Poll: laptops, mobility AND power?? check it out

[The Lugz]

so we've all had the problem, got a laptop pay a decent wad of cash for it and then 3 years later it cant play anything new.. well, someone linked me this today and my gob was smacked

apparently it is now possible to attach a high end gpu to a laptop by slotting it into an external expansion bay and just plugging it in
entirely solving the issue allot of people have with needing a laptop and wanting a games machine too

check it out!
http://www.villageinstruments.com/tiki-index.php?page=ViDock#

wish that had existed when i had my old laptop i wouldn't have had to sell the poor thing

 

[ResonanceSD]

-snip

US$199 - $279 on top of what you've paid for a "gaming" laptop? Are you kidding me?

I've said it before, I'll say it again, if you want to play games, get a desktop. If you want portability, put your desktop in a M-ITX form factor case, or get something like an Antec Lanboy.

 

[viranimus]

Yeah I dont see this as a solution. Either your going to set this up near an existing monitor for gaming, or your going to lug it around and its not really going to fit much of anywhere and not be in the way.

Plus the concern about heat considering how hot laptops get already. Plus the power drain from a higher end gpu, Plus even more wires. Plus the expense of it.

Really Its a nifty idea, yes. But not one thats realistic or all that practical.

 

[The Lugz]

-snip

US$199 - $279 on top of what you've paid for a "gaming" laptop? Are you kidding me?

I've said it before, I'll say it again, if you want to play games, get a desktop. If you want portability, put your desktop in a M-ITX form factor case, or get something like an Antec Lanboy.

that was the reason for the 'its costs what!?!?!?' option
the price performance isn't great, but if you need mobility and want to game too it's still cheaper than having a dedicated gaming pc and laptop, just figured i'd share it i know i would have used it if it existed 5 years ago

yes, desktops are the only feasible way to game efficiently at the moment but i really think a modular design portable pc could be the future imagine if you could plug in upgrades to every aspect of your laptop to make it more powerful, or strip it down for what you need at the time only.. that would be a powerful platform and very easy to enhance later on when breakthroughs come
we need a form-factor for laptops, something along the lines of a mobile atx spec that company's can build generic laptop parts to the same way as we do home pc's and then have a dock when we get back home we can just plug it in and it gains the extra processing power to make it into a high end station
it could be done with clever programming and design if you made a compute gpu for the mobile portion and left the main cpu and graphics cards behind you could use it as integrated physics or a hardware processor when it's plugged in to it's dock

if you made both the dock and mobile platform upgradeable you have basically ended computer compatibility problems, but eh.. the price would be astronomical at first i guess!

this isn't there yet but i really feel it's a kick in the right direction for mobile units

 

[Stall]

It's totally pointless since...

Laptops
Are
Not
For
Playing
Games

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

It's just a permutation of the tech that's been around for ages with workstation GPU extension boxes, units that will run up to 4 GPUs externally.

 

[Hong Meiling]

It's totally pointless since...

Laptops
Are
Not
For
Playing
Games

Really? My friends $1600 laptop plays most games pretty fine!

 

[Stall]

Really? My friends $1600 laptop plays most games pretty fine!

That was sarcasm, right? It's hard to tell on the internet sometimes.

 

[TheComedown]

It's totally pointless since...

Laptops
Are
Not
For
Playing
Games

Really? My friends $1600 laptop plays most games pretty fine!

Not for long, as you already said, most. Laptops have a really short lifespan when it comes to games.

Not to mention for that price I could have built 2 mid to high end machines that would wipe the floor with that laptop.

 

[Hong Meiling]

Really? My friends $1600 laptop plays most games pretty fine!

That was sarcasm, right? It's hard to tell on the internet sometimes.

It does play games fine.

Not for long, as you already said, most. Laptops have a really short lifespan when it comes to games.

Not to mention for that price I could have built 2 mid to high end machines that would wipe the floor with that laptop.

Well he's rich.
So there's that.

Laptops are inherently more expensive, but just because they cost more does not mean they do less. If people want to play games on laptops, they better be ready to shell out a whole lot of money.

 

[TheFloBros]

Well, my $1800 laptop runs any game on the highest setting perfectly.

 

[crudus]

It does play games fine.

Yes, specially made laptops play games fine. There are a few very important draw backs though. These drawbacks (mostly) go away when you just buy a desktop. Personally, I have never understood the point of gaming laptops(especially if you just play at home). Sure it would be nice to play Crisis while at the laundromat, but pointless.

 

[TheComedown]

Not for long, as you already said, most. Laptops have a really short lifespan when it comes to games.

Not to mention for that price I could have built 2 mid to high end machines that would wipe the floor with that laptop.

Well he's rich.
So there's that.

Laptops are inherently more expensive, but just because they cost more does not mean they do less. If people want to play games on laptops, they better be ready to shell out a whole lot of money.

Yeah so? Even if he has the money to wipe his arse with it still just goes down the toilet.

Yeah they are more expensive, but really anyone ready to spend that kind of money on a laptop just to play games on is just an idiot, really, laptops are mobile but as someone above mentioned who really would be playing crysis at the laundromat? The majority of use these laptops getting is just sitting down at a desk.

 

[triggrhappy94]

Now if only there was a way to make my laptop CPU beefier.

OT: Right after typing that the "mouse" pad thing on my laptop stopped working >.<

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

It's totally pointless since...

Laptops
Are
Not
For
Playing
Games

Really? Because my $600 laptop plays Crysis on Ultra just fine.

Laptops can work for gaming, they just can't be prebuilds.

 

[omega 616]

Never understood the need to game on the move.

We all know as gamers that 20 minutes is nothing in a game, it's not even one level but when your out and about doing your thing who stops and thinks "this would be a good time to play an 20 mins on crysis"? Even during your dinner break at work is a bit pointless.

yeah, you could say long train or car journeys but that's what the PSP and DS are for and how often are you taking long trips like that? The graphics aren't as good and the games are a bit limited but there also over $1,000 cheaper!

Get yourself a PSP/DS and a mid to high spec desk top and have a lot more fun over all.

 

[Jordi]

For all the people who don't understand why someone would want a gaming laptop:
It is not necessarily about gaming on the move (although some people might do that as well). These ViDocks aren't going to help much with that anyway, since they are fairly heavy and require power supplies (just like your laptop, if you want to game for over 1 hour).

For me it is about the fact that I need a fairly powerful laptop do work on, and to be able to take with me to several different places. In these places I don't play games, but I would like to play them at home. I guess I could use a desktop computer for that, but that is expensive. Furthermore, a desktop computer would kind of take up most of the space on my desk, so if I want to work at home, I can't sit at the desk with my laptop. I could work on the desktop of course, but then I'd have to synchronize everything and that is a pain. It's just easier to be able to do everything on the same computer.

To be honest, I find the idea of the ViDock quite appealing. I do think that it's very expensive, especially considering that you have to buy a videocard too. Also, I'm not really convinced that it will work perfectly, and that it will solve all of the problems laptop gaming has.

 

[Wolfram23]

They've had external GPUs for laptops for a while, although they're not easy to find. This is a pretty good idea and all, but the price tag is higher than the high tech hardware you're going to put inside the thing. Kind of silly. Plus, laptop GPUs have come a long way. The newest "fastest mobile GPU" the 6990M is pretty damn fast. Even with a huge 18" laptop with a 1080p display it'll run any game at max for a while yet to come. Things look even better when you have smaller 13" laptops, as they usually are running a much lower resolution like at most 1360x768(ish) which requires even less power.

The problem is that for the tech, it's a LOT of cash. You have to really ask yourself, is mobile gaming (near a wall plug) that important to you? You can get a desktop for half the price of a gaming laptop and have plenty of power and easy upgrades, and then get a decent, cheaper laptop. With sandy bridge CPUs in laptops you don't even need a discreet mobile card to game anymore - sure, it's not that good but it can get by at lower settings if you really need to.

Example: Alienware MX18 laptops are anywhere from $1999 to $4000+! That's crazy! It's far more sensible to buy a $800 desktop and a $800 laptop, and you'll have big screen gaming at home plus a solid, fast laptop.

 

[Xariat]

mehh, i'd rather wait untill pc hardware gets ligher and cheaper, which it will (in some years)
so everyone could buy a gaming pc/laptop the same way you buy a console today.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Yeah so? Even if he has the money to wipe his arse with it still just goes down the toilet.

Money just clogs up the plumbing... it's even worse with plastic based notes like Oz has.