I’ve had several gaming laptops and I love them for their versatility, mobility, and portability. But, I always thought that being a laptop gamester came with some compromises.
As more Mac-only games are released, I have found that the compromises I thought I would need to make to play PC games on a laptop don’t actually apply to me.
Since a decade, I have been into gaming laptops
I had my last desktop PC in 2015. I switched to a portable ITX (my second) build because I moved it around a lot. The rolling blackouts that ravaged my country a few years later were so severe that I couldn’t turn on my desktop for more than 12 hours a day. It was at this point that I switched to a gaming notebook. I had always avoided making this switch because gaming laptops are expensive and have poor performance. Eventually, the price and efficiency of components improved, as did their performance. In today’s dollars, the six-core Intel CPU and mobile GTX 1660TI in my first laptop performed better than my Haswell quad-core desktop and its AMD R9-390 GPU. It cost only around $1,000. On that Gigabyte, I played my first game Cyberpunk . Sydney Louw Butler/How-To Geek (19459007) Since then I have only used gaming laptops, and don’t feel the need to use gaming desktops again.
Sydney Louw Butler/How-To Geek All the gaming laptops I have owned were able to play modern games with 60fps or more at 1080p on the highest setting. Even without performance-boosting technology like DLSS, a laptop connected to a 1440p monitor at a desktop with high settings performs just as well. For me, performance and quality are good enough. The performance of gaming laptops is usually on par or even slightly higher than the current generation consoles. If money was no issue, it’s possible to get desktop-quality performance with a budget gaming laptop. However, the economics don’t work as the levels go up. No matter what Windows gaming laptops you choose, they all come with real compromises. The noise is what I find most annoying. My gaming laptops are all real loud when playing games. Noise-cancelling headphones are therefore a must. This is great for me but it’s not good for others in the room. You can only play games while you are plugged into the wall. The performance drops dramatically once the laptop is unplugged. You’ll be lucky to even get 45 minutes from the biggest battery that can fit on an airline. These gaming laptops are not powered by USB-C (even though 240W USB C has become popular recently), so you’ll have to carry a large power brick with you wherever.
The M4 Pro MacBook Pro opened my eyes on what was possible for laptop gaming
Although I had already seen some big things in terms of gaming with my M1 MacBook Air I have been blown away by the M4 Pro MacBook Pro. Two games that I enjoy playing are available in macOS native version: Baldur’s Gate 3 (19459010) and Cyberpunk (2077 (19459010). On paper, my M4 MacBook should have only two thirds the performance of my RTX4060 laptop. Both games perform, subjectively speaking, almost the same way on both my MacBook and Windows Laptop. Although the Mac’s frame rate might be slightly lower, both the Mac and Windows laptops have similar visual settings and are comfortable over 60fps. What’s the point?
Okay, so what exactly is going on here? My MacBook is quiet and does its job well . After several hours playing Cyberpunk, 2077 there was not audible noise from the fan. Holding your ear to the laptop, you can hear a “whoosh”quiet sound. The chassis barely feels warm. This makes sense, since my Windows laptop draws almost 300W under load while my MacBook is well below 100W in worst-case scenarios. There’s less heat and noise to contend with. The performance of the Mac does not alter even if the Mac is unplugged . On battery I can play Cyberpunk with my usual settings for an hour, or even longer if I’m willing to accept a 30-fps limit. What’s the point? What? Consider that my laptop is charged via USB-C and I have a 65W powerbank for my portable PC. I am able to more than double the runtime of my computer while I’m on the move. When I finish my work, it is much more convenient to grab my MacBook, and play a few hours of Baldur’s Gate 3 with my wife, on her PlayStation 5, than to lug my Windows gaming computer with brick down the stairs. If a game is available on both Mac OS and Windows, then I play it now. ESRB (M for Mature): Violence, Blood and Gore. Nudity. Strong Language. Strong Sexual Content. Use of Drugs and Alcohol.Publishers
REDengine 4.
Engine.
REDengine 4,
ps xbox pc.
Windows Gaming Laptops are No Longer Competitive
I understand that this is a comparison between apples and oranges, but after experiencing laptop gaming with a MacBook, which seems to compromise on absolutely nothing, and offers a much more comfortable experience than my “stealth” old ultra-slim Windows gaming laptop it has become difficult to play my Windows games on my laptop. Windows gaming laptops are now
outdated. I know that it is possible to make a small, powerful, quiet laptop.Old-fashioned. I might even say crude.
Good news! The advances in the x86 chip have led to some pretty incredible APUs by companies such as AMD. They power Windows gaming tablets and handhelds, they sip energy, and in theory, these chips could be used to create an experience that is similar to my Mac. Until that time, I will be playing games on my MacBook. Apple
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 12 Core 14″
Operating system
macOS Sequoia (version 19459024) CPU
12-Core M4 Pro
Graphics
16 core M4 GPU
Memory
24-GB
Store[19459028]Battery Batteries
72