Gaming laptop vs PS5 – which is better in 2024?

Gaming laptop vs PS5 - which should you buy?

Aaron Ritchie

Share this article...

• Follow us

So, is a gaming laptop better than a PS5? Well, ultimately this depends on how you look at it. If you’re looking to spend the same amount of money on a gaming laptop as you would on a PS5 (i.e. $500) then you will not get the same amount of gaming performance – gaming laptops under $500 represent the very entry-level of gaming performance.

However, more expensive gaming laptops can offer much greater functionality, flexibility, and eventually gaming power, if you don’t mind splashing out a bit more.

PS5 vs Gaming Laptop – a summary of the pros & cons

The pros of buying a gaming laptop

• Portability: The most obvious advantage of a gaming laptop is that it is much more portable than a PS5 is – allowing you to game on the move (though usually, you’ll still want to be plugged in).
• Much more functionality: Gaming laptops offer all the benefits of a regular laptop – they can be used as an office device for doing work on the move, or for creatives (e.g. photo and video editors), or those looking for a workstation machine if it has the power. They’re much easier to browse the web on, and you can install whatever program/application on them that you would on a desktop PC.
• A higher ceiling on FPS performance: If you’re willing to spend considerably more money for the above functionality, then the highest-spec gaming laptops can offer greater GPU and CPU power than a PlayStation 5 can.
• Greater customization: You can tailor the features of the gaming laptop much more to your needs than you can a PS5, which is essentially just a single product – take it or leave it.

The pros of buying a PlayStation 5

• More gaming power per $ spent: As it is focused on gaming and gaming alone, a PS5 for $499 will always have more gaming power than a gaming laptop of the same price range. Indeed a PS5 is more powerful than a desktop gaming PC under $500.
• No uncertainty of whether or not you will be able to run a game: Every PS5 title will run on a PS5, but the same cannot be said of a gaming laptop – you will always need to be aware that your laptop’s specifications are good enough to play the game in question.

Gaming Laptop vs PS5 specs & performance

Below are the hardware specifications for a PlayStation 5 console. Although you can compared the RAM, storage, weight, and size easy enough with that of a gaming laptop, it’s a bit less obvious what the equivalent CPU and GPU are as the PS5 uses custom components (made by AMD).

Basically the equivalent CPU to a PS5 is the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, and the equivalent GPU to a PS5 is the RTX 2070 – but these are desktop components: it must be noted that laptop components are less powerful, and you tend to need to aim for one SKU higher to get the same performance. As a result, we suggest checking out our best RTX 3070 laptop or best RTX 4060 laptop guides for mobile devices that will perform to approximately the same standard.

PlayStation 5 specifications

• Processor: 3.5Hz, 8-core AMD Zen 2
• Graphics card: 10.3 teraflop RDNA 2
• RAM: 16GB GDDR6
• Storage: 825GB SSD with NVMe M.2 SSD expansion slot
• Disk drive: 4K Blu-ray player (for standard variant)
• Size: 15.4″ x 10.2″ x 4.1″
• Weight: 9.9lbs

Is a gaming laptop better than a PS5? Final Word

We hope this brief guide has brought you the answers you were looking for to the eternal question ‘Is a gaming laptop better than a PS5?’ If you’re thinking of buying a new gaming laptop, then do be sure to have a looksie at our best gaming laptop guides, across a range of different price points including the best gaming laptop under $500, best gaming laptop under $1,000, and best gaming laptop under $2,000.