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[Matt_Fox]

I'm thinking of buying a decent laptop to use for work, travel and... of course gaming.

I'm not keen on the small screen but I figure that when at home I can output to my big 4K TV via HDMI, add a controller, and essentially have the laptop act like a console and supersede both my PS5 and XSX.

Any Gaffers currently own a gaming laptop? Be interested to hear your thoughts and any pitfalls, particularly if you use it a bit like a console?

My budget's not unlimited but any thoughts on what specs are the sweet spot for future proofing and to noticeably improve on the PS5 and XSX? Thanks!

 

[jshackles]

I have a 17 inch gaming laptop that I use nearly every day away from home. Mine only has a mobile 2070, but that's still enough to run most things reasonably well at 1080p.

Good stuff:

• It works for my niche (where I have about an hour every day where I'm away from home and have time I can dedicate to gaming)
• Bigger and better screen than a handheld
• As I mentioned, can run most modern games at 1080p
• Most modern clients like Steam have come a long way in regards to offline mode, in case you want to play somewhere without internet access. Cloud saves will sync up next time you're online.

A few downsides:

• If I'm fully taxing the GPU, my battery life is around 55 minutes. Some newer laptops are better, but not by much.
• It weighs about 6 pounds
• Typically pretty expensive, especially in relation to a non-gaming laptop
• When taxed, the fans can get pretty loud

 

[R6Rider]

I have a gaming laptop I bought in 2015 (the only laptop I own) and it still does fine for older titles. Only upgrade I did was giving it an SSD a few years back.

The only time it gets any use now though is when traveling. That being said, it has a Steelseries keyboard and it's among my favorite keyboards I've ever used. Feels so damn good.

As mentioned above, the battery life is awful and it gets very loud. Mine also has a pretty bad screen and is only 15 inch. Screen is very important on a gaming laptop.

 

[PaddyOCanager]

This is what I bought (32GB RAM 1 TB SSD $938):

Amazon.com: Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Laptop Computer, 15.6" FHD Display 120Hz, AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD Storage, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti, Windows 11 Home, TGC Accessories : Electronics

Shop Amazon for Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 Laptop Computer, 15.6" FHD Display 120Hz, AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD Storage, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti, Windows 11 Home, TGC Accessories and find millions of items, delivered faster than ever.

www.amazon.com

I've been playing all the recent releases @ 1080p 60fps and I have it connected to my 60" TV 24/7 like a console. I use a Bluetooth Xbox controller, but I also have wireless keyboard/mouse. The thing is essentially plug and play.

I wanted a low barrier entry point to get back into PC gaming and it was absolutely the right choice. I highly recommend it if you don't feel like dropping serious coin - which I will probably do next now that I'm all in on PC moving forward.

 

[killatopak]

Batteries will die sooner or later. Be sure to take care of them. I don’t know if this is the cause but I left mine on standby while still connected to the socket for significantly long amounts of time and it made my battery degrade faster to the point that it can no longer hold any charge now and has to be connected at all times.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Alienware and dell are good enough of a company to release hardware like this in the 4 months I had an Alienware 15r3 before the pandemic I completed some games (fear, battlefield v, Tomb raider etc.) lost it due to motherboard failure, that's what happens with gaming laptops but man that monitor I think looked nice.

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

I got a Dell G Series 2 years ago and it works pretty well. It is basically an Alienware laptop with the lower grade RTX card (60 instead of 70)

I would have gotten something different but I had a preexisting line of credit with dell, lol. Not a huge Dell fan, because they generally suck.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I had a ROG-STRIX 3 with a 2070 (the full mobile version and not max-q) from 2020 to April last year. It played everything I wanted it to at 1080p 60fps (including big titles like Warzone etc.) However, the battery life was rubbish. Light browsing or watching videos was probably a couple hours at best and I couldn’t play games just on the battery as the device clearly didn’t get enough power to boost the frames. You could probably get away with indie games running OK on just battery but that was it.

The worst offender though? The fucking fans. When I first heard that they got quite loud I thought nothing of it, but I wasn’t prepared for how loud they actually do get. Headphones are essential basically. My wife would look over from the other side of the room and ask if there was anything wrong with the laptop it was so noisy. If you’re thinking of hooking it up to your TV and it acting as a better console, it’s going to be really loud (in most cases) and I imagine a laptop capable of pushing 4K is going to cost an absolute fortune.

I’m very aware that experiences differ from device to device but I sold that thing off at a huge loss and bought a desktop instead. My advice is check out a bunch of reviews for the laptop you’re interested in and really think about whether or not travelling with it is essential. If it’s not, I’d recommend a desktop all day long.

 

[tkscz]

Still rocking my msi gp66 leopard 10. An i7-10875H, 32GBs of 3200MHz RAM, and an RTX 3070.

Unfortunately the i7-10875H is prone to overheating, within two years of having it I've already had to replace the thermal paste on it while the 3070's paste was still fine.

Also has an issue with docking stations where it crashes if one is plugged it, and I mean hard crash.

And like with everyone else, battery life is shit.

But outside of those issues, it replaced my gaming desktop since I don't mind not gaming with the highest settings. They aren't bad investments, just take some adjusting.

 

[Pelta88]

I'm looking at the Scar 16.

 

[Matt_Fox]

One thing I'm trying to get my head around is GPU performance. I know laptop GPUs may be titled the same as desktop but in reality they aren't as powerful, and it makes comparisons a bit tricky.

I'm basically trying to find out what laptop GPU would noticeably exceed PS5/XSX performance?

 

[flying_sq]

I have a gaming laptop for the same purpose. Works great, just will get much louder than a console will. Pretty much the only downside I have found. Obviously depends on specs, etc. Just get an Nvidia one for dlss. For better than a console, probably a 4080 or 4090 equipped one. Maybe a 4070? Easiest way to think of laptop GPUs, they are one level lower than what the name is. Eg 4090 is a 4080, 4080 is a 4070, etc, etc

 

[Krathoon]

I got an OMEN gaming laptop and it is pretty awesome. Just be sure to update everything after you get it. I had a weird performance problem that went away after I updated everything.

It is a 3070RTX and it works fine. You maybe want to try for a 4080RTX if you get a new one.

 

[amigastar]

I've bought my Dad a Laptop some years ago, not a gaming laptop.
I've been playing Max Payne 2 on it when my PC didn't work. I usually replay old games on them like Project I.G.I and such.

 

[Krathoon]

The fan on a gaming laptop gets annoying. I need to look into a way to quite it down some.

 

[Damigos]

Screens are too small, even the big ones
Battery runs out too soon
Hard to properly play on the go (needs charger, headphones, controller, carrying case, mouse etc)
Mobile versions of graphics are too inferior to desktop ones
Cant really upgrade
Fans are very noisy

So, the real situation for me to use a gaming laptop would be in the office..where you could instead have a desktop..

 

[PaddyOCanager]

One thing I'm trying to get my head around is GPU performance. I know laptop GPUs may be titled the same as desktop but in reality they aren't as powerful, and it makes comparisons a bit tricky.

Yep, it was a bit sobering finding out my 3050 Ti has half the VRAM of its desktop titled card AFTER I purchased it. I had no idea this was a thing so I kinda got burned.

 

[Ribi]

g14 here, so fucking small and light weight. Great battery life for using it to watch vid, do work stuff. 10+hrs. Gone are the days of 5hour battery life for a gaming laptop and doing jack shit with it when its not plugged in

 

[EekTheKat]

Generally speaking -

Laptops perform one or two tiers below their graphics chip name, due to constraints in thermals/power/cooling. Some may be the exception to the rule - but for the majority this has been the case for some time now, especially with the chase for smaller and thinner gaming laptops.

MUX switch is a fairly good must have. It's a toggle that allows a direct line to the GPU instead of running it through the integrated graphics. Could be wrong but IIRC the often not spoken of tradeoff is for some laptop designs gsync will not work with the laptop display with the MUX switch engaged. The performance difference can be fairly significant with the MUX switch enabled though, as Optimus has an additional performance hit from my own experience.

I do a fan cleaning every 6-12 months or so - it's mostly just removing screws and using a pry tool to pop things open. Depending on termperatures I might have to do a repaste as well, picked up that Honeywell 7950 Thermal Pad everyone was talking about a while back that's supposed to last for several years at a comparable performance to other high end thermal pastes, so I might just bite the bullet and do a repaste on CPU/GPU just for the sake of it.

 

[clarky]

Razer Blade 15" 3070ti, 240hz OLED. here. I work away from home weeks at a time and this thing is a godsend. Not cheap by any means but fucking awesome.

 

[squarealex]

Gaming Laptop is a problem...

 

[EekTheKat]

Aftermarket stuff/upgrade stuff to consider.

A good amount of laptops have soldered ram on board. For example an 8gb model would have 8gb soldered onboard with 1 open RAM slot for upgrades. This could have some performance impact or limit your upgrade options if you're trying for a dual channel config in some motherboards, though probably not a huge amount in real world applications/games. I'm more old school so I tend to target two similar sized ram sticks at a time - though that might not be necessary these days.

Some laptops have removable wifi cards, though the upgrade path for some of these are fairly limited. Not to mention there's been talk of antenna wiring being not exactly optimal if you put in a wifi6 card in your laptop that had a wifi5 card originally.

Haven't had too many problems with SSD upgrades, though I haven't actually dove into full on mirroring an existing windows install. The last one I did had an open m2 slot for an additional drive so it was fairly straight foward. What did sort of matter is cooling on the SSD and heat sink limitations - some laptops are extremely thin and might not support a taller/thicker heat sink on the SSD.

 

[clarky]

To the OP, Id say buy what ever you can afford, i think the newer 4090 laptops are around desktop 3090 performance so should smoke everything for some time to come.

Btw, in my personal experience I tend to sell my old laptop & upgrade every 3 or so years. This is not a cheap way to game.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I got a Dell G Series 2 years ago and it works pretty well. It is basically an Alienware laptop with the lower grade RTX card (60 instead of 70)

I would have gotten something different but I had a preexisting line of credit with dell, lol. Not a huge Dell fan, because they generally suck.

This is what I have. A G15 with Geforce 3060. Only went with Dell due to 0% financing, but it was worth it. My daughter and I each have one and they are still going strong.

 

[K2D]

I've got a run of the mill "gaming" laptop. Just made sure I could expand storage. Added an SSD for OS and upgraded media hdd to SSHD.

That's as far as my pc gaming go these days.

 

[K2D]

Batteries will die sooner or later. Be sure to take care of them. I don’t know if this is the cause but I left mine on standby while still connected to the socket for significantly long amounts of time and it made my battery degrade faster to the point that it can no longer hold any charge now and has to be connected at all times.

Some brands let you select maintenance mode, only charging the battery to ~60 percent.

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

This is what I have. A G15 with Geforce 3060. Only went with Dell due to 0% financing, but it was worth it. My daughter and I each have one and they are still going strong.

Yeah, it's a very faithful laptop! I got the extended warranty which worked out pretty well, because my son managed to destroy the screen. By standing on it. Toddlers, lol

 

[clarky]

Some brands let you select maintenance mode, only charging the battery to ~60 percent.

Yeah my Razer has this. Not sure how much it helps as im only a year in. The last one i had suffered from battery bloat but it was easy enough to swap it out for a new one.

 

[K2D]

Yeah my Razer has this. Not sure how much it helps as im only a year in. The last one i had suffered from battery bloat but it was easy enough to swap it out for a new one.

You'll pretty quickly notice (and measure) a decline in capacity percentage.

I'm actually on vacation right now and my laptop charger died on me. Hopefully my system takes precautions in situations like this, or that it'll survive another day.

 

[smbu2000]

Fan noise is definitely an issue on gaming laptops when you are gaming. I ended up picking up a cooling stand with a fan for mine. It definitely helps with with temps and allows me to lower the fan speed on the laptop.

Just be aware that the performance/specs won’t be equivalent to the desktop version. My HP Omen 17 has a 3080ti, but performance is roughly equal to a desktop 3070/2080ti as it can only go up to 175W compared to the higher power +300W desktop gpus.
That’s why even the highest end 4090 laptop can only reach 3080/3090 level performance even though it has the same amount of cores as the desktop 4080.

Same for vram as well. They are not always equal. Desktop 3060 is 12GB/Laptop 3060 is 6GB. Desktop 4070 12GB/ Laptop 4070 8GB. Desktop 4080 16GB/Laptop 4080 12GB. 4090 desktop 24GB/laptop 4090 16GB.
My 3080ti is one of exceptions as the laptop version has more vram than the desktop version. Desktop 3080ti 12GB/Laptop 3080ti 16GB.

 

[lestar]

framework laptop 16 will be the game changer with its modular GPU

 

[Dream-Knife]

Don't do it.

Batteries will die sooner or later. Be sure to take care of them. I don’t know if this is the cause but I left mine on standby while still connected to the socket for significantly long amounts of time and it made my battery degrade faster to the point that it can no longer hold any charge now and has to be connected at all times.

Heat and cycles kills batteries (assuming it isn't a bad battery and starts to swell [less of an issue the past few years]).

My switch has been plugged in for 4 years and used infrequently and the battery still lasts good.

Gaming laptops get very hot.

That’s why even the highest end 4090 laptop can only reach 3080/3090 level performance even though it has the same amount of cores as the desktop 4080.

There's no free lunch. To run at lower power you need a big chip. See the arm macs.

 

[newtypepilot]

Just get a steam deck.

Gaming laptop is an oxymoron because the reduced battery life means you are going to have it plugged in all the time. Plus it'll run hot with loud fan noise.

Also mobile GPUs perform worse than their desktop counterparts. A laptop 3060 is not the same as a desktop 3060.

 

[Minsc]

Gaming laptop / SFF instead of a regular mid-tower desktop has been the way to go for me for a good 6 years now. I'll never go back to desktops. Laptop hardware is plenty fast to run whatever you need these days. Even VR. Granted you'll likely be using it as a desktop in those cases, plugged in etc. But I just love the portability factor.

And these days the OLED screens you can get are amazing, if you're not using it as a long term device, and there's so many options. Give notebookcheck and google some video reviews of various ASUS/MSI/Lenovo ones that interest you, and down the rabbit hole you go.

 

[Krathoon]

I already upgraded the memory on my laptop to 32GB due to Hogwart's Legacy being obnoxious.

Also, get an external drive and put all your older Steam games on it. That will free up your SSDs for the new games that need it.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I was thinking getting this. But the 60 hz max refresh sounds shit. But the rest seems pretty good for $1800 CDN on sale???? (That's about $1350 US). I dont follow laptops so I dont know who Gigabyte even is.

Canada Computers | Best PC, Laptop, Gaming Gear, Printer, TV, Cables - Canada Computers & Electronics

The best deals on laptops, PC, game systems, components, small appliances, cables, and office supplies. Save more by shopping online or in-store!

www.canadacomputers.com

General Information​

Manufacturer​	GIGABYTE Technology, Inc
Manufacturer Part Number​	AERO 16 XE4-73US918HP
Manufacturer Website Address​	GIGABYTE Global From personal computer hardware to business server solutions, renowned for quality and innovation, GIGABYTE is the very choice for PC users and business par... www.gigabyte.com
Brand Name​	Gigabyte
Product Line​	AERO 16
Product Model​	XE4-73US918HP
Product Name​	AERO 16 XE4-73US918HP Gaming Notebook
Product Type​	Gaming Notebook

Processor​

Processor Manufacturer​	Intel
Processor Type​	Core i7
Processor Generation​	12th Gen
Processor Model​	i7-12700H
Processor Speed​	2.30 GHz
Maximum Turbo Speed​	4.70 GHz

Chipset​

Chipset Manufacturer​

Intel

Memory​

Total Installed System Memory​	16 GB
Maximum Supported System Memory​	64 GB
System Memory Technology​	DDR4 SDRAM
System Memory Speed​	3200 MHz
System Memory Form Factor​	SoDIMM
Installed Slot Memory​	16 GB
Installed Slot Memory Configuration​	2 x 8GB
Total Number of Memory Slots​	2
Number of Occupied Memory Slots​	2

Storage​

Drive Type​	SSD
Total Solid State Drive Capacity​	2 TB
SSD Form Factor​	NVMe M.2 PCI Express

Display & Graphics​

Screen Size​	16"
Screen Mode​	UHD+
Display Screen Type​	AMOLED
Screen Resolution​	3840 x 2400
Standard Refresh Rate​	60 Hz
Touchscreen​	No
Graphics Controller Manufacturer​	NVIDIA
Graphics Controller Model​	GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
Graphics Memory Capacity​	8 GB
Graphics Memory Technology​	GDDR6
Graphics Memory Accessibility​	Dedicated

Network & Communication​

Wireless LAN​	Yes
Wireless LAN Standard​	IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
Bluetooth​	Yes

Interfaces/Ports​

Total Number of USB Ports​	1
Number of USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Ports​	1
Number of Thunderbolt 4 Ports​	2

Operating System​

Operating System Platform​	Windows
Operating System​	Windows 11 Pro

Input Devices​

Keyboard Backlight​

Yes

Power Description​

Maximum Power Supply Wattage​

230 W

 

[CrustyBritches]

I have a ASUS 3060 laptop. It pretty much gets used as a desktop 95% of the time, so I keep it in 60% battery mode through MyASUS control panel. It does a good job at gaming at 1080p for the most part. I think I'm power limited at 85-90W, so it's more like a desktop 2060 in gaming performance. I have it on ethernet and I use it along with my Quest 2 to play SteamVR games when family comes over.

I have a lot of important projects on it, so I got paranoid about bringing it with me on trips, so I bought a "throwaway" HP Ryzen 5 5500 laptop for $258 that I wouldn't be traumatized if it was stolen or damaged. I upgraded it and it can do a lot of the same stuff as my expensive laptop, along with some light gaming. I wouldn't buy a laptop as my main gaming rig in the future. I'll just keep my 3060 laptop and then upgrade to a nice desktop.

As far as laptop vs desktop, IIRC a 4070 laptop(140W) is somewhere in between a desktop 3070 Ti and a 3080 in performance. Of course it has DLSS 3 frame gen that could help in certain scenarios. With DLSS 2 or 3 that's a decent step above consoles, especially when RT is brought into the equation.

 

[M.W.]

Love my gaming laptop. The tech is so good nowadays.

 

[PeteBull]

My budget's not unlimited but any thoughts on what specs are the sweet spot for future proofing and to noticeably improve on the PS5 and XSX? Thanks!

Current laptops can be stronger from ps5/xsx but u gonna have to spend pretty penny, and expect them to be hot and loud, thats what gaming laptop is- u either get really weak mashine(relatively speaking, weak, visibly below ps5/xsx in performance) which can be relatively cool and quiet, or u get mashine around current consoles spec that is much louder/hotter or 3rd option u buy urself mashine that is like u want- noticeable upgrade over current gen consoles but its really loud and hot.
Something gotta give since its a laptop- so very small form factor, either performance or temps/loudness or whole system when running at/close to under full load.

From things u want to have absolutely to at least dont get downgraded experience vs current gen consoles now and especially in future- im guessing u buying lappy that can last u at least till end of current console gen so 2028 at the very least :

32GB of ram
12gigs of vram on ur gpu(more would be cool but dont buy laptop with gpu that has less)
Cpu with 8cores/16threads- u dont really need more coz they will take tons more power/get hot and not really be much useful in games(current top1 desktop gaming cpu is 8c16t r7 7800x3d for a reason)but dont buy anything below 8c16t.
At least 1tb ssd- game sizes are huge already and wont get smaller, there is a reason ms launching in few weeks 1td xss, 500gb ssd on current xss is massive flaw.

About screens- obviously the bigger the better but u dont need very high refresh rates(unless u play competetive multiplayer games, those have low requirements and can run on a toaster with high fps) if u wanna play demanding AAA games, in those 60stable fps will be plenty.

Maybe obvious for some but since u wanna treat it as console/probably didnt have laptop yet- u cant/shouldnt game on laptops battery, performance goes down straight out of the gate and if its any demanding game u wont last an hour- aka u need to be connected to power always

Here quick example of a mashine thats at least on pair with ps5/xsx in every possible scenario, in many its better even https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1745683-REG/lenovo_82wq002rus_16_legion_pro_7.html/specs
good review of it(same specs as in the link), u can tell its unbiased review coz it shows u all its flaws(unlike most gaming laptop reviews that often stay quiet about temps/noise)- here reviewer tells u about all the modes and how it affects noise/temps/performance, so u got all info upfront.

 

[Gamerguy84]

Not a huge PC gamer but when I needed a new laptop I thought why not.

Have an ASUS TUF with a 3070. Every point has already been covered and your definitely over paying.

I like it a lot though.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Been using Acer Helios 300 since 2018 but this goes for every gaming laptop.

CPU Bottleneck - I hate this so much that I won't be buying a gaming laptop ever again. Upgrade to SSD is inevitable. Mini ITX build maybe.
Hot Temp - Really isn't an issue if you keep cleaning it every few months, use a stand (not very useful) and undervolt. I'm saying this when I live in a hot country like India. Keep cleaning
Battery - nobody gives a shit. But I can still use mine for 1.5 hours just browsing internet.
Weight - They are heavy but I don't notice it anymore. You won't also.

notebookcheck should be everyones go to site for tech reviews.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I'm looking for a gaming laptop that's run well and doesn't overheat. SPEC WISE looking for PS5/XSX Specs or better.

Anyone know of any good ones? Looking for one that will last me 5 to 10 years

 

[ChoosableOne]

As handheld PCs become more widespread and cheaper, I believe there won't be such a need. They are difficult to carry, quickly heat up, and don't deliver super performance(at reasonable price point). Upgrade limitation is also a significant factor.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

As handheld PCs become more widespread and cheaper, I believe there won't be such a need. They are difficult to carry, quickly heat up, and don't deliver super performance(at reasonable price point). Upgrade limitation is also a significant factor.

So I should get a Steamdeck instead?

 

[Matt_Fox]

I already upgraded the memory on my laptop to 32GB due to Hogwart's Legacy being obnoxious.

Also, get an external drive and put all your older Steam games on it. That will free up your SSDs for the new games that need it.

Is 32GB important for a gaming laptop? I've been told stick to 16GB unless you want to do CAD modelling, rendering, etc

(Good advice on the external drive)

 

[drganon]

I've never had a good experience with laptops. Within two to three years something always failed on them.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Is 32GB important for a gaming laptop? I've been told stick to 16GB unless you want to do CAD modelling, rendering, etc

From my personal tests, no. The games I tried have only used about 10GB RAM at most.

I’m not sure if manufacturers are still using slow RAM, but when I bough mine last year, it was common knowledge that replacing your stock RAM, even with identical speed/timing modules, would give a significant performance boost. I did this and gained 10-20% performance with in-game benchmarks.

To make a long story short, you want memory modules that have chips on both sides, not just one. The easiest way to guarantee this if the manufacturer doesn't explicitly state the layout, is to buy 16GB SODIMMs. So, getting 32GB with your laptop may be worth it.

 

[PeteBull]

Is 32GB important for a gaming laptop? I've been told stick to 16GB unless you want to do CAD modelling, rendering, etc

(Good advice on the external drive)

Depends at what lvl of quality/performance u wanna play, OP mentioned ps5/xsx experience or above, for that u need 32gigs of ram, remember u dont buy laptop for now, u buy it to last u at the very least till end of current console gen, which means u wanna play on it new games that come out in 4-5years and still get at the least console experience.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

I’m looking at getting one soon but only for work.

 

[StereoVsn]

I already upgraded the memory on my laptop to 32GB due to Hogwart's Legacy being obnoxious.

Also, get an external drive and put all your older Steam games on it. That will free up your SSDs for the new games that need it.

If the new laptop has Thunderbolt or USB 4 port, you can grab NVME drive in an enclosure and even put new games on that.

Basically that way you have stuff you play on the go on internal storage and things you mostly play at home.

I also recommend trying to get one with SD card slot. It's great to store emulation stuff on or generally to transfer data.

This is in addition to considerations from above like having swappable RAM slots, dual NVME, etc...

One other thing to consider is that the only decent laptop card with more then 8GB is 4080 basically or last gen 3080ti. That's expensive. On everything else you will run into VRAM issues with current gen games if you want to play on even 1440p.

IMO if the main use case is for home, a Micro ATX build would be more economical, more perfomant and you can always get a SteamDeck/Ally for infrequent travel.