Q&A Contest: Why haven't you bought a gaming notebook yet?

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10:32 AM on 11.28.2008, Niero

204 comments | 7704 views

Q&A Contest: Why haven't you bought a gaming notebook yet? photo

#Contests

It's Black Friday. So why aren't you out destroying your finances and stampeding over children for a gaming notebook? Oh, don't care for them at all? Do tell!

In celebration of post-turkey genocide day I propose a contest. I'd like you to help me with my homework and, in exchange, I'll give away a brand new game of your choice. I also promise to go slap around the industry for you.

As you may know I moonlight as an author on WePC, an Intel-sponsored discussion community built in the hopes of creating a crowd-sourced gaming computer that doesn't suck: One which I'm pushing to feature user-swappable video card and components so you can stop feeling less raped when they become paperweights after four years. There's a ton of good ideas floating around there -- if you're inspired to contribute a notebook concept we'd love to have you.

This week I'd like to try something different. I'd like to run a quick survey and give away your choice of new releases: Chrono Trigger, The Last Remnant, Little Big Planet, Mirror's Edge, Left 4 Dead, or Gears of War 2 -- your pick and platform of choice. Here's the question:

There are already so many quality gaming notebooks in the market ... so why haven't you bought one yet?

If you do own a gaming notebook you can also enter to win -- just let us know which model/make you picked up and what sealed the deal for you in the comments below. I'll choose three random winners early next week and also post my findings on WePC. Good luck!

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201 comments | showing # 51 to 100

Jetsetlemming

Because a track pad sucks for PC gaming, and on the go you can't plug a mouse into it, and thus you're left playing games on your gaming notebook at home- and if you're going to play computer games at home, you might as well buy a desktop and save a few hundred bucks for the same quality.

They should put trackballs in the gaming laptops instead.

One of these things. Far more accurate and usable than a track pad, and they could custom make the ball size to fit in the laptop dimensions.

Secondary answer: Battery life.

zeph

I can typically find a more competitively priced, better equipped desktop when I try to compare to a notebook. The advantage of having a better monitor, and speaker setup also really makes owning a gaming desktop more practical to me. I do own a laptop for work related tasks, and I find it much more suited for those needs. But for gaming purposes, a desktop is usually suited for my needs.

Also, I typically build my gaming desktops so if I could go that route with a laptop I definitely would. I know there are some configurations out there where you have limited expandability and customization, but unless I can start with a bare notebook case, configure everything down to the heat sink and fans, and be able to swap parts in and out relatively painless, I am not really interested in a gaming laptop.

The Pat Man

I would love to game in some random place at my university, I just don't have the cash to get it. Plain and simple. My reason for not owning one is the cobwebs in my wallet from being jobless -_-

MatthewRex

In all honesty, its money. I would totally get one, but I cannot afford it!

Wexx

Too expensive/I already have a bangin' desktop. I don't really see the need to have a gaming notebook, because I just don't care for notebooks at all. That and most of the time they're out of my price range for a notebook.

Lekku

I, in a similar fashion to many people here, tend to shy away from laptops as gaming machines because of the inability to upgrade them cheaply and easily like I can my desktop.

If I could have a laptop that was easy to upgrade that would open that door a lot more for me. Price isn't so much a determining factor for me, but it is always a concern with anything that I buy. It would have to be reasonable and worth the extra for the convenience and portability.

GoS-CPT-Stewart

My reason for not owning a gaming notebook is the price. I can build a desktop for much less than a laptop. Non-swappable components (which I guess are already being addressed). And the biggest problem would be the battery. Sure I could plug it in, but I don't always have that luxury, and having a short battery life when playing a game is not very ideal.

taumpytears

For me it's a Price/I already own a gaming desktop i really like thing. My desktop outperforms any notebook i could afford at this point.

twincannon

Too much cash to shell out for not enough quality. The fact that I can build a PC that tears it to shreds for less than half the price pretty much seals the deal. Also my town is pretty bad in terms of Wifi coverage.

Maxpower

I just don't have that money to spend on a gaming notebook. Besides, I don't think I'd play it much if I had one.

braulio09

Ok, I'm guessing this is worldwide.

The main reason I don't have a gaming pc or laptop is that I'm not a PC gamer. Never been too big into western games and since those are the main games (or at least exclusive to PC) that come out, I don't see a reason to get one. Granted, a few Valve games have made me crave for a gaming PC but it's still not enough to make me shell out all that money. Oh, and the whole "it's gonna suck in a few years" thing.

Also, how long until i get my Fallout 3 from you guys? It's been almost 10 days since the announcement. It's just that now that I'm on a break, I finished my whole backlog in a week and have nothing to play now. :'(

Matthew Blake

I don't have one because I don't feel like it's worth the time, money, or effort. I have a 'normal' laptop, but I actually don't use it much for travel. I don't have a gaming PC, either- just a 'normal' one with an old GeForce card. It can run The Orange Box, and that's pretty much all I need. Besides, I don't need a computer to get my gaming fix on the road- that's what Gameboys are for.

Senisan82

For me I suppose it would not be so much the price...ok maybe a little but I would also want portability. Most gaming laptops are pretty heavy and serve as desktop replacements and I don't really want that.

Professor Pew

Too expensive for what I use.
Not really as upgradable as I'd want.
No big screen :(
Would have to add mouse/keyboard myself, why bother with a laptop then?

Most importantly: I already have a PC so it would be easier/cheaper to upgrade that than to find a notebook with a good warranty. They keep dying around me so that doesn't exactly instill any confidence either..

d0nfil0fi0

I think PC's are better because the kind of games that PC players prefer demand lot's of time to spend with, and frankly, is more comfotrable to keep playing for hours and hours in a Desktop PC, with a chair, a big screen, Mouse and Keyboard than in the rather small splace that Notebooks offer.

If I want to spend hours playing an Strategy games, or a cooperative online game like Left 4 Dead, team fortress 2 or Counter Strike (to name a few that I think play petter on PC) you will at least try to be comfortable on how you're playing.

Strategy games, MMOs and Coop experiences require gamers to think more about the game and less about the enviroment. That's why console games are so popular: you just sit on a couch, totally relaxed and just focusing on what's on the screen.

I think notebooks cannot provide that experience yet, and because of their shape, they'll never be.

AND they're extremely expensive.

Zanyruki

Not enough money to be a PC gamer; though, I would still chose a desktop over a notebook because I hate laptop keyboards, and upgrading laptops are more difficult.

Fusiontr

My biggest problem is size. If I want to game one the go, I want something small and compatible like my lovely DS. I don't want to be lugging my laptop around with me when I don't need it just to play something on the train or whatever

My other problem is how hard it is to upgrade. Gaming is changing rapidly with new engines being created, which means the notebook will need to change with it. However, it is extremely hard...nay...impossible to upgrade efficiently to move along with the times without having to buy a completely new laptop.

Furnimus

I am one of the people who would argue about desktops being much less money. If I was going to buy a gaming rig with my own money, it would probably end up being a desktop. Paying for smaller doesn't sit well with me :).

the Golden Avatar

For me it's pretty much the same reason as most people here:

1. Too expensive against a comparable desktop system
2. I don't really like gaming on a laptop anyway. And if I'm just going to dock it, what's the point?
3. Difficult or impossible to upgrade
4. Battery life is usually extremely short while gaming
5. If I'm going to game while traveling give me a handheld instead

H20polo

well, now that i'm not a wow addixt anymore and have recently bought a xbox 360 i have no need to buy a gaming laptop or even a gaming desktop. i would like one but price also become a huge factor and it just is too epensive.

braulio09

Ok. seems like the internet ate my comment, so here it is again

I don't have one because I'm not a PC gamer. Growing up loving japanese style games, I'm not very interested in western games (unless they're big and I've tested them before) and those are the games that come out on PC, mainly.

Also, how long does it take for my prize to get here? Since starting winter break last week, I finised my backlog and now have nothing to play :(

Euphoria5L

One reason I own a laptop is portability. Mine is lightweight, has a long battery charge (3.5 hours!), and runs every piece of software I need like a champ. Of course, I'd like to be able to game on it, but gaming laptops are never lightweight and never have good battery life. If I need to present something, or work on things while not at home, I need both of these things. While price is a concern, the advantage of having a gaming laptop outweighs the price. I could afford one, if it met my non-gaming needs. The problem is that no gaming laptop actually meets my non-gaming needs.

A gaming laptop needs to be a laptop first and a gaming machine second. Most gaming laptops try and be a gaming machine, and do quite well at it, but fail miserably at those aspects that make laptops appealing. Case in point: my laptop can sort of play semi-modern games. Never at high settings, but they run well enough. I'd love to be able to run modern games at higher resolutions or with some features on (as it stands, I can play Left 4 Dead with all graphical features off quite well), but that's secondary to the portability.

Charles Sharam

I desperately want to pick up one of Toshiba's absolutely sick Qosmio X305-Q708 laptops, but as I am subject to starvation and other human frailties, the need to feed myself and purchase soft, papery material for ass-wiping consistently overwhelms this desire.

bovine

I already have a laptop that can play anything out on the PC right now, so getting a gaming laptop would be redundant. I purchased an acer aspire one this year because it was cheap and fit the needs of a student who needs a computer for taking notes and doing homework while at school, while also being able to display presentations and the like. My girlfriend is getting a gaming laptop because she doesn't have a desktop, so perhaps the true answer is that a desktop is more easily upgradeable, and fits my needs, since I have a PSP and a DS, so gaming on the go is already something I can do with cheaper devices that are meant for that task.

Dead Movie Star

No because it's too much of a hassle.

ran24

Recently, PC games have been getting fricking stupid DRM like SecuRom, and if that trend continues gaming on the PC is not going to be worth it.

Also, with gaming systems, you're system can always play any game on the platform. You never miss out on a game because your system is not powerful enough to play it. Computers have that problem, since there aren't universal system specs. I feel this is the biggest problem, and its unsolvable without spending more money to upgrade.

Laptop screens are also nowhere near as big as TVs. Being able to play games on a big ol' TV is nice.

FPS' and RTS' excel on the PC, but other genres I feel are better suited to a controller.

Phoenix Gamma

The main reason I don't have a gaming notebook yet, aside from the mentioned lack of money, is because of all the stuff I have on my current notebook; I'm an art major, so all of my designs are on here, along with all of my programs (browsers, IM clients, digital imaging, media players, games).

It's a pain to move so much crap between laptops that I'd probably just be lazy and have one notebook for gaming and one notebook for my actual work, and that's just silly.

Audiohol 4m33s

Asking me why I haven't bought a gaming notebook yet is like asking me why I haven't started lighting up $20 bills on a regular basis. Sure, having that much power in your lap seems awesome, but you can get that same kind of power from a desktop.

In addition, desktops just seem to be much easier to upgrade than laptops and last much longer than your average laptop, which tend to become obsolete quickly.

Also, considering how power-hungry most gaming PCs are, I can't imagine that a gaming laptop would last long on its battery alone. But having to stay plugged in all the time kinda defeats the purpose of, well, any laptop, which is to have a PC on the go.

...But mostly because they're TOO EXPENSIVE.

the GAMEGOBLIN

Because I can't afford one ;_;

Vlambo

Simple, as a minor, and soon to be poor university student, price and portability. If I can get a gaming desktop that that can always be customizable instead of a paperweight in 4 years, then I'll get a Desktop.

jesusofwales

I've got a few reasons for not owning a gaming notebook:

1) I tend to game at home; I've got a nice setup with a decent rig, big screen, gaming keyboard and mouse plus a semi comfortable chair. A gaming notebook would cost more and be inferior in every way.

2) I commute for about 2 hours a day on the train and own an eeePC which I use rarely; between the times when the train is packed to the brim and the times when I'm too tired to do anything, there just aren't that many times I would consider taking out a laptop on a train except to touch up a bit of code or other work.

3) When it comes to gaming laptops, there has to be a tradeoff; performance, temperature, portability or battery life. One or more of these will suffer, limiting its effectiveness as either a gaming machine or a portable notebook. Its very difficult to get a good balance of these factors in a gaming notebook.

4) If I do feel the need to game then I have a perfectly good DS (and PSP) which is portable enough to be used easily on the go and still offer a great gaming experience.

In summary:
Desktop gaming > laptop gaming.
Gaming at home > gaming on the go.

Which pretty much makes a gaming notebook the worst of both worlds. For PC gaming, a good desktop is the better option and for gaming while on the daily commute, a DS or PSP offer a better middle ground.

toast!

Like man others have said. It's all about price. Why buy a gaming laptop for 2k+ when you can build your own gaming PC for much less? The PC I built about 2 years ago only cost me $1200 all together (and it runs crysis!). Also when it comes time to upgrade, instead of dropping a little here and there to upgrade parts, you have to buy a whole new laptop.

Also, has anyone even seen the inside of a laptop? Those things are run off of unicorns and pixie dust. The interchangeable parts like video cards is a great idea because maybe people could become more familiar with the insides of laptops and it would make it easier to upgrade/fix problems that are specific to certain components.

Last one isnt so much a problem for me, but could be the reason why some people don't buy them. When you think of a laptop you want portable. You're looking for something you can carry away from your PC and still do the things you need to do (troll 4chan, read dtoid, watch pr0n, and use IRC). Gaming laptops are pretty beefy compared to the tiny ones they are making these days. While I would have no problem carrying around a heavier laptop with a bigger screen and more power, I think that most consumers out there would prefer something a wee bit smaller and portable.

TL;DR?
-$$$
-can't/dont know how to upgrade/fix
-too heavy

Captain Calculus

I just don't think that there is the amount of games for PC that I can justify getting a gaming notebook. Most games I would play for PC, also come out for PS3 and 360.

If I were going to get a computer that was built for the premise of gaming, I would build a desktop. Most gaming lap tops are so large and power hungry that they are essentially desktop computers anyways. Also this way I can swap in obsolete components as I wish.

If games came out exclusive to PC that I was interested in, and notebook computer components were made to be easily swapped, then count me in for a gaming notebook.

s00pcan

typical retard response would be that they don't exist and are useless. My vostro 1500 has a decent video card and I can actually play newer games on it if I want to, which is good enough for me.

akathatoneguy

For me it's price, but besides price, the fact that you have to constantly update it to keep up with the newest specs for games. I wouldn't mind the initial investment as much if it was easier and/or cheaper to update it to continue to run new games.

imaginarythomas

Reason the first: Too expensive. Most gaming worthy notebooks (That I've seen at least) are $1500+

Reason the second: Bulk. I'm buying a notebook for portability. If I wanted power I'd get a desktop for more power for less dollars. Plus I get the pleasure of building it myself.

Reason the third: Consoles. Almost any game I want to play is available on consoles (Notable exception: Civilization). Also, any PC-only games that tickle my fancy are usually low-requirement indie games.

Reason the fourth: Laptops are very "set in stone". where as a desktop can be 'Frankensteined' to keep up with current models for many years, laptops don't have much room for swapping.

Overall, there just isn't enough incentive to drive me to drop all that money for power I either won't use or could get marginally cheaper.

Wedge

Because they're all crap? Getting one that would stand toe to toe with my $500 desktop would cost at _least_ twice as much, they use so much power they can't be used for gaming unless they are plugged in, screens on most laptops are generally low res crap (WXGA+ should be minimum), laptops can largely never be upgraded other than RAM due to lack of standards, and finally, desktop components (particularly video cards) are getting bigger and bigger these days, so the odds of even being able to make a comparable practical gaming laptop seem pretty slim until technology starts shrinking to go along with all the power increases.

Gamechamp

My reason is simple: I do not have the money to buy both food and a gaming notebook. Without food, I will die. If I am dead, my gaming skills will be slightly lowered. Therefore, I will not get optimum use out of the gaming notebook, making it not as good a game skill contributor as food.

wobbledong

Because every time i buy a gaming notebook it catches aids.

JayTapp

As I don't own a PC, if you consider the new Macbook Pro a gaming PC I did buy one. :)

masterledz

For me, with PC games released on all platforms (and sometimes later than console releases), there is no incentive to get a gaming notebook that is more expensive than PS3, Wii and 360 combined.

vonneuton

I've had the money before to purchase one and still didn't. I find it abhorrent that they have yet to make it standard for gaming laptops to have easy to replace parts for the consumer. Almost all the ones I found that were affordable are impossible to upgrade due to the graphics chip being integrated onto the motherboard.

So... no. Not going to buy one until that becomes a standard. That and batteries that can actually take the performance hit of running games on it.

smurfee mcgee

It's price. I haven't been a PC gamer for a while because I can't afford it. I can't afford to upgrade my PC, so I definitely can't afford a gaming notebook.

Palidi

Price is the top issue for me. Second issue goes to upgrade ability/repair ability. Third is battery efficiency.

Also worth mentioning is ease of data transferability between laptops. I mean, does it support 2 HDDs so I can plug in my old one to copy off things, or will I need an external HDD. I know Dell PC have a swappable media thing with a proprietary drive for it.

I don't technically have a gaming PC, but I have an entertainment notebook that can run a lot of what's currently on the market. Model: HP Pavilion dv6000 (slightly customized).

NihonTiger90

The answer, really is because of two main reasons:

1.) I can't afford one on my current salary, and until I get a pay raise, I won't be able to. Considering I work in an industry where people are being forced to take pay cuts on a regular basis, I'll be lucky if I'm not earning less next year than I am this year.

2.) Gaming desktops offer more than gaming laptops do, both in quality and in size. Why spend that much on a laptop when you can get a desktop that has much better specs?

PwnanObrien

I wish I could buy a gaming notebook. Unfortunately I'm a student of Game Art and Design at The Illinois Institute of Chicago, which means I love games so much I've decided to no longer be able to afford time or money to play or buy them. Ironicly I need a good notebook to cart around and get my portfolio done but probably won't be able to afford one til I've gotten a job in industry with said portfolio.

MrPeenie

I bought a Dell Pavilion dv5 just a month ago. Which is kind of a compromise. My model features a standalone Gforce 9600M, 3gb ram and a core duo @ 2.26ghz. I got it with a coupon for 1k bucks. I further decided for this hybrid, since I'm only for a year in the states and there's no point in buying a desktop here.
It is simply not efficient to buy real gaming laptops since the price is much higher than a desktop PC would be. Plus you will have a smaller screen, and you don't even have the profits of a real laptop since the things are normally way to heavy. If you want to be a PC gamer you have to calculate with an upgrade every two years, so that's another point against gaming laptops: desktops might provide a little more longlivety.
In conclusion I think the mayor point for most people is the price. You get a decent gaming rig for 800 bucks. But make that double the price for a laptop. And I don't think gamers are normally people with too much money, it is a time consuming and also not fashionable hobby in some circles.

mid3vol

i need a computer to not only be able to do office work but to be used as a gaming machine as well. sucks though, computers cost way too much. i'd rather just fix up my pc then spend all the money for a new computer and still have its downsides to it. but in all honesty if i had the money to buy one, i would.

darkcyder

Let's see here.

A. Notebooks are expensive.

B. As nice as it would be to have a portable computer, if I'm going to blow a grand on a computer I'm going to do so on a desktop which can be upgraded and will perform better in the first place

C. You really don't have a lot of control over a notebook. (i.e. "oh it broke? send it in." Instead of "hey I can just crack this open and fix X problem")

Trevor McGee

I don't have one because I'm poor as fuck. Simple enough explanation? lol

But, seriously, if I had the money I'd probably get one. I'm still hoping for an HDTV sometime soon, but I don't exactly have the money for that either.

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