Xbox Series X vs Gaming Laptop – which is better in 2024?
We weigh up the pros and cons of a gaming laptop vs Xbox Series X.
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So, is a gaming laptop better than an Xbox Series X? In many ways, absolutely, however in some ways no. Ultimately it boils down to what you’re looking for. If you have a $500 budget then the fact is you will not get the same gaming performance for your money with a gaming laptop as you would with an Xbox Series X, though you would be able to do much more on the former device besides just gaming.
Additionally, more expensive gaming laptops can offer this same breadth of functionality and flexibility plus better gaming power and customization, making them the superior device in almost every way than the Xbox Series X, but with a price tag way way above that of a games console. We’ll go into more detail on this below.
Gaming laptop vs Xbox Series X
The pros of buying a Xbox Series X
- Better bang for your buck: The Xbox Series X, and indeed its PS5 rival, are both able of churning out in-game FPS well above what you’d get in a gaming laptop for the same price (which is currently around $499). In fact, even a full-size gaming desktop for this price (which always give you more power than gaming laptops will for the same cost) wouldn’t be able to compete with the good ol’ Xbox Series X.
- Games will (almost) always work with no tinkering required: If you buy an Xbox Series X you can rest easy knowing that every game designed to be used with that console will work as well as well as it will on anybody else’s. You don’t need to worry about meeting the system requirements or have to faff around with drivers and compatibility issues – the games just work.
The pros of buying a gaming laptop
- Portability: Although gaming laptops tend to be a bit heavier and chunkier than their non-gaming counterparts, they are still extremely light and portable compared to a games console like the Xbox Series X. Whilst you usually have to find a power socket in order to enjoy playing more demanding games, you can still effectively game on the move – not something that can really be accomplished if you attempt to lug a Series X around with an accompanying monitor.
- Much more functionality: Gaming laptops offer all the general purpose functionality that regular laptops do: they’re the ideal device for browsing the web, writing/reading documents, editing video/images/audio, or using whatever Windows program you can think of that you could use on a desktop PC. Although the latest-gen consoles like the Xbox Series X offer greater general functionality than older devices, they still pale in comparison to the laptop in this area.
- 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 Xbox Series X can, which translates to better gaming performance.
- Greater customization: You can tailor the features of the gaming laptop much more to your needs than you can a Xbox Series X, which is essentially just a single plug and play product. Additionally, graphical options in PC games are invariably much more detailed than in the same games on consoles, allowing you to tweak settings much more precisely to optimize your gaming experience and performance how you want.
Xbox Series X vs Gaming Laptop specs & performance
We’ve listed the specifications of the Xbox Series X below, and you can easily compare the RAM, SSD size, weight and dimensions with a laptop. Comparing the graphics card and processor is more complicated as the console uses a custom AMD setup. That being said, in approximate terms, the equivalent CPU to an Xbox Series X is the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X. The equivalent GPU to an Xbox Series X is (roughly speaking) the Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or the Radeon RX 6600 XT – however these are for desktop components. Laptop processors and graphics cards are always underpowered compared to their desktop counterparts, so we’d recommend having a look at our best RTX 3070 Ti laptop or best RTX 4060 laptop guides.
Xbox Series X specifications
- Processor: 8X Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.66 GHz w/SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU
- Graphics card: 12 TFLOPS, 52 CUs @1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2 GPU
- RAM: 10GB @ 560 GB/s, 6 GB @ 336 GB/s.
- Storage: 1TB SSD with 1TB Seagate Expansion Card expansion slot & USB 3.1 external HDD support
- Disk drive: 4K Blu-ray player
- Size: 15.1cm x 15.1cm x 30.1cm
- Weight: 9.8lbs
Is a gaming laptop better than an Xbox Series X? Final Word
We hope this short guide has helped you answer the question ‘Is a gaming laptop better than an Xbox Series X?’ If you’re thinking of buying a new gaming laptop, then do have a gander 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.