Gaming laptops or desktop replacement laptops
- Thread starter Damo84
- Start date
barlew
Godlike
Yes mate desktop replacements are literally that they are technically laptop style computers which are designed to replace a desktop and provide the same level of performance that you would expect from a desktop with similar specs.
This means it is quite unweidly and bulky and isnt really suitable for someone that will be travelling with it or moving it around regulary.
Generally the reason they are larger is to encompass a much more efficient cooling system which you wouldnt get in a normal laptop. This allows the CPU and GPU to run at higher frequencies whilst keeping the componenets cool thereby giving you desktop equivelant performance.
A gaming laptop is a powerful laptop which is as portable as you would expect from a laptop but can also provide decent power to play games. As it is designed to be lightweight and portable it sacrifices cooling capabillity which has the knock on effect that the CPU and GPU cannot run at such high frequncies which in turn has a knock on effect with performance.
The take away from this is if you want a gaming PC which needs to be fairly portable but will stay in the same place the majority of the time then you would want a desktop replacement. If you will be travelling or moving your laptop around frequently you probably want a gaming laptop.
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
DTR's have desktop CPU's so need much more power and far better cooling.
They have awful battery life (around 1hr max) and are heavy.
Other than that, if you're not needing it to be portable as in using on the move on battery, they're amazing machines.
They have awful battery life (around 1hr max) and are heavy.
Other than that, if you're not needing it to be portable as in using on the move on battery, they're amazing machines.
i will only be using this at home where I can plug in anyway. Just looking for the best option where I can play some games in the living room whilst "spending time with the Mrs" don't think I could get away with a gaming desktop setup in another room!
So basically in my situation best performance would be from a DTR over a gaming laptop?
So basically in my situation best performance would be from a DTR over a gaming laptop?
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
Definitely the Nova then, has a really decent screen and bundles of gaming oomph, it’s a superb chassis!
I concur. One of the reasons I went with the Nova. I can run it in the home office or if I need to look like I'm spending some quality time/shared space with the other half I can move it there
SpyderTracks
We love you Ukraine
I also have the Nova and it’s an absolute beast! I have the the 3700X and 2070 combination. The only thing I would say to consider is, if you’re gaming whilst sat with the Mrs the fan noise could get quite loud especially at stock settings. There are a couple of threads on here though, including one of my own, which will help with best setups.
Thanks for the heads up. Will look into this as on my current laptop I've had to buy a silent click mouse!
FerrariVie
Super Star
I completely agree with @mrlip . If you had to buy a silent mouse because the clicks would bother, then a gaming laptop might be a problem for you, especially the thicker ones like the nova, as it usually means bigger and louder fans. However, the great thing about the nova is the flexibility that it gives you, so you can tune a lot of different things with the correct tools.
While the control centre gives you options for tunning performance and noise with the 3/4 different profiles, if you're still not happy with their setup, you have alternatives to create your own profiles by tunning the CPU using Ryzen Master or Zen States and fan control using a few different tools (I'm using obsidian).
So you have 2 options:
- Get the nova if you're up to spending some time tweaking it at the beginning (it might be boring for some, but I loved this part 😊). My suggestion for you (since you're just gaming, not rendering) is to go for the coolest possible CPU, as most of the heat (and noise) comes from there. Avoid the X CPUs as they usually run a lot hotter, apart from the 3700X which is not too bad. I have more or less the same issue with noise as you (didn't need to change my mouse, though), so I chose the 3100 as it really runs cooler when compared to the other options. But if your budget permits, you would be fine with a 3600 and manual underclocking and undervolting. If you want the laptop for gaming, the slower CPU can be balanced by a better GPU, so go for the best that your budget can afford here, as it doesn't have that much impact on heat and it's easy to tweak the clock and voltages on MSI Afterburner. And for the fans, I really recommend Obsidian fan control software, as it gives you plenty of options for tweaking, but it costs €30.
- If you're not up to the tweaking part and would like to have something quiet that could game straight out of the box, I would think about a thin and light laptop. It will definitely not have the same performance as the Nova and would for cost you more (sometimes a lot more), but if you spend time watching reviews on youtube or reading notebookcheck laptop reviews, you can find the quieter ones, but knowing that they usually run a bit hotter than what I would like.
While the control centre gives you options for tunning performance and noise with the 3/4 different profiles, if you're still not happy with their setup, you have alternatives to create your own profiles by tunning the CPU using Ryzen Master or Zen States and fan control using a few different tools (I'm using obsidian).
So you have 2 options:
- Get the nova if you're up to spending some time tweaking it at the beginning (it might be boring for some, but I loved this part 😊). My suggestion for you (since you're just gaming, not rendering) is to go for the coolest possible CPU, as most of the heat (and noise) comes from there. Avoid the X CPUs as they usually run a lot hotter, apart from the 3700X which is not too bad. I have more or less the same issue with noise as you (didn't need to change my mouse, though
), so I chose the 3100 as it really runs cooler when compared to the other options. But if your budget permits, you would be fine with a 3600 and manual underclocking and undervolting. If you want the laptop for gaming, the slower CPU can be balanced by a better GPU, so go for the best that your budget can afford here, as it doesn't have that much impact on heat and it's easy to tweak the clock and voltages on MSI Afterburner. And for the fans, I really recommend Obsidian fan control software, as it gives you plenty of options for tweaking, but it costs €30.- If you're not up to the tweaking part and would like to have something quiet that could game straight out of the box, I would think about a thin and light laptop. It will definitely not have the same performance as the Nova and would for cost you more (sometimes a lot more), but if you spend time watching reviews on youtube or reading notebookcheck laptop reviews, you can find the quieter ones, but knowing that they usually run a bit hotter than what I would like.
Last edited: