**The Battle of Laptops vs Desktops: A Gaming Performance Comparison**

In today's world of gaming, two popular options come to mind when it comes to delivering high-performance gaming experiences: laptops and desktop PCs. But which one is better? Can a laptop really compete with a powerful desktop PC in terms of raw performance? In this article, we'll put the performance of both laptops and desktops to the test, using some of the most popular games available today.

**Testing the Hardware**

To compare the performance of laptops and desktops, we set up two gaming rigs: one laptop and one desktop. The laptop we used is a CyberpowerPC rig, featuring an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card with 115 watts of TGP power. The desktop PC, on the other hand, features an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card also with 115 watts of TGP power. We chose these specific parts to compare the performance of laptop and desktop parts in a high-end gaming setup.

**Hitman 3 Benchmarking**

We started by running Hitman 3's benchmarking tool on both systems, maxing out all settings. The results were impressive: the desktop PC managed a 43 higher frame rate at 1080p, 52 higher at 1440p, and a massive 90 faster at 4K. In comparison, the laptop was able to achieve just over 50 fps at 1080p and under 100 fps at 4K.

**Call of Duty Warzone Benchmarking**

Next, we ran Call of Duty: Warzone's benchmarking tool on both systems with ultra settings. The results were even more impressive: the desktop PC was 57 faster at full HD and almost twice as fast at 1440p and 4K. We had to drop the settings down a notch on the laptop to achieve a constant 60fps at 1440p.

**Rainbow Six Siege Benchmarking**

Finally, we ran Rainbow Six Siege's benchmarking tool with ultra settings again. The results showed that the desktop PC was able to boost performance by between 115 and 130 fps compared to the laptop. However, this time around, we were able to max out the 165Hz panel on our laptop at 1440p, which felt amazing.

**Takeaways**

So, what can be learned from these tests? Firstly, it's clear that laptops have come a long way in terms of performance and are now capable of delivering great gaming experiences. The sweet spot for a gaming laptop seems to be around £1000-£1500, where you can get an RTX 3060 or higher, a Ryzen 5000 series processor like the RX 5800H, 16GB of RAM, and a 1080p or 144Hz screen. However, there's still a clear gap between laptop performance and desktop PCs.

**The Power of Desktops**

Desktop PCs are undeniably more powerful than laptops, with higher wattage parts and better cooling systems. This means that when it comes to raw performance, you can't beat a desktop PC. The gap will only narrow down as new laptop hardware emerges. For now, desktop PCs remain the gold standard for gaming.

**4K Gaming and Portability**

One area where laptops excel is in 4K gaming, with some machines able to handle 4K resolutions at high frame rates. However, this comes at a cost: portability. Laptops are often restricted by their size, power consumption, and price tag. Desktops, on the other hand, offer more flexibility and bang for your buck.

**Conclusion**

Ultimately, whether you choose a laptop or a desktop PC depends on your personal preferences and needs. If you prioritize portability and don't need top-of-the-line performance, a gaming laptop might be the way to go. However, if raw performance is your top priority and you're willing to sacrifice some portability for it, a desktop PC is still the best choice. We hope this article has helped you make an informed decision about which gaming rig is right for you.

**Disclaimer**

Please note that specs are always going to vary between laptops and desktops, so these results might not be representative of every machine in each category. Additionally, hardware prices can fluctuate, making some machines more affordable than others. Always research and compare different models before making a purchase.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow seems like a pretty good time to ask the question should you buy a gaming laptop or a desktop pc gaming laptops are so much better than they used to be with all new graphics cards and new processors including amd's fantastic ryzen 5000 series high refresh rates 144 and 240hz as standard now with high-end laptops pushing 300 and even 360. plus we're now seeing these quad hd resolution gaming laptops also with high refresh rates and the better specs are paired with sleeker and more compact designs much improved cooling and noise levels although it does still depend on the laptop plus some really interesting new form factors like this zephyrus duo se with dual 4k screens and of course with the ongoing issues around availability of desktop gpu and cpus and sadly skyrocketing reseller prices so now seems like a pretty good time to buy a gaming laptop but what about desktop pcs so for this video i've actually partnered with amd cyberpower and msi everyone's chipping in on this one but particularly cyberpower who sent over this incredible pre-built gaming pc complete with a 12 core amd ryzen 5900x and an msi radeon 6800 xt and the best part is you can actually win this it is a uk only competition i'm afraid but we're giving away this pc along with some fantastic msi peripherals including their rgb vigor mechanical keyboard and the ultra light gaming mouse although i am keeping the msi dragon this is too cute to give away and i'll also put links to this exact pc and cyberpowers configurator where you can spec your dream pc or gaming laptop in the description as well okay i hear you who's really buying big expensive gaming laptops like this why not go for a desktop gaming pc that's more powerful and probably cheaper as well i mean desktops are more flexible when it comes to upgrading and expansion they're also usually more powerful they run cooler and also have water cooling options and generally they just offer a lot more bang for your buck desktop gpus also get a serious speed advantage the rtx 3080s in the super premium asus gaming laptops aren't anywhere near as fast as the desktop version in my tests the msi radeon 6800xt in this all amd pre-built cyber power system was between 55 and 130 faster in the games i tested than either of these high-end laptops albeit with nvidia's equivalent gpus but more importantly not all laptop graphics cards are made the same because we've got 3080s with tgp so total graphics power anything from 80 watts up to 150 which has a 73 faster base clock and the crazy thing is if a manufacturer uses the lowest power 3080 it's actually slower than the highest power 3060 which can all get so confusing and to make matters worse every laptop manufacturer and oem is a little bit different about how they tell you some put it front and center when you buy a laptop other ones you have to dive into the technical specifications to find out but the point is as impressive and powerful as these new gaming laptops are it's more confusing than ever to actually buy one and this is something you just don't have to worry about when you're buying a desktop gaming pc you're unlocking all the potential performance on a desktop with the much higher power components and of course the better cooling while also paying a lot less than the closest spec rival laptop so these are all good reasons why you might want to avoid a gaming laptop and it kind of makes sense i mean you're paying more for a tightly engineered product that's designed to occupy a fraction of the space a desktop does while also having to cram in a keyboard a touchpad a big battery as well as the display so as usual it comes down to what suits your needs your lifestyle and your constraints whether it's space money or time now i love building pcs there's something really satisfying about researching and buying the components having them all arrive put them together pressing the on button for the first time and it booting up and posting it feels like a rite of passage for any pc gamer and it is enjoyable most of the time when it works but chances are unless you've built a few pcs before you will hit snags especially if you're impatient like me and good cable management is just something that other people worry about so building your own pc isn't for everyone it takes time it's great if you enjoy doing it and you've got some experience but not ideal if you don't laptops and pre-built pcs on the other hand are a whole lot easier plus you're getting manuals uh servicing and customer support and also crucially warranty as a package if anything goes wrong buying a pre-built desktop or a laptop from a retailer like cyberpower lets you spec your pc pretty much exactly how you'd want and crucially you can pick what would otherwise be an unavailable gpu and cpu without having to wait an absolute age to get it or worse paying two to three times over the retail price from a scalper for a car that for all you know has been worn out as part of a crypto mining rig being a pc gamer now is probably the toughest it's been well in my entire lifetime and so this does cut out some of those issues because they can source the components the gpus and cpus which to us mere mortals just are not available now to be fair pre-builts do usually cost a little bit more than doing it yourself but if you do factor in the excessive gpu reseller prices right now pre-built is likely to work out cheaper and of course it's also built by professionals who do this for a living and can do cable management in ways that i can only dream of not just that though because you can be smart with how you spec your pc for example if you went with an all amd build like this that comes with a recent ryzen cpu and a rx 6000 series gpu then you're getting some extra boost to gaming performance thanks to features like smart access memory or sam and it's basically a much faster way for the cpu and gpu to transfer data to each other and so it gives the processor and the graphics full access to each other's memory and this can then help boost your frame rate in games that have been updated to take advantage of it so that's lots of vague waffling from me but let's actually put these to the test and see what kind of numbers we can get from them and so we've got this high-end cyber power rig against the closest spec laptops that i could get a hold of we've got the asus registry scarf 15 and also the zephyrus duo 15. it is worth noting that the 3080s used in both these machines are 115 watt tgp parts i do realize we're using nvidia graphics cards in here and amd graphics in here but this is just meant as a sort of high level comparison unless you literally win or buy this specific pc desktop specs are always going to vary as our laptops so yeah this is just to give you an idea of the kind of performance difference between laptop parts and desktop parts and so in hitman 3's benchmarking tool with maxed out settings the desktop managed a 43 higher frame rate at 1080p 52 higher at 1440 and was a massive 90 faster at 4k and it equates to getting just over 50 fps on the laptop versus just under 100 fps on the desktop with this 6800 xt in call of duty warzone with ultra settings the desktop was 57 faster at full hd and almost twice as fast at 1440 and 4k and here i did actually have to drop the settings down a little bit on the zephyrus at 4k to hit that constant 60fps and finally in rainbow six siege using ultra settings again i saw between 115 and a 130 boost at each resolution and the good news is i was able to max out the 165 hertz panel on the scar 15 at 1440p which felt amazing to play okay so with all that said what are my big takeaways well number one i think you can have a great experience with a gaming laptop i think these are a little bit too expensive for most people including myself i think the sweet spot right now if you are going to go out and buy a gaming laptop we'll be in the area of about a thousand to 1500 pounds and that will get you an rtx 3060 or even a 30 70 uh 144 or 240hz 1080p screen the latest ryzen 5000 chip like the 5800h and 16 gigs of ram and i think that kind of spec for that kind of money is really really good value actually number two desktop pcs are undeniably just a lot more powerful we're getting higher wattage parts and also much better cooling so in terms of raw performance you can't beat a desktop and you'll get this advantage regardless of whether you go for a lower or higher end hardware so no surprise there really but it is amazing that laptops can get close and the gap will be even narrower with something like the msi ge 76 which gets a full fat 150 watt 3080 number three and the biggest performance differences we're seeing are at 4k so something like the zephyrus geosc with a 4k screen isn't ideal for gaming although you can of course always just drop the resolution but that's why most gaming laptops top out at 1080p or even like this guy 1440 which i think is actually a much better balance of image quality and performance in this form factor although a high refresh 1080p is still my recommendation for the best value gaming laptop number four and this isn't something we've really talked about a whole lot but you do have to ask yourself how important is having this portability because you're getting all these restrictions with the size the power the price in order to have something you can carry in a backpack or take with you because it is also clear that you are getting more bang for your buck with a desktop although on the flip side you are gonna have to pay for a gaming monitor and all the peripherals to go with your desktop which are well built in with a laptop so i think personally i'm more of a desktop gaming pc kind of guy but what about you would you go for the laptop or the desktop let me know in the comments below and if you do want to see more from me if you enjoyed the video which hopefully you did by watching the whole thing don't forget to hit that subscribe button below ding that bell and like button and all those annoying youtuber things but don't forget to click on the gleam link in the description for a chance to win this pc from cyberpower and i will also leave a link if you want to check this out or even spec a pc for yourself and i'll see you next time right here on the tech chatnow seems like a pretty good time to ask the question should you buy a gaming laptop or a desktop pc gaming laptops are so much better than they used to be with all new graphics cards and new processors including amd's fantastic ryzen 5000 series high refresh rates 144 and 240hz as standard now with high-end laptops pushing 300 and even 360. plus we're now seeing these quad hd resolution gaming laptops also with high refresh rates and the better specs are paired with sleeker and more compact designs much improved cooling and noise levels although it does still depend on the laptop plus some really interesting new form factors like this zephyrus duo se with dual 4k screens and of course with the ongoing issues around availability of desktop gpu and cpus and sadly skyrocketing reseller prices so now seems like a pretty good time to buy a gaming laptop but what about desktop pcs so for this video i've actually partnered with amd cyberpower and msi everyone's chipping in on this one but particularly cyberpower who sent over this incredible pre-built gaming pc complete with a 12 core amd ryzen 5900x and an msi radeon 6800 xt and the best part is you can actually win this it is a uk only competition i'm afraid but we're giving away this pc along with some fantastic msi peripherals including their rgb vigor mechanical keyboard and the ultra light gaming mouse although i am keeping the msi dragon this is too cute to give away and i'll also put links to this exact pc and cyberpowers configurator where you can spec your dream pc or gaming laptop in the description as well okay i hear you who's really buying big expensive gaming laptops like this why not go for a desktop gaming pc that's more powerful and probably cheaper as well i mean desktops are more flexible when it comes to upgrading and expansion they're also usually more powerful they run cooler and also have water cooling options and generally they just offer a lot more bang for your buck desktop gpus also get a serious speed advantage the rtx 3080s in the super premium asus gaming laptops aren't anywhere near as fast as the desktop version in my tests the msi radeon 6800xt in this all amd pre-built cyber power system was between 55 and 130 faster in the games i tested than either of these high-end laptops albeit with nvidia's equivalent gpus but more importantly not all laptop graphics cards are made the same because we've got 3080s with tgp so total graphics power anything from 80 watts up to 150 which has a 73 faster base clock and the crazy thing is if a manufacturer uses the lowest power 3080 it's actually slower than the highest power 3060 which can all get so confusing and to make matters worse every laptop manufacturer and oem is a little bit different about how they tell you some put it front and center when you buy a laptop other ones you have to dive into the technical specifications to find out but the point is as impressive and powerful as these new gaming laptops are it's more confusing than ever to actually buy one and this is something you just don't have to worry about when you're buying a desktop gaming pc you're unlocking all the potential performance on a desktop with the much higher power components and of course the better cooling while also paying a lot less than the closest spec rival laptop so these are all good reasons why you might want to avoid a gaming laptop and it kind of makes sense i mean you're paying more for a tightly engineered product that's designed to occupy a fraction of the space a desktop does while also having to cram in a keyboard a touchpad a big battery as well as the display so as usual it comes down to what suits your needs your lifestyle and your constraints whether it's space money or time now i love building pcs there's something really satisfying about researching and buying the components having them all arrive put them together pressing the on button for the first time and it booting up and posting it feels like a rite of passage for any pc gamer and it is enjoyable most of the time when it works but chances are unless you've built a few pcs before you will hit snags especially if you're impatient like me and good cable management is just something that other people worry about so building your own pc isn't for everyone it takes time it's great if you enjoy doing it and you've got some experience but not ideal if you don't laptops and pre-built pcs on the other hand are a whole lot easier plus you're getting manuals uh servicing and customer support and also crucially warranty as a package if anything goes wrong buying a pre-built desktop or a laptop from a retailer like cyberpower lets you spec your pc pretty much exactly how you'd want and crucially you can pick what would otherwise be an unavailable gpu and cpu without having to wait an absolute age to get it or worse paying two to three times over the retail price from a scalper for a car that for all you know has been worn out as part of a crypto mining rig being a pc gamer now is probably the toughest it's been well in my entire lifetime and so this does cut out some of those issues because they can source the components the gpus and cpus which to us mere mortals just are not available now to be fair pre-builts do usually cost a little bit more than doing it yourself but if you do factor in the excessive gpu reseller prices right now pre-built is likely to work out cheaper and of course it's also built by professionals who do this for a living and can do cable management in ways that i can only dream of not just that though because you can be smart with how you spec your pc for example if you went with an all amd build like this that comes with a recent ryzen cpu and a rx 6000 series gpu then you're getting some extra boost to gaming performance thanks to features like smart access memory or sam and it's basically a much faster way for the cpu and gpu to transfer data to each other and so it gives the processor and the graphics full access to each other's memory and this can then help boost your frame rate in games that have been updated to take advantage of it so that's lots of vague waffling from me but let's actually put these to the test and see what kind of numbers we can get from them and so we've got this high-end cyber power rig against the closest spec laptops that i could get a hold of we've got the asus registry scarf 15 and also the zephyrus duo 15. it is worth noting that the 3080s used in both these machines are 115 watt tgp parts i do realize we're using nvidia graphics cards in here and amd graphics in here but this is just meant as a sort of high level comparison unless you literally win or buy this specific pc desktop specs are always going to vary as our laptops so yeah this is just to give you an idea of the kind of performance difference between laptop parts and desktop parts and so in hitman 3's benchmarking tool with maxed out settings the desktop managed a 43 higher frame rate at 1080p 52 higher at 1440 and was a massive 90 faster at 4k and it equates to getting just over 50 fps on the laptop versus just under 100 fps on the desktop with this 6800 xt in call of duty warzone with ultra settings the desktop was 57 faster at full hd and almost twice as fast at 1440 and 4k and here i did actually have to drop the settings down a little bit on the zephyrus at 4k to hit that constant 60fps and finally in rainbow six siege using ultra settings again i saw between 115 and a 130 boost at each resolution and the good news is i was able to max out the 165 hertz panel on the scar 15 at 1440p which felt amazing to play okay so with all that said what are my big takeaways well number one i think you can have a great experience with a gaming laptop i think these are a little bit too expensive for most people including myself i think the sweet spot right now if you are going to go out and buy a gaming laptop we'll be in the area of about a thousand to 1500 pounds and that will get you an rtx 3060 or even a 30 70 uh 144 or 240hz 1080p screen the latest ryzen 5000 chip like the 5800h and 16 gigs of ram and i think that kind of spec for that kind of money is really really good value actually number two desktop pcs are undeniably just a lot more powerful we're getting higher wattage parts and also much better cooling so in terms of raw performance you can't beat a desktop and you'll get this advantage regardless of whether you go for a lower or higher end hardware so no surprise there really but it is amazing that laptops can get close and the gap will be even narrower with something like the msi ge 76 which gets a full fat 150 watt 3080 number three and the biggest performance differences we're seeing are at 4k so something like the zephyrus geosc with a 4k screen isn't ideal for gaming although you can of course always just drop the resolution but that's why most gaming laptops top out at 1080p or even like this guy 1440 which i think is actually a much better balance of image quality and performance in this form factor although a high refresh 1080p is still my recommendation for the best value gaming laptop number four and this isn't something we've really talked about a whole lot but you do have to ask yourself how important is having this portability because you're getting all these restrictions with the size the power the price in order to have something you can carry in a backpack or take with you because it is also clear that you are getting more bang for your buck with a desktop although on the flip side you are gonna have to pay for a gaming monitor and all the peripherals to go with your desktop which are well built in with a laptop so i think personally i'm more of a desktop gaming pc kind of guy but what about you would you go for the laptop or the desktop let me know in the comments below and if you do want to see more from me if you enjoyed the video which hopefully you did by watching the whole thing don't forget to hit that subscribe button below ding that bell and like button and all those annoying youtuber things but don't forget to click on the gleam link in the description for a chance to win this pc from cyberpower and i will also leave a link if you want to check this out or even spec a pc for yourself and i'll see you next time right here on the tech chat\n"