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$3,000, $4,000, $5,000?

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Gaming laptops have generally speaking been more expensive

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than their non-game encounter parts for a long time, but why does the upper end of the market

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feature models that cost this much? You could easily build a higher spec gaming desktop

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for less money, and based on what we've seen over the past few years, there isn't much to make us think

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that gaming laptops will get significantly cheaper anytime soon.

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So what gives? You might already know that part of the reason

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these laptops tend to be so expensive is that it takes a significant amount of engineering

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to take high-performance GPUs and CPUs and fit them into the power and thermal envelope of a laptop.

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Unlike with a desktop, you see, laptops only have so much room for cooling and power delivery,

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and developing solutions to make it all fit costs money.

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But can we dive a little deeper than just, it's hard to make things small?

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Of course we can. Otherwise, we wouldn't have made this video. As time has gone on and we demand ever faster speeds

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and ever higher performance, it's become more and more difficult to guarantee signal integrity

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over the tiny traces that move data between different parts

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of your computer. Instead of, say, a circuit board or PCB built from four

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or six layers and one ounce of copper, you might have an eight-layer PCB with two ounces of copper

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in order to prevent too much signal loss. And not only is this more difficult to design and manufacture,

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some of the raw materials have also gotten more expensive.

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The price of copper, for example, spiked during the pandemic and hasn't gotten close

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to returning to pre-pandemic levels. And there was also a well-publicized chip shortage,

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and it's not like the GPU companies just lowered prices

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out of the goodness of their hearts after the supply situation improved.

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This also applies to power delivery. Newer hardware demands more power phases

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and different, more expensive controllers. The per-unit cost difference might only be around a dollar,

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but when you think about how many components inside of a laptop need upgraded infrastructure,

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that adds up quickly. And guess who gets to pay for all those extra innards?

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But these general concepts could also apply equally to desktops.

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Obviously, we've needed more powerful CPUs and GPUs

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as games have gotten more demanding, but it isn't just higher-end chips

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and the necessary supporting hardware that have driven up gaming laptop price increases.

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Over the past decade or so, as more and more users and tech media have given feedback

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to laptop manufacturers about what they want, the general consensus has been nicer stuff.

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And what we mean by that is enhancements like metal

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instead of cheap plastic for the various parts of the chassis. USB power delivery ports instead of barrel connectors

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and nicer displays with higher refresh rates and resolutions,

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better viewing angles and contrast, and HDR support.

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Simply put, expectations not just for raw performance,

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but also integrated peripherals and fit and finish

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have gone up, not down. And these expectations touch many parts of the laptop,

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which result in a significantly higher final price.

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One good way to think of this is that even cheap commodity items like Ethernet switches

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have large price differences between models that support gigabit speeds,

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which have been around a long time, and the newer 2.5 gigabit standard.

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So if this is the case, think about how the price differences

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between something like a standard LCD and an OLED display

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would translate to the price you end up paying for a gaming laptop.

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And of course, because a laptop is a highly integrated product,

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if you put in one piece of higher-end hardware, there's a good chance you'll need another piece

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of higher-end hardware to support it, which means higher costs, again.

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Which isn't necessarily the case with desktop PCs

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where you can pick and choose which parts you're okay with skimping on to save money.

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Obviously, mid-range gaming laptops are still plentiful,

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but you might end up compromising on something you may not want to.

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And given the way the market is, it doesn't look like we'll be in for much price relief

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at the higher end in the coming years. And if we've completely put you off splurging

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on a top-tier gaming laptop, remember that any home gaming rig can be portable

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if you've got a large enough hand truck. Thanks for watching, guys.

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If you liked this video, you might like our recent video about netbooks.

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Remember those small laptops? Why are they gone? We know why.

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Check out our other video. It's over there. Bye.