I am one of those that fell for the falacy of “gaming laptops” because I have to travel a lot for work, and need my dose of gaming to stay sane. As such, I usually played on console when at home, work on a non-gaming PC, and tried to game on a laptop while away.

I found that, while I was able to somewhat play a bit while on the ground, those laptops are huge power suckers. This lead to any flight over 2 hours leaving me at the expense of the airline’s ad-ridden and ridiculously limited “entertainment” (those that provide it and IF they provided it). Never mind how freaking hot they get.

The deck has saved my life. I can carry a powerful laptop that will give me 8+ hours of battery for my in-flight media consumption and watch whatever the he’ll I want without being exposed to ads and the pilot interrupting my enjoyment, and I can play anything available offline on my deck at any point.

Unfortunately I still have a “gaming” system76 laptop that is only 2 years old, this is my second (and last) “gaming” laptop. My next travel companion will not have, nor need, dedicated GPU, because the deck covers that itch.