Asklemmy

It's down to the expected use case.
If you have some reason to want portability, like you travel for work or expect to want to game at a place other than you home, then a laptop is likely the right choice.
If you only expect to game at home and don't have a need to constantly move your system around, a desktop is usually a better "bang for the buck".

Personally, I don't travel and don't have a need to move my gaming rig around. I also like having the ability to upgrade in a piecemeal fashion. So, I have a desktop. This particular PC of Theseus has been going for a decade and a half now and shows no sign of stopping.

I have my ipad for that.

When I get a job and settle down, I definitely plan on getting a PC. It just has so much more bang for the buck, and you can actually use the entire performance. My laptop basically overheats immediately if there's an intense load on it, even though it has the raw power to actually run it. But the reality is that currently, as a student, a gaming laptop is a lot more practical to me.

PCS

So, like, on Sprint wireless?

Desktop. However I’m looking at gaming laptops just to have a sturdy, powerful laptop for work. And I hate touch screens.

2 years ago I would say PCs over laptops, owned a couple of gaming laptops and always ended up going back to desktops. Still have a decent, but relatively old desktop PC. Lots of gaming laptops generate a brutal amount of heat, so gaming in bed or holding the machine in your lap is not very comfortable. At the end you just sit at a desk plugged in, same as a regular PC. The only positive of a laptop is if you traveling a lot and want to play high end games it makes it possible.

However today I would go with the third option: handheld gaming PC. The Steam Deck absolutely changed my life how I game. I am finishing more games, I can play literally anywhere, anytime and its just so damn convenient. Sure, there are compromises, its not for everyone and AAA and multiplayer gaming is not really ideal, but neither of them interests me. For everyday PC stuff you need a docking station and connect up all peripherals to use them as a workstation, again not ideal but they all work as a full fledged PC as well.

Again, probably not everyones cup of tea, but it just suits me so damn well. Last year I did over 90% of gaming on handheld.

Also since the success of Steam Deck the competition is catching up fast and almost monthly someone releases a new handheld gaming PC so there are many options to choose from.

Gaming laptops are far too prone to overheating - either your manufacturer has drastically limited clock speed, your machine will brick itself as soon as you try to launch a performance intensive game... or you spent 7k+ on getting something from a niche company that slapped a jet engine on that sucker.

Both. I like the customizability and power of a desktop, but I like the portability of a laptop. If you can afford both, why not have both. I often have my laptop set up next to my desktop for browsing/chatting while gaming and I also often just take my laptop to game when I go to friends' places. Also, they're both PCs.

I really don't want to own multiple machines and certainly don't want to lwn a clunky desktop. I was quite happy with Stadia, but need to look at external GPUs through oculink as that would provide me with the best of two worlds.

Currently, my gaming is very light with rather si lle graphics.

[HenryCarvell.meme] steamdeck

Steam Deck

I'm not sure what PCS is, but I've never owned a gaming laptop. I game mostly on a desktop, or play games that can run on a fairly standard laptop. Though I've not had a laptop since 2018, and got by with a desktop and tablet.

Laptop:

• Cheap when buying used, meanwhile used PC parts still are insanely expensive. So on the used market in my country you get the most value when buying a used gaming pc.

• Especially cheap when considering I don't have to buy a laptop. A useful laptop would cost like 400€, I bought my gaming laptop for 900€ (3 months used, instead of 1400€), same performance in a desktop would cost 1000€+ So normal laptop + gaming desktop would be 1400€+, I only spent 900€.

• Portable. Not much to say here.