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Any disadvantage to gaming laptop for real work?

Posted: 2015-02-14 07:08am
by Adam Reynolds
Other than the obvious problem of price anyway. Not to mention that it would make it easier to be distracted when doing said real work.

I do realize that it is usually much weaker than a proper gaming desktop however. Does anyone have any suggestions on models?

Re: Any disadvantage to gaming laptop for real work?

Posted: 2015-02-14 08:52am
by White Haven
It's going to be heavier, generate more heat, and likely have less battery capacity than a non-gaming laptop. While it can certainly get the job done, if you're using it in a more portable role, you might be better off with something more fit-for-purpose, thin and lightweight.

Re: Any disadvantage to gaming laptop for real work?

Posted: 2015-02-14 09:05am
by Mr Bean
White Haven wrote:It's going to be heavier, generate more heat, and likely have less battery capacity than a non-gaming laptop. While it can certainly get the job done, if you're using it in a more portable role, you might be better off with something more fit-for-purpose, thin and lightweight.
Two of these are not necessarily true. Pretty much all laptops employ switchable graphics and many use bigger battery to compensate for the extra dedicated GPU's. When your doing work those GPU's are shut off in favor of the on CPU one.

Heavier and price are the only two marks left against gaming laptops being used for office work.

Re: Any disadvantage to gaming laptop for real work?

Posted: 2015-02-15 11:21am
by Gaidin
Do you have compute heavy work that may have to be done in multiple locations without the benefit of a network?

Re: Any disadvantage to gaming laptop for real work?

Posted: 2015-02-15 11:59am
by General Zod
Define "real work". I bought a midrange laptop last year for $600 that can play a decent range of games and handles Office tasks pretty well. It can even run more intensive programs like Inventor or AutoCAD if I need to.

As far as models go, I've actually been pretty happy with Dell's lineup. If I had the cash I'd probably drop it on an XPS.

Re: Any disadvantage to gaming laptop for real work?

Posted: 2015-02-15 01:10pm
by Mr Bean
General Zod wrote: As far as models go, I've actually been pretty happy with Dell's lineup. If I had the cash I'd probably drop it on an XPS.
Dell as always have a cavet, some of their models are utter shit for build quality and they put out new models every six months or less. The 13inch XPS, 15inch XPS are great, but the 17inch XPS the build quality is utter shit. But hey don't worry the V2 the 13 inch XPS went to shit and the 17 inch is now great.

I still don't know how Dell manages it. Twice a year for a decade now they randomly forget how to install a laptop keyboard or they ship the monitors with a backing that warps easily. Or suddenly the wrist stop discolors inside a month when exposed to something acidic like oh human sweat. It's bloody bizarre.

The comparison I've heard it's as if every 5th model of car Honda produced had the exhaust vent into the truck. It makes no sense from a modern design point yet somehow without fail every Dell model year has some bizarre manufacturing decision.


*Edit just checked this year the XPS 14 Ultrabook is the shit model which has all sorts of issues with the chassis in both the keyboard can come lose and the hard drive housing can be easily bent resulting in lots of HD vibration because they reduced the bracket thickness by 40% in this years model.

Re: Any disadvantage to gaming laptop for real work?

Posted: 2015-02-15 01:27pm
by Gaidin
That's them probably trying to get people to up their game to their alienware line. We use that at our office, where about none of the things you describe happen. Kinda sad, really.