Asklemmy

It's down to the expected use case.
If you have some reason to want portability, like you travel for work or expect to want to game at a place other than you home, then a laptop is likely the right choice.
If you only expect to game at home and don't have a need to constantly move your system around, a desktop is usually a better "bang for the buck".

Personally, I don't travel and don't have a need to move my gaming rig around. I also like having the ability to upgrade in a piecemeal fashion. So, I have a desktop. This particular PC of Theseus has been going for a decade and a half now and shows no sign of stopping.

Both, each have their place. I have a desktop in my office. Decent recent spec and kept fairly up to date.

Laptop I have a reasonable "gaming" spec in the lounge we both use it.

The laptop will always be a compromise. You cannot shift the dissipated heat from a full power gpu at all in that form factor, and most cpus are going to also be lower power editions because they need to work on batteries as well as connected to power. But they're still for sure usable.

Desktop will always outperform. Even the stock cpu and gpu options will perform at a higher tdp, and you can usually improve cooling in a big case to either improve stock boost frequencies, or over clock.

Physics is the limiting factor for laptops, both in terms of power delivery, and heat dissipation.

I have use a gaming laptop since 2014 and miss being able to switch out components. The laptop I have is pretty modular and easy to service. Finding the parts at a reasonable price is not really possible anymore.

Desktop first, steam deck very close second.

Laptops can stay very far away from my household

You need to spend a lot of money for a gaming laptop to be good. The are really a compromise if you absolutely cannot have a PC where you are. Especially now with the steam deck.

I really don't want to own multiple machines and certainly don't want to lwn a clunky desktop. I was quite happy with Stadia, but need to look at external GPUs through oculink as that would provide me with the best of two worlds.

Currently, my gaming is very light with rather si lle graphics.

Both. I like the customizability and power of a desktop, but I like the portability of a laptop. If you can afford both, why not have both. I often have my laptop set up next to my desktop for browsing/chatting while gaming and I also often just take my laptop to game when I go to friends' places. Also, they're both PCs.

[HenryCarvell.meme] steamdeck

2 years ago I would say PCs over laptops, owned a couple of gaming laptops and always ended up going back to desktops. Still have a decent, but relatively old desktop PC. Lots of gaming laptops generate a brutal amount of heat, so gaming in bed or holding the machine in your lap is not very comfortable. At the end you just sit at a desk plugged in, same as a regular PC. The only positive of a laptop is if you traveling a lot and want to play high end games it makes it possible.

However today I would go with the third option: handheld gaming PC. The Steam Deck absolutely changed my life how I game. I am finishing more games, I can play literally anywhere, anytime and its just so damn convenient. Sure, there are compromises, its not for everyone and AAA and multiplayer gaming is not really ideal, but neither of them interests me. For everyday PC stuff you need a docking station and connect up all peripherals to use them as a workstation, again not ideal but they all work as a full fledged PC as well.

Again, probably not everyones cup of tea, but it just suits me so damn well. Last year I did over 90% of gaming on handheld.

Also since the success of Steam Deck the competition is catching up fast and almost monthly someone releases a new handheld gaming PC so there are many options to choose from.

I'm not sure what PCS is, but I've never owned a gaming laptop. I game mostly on a desktop, or play games that can run on a fairly standard laptop. Though I've not had a laptop since 2018, and got by with a desktop and tablet.

Steam Deck

Gaming laptops are far too prone to overheating - either your manufacturer has drastically limited clock speed, your machine will brick itself as soon as you try to launch a performance intensive game... or you spent 7k+ on getting something from a niche company that slapped a jet engine on that sucker.

Desktop. However I’m looking at gaming laptops just to have a sturdy, powerful laptop for work. And I hate touch screens.

Laptop:

• Cheap when buying used, meanwhile used PC parts still are insanely expensive. So on the used market in my country you get the most value when buying a used gaming pc.

• Especially cheap when considering I don't have to buy a laptop. A useful laptop would cost like 400€, I bought my gaming laptop for 900€ (3 months used, instead of 1400€), same performance in a desktop would cost 1000€+ So normal laptop + gaming desktop would be 1400€+, I only spent 900€.

• Portable. Not much to say here.