Opinions on laptop gaming, and PC vs PS4

[JerryGreenwood]

Let my preface by saying - I need a new laptop and I don't know anything about what's inside a PC or PC gaming (although I'm trying to learn).

Part 1 - From what I gathered from another gaming website I frequent, the majority of people feel that gaming on laptop is not a good idea.
To quote one poster - "Gaming laptops are stupid. Their target market is people who couldn't be bothered to figure out what makes a PC good. They take off-the-shelf high end parts, add some boy racer aesthetics, dumb features no one wants, and then charge a premium."
 
So from that, I'm guessing 'do not go with PC gaming on a laptop', but any opinions received here would be highly valued.

Part 2 - PC vs. PS4. Cost is going to be the primary factor. The sole reason I will be buying one or the other is for Street Fighter V. I probably won't be looking to play games like Witcher 3 or PlanetSide 2.

The recommended requirements to run Mortal Kombat X are as follows;

    OS: 64-bit: Windows 7, Windows 8
    Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz
    Memory: 8 GB RAM
    Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 | AMD Radeon HD 7950
    DirectX: Version 11
    Network: Broadband Internet connection
    Hard Drive: 40 GB available space

The requirements for SFV aren't out yet, but I'd assume they are similar to MKX and I assume these games are less complicated than most of the RTS and MMO's out there.

I have read conflicting thoughts on which would be cheaper - a gaming PC that has those requirements or a PS4. I'm thinking a PS4 would be cheaper (especially in 2016 when SFV comes out. A PS4 might only cost $300 by then), but again, any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Gaming on a laptop: This is a definite "no" unless you're planning on spending a lot of money. Many games are not tested with laptop graphics cards in mind, and most have integrated graphics cards that aren't up to par. You're looking at spending 2x the amount on a gaming laptop than you would a normal desktop.

Street Fighter IV is slowly moving towards PCs, since the previous issues with latency are gone and it's a platform most professionals can easily access. I don't know how it will be with Street Fighter V, but it's likely to be the same - majority on PS4 until PC issues are hammered out, and then a migration to PC.

[Disposed Hero]

Based on what you've said, I'd go with a PS4.  Having built a couple of gaming PC's in the past, I've always spent more than what a current generation console would cost, and that's with meticulously researching hardware, scoping out deals, and not buying the latest and greatest hardware (although still fairly high end stuff).  The biggest advantage to building a PC hardware-wise, is that you can upgrade it as you go along, but if you have no interest in buying a new graphics card every few years (which can sometimes cost as much as a console itself, depending on the card you buy), I'd advise against it.

Not to mention, PS4 and Xbox One are generally the lead platforms these days for game development, and then the games are later ported to PC, and sometimes pretty shoddily at that.  Release dates for PC ports are often delayed (GTA V anyone?), and then can be rife with bugs and performance issues (although to be fair, many console games release with bugs also).  Capcom have been known to produce some pretty bad PC ports as well, although I'm sure they're not all bad, but who knows how Street Fighter V will turn out.

Unless there are specific reasons why you would prefer to go PC over console (exclusives, customizability, mods, etc.), I'd 100% go with a PS4.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Just to clarify, the "lead platform" for game development is still PC for most titles, though it's not typically in an environment that can be used for the actual game. Most of the testing is performed in PC test beds, with the final product being tested on the consoles themselves.

[Seno]

......
    OS: 64-bit: Windows 7, Windows 8
    Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz
    Memory: 8 GB RAM
    Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 | AMD Radeon HD 7950
    DirectX: Version 11
    Network: Broadband Internet connection
    Hard Drive: 40 GB available space

The recommended specs they've given are a long way from the min specs which are pretty low:

OS: 64-bit: Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.67 GHz | AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz
Memory: 3 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 | AMD Radeon HD 5850

A GTX 460 is quite old now and on the lower end of mid-range cards (a GeForce GTX 750 Ti  is about 30% more powerful) same thing with a HD 5850 and with i5-750 and x4 965.

If you were building a desktop it would be pretty easy to build a decent mid-range gaming PC for not a huge amount. If your going with a laptop it gets a lot more expensive, a Intel Core i3-4110M is a bit faster then i5-750 but something a like  i5-4340M or a i7-4710MQ would be better (the i7 is a lot better). Graphics wise a GTX 880M is comparable to GTX660.

Depending on what parts you can recycle from your current PC I'd guess you'll be looking at £350 to £500 for a desktop, for a laptop i think it will be a minimum of £900 but probably more.

[techwizard]

in my mind there are only ever 2 important factors, and maybe 1 or 2 unimportant factors, that make a console better than a PC. that being:
 - cheaper
 - exclusive games
less important being that you can play a console from the couch on a bigger screen more easily than a PC, and overall it's a lot simpler to setup and use. so if you have a low budget, and have your eye on some specific exclusives on PS4 that you can't play on PC, then by all means go for the PS4.

on the other hand, PC is by far the better option from a technical perspective. everything about it, including the games themselves, are way more customizable. you can upgrade bits and pieces of the  internal hardware as you need to, instead of getting an entirely new system 5 - 7 years down the line. most cross-platform games that are on XB1 and PS4 are also on PC, though like others said they sometimes have more issues and can get delayed releases, but i haven't personally had any major problems with that. i've never played a PC game that i felt was "broken" or anything unplayable. PC also has it's own exclusives, especially in the RTS and MMO categories, but in quite a few other areas too. don't forget steam sales are amazing.

so PC pros:
 - customizable hardware and software
 - better graphics
 - often better multiplayer (dedicated servers on many games, though not all)
 - exclusive games
 - STEAM SALES
cons:
 - expensive, a good gaming PC is going to start at the very minimum around the cost of a new PS4, unless you find really good deals you could easily be spending over $1000 on it. also depends how much you migrate over from an old PC if you have one. re-using old monitors, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc will save you a lot.
 - more complicated and no simple interface to cover all games like a console dashboard, unless you count steam
 - some games get delayed releases

[OatBob]

1 ) NO

Buying a gaming laptop was the single worst mistake of my life.  Even more than dropping out of college!  Buy or build a gaming PC instead, and you can also have a cheap college laptop with the $500 you saved.

[JerryGreenwood]

Thank you very much Shadow, Disposed, Seno, Tech, and OatBob! There weren't too many people that were in favor of a gaming laptop and they got roasted pretty hard for having such opinions.

Street Fighter IV is slowly moving towards PCs, since the previous issues with latency are gone and it's a platform most professionals can easily access. I don't know how it will be with Street Fighter V, but it's likely to be the same - majority on PS4 until PC issues are hammered out, and then a migration to PC.

SFV is going to be cross-platform play, so a PS4 player can play a PC player.

This is a another argument regarding this. Some people argue that if player A's PC has the minimum requirements and player B's PC has the recommended requirements, then the match will be laggy or skip some frames, etc. for both players. Most of the people say that it would only affect the player A (with the weaker PC), but there are a few people that are adamant that both players are affected. There are also a few people concerned with how a PC and PS4 connection would sync up, although I'd assume the recommended requirements will be based off what the PS4 can handle, as they are the consoles that will probably be used at tournaments.

Again, I'm leaning towards believing what the majority says.

[techwizard]

Thank you very much Shadow, Disposed, Seno, Tech, and OatBob! There weren't too many people that were in favor of a gaming laptop and they got roasted pretty hard for having such opinions.

Street Fighter IV is slowly moving towards PCs, since the previous issues with latency are gone and it's a platform most professionals can easily access. I don't know how it will be with Street Fighter V, but it's likely to be the same - majority on PS4 until PC issues are hammered out, and then a migration to PC.

SFV is going to be cross-platform play, so a PS4 player can play a PC player.

This is a another argument regarding this. Some people argue that if player A's PC has the minimum requirements and player B's PC has the recommended requirements, then the match will be laggy or skip some frames, etc. for both players. Most of the people say that it would only affect the player A (with the weaker PC), but there are a few people that are adamant that both players are affected. There are also a few people concerned with how a PC and PS4 connection would sync up, although I'd assume the recommended requirements will be based off what the PS4 can handle, as they are the consoles that will probably be used at tournaments.

Again, I'm leaning towards believing what the majority says.

that entirely depends on the way the game handles network play, but in most cases graphical lag (due to a weaker PC) is completely separate from network lag (due to a busy, or slow connection from your ISP, or even just distance between players). usually if someone has a crap PC that gives them lag on their end, but they have the fastest google fibre internet connection, with nothing else going on in their house like downloads or streaming video, then player B on the high end PC will notice absolutely nothing.

the other thing is that a lot of PC games have network smoothing and other features to minimize the impact of lag on the games.