In the gaming world, desktop PC's have always been more popular than the best gaming laptops. But as computer parts get smaller and cheaper it becomes possible to pack more power into gaming laptops. As we enter the second half of 2009, desktop PC's edge over gaming laptops is becoming much less distinct.
Gaming Notebook, Laptops, and Desktop PC's Rise to Mainstream
In the mid 90's Alienware was one of the first companies to offer top quality gaming laptops and desktop PC's, with a price that reflected that top end hardware. The top computer manufactures of that time were Gateway and Dell, which approached the PC market much like the auto industry - Mass producing affordable gaming laptops and desktops which appealed to the mass public, and whos desktop PC's offered limited options for customization.
Despite the limited market at the time, Alienware focused entirely on producing top end highly customizable gaming desktop PCs. Within a few years the digital age took off and all types of advanced rendering applications became affordable for the average person. It was during this brief period that the computer gaming market really took off, back when there was no need for anti-piracy DRM, and the PC gaming market was just as vibrant as console gaming around release.
Alienware was not left alone to rake in the money from this exponentially growing market of PC gamers wanting the latest or best gaming computer of the month. Soon companies like Falcon Northwest (founded before Alienware but not as popular), HP's voodoo gaming branch, and Vigor gaming all began competing for this once 'niche' hardcore computer gaming market. As we learned in economics class, an increase in competition is good for the consumer, and it wasn't long before there were cheap gaming computers, affordable computer notebooks, and cheap gaming laptops.
Crysis warhead
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 @2.66GHz
- Video card: Nvidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB
- Motherboard: G31 mATX
- RAM: 2GB
- Video card: Nvidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB
- Motherboard: G31 mATX
- RAM: 2GB
Assassins Creed 2
Processor: Dual core processor 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or better recommended) RAM: 2 GB (3 GB recommended) Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 10.0 video card or DirectX 9.0 with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (512 MB video card recommended)
Micro Affordable gaming laptops - Massive Gaming Destop PCs??
These entry level cheap gaming laptops continued getting smaller parts of higher quality, and today they are impressive gaming rigs in their own right. Even a mid level gaming notebook can now reach the "recommended" system requirements of the most CPU intensive PC games. The portability and small size of computer notebooks, combined with modern gaming laptops ability to act as top end gaming rigs, has taken away a lot of Desktop PC's appeal. I personally dislike gaming laptops due to the small size of the keyboard and mouse, but this is easily fixed with just a couple simple USB cables these days. It seems like the best gaming desktop pcs have to increase the number of ports and drive bays on their desktop pc's just for the sake of staying ahead of the top laptops.
Below I compare the FragBook DRX, Falcon Northwest's newest notebook (and arguably the best gaming laptop around right now) with Alienware's incredibly powerful ALX X58 desktop. almost all the major features are comparable; and the price is too. This would certainly shock anyone who hasn't been paying attention to computer hardware costs in the past couple years, since just a short time ago the best gaming laptops cost almost twice as much as desktop PC's with similar hardware.
Desktop PC's Still Ahead - But do you really need 24GB of RAM?
Alienware ALX X58 Desktop PC's Specs
Alienware's Best Gaming Computer- ALX X58 - Vista 64-bit | As shown Cost: $5,100 with 24GB of RAM - $7,300 with 12GB of faster RAM |
|---|---|
Processor | Overclocked @3.86GHz Intel Core i7 975 Extreme-8MB Cache |
Graphics Card/Video Memory: | Dual 2GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 with CrossFireX and Quad GPU Technology |
OR | |
Graphics Card/Video Memory option 2 | Dual 1,792 MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 |
Computer Memory: 6 DIMM Slots | 12GB Triple Channel DDR3 @ 1600MHz = $500 OR |
RAM option 2 - more memory slower speed | 24GB Triple Channel DDR3@ 1333MHz = $2,700 |
Hard Drive | 1TB (2 x 500GB) SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 2 x 16MB Cache |
Alienware Best Gaming Computer has a very steep price - if you must have the very best. $5,100 with 24GB of RAM - $7,300 with 12GB of faster RAM
Falcon Northwest's-Best Gaming Laptop-FragBook DRX
Falcon Northwest's FragBook DRX - Windows 7 | ~$5,500 fully loaded |
|---|---|
Processor: | Intel Core i7 @ 3.3 GHz |
Laptop Memory | 6-12 GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz ram ( Price is with 12GB) |
Graphics card/Video Memory | Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M With 1GB Video Memory |
Room For 3 Hard Drives with RAID support | 320GB Speed: 72000RPM Buffer Size: 16MB ($110 each) |
3 of either | 256GB SSD 200 megabyte per second write speed (over $800 each) |
Is the gaming desktop PC's top end hardware really worth the cost?
There's no denying the raw power of the Alienware ALX X58, but is it really needed? The PC gaming market has slowed down quite a bit in the past couple years, and current hardware is already able to play even the most resource intensive PC games. While the power and numbers of this next gen hardware is amazing, it really doesn't seem to warrant the cost in the current gaming market, at least in my opinion. The dual GPU quad SLI enabled Nvidia GTX 295 and blistering fast 1600MHz Ram may be more practical, and hopefully more affordable, in later months when big name PC titles start hitting store shelves.