Yesterday we unboxed the ASUS GL502VS, the company’s newest ROG gaming notebook and one of the first notebooks to have NVIDIA’s new Pascal-powered GPUs. Now as with any high-end gaming notebook article, comparisons to desktop equivalents were unavoidable. “You can pretty much build a better gaming desktop with that money!” most people will say. That’s true. For the price that the GL502VS, most people can buy a pretty bitchin’ PC rig that would eclipse the GL502VS in performance.
Read our gaming notebook reviews:
ASUS ROG GX700VO Review: A Beastly Notebook Like No Other
ASUS ROG Strix GL502VS Unboxing And Initial Review: Finally, A Gaming Notebook As Powerful As A Desktop
But to be honest, that’s usually not the point of gaming notebooks, at least for some people. Yes, a purpose-built gaming desktop will be cheaper than a high-end gaming notebook in the long run, but people still buy them anyway. Why?
There’s a couple of reasons actually. First is prestige. Gaming brands like The ASUS’ Republic of Gamers, Razer, Alienware, etc. have very dedicated fans that are willing to pay top peso for the name and the prestige that comes with it. Each brand has a certain aesthetic to it, and gamers are more than willing to fork over cash to get that aesthetic and the envious looks that comes with it.
Another reason is portability. Even the biggest, heaviest gaming notebook like the GX700 is still infinitely portable than a dedicated desktop gaming rig, and that’s not hyperbole. That extra power and portability comes in handy when you’re a person that requires hardware to do heavy lifting, especially useful if you edit and work on videos and photos on the go.
Also, it’s very liberating to be able to game anywhere you want, anytime you want, and a gaming notebook consumes far less space than a regular gaming rig.
The biggest reason why people buy gaming notebooks? Because they can. Just think of it this way – both a Toyota Vios and a Ferrari gets you from point a to b, but people still buy a Ferrari because, hey, it’s a Ferrari. That’s more than enough for most people, we suppose.
