4. In Conclusion - Unwieldy Laptop Or Portable Desktop?

Pictures from the event you say? Aha. Whoops...

I'll take a portable desktop any day of the week. Leave it up to the reviews of individual products to decide if a particular model is up to scratch or not, but a decent desktop replacement can act as exactly that.

Personally, I'd still be loathe to ditch my desktop entirely for a laptop. While the laptop may do the same job for the same price as my l33t pw0ning gaming rig, the desktop is more flexible and upgradeable. I'll be able to open up my desktop and replace the now aging Radeon X800 XT it contains with one of the new offerings from the graphics card giants, giving my otherwise top-notch desktop another year of high-end gaming.

The desktop replacement, however, remains a largely untouchable laptop. In addition to the fact that opening one up usually voids the warranty, you'd need to be an engineer of some skill to change out most of the components. This also poses technical problems if anything goes wrong in general usage and you've voided said warranty.

So, you have three choices. First, you can buy the desktop replacement for just that purpose, tossing out your old PC. Second, you can stick to your desktop and miss out on the benefits of fifteen second setup anywhere you go. Finally, for the rich among us, you can buy a desktop replacement to complement your existing desktop.

Personally, I'd rather shell out $3,000 now for a high-end desktop and then put another couple of hundred dollars into it over the next couple of years to keep up with changes in technology. I can put up with the wires and cables wherever I go to avoid spending $3,000 a year on a high-end gaming laptop.

Still, there's no denying that they are a very attractive option... Erm, would now be a bad time to ask for a pay rise? [You're really fired this time - Company accountant]