Do you want to develop your first game or start learning game development then you definitely need a decent pc or laptop to code and design a game.
Well if you are just about to begin then you may have various questions in your mind, especially non-techie users often get confused about Which is better for game development PC or laptop
In this article, I am going to clear all your doubts as I am going to share my complete experience on both laptop and pc first let’s quickly discuss which you should consider.
Also Read: How much ram needed for game development
Which is better for game development PC or laptop?
There is no rebutting the fact that pc is a powerful component and always preferable over a laptop especially when it comes to performance you can extract maximum output for productive tasks like designing and gaming.
However, the laptops are not far behind the pcs as the latest modern gaming laptops have seen a huge jump in proficiency yet they can not compete with desktops, in both cases, you must choose the right configuration to design the game.
Also Read: Best laptop for Game Development
Unity vs unreal engine
For instance, unity and the unreal engine are the most recommended and common game engine used by developers, choosing hardware also largely relies on which platform you have decided to create a game on.
Moreover, if you are not yet familiar with both let me quickly give you an overview of both game engines.
Unity is a versatile platform that is used by entry-level gamers as this platform allows users to design both 2D and 3D games.
Whereas unreal engine is for advance level developers you should always start with unity and once you brush up your skills then decide either to switch to other gaming platforms.
Now I am sure you have a basic idea about which is better for game design pc or laptop let’s dig more into this topic so you can take a firm decision.
To start with game development is a very extensive domain where you never know what orders next on your plate so basically, you should strive to keep good performing features in your computing system including the operating system.
Another platform increases its popularity for creating pc games is a blender, the application is a free source and a handy tool to begin a game development career.
Performance
The flaw of the laptops is their inbuilt components basically hardware in laptops is largely impacted by a lack of efficiency than their pc counterparts due to underclocking CPU and GPU.
This is deliberately done by the brands to keep laptops efficient, battery, and durability intact, as laptops are smaller than desktops, the biggest purpose of laptops is to provide portability.
Just assume the manufacturer added a desktop-level CPU and GPU in the laptop, the machine won’t able to vent out such high-end pressure readily.
The space is limited to remove warm air as a result either the machine will damage or become a pressure cooker.
For instance, if your pc has a GTX 1660ti video card and AMD Ryzen 5600H processor combinations, it can take your game development task to another level.
In fact, it’s a decent specification for 3D games on desktops but similar specs on laptops only help you with 2D and android game development.
Moreover, all this costs you more than pc, for a heavily loaded designer anything above 1200 dollars has to be sent on a laptop whereas pc might cost you below 900 which saves you a lot of money.
Upgrading hardware
In game development, you must be very conscious of choosing each component, in the desktop you get the luxury to build your own hardware system where you can choose each and every part separately whereas laptops are equipped with pre-built features.
Moreover, desktops are easier to upgrade which is essential for developers as you never know what modification comes with the latest technology desktop allows you to switch each part easily without much headache and at reasonable prices.
Whereas laptop parts are very hard to upgrade especially processor and graphics card as both of them are soldered into the motherboard which is next to impossible to replace however modern laptops do offer you to upgrade memory and hard drive.
This is the biggest reason why pc is always a more suitable preference than a laptop for developing video games, as a developer you have to evolve substantially with new technologies
Also Read: Can you upgrade gaming laptop
Portability
The desktops restricted you to one place as it requires constant electric connection this is where the laptop becomes handy and if you are always on the go then the laptop is a good alternative for developing video games.
Also Read: Are gaming laptops good for everyday use
Can I do game development on a low-end pc?
It depends on what specification your low-end pc has, it should at least meet the minimum system requirement for designing games.
We always suggest considering recommended hardware requirements to run applications if you are building a new desktop for game development.
As minimum specs help to work but with many glitches and lags, however, it’s not a bad idea to test out your old low-end pc before upgrading features.
How many cores do I need for game development?
There are many games that run on single cores rather than multi-cores which is quite unexpected but here we are considering game development which has involved full-fledged computing work from programming to design and testing you need to do everything.
For all this work you must need responsive multi individual core ideally Hexa cores that is 6 cores sufficient for pc and for laptop 8 cores would be a nice edition for 3d developer whereas 2d developers should settle with 6 cores.
Is 12 core overkill for game development?
The maximum cores are always recommended for highly demanding tasks and developing video games consumes a lot of resources especially from your processor’s cores, while running multiple software pc needs multiple cores.
However, the 12 cores can make your working experience super smooth but it’s not essential you can manage with 6-8 cores as well.
So basically overkill is not the right definition but instead of spending on such a high CPU, you should also consider other elements like GPU, memory, hard drive, and display which are as crucial as the CPU.
Does game development need a graphic card?
Yes, game development needs graphics cards, especially for highly graphical-intensive games you must have a dedicated video chip.
As it provides much better visuals that make designing much easier and the rendering process becomes smooth as it won’t put all the pressure on the CPU, simply because the dedicated GPU has its own memory system that also delivers images and videos faster on display.
Is i5 good for game development?
The i5 processor from intel is typically used by programmer and coders as they are economical in budget and performs decently due to 4 cores.
However, for indie game development, more cores are ideal even though the quad-core is decent yet suggests you get 6 cores CPU to handle the strat-to-end game design workload.
Additionally, if you just want to write code for gaming then 4 cores are sufficient.
Conclusion:
So Which is better for game development pc or laptop, both are operatable but if you want to get more out of your computing system in budget then pc is for you.
Whereas for students or professionals laptops are a better choice for creating games, however as discussed getting a decent laptop is a little costlier than building pc.
In fact, you get both options on pc you can purchase each component separately to assemble a desktop and you also get a prebuilt desktop which they are easy to replace whereas laptops not having such options.
