any huge advances in the UMPC/Smart Phone industries. My current laptop (Acer Aspire 5920) cost me about $1000 and came with:

Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 @1.5ghz
2 gigs DDR2 667 ram
GeForce 8600MGT 512mb dedicated
250gig HDD
HD-DVD drive (it's okay, laugh, get it out of your system)
15.4" screen
3-4 hours of battery life under regular use (ie web browsing, word processing etc.)

It runs Crysis on medium-high and I'd estimate its only about 5-6 pounds. Sure it's more expensive than a hardcore gaming rig, but it's also slightly more portable. Laptop manufacturers are starting to clue in, so I think it's only a matter of time before Dell et al are offering gaming laptops at reasonable prices.

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5793-custom-laptop-built-clevo-m570ruu-m571ruu-p-2276.html

Its good for college students who can't have both a desktop and a laptop at the same time.

[QUOTE="imprezawrx500"]

[QUOTE="El-Visitante"]Flash games, yeah, games like crysis, AC, Bioshock etc... not so much. A laptop is seen as a portable device and cant imagine seeing someone playing these games on the bus stop, train, cafeteria etc... Another issue is the battery life that such a powerful machine would require. I couldn't Imagine a laptop running these games for more than 1 hour w/a full battery. My laptop only gives me like 2 1/2 hours on a full charge ad that's only for typing and some websurfing. It's an excelllent idea but a futile one imo.El-Visitante

you really don't have a decent gaming laptop. my xps 1530 can run crysis pretty good on med and for 2 hours on battery. It sound like you have a old laptop as my xps 1530 can easily run for 4 hours web brosing on battrey if not 5-6. batteries are getting pretty good now. many people use laptops on ferry trips in cafes sometimes at the bustop. the 8600m gt and core 2 duo don't need very much power and completly destroy all consoles. face it a 8600m gt and core 2 duo hasthe power to run crysis on med and every other game maxed or high. all that needs to be down to make laptop gaming more viable is making 7200rpm drives standard or at least cheaply avaliable and make the gpus slot into a socket just like the cpu. (yes laptop cpus are fully upgradble) as is ram and hdd.

my xps 1530 has no problem runing crysis on med with some high settings.

lol, some of you people underestimate laptops way too much. I do the majority of my PC gaming on my laptop since I move around a lot and while I could certainly use an upgrade, it plays most games and medium quality while still costing less than $1000. There are two problems however that if laptop manufacturers can get over, will improve them greatly. 1st of them is to make the screens smaller. I know we all love playing on some monstrous 1900+ resolutions, but even if its reduced from 19 in to 15 in, that will greatly reduce price and power consumption. The 2nd thing they need to do is ditch integrated graphics cards. Seriously, they are majorly killing off the potential that many laptops have. 3rd, they need to make laptops upgradable. That's one thing that prevents laptops from keeping up with desktops is the inability to improve itself.

I hope that within 5 years, these problems can be overcome. If so, I expect the prices of gaming laptops to go down as well, which would make me very happy. I know most people perfer desktops for gaming, but I'm not rich enough to afford both a high-end gaming desktop and a good laptop, so I need something portable that's strong enough to game, but also serve well for everything else, which is why I hope they become cheaper in the future.

glitchgeeman

well the dell xps 1530 is getting pretty close to being fully upgradable. take one cover off any you have acess to the memory (both slots) and cpu, and undo 4 screes and the hdd slides out. all thats missing is the abilty to upgrade the gpu

[QUOTE="Renegade_Fury"]Meh, I find laptop gaming impractical. My brother is always playing Crysis, UT3, and CS at school, but the problem is that the laptop is just too big. If you're going to get a laptop make sure that it's actually portable and not a clunky beast. Egghead360

bs, my xps 1530 run for 4 hours easy doing web browsing and other basic stuff and gets around 2 hours playing crysis and isn't any bigger than laptops with intergrated graphics

[QUOTE="Egghead360"][QUOTE="Renegade_Fury"]Meh, I find laptop gaming impractical. My brother is always playing Crysis, UT3, and CS at school, but the problem is that the laptop is just too big. If you're going to get a laptop make sure that it's actually portable and not a clunky beast. imprezawrx500

bs, my xps 1530 run for 4 hours easy doing web browsing and other basic stuff and gets around 2 hours playing crysis and isn't any bigger than laptops with intergrated graphics

You people complaining about gaming laptops being HEAVY.....You may want to hit the gym for a while. People will complain about laptops being heavy , but they can constitute packing up all their desktop gear and lugging it around for a "lan party"..???...Kind of strange the way people think.

IF laptops were as fast and powerful and parts were better enterchangeable....I would totally go laptop.

You people complaining about gaming laptops being HEAVY.....You may want to hit the gym for a while. People will complain about laptops being heavy , but they can constitute packing up all their desktop gear and lugging it around for a "lan party"..???...Kind of strange the way people think.

IF laptops were as fast and powerful and parts were better enterchangeable....I would totally go laptop.

FunkyHeadHunter

over 10 pounds for a laptop is heavy. if you're going to carry it around to every class or meeting with your other material trust me it adds up. a lan party is different. you don't have it every day and you don't carry it around with you all day old. just from the car to the room.