I’ve been building PCs for 20 years — trust me, buy a gaming laptop instead

[AverageBob]

While I would agree that for gaming for the average person, a laptop is probably a good decision, I disagree with your advice in this column that people should not build a PC. Let’s start with the obvious: you chose to be at the leading edge of technology. These choices come with negatives including less stability. I too have built PCs for over 20 years and there are three main configurations I would not choose if I wanted stability.

1. Windows 11. Frankly I am using Windows 10 for as long as I can as 11 is still too unstable for my tastes especially if you are using the latest hardware. Like many early versions of Windows, drivers are a mess.
2. RTX 4090. While NVidia calls this a gaming GPU, it really for productivity. NVidia will happily sell it to you though if you want to game with it.
3. Intel Core i9 13900K. Even in the best scenario, this chip is only slightly faster than AMD offerings. I have recommended against Intel to friends since the 10th generation. Ryzen is just better for gaming and in many cases cheaper.

As far as gaming PCs go, it has been bad the last several years due to pricing but all the stability problems you have experienced is not indicative of gaming PCs in general.

 

[Alfagrump]

Seeing a poorly thought out, poorly researched article like this on my feed makes me not trust TH as much. Click bait, or people literally shilling bad product? Every gaming laptop is good when you get it for free, and they're especially good when you don't have to daily drive them for 5+ years.

 

[pmerritt]

After my expensive rig broke yet again, my eyes have been newly opened to the delights of laptop gaming.

I’ve been building PCs for 20 years — trust me, buy a gaming laptop instead : Read more

This was published and a lot of people will see this and be misled by your editorial. I've been building PC's since the mid 90's and every rig I've ever built lasted until I needed too basically overhaul the whole thing. Every single one.... The last pc I built was just last year. The outgoing PC was using an I7 3930k processor from the Sandy bridge era. I can't help but say that either you made some bad decisions or were very unlucky. But please don't discourage people from building their own PC's. Not only can it be cost effective but it could even be something that gets someone interested in a new hobby, profession or business.

 

[Cole P.]

Preface-I actually made an account just to respond to this article. I know the author is probably upset but it feels a bit dishonest to say that something you've loved doing for 20+ years is nullified by one tough situation. In fact, the most thrilling part of working on things is overcoming difficulties... that feeling you get when you solve a problem. It feels like he jumped the gun here, I imagine once he fixes it he'll be back. But people might read this and take it at surface level. Pc building, working on cars, making furniture... whatever- we do it for the love of the hobby. Of course you can spend more money and buy stuff, that's not the point.

 

[Lo-Tan]

This article looks AI generated. It has grammar issues and almost reads like "write me an article about laptop gaming being better than building your own PCs. make sure to add some typos so it looks human created and unprofessional.".

That said, if people have any knowledge of PC building in general, they also now know that you don't know what BIOS flashback is, or that you probably needed a motherboard update to support the processor. Which if you have a 12600, you could have booted with that and flashed the motherboard without flashback.

Anyways, gaming laptops aren't great. They can't run very hot and get thermal throttled. The components are weaker than their desktop counterparts. If parts go bad, you can't replace them after it's out of warranty. You can't upgrade the parts in a few years when it starts feeling dated.

If you absolutely need a gaming laptop for travel/portability, I'd start looking at Framework laptops. Idk how good they are in the gaming sector yet, but at least you can upgrade/replace components.

Edit: I've had an account here 15 years and this was the first article that drove me to make my first comment ever

 

[syardumi]

This article should not have been published. Not only is this bad advice, but it shows just how inexperienced the author is at building PCs. Laptops age out very quickly due to excessive heat besides the fact that the majority aren't upgradeable. I have not had a PC build were I couldn't carry over at least one part into the new build from an old one. I hope this post is ratio'd into obscurity.

 

[rtuite]

So you're suggesting we give up machines with easily replaceable, modular, standardized parts for more expensive versions that are almost completely proprietary? That's the worst logic ever.

I've had 2 gaming laptops (both Sager/Clevo) and it was awesome... Until they broke. The final straw was when my fan failed in 2020 and a replacement part was 6+ weeks out minimum. Went back to desktops for good.

I'd also point out that upgrades outside of RAM and SSDs are non-existent. Even the CPU is embedded on most models. So, if you have a CPU, GPU, or main board component failure, you're paying to replace all 3.

 

[Ti74Raven]

After my expensive rig broke yet again, my eyes have been newly opened to the delights of laptop gaming.

I’ve been building PCs for 20 years — trust me, buy a gaming laptop instead : Read more

I mean this in the nicest way possible...but it sounds like you are just not all that good/careful while building PCs and are blaming the PC parts.

I've been building since I was 9 years old and while yeah, once in a while I run into a hiccup. Most things, like your BIOS issue can be solved by just doing the base footwork before you start mashing parts together. Go to the motherboard website, look at the QVL...things like that. It has only gotten easier to build confidently with time.

For instance, chances are in your current situation you could have just socketed the old CPU and done the BIOS update even after the initial failure to check, and there's a good chance that during the swap your default boot drive was changed cuz that happens a lot.

Keep in mind with a laptop, outside of Framework, you wouldn't even have the *option* to upgrade. You get lower performance per dollar, and are beholden to the battery having issues within a few years.
It is bad advice to say that gaming laptops are any kind of full replacement for a gaming desktop of equivalent price.

 

[chris.btbi]

Tom's it's usually pretty reliable in their reviews, but the recommendation to go with a laptop over tower gaming PC is horrendous.

Firstly, GPUs are never as powerful in laptops as the towers.

Secondly, towers are easier to repair and upgrade, whereas sometimes it's impossible to repair or upgrade a laptop.

Thirdly In my experience, the laptops that I owned, produced way way more heat. Always raising my room temperature to an unbearably high temperature.

Fourthly, gaming laptops often come bundled with software that slows your PC down and is sometimes quite difficult to remove.

All in all, please do yourself a favor and go with a tower. It's not worth all the negatives to have a "portable" gaming PC that you have to have plugged in anyway if you're going to do any serious gaming for any longer than an hour.

 

[tresnugget]

Not knowing your board needed a bios update before installing a new CPU is on you. Of course you're going to need a bios update if you're bios hasn't been updated since before the chip was released. As far as losing your data, there are plenty of tools that can allow you to boot off USB to back up your stuff not to mention you can try to repair your windows installation or even reinstall windows without wiping the drive. Don't tell people to buy a gaming laptop that costs twice as much as a desktop with less performance because you're having issues with your desktop and you can't mess up a laptop when doing upgrades because they can't be upgraded. Know what happens when a laptop component dies out of warranty? You chuck it in the bin. What happens with a desktop? You might go through hell pinpointing the component if you don't have the tools and knowledge to do so but when you find it you replace it

 

[OrangePiccolo]

Yeah right... Anyone who buys a laptop, a device that was designed to be portable just to hook it on the cable to use it as a desktop is a 🤡. Not to mention laptops, have small screens, get old faster than desktop and not as good for future proofing/upgradeability

 

[Shayedd]

This shameless dribble of clickbait wreaks of affiliate link monetization.

Even if this content was about desktop vs laptop (which it isn't); you're comparing your ability to build a desktop to a manufacturer made laptop.

I can't help but see what used to be a decent source of information as just another irritating waste of time.

 

[greenjackle]

Hello fellow Humans,

I have been putting PCs and Gaming PCs together since junior high so 1994 I think was the earliest. So long ago. Well in my career I ended up as a System Administrator, Security Admin, Security Engineer, Security Architect, Server Engineer, Server Architect, Network Engineer, Network Architect, Network Administration, Active Directory Architect, Active Directory Administration and my largest title was IT Director or CIO they are both the same. But then I got Bone Cancer and became permanently disabled and since then after applying to over 2000 jobs I have gotten 1 interview. Guess people don't want to hire disabled people.

So I have a long extensive background with technology. So when I tell you a gaming PC is easy to build especially in today's world then it is. Back in the day you had to remember that the red strip on the grey power cord connector had to face the power supply. Nothing was colored at all. Now everything is color coded and forums are everywhere explaining how to put something together.

But my ultimate advice to gaming builders is this. Do not buy cheap. You go cheap you will end up replacing parts constantly. Motherboards are full of everything now. You don't need extra cards really at all. I remember I use to have to buy a sound card, network card, modem, graphics card, etc. I use to buy AMD as well but I noticed those chips at least back in the day burned up. So I went Intel and never had issues again. When you buy items like thermal paste don't be cheap about it go get the good stuff. Thermal paste should be a liquid in a bottle that comes with a brush not that crap that came with the CPU. Buy a high quality CPU fan or water cooling system. Do not go cheap with any part. You think I will save money on the power supply but that will destroy your entire computer. The only parts you will replace every 5 years is your graphics card if you want. Then hard drives if something better comes around. For me SSDs came and so when they went down in price I replaced my windows hard drive with an ssd. Now you have m.2 which is amazing. GeForce is a great graphics card and I have used them for over 20 years now. They don't over heat like the other brand.

Just remember when your building a gaming PC to do your research and not go cheap on anything and it will last you a long time. Because if you go cheap things will break like this guy who wrote this article. Thermal paste on his fingers seriously that's why you use the thermal paint with the brush it comes with.

 

[NYFan77]

No offense, but this is just a dumb article. Clearly you have no expertise with computers if this is your conclusion. I've been building computers for longer than you and they involve skill, knowledge and some troubleshooting when you run into issues. Replacing them with devices that are pre-made for you that in all fairness can experience the same issues, and now you've spent $1,500 more for some mobility that you probably don't need to play some games, that is at least if you're an adult. I'm sorry I won't get the time back from reading and responding to this. But I will make sure it doesn't come across my Google news feed again lol.

 

[ddog6900]

If youre "sick" of such a basic thing, something that is 100% your own fault as well, you should really just stick to Prebuilts, Consoles or Laptops. Laptops are heavily overpriced and once you have a hardware problem, you cant fix it yourself anymore (or with great difficulty and cost-inefficiency).

Laptops have no use other than office work and being portable in situations when its not possible to stay in one place. Gaming on a Laptop will forever stay an expensive Scam.

This is the way.

Some people have no business building PCs, and a laptop experience isn't going to be much better unless you accept that you shouldn't upgrade or even open it yourself if you can't build a PC.

In fact, it may be worse.

 

[ddog6900]

Hello fellow Humans,

I have been putting PCs and Gaming PCs together since junior high so 1994 I think was the earliest. So long ago. Well in my career I ended up as a System Administrator, Security Admin, Security Engineer, Security Architect, Server Engineer, Server Architect, Network Engineer, Network Architect, Network Administration, Active Directory Architect, Active Directory Administration and my largest title was IT Director or CIO they are both the same. But then I got Bone Cancer and became permanently disabled and since then after applying to over 2000 jobs I have gotten 1 interview. Guess people don't want to hire disabled people.

So I have a long extensive background with technology. So when I tell you a gaming PC is easy to build especially in today's world then it is. Back in the day you had to remember that the red strip on the grey power cord connector had to face the power supply. Nothing was colored at all. Now everything is color coded and forums are everywhere explaining how to put something together.

But my ultimate advice to gaming builders is this. Do not buy cheap. You go cheap you will end up replacing parts constantly. Motherboards are full of everything now. You don't need extra cards really at all. I remember I use to have to buy a sound card, network card, modem, graphics card, etc. I use to buy AMD as well but I noticed those chips at least back in the day burned up. So I went Intel and never had issues again. When you buy items like thermal paste don't be cheap about it go get the good stuff. Thermal paste should be a liquid in a bottle that comes with a brush not that crap that came with the CPU. Buy a high quality CPU fan or water cooling system. Do not go cheap with any part. You think I will save money on the power supply but that will destroy your entire computer. The only parts you will replace every 5 years is your graphics card if you want. Then hard drives if something better comes around. For me SSDs came and so when they went down in price I replaced my windows hard drive with an ssd. Now you have m.2 which is amazing. GeForce is a great graphics card and I have used them for over 20 years now. They don't over heat like the other brand.

Just remember when your building a gaming PC to do your research and not go cheap on anything and it will last you a long time. Because if you go cheap things will break like this guy who wrote this article. Thermal paste on his fingers seriously that's why you use the thermal paint with the brush it comes with.

Really sounds like you are stirring the PC gaming community pot, but I'll bite.

How are any of the failures you've had unique to desktops alone? Perhaps it's localized to something you did, and not any one component.

Component failure does exist, but laptops aren't immune.

If this is your honest opinion, perhaps you should reiterate that you only want to stick to something with a broad warranty and not something that requires any level of troubleshooting. Sounds like you are one of the "RMA away my problem" crowd that is not a PC builder at heart.

 

[SomethingWItty]

I came to this same conclusion more than 10 years ago. The premium of spending $2k every 3ish years is very well justified by the 200+ hours of Witcher 3 or raiding in WoW, while laying on my couch.

 

[cafuddled]

Every now and then Tom's Hardware pops up on my feed. And every time, every single time, it's an absolute waste of time, click bait or rage bait article. This article is nonsense, title should have been "I'm not very good at computers, laptops are better for people who are the same as me".

 

[Daren.Purified]

I'm definitely not an expert but... Kinda sounds like your computer worked fine and then YOU screwed it up.

After reading the article again it turns out that you probably shouldn't even have built ONE computer. Again, not an expert, but if it doesn't take an expert to realize what you have done is wrong than yeesh, just give me the parts instead.

 

[Looming Dementia]

It sounds like you really, really, really learned the wrong lesson from this. Gaming laptops are weak as hell, particularly in the RTX 40-series, for some reason. An RTX 4070ti (real version) beats the RTX 4070ti (laptop version) by nearly a 2 to 1 ratio. The laptop version is pathetic.

And you pay more for the weaker versions of the various parts. There are good reasons to go with a gaming laptop. Your argument in this article isn't one of them.

You failed to replace your motherboard when you replaced your CPU. You should generally do that. You want the newer, faster motherboard to properly make use of your new RTX 4090, too.

And check your power supply. That might have screwed you, too.

Okay, so you aren't very good at assembling your own computers. Fine. There's no shame in that. But that's an argument for buying a pre-built desktop, not a laptop.

Hell, I am good at assembling my own computers. I bought my current one pre-built, though. I got a great deal on an Alienware machine that is freaking beautiful. And it'll blow that laptop out of the water by something like a 5 to 3 ratio on the frame rate with the same settings.

Seriously, push people towards pre-built desktops, not laptops.