You can probably guess that I'm not a big fan of gaming laptops. As a desktop user for close to 25 years, I've used everything from a dual-core Intel system to an 8-core Ryzen PC, and the only time I used a laptop instead was during my two-year MBA, when I had no time for gaming. Gaming laptops are famously inferior to gaming PCs for a variety of reasons, and 2025 might be the worst year for laptops yet.
Nvidia is set to announce its RTX 5000 series GPUs in a few days, the Trump administration is planning new tariffs on overseas goods, and the usual crippled performance of gaming laptops might get even worse this year. I believe all these factors together will make it even more difficult to recommend gaming laptops, even for consumers who are willing to spend big.
5 reasons desktop PCs are better than laptops
Laptops may have seen major improvements over the last decade, but desktops are still the better option for enthusiasts and hardcore gamers.
3 RTX 5000 is set to make laptops even less appealing
Prepare for things to go from bad to worse
It's no secret that Nvidia will continue to leverage its stranglehold on the gaming GPU market, especially in the high-end segment. This would translate to sky-high prices for its next-gen RTX 5000 series GPUs, as we've been seeing from leaks and rumors. The flagship desktop GPU, the RTX 5090, could easily cost a whopping $2,000 or even more, while the RTX 5080 is rumored to be priced at over $1,500.
This price hike would naturally extend to laptop models as well, jacking up prices for the best gaming laptops featuring Nvidia's latest GPUs. AMD is also set to launch its RX 9000 series this year, but Team Red isn't competing in the high-end segment this time around. Since the most popular laptop (and desktop) GPUs belong to Nvidia, the biggest impact on laptop pricing will be driven by Team Green's offerings.
Gaming laptops already have worse value than gaming PCs with comparable specifications, and with the price jump we'll see in next-gen models, it will become even less appealing to spend $1,500-$2,000 on a decent model. Additionally, more affordable models that will be within the budget of most consumers will likely receive minimal gen-on-gen improvements, considering what Nvidia is planning to do with the desktop versions of its next-gen GPUs.
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2 New tariffs might add a steep price hike
Gaming on the go will become more expensive
On top of the Nvidia tax, consumers might also have to fork out more for a gaming laptop owing to the proposed new tariffs on foreign goods. The Trump administration is planning to impose a 10% increase in tariffs on Chinese goods, which will affect laptops and smartphones the most, according to experts. Retailers will readily pass on this increase to consumers, if implemented, resulting in a possible hike of up to 45% in laptop prices.
Nvidia's GPUs might be manufactured in Taiwan, but the assembly of desktop graphics cards as well as laptops largely takes place in China. There's a chance these increased tariffs might not get implemented, but Trump seems determined to put them into action sooner rather than later. Global inflationary concerns are already hitting people hard, and discretionary spending is becoming curtailed. If you really want a gaming laptop (which I never recommend), you might want to act fast.
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The gaming laptop has some stiff competition
1 You'll still get a throttled, overheating mess
Laptop GPUs shouldn't have the same name as desktop models
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of gaming laptops is the brutal nerfing of their GPUs compared to desktop counterparts. An RTX 4070 desktop graphics card is anywhere from 40-50% faster than an RTX 4070 laptop GPU. Even after cutting down the specs of laptop GPUs and limiting their power to reduce heat output, gaming laptops are notorious for getting too hot when gaming. And they still manage to guzzle too much power, which makes gaming on battery power near-impossible.
These issues will only worsen as next-gen GPUs arrive with higher TDPs accompanying the increased performance. Laptop manufacturers will have to throttle the mobile GPUs even more, further widening the gap between the performance of the desktop and laptop GPUs. You'll essentially be paying more for a machine that is likely to perform even worse than a comparable PC.
Prices of desktop GPUs will also increase this year, but you will at least get faster performance, no overheating, and the option to buy a cheaper GPU and upgrade it later. Spending a fortune on a gaming laptop just doesn't make sense if gaming is your primary focus. Instead of citing versatility to justify the higher price of a gaming laptop, you should buy a thin-and-light laptop for work and build a decent PC for gaming.
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It's time to call out gaming laptops
Manufacturers have no qualms about slapping the latest GPU model name on their laptops and selling them at ridiculous prices. For the value a gaming laptop brings to the table, it's almost always overpriced. Even the prices of budget gaming laptops have gone out of control, going from $800-$1,000 to $1,500 or more in some cases. It's high time gamers stopped wasting money on compromised machines, and instead, buy the right device for each use case.