The popularity of gaming laptops doesnt come as a surprise. Gaming is only getting popular and therefore demand for laptops that can handle gaming software skyrockets.
Is a gaming laptop better than a regular laptop? You might be considering to upgrade your current laptop or buy your first laptop. Either youre an avid gamer or youre looking for a laptop for school or the office. Whoever you are, gaming laptops have gotten more popular over the last few years.
The popularity of gaming laptops doesnt come as a surprise. Gaming is only getting popular and therefore demand for laptops that can handle gaming software skyrockets.
But are gaming laptops only for gamers? No, you dont have to be confined to this term and think you cant use a gaming laptop because youre not a gamer.
Gaming laptops are most of the time your best bet for a good performing laptop or computer.
These laptops are made for gaming which most of the time need an expensive graphics card. Regular laptops are not meant but can be used for gaming.
Decide whether you need a graphics card for editing or gaming and buy accordingly.
To play games you need a laptop running on some pretty high specs. Most online games require a new or recent video and graphics card.
Graphics cards are the most important part of any laptop you want to game on.
Is a gaming laptop better than a regular laptop?
Should I buy a gaming laptop for gaming? Well, you dont need a laptop specifically for gaming. Its just that most gaming laptops support high performance.
You have to decide whether you want to spend more on a laptop for agraphics cardthat is designed for gaming.
Maybe youre a gamer or a video editor, or the work you do at the office requires a lot of battery and power from your laptop.
Lets say youre an engineer and you work with 3D software to design products then you want a laptop that can support this task easily.
Dont worry my internet padawan, I will guide you through everything you need to think of when buying your next laptop for business, gaming, or YouTube videos.
Most laptops are not meant for gamers or people who edit videos.Average-pricedlaptops are made for regular consumers so they dont have an expensive graphics card.
Neither a gaming or a non-gaming laptop is better than the other. Theyre made for different people and different needs. I will take you through the things you need to think about.
In this article, I will cover topics considering: price, quality, durability, which laptop is best for which tasks, and why you should buy one or the other.
What are the differences between gaming and a regular laptop?
Other than the name by which these products are described, there are a lot of differences between the two.
First, youll notice that most gaming laptops are made withbacklit keyboards, designs of popular games, weird colors, etc.
Believe it or not, gaming laptops are targeted to most gamers. Meaning that you shouldnt be surprised to find a lot of laptops being designed in a Star Wars theme.
Gaming laptops have more quirks and features which games would appreciate. Laptops made in certain themes, colors or amazing designs.
Regular laptops are made for the average consumer, supporting average specs that can handle daily tasks as Word, Powerpoint, etc.
Gaming laptops can handle more tasks at the same time than a regular laptop.
Regular laptops are great for normal use, but gaming laptops are better for heavy users.
Either youre a software engineer or a business student. The first will most likely need a gaming laptop or a laptop with strong specs, while the latter will probably be fine with something like a Chromebook.
Here are the most important differences between gaming and regular laptops:
- The price, gaming laptops are more expensive because of design elements and better graphic cards.
- Fast and more expensive processors are found on gaming laptops and less on regular laptops.
- Ports, gaming laptops have more ports including HMDI, USB, and sometimes VGA. Regular laptops have fewer ports to keep it thin.
- Cooling, gaming laptops have better and more cooling systems and fans. Regular laptops dont require such cooling because there is less strain on the CPU and GPU.
So do you need a great graphics card? Then you might look into a gaming laptop.
But there are a lot of laptops that arent considered necessarily gaming laptops but still have the required power you need. Take for example Apple MacBooks, theyre also expensive but are not gaming laptops. They dont have any game design elements or colorful keyboards.
MacBook Proscan support gaming performance but theyre more expensive than a regular windows computer.
Check with your budget and if youre already using a lot of Apple products.
When is a regular laptop better than a gaming laptop?
In many cases, you probably dont need a gaming laptop for the things youll be doing on your laptop.
Are you a gamer or do you call yourself a nerd sometimes? Then you might be interested in a laptop that has some gaming design elements. For example, the HP Star Wars-themed gamer laptop.
One cool trick is when you plug in a USB in the USB port of this Star Wars laptop, youll hear a swoosh sound from a Star Wars lightsabre. Which is just incredibly cool.
Regular laptops are better if youre a normal, a few hours a day user. Meaning, you dont need a gaming laptop if youre not using the expensive graphics card built into them.
Gaming laptops are only interesting when youre requiring to run high-battery draining activities. Do you want your laptop to run Word, emailing and some small programs? Then a regular laptop is a great pick for you.
Regular laptops are a lot cheaper than a gaming laptop. The most expensive part of any laptop or computer is the graphics card. The graphics card displays the images you see on your laptop.
With a high-performing and more expensive graphics card you can run games and high-resolution pictures better on your laptop without any lag.
The lower your graphics card, the more lag you will encounter when running programs with fast-moving and great quality video.
Non-gaming laptops are great if you care about your budget and would like to spend as little as possible to do the required things you need to do.
You can edit videos on a regular laptop, just make sure the graphics card is new enough to handle the software youre going to run.
With a gaming laptop, you dont have to worry about this because it will most likely run on a graphics card that can adhere to great gaming quality.
A gaming laptop gives a certain amount of convenience factor because youre buying a laptop with everything you need to run gaming programs and more.
When buying a regular laptop that isnt sold as a gaming laptop; you need to look at all the specs to make sure it can handle editing and gaming.
Regular laptops are better if youre not looking to game, edit videos or run 3D programs. Also if you need a laptop with high specs but dont need it specifically for gaming you should consider a normal Windows laptop with better specs.
Gaming laptops are more expensive just for having the name gaming laptops.
How gaming laptop better than a regular laptop?
To compare performance we need to set some basic parameters on which you can decide which one is better for you.
The following specs are considered when deciding if agaming laptopis performing better than a regular laptop: RAM size, graphics or video card, and processors.
RAM size:this will make sure your computer can run fast even when you have more programs opened.
For most gaming laptops 8 GB RAM is the minimum to smoothly run games without lag. However, 16 GB is more optimal and also accounts for future games and programs that will only require more and more RAM as time goes on.
Graphics card/video card:Different brands offer graphic cards, but most common are AMD and Nvidia. The newer the graphic card, the more expensive but the better the performance.
Thegraphic card will most likely be the most expensive on your laptop, so dont worry about spending a few extra bucks to get a good one.
I recommend comparing different offers from both AMD and Nvidia to see which specific graphics card supports the programs you want to run on your laptop.
Do you have the money and do you want to game on this laptop? Then dont budget on this part of the laptop because youll run into lag and less smooth gaming experience.
Processors:also knows as a CPU [Central Processing Unit], this will coordinate everything you do on your laptop. Its basic job is to receive information that you put into it and prove the correct output. You do A and the processor turns this into B on your laptop screen to keep this example simple.
For gaming, youll need a mid-range to high Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 CPU. For a regular laptop, you wont need a crazy CPU because most tasks wont require a lot of processing power.
To summarize:
Are you a gamer and are you not looking to build a pc yourself? Then a gaming laptop is a great choice to buy a laptop that has all the specs you need.
Do you need a laptop for your education or office job? Then you most likely dont need a gaming laptop because it will be more expensive. If you do, you can still a laptop that is not a gaming laptop but still with high specs. You will save money on special gaming design, things like backlit keyboards, and brand names.
Decide on the first thing: do I need my laptop for gaming, editing or programs that will require a lot of processing power such as 3D programs or memory intense programs
like SAP, HANA or other analytic programs that store a lot of data? If not, then you dont need a gaming laptop and can buy a regular laptop.