Can I use my laptop as a gaming console?

I am planning to buy a DECENT laptop in the upcoming months. I want to connect my laptop to my TV and hook up a PC gamepad. Can I then play games (PC) on the TV using the laptop as a medium, just like I would've done if I bought a Xbox360 or a PS3?





P.S. Assume the laptop is a top notch one.

Can I use my laptop as a gaming console?
Yes you can...





You would probably need a wireless keyboard and mouse and cables to connect (depends on video out of laptop and input of tv)..





Also, always remember that laptops are less powerful than desktops..





So it would be unlikely you could play newer games at high resolutions...
Reply:Yes you can, but I wouldn't. Games require serious hardware. Unless for some reason you are needing the portability, or you have a space consideration, I would spend the money on building a serious gaming machine, that I could upgrade as technology improves.
Reply:Yes, just be wary that you will have to use high resolutions to make it look good on the tv, assuming that it's a large LCD and therefore picture quality is important.





You would likely need to buy an adapter unless your TV has a DVI or VGA port or your laptop had an S-video or HDMI output.





Also, you would probably have trouble getting sound from your laptop to your tv through the cable that you use for video, therefore you would also need to run some RCA cables or hook up a sound system to your laptop, which can also be an issue if your laptop only has a headphone jack and lacks the typical 3 inputs for audio.





It would be kind of clumsy, but you can definitely do it for pretty cheap.





If it's a CRT though, the picture quality wouldn't really be worth it in my opinion. And yet if it's a large LCD, I'm not sure a laptop will be able to play games at resolutions past 1680x1050 that would be necessary for a nice clean picture. You risk getting poor framerates.
Reply:Yes you could, but remember since it will be a laptop the graphics will not be as good as a console, but good enough. Also, pcs do not have as many games as a console does but there still is a wide selection.

hide song