[_jjkk]

This will be true for a long time - the design constraints are so totally different it would be foolish to use the same design in desktop and laptop systems.

The most limiting thing is TDP, which in the highest performance laptop processors is still capped at 45W, whereas a maxed out desktop processor can draw 100W or more.

See these tables for i9, for example, compare Coffee-Lake-S (Desktop) with Coffee-Lake-H (Laptop) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i9_processo...

[dragontamer]

> The most limiting thing is TDP, which in the highest performance laptop processors is still capped at 45W, whereas a maxed out desktop processor can draw 100W or more.

Maybe a small desktop. My desktop processor is 180W TDP (Threadripper 1950x), while some others are 250W TDP. You can also get a dual-socket workstation, for 2x CPUs (both pulling 200W each).

Thermals and power are significantly higher on desktops, it ain't even funny. Laptops win in power-efficiency, but absolute performance is always going to be a Desktop.

[arvinsim]

My desktop very rarely gets loud since I have made sure to choose a good airflow case and top of the line air cooler.

My Macbook laptop, on the other hand, sounds like a jet everytime I run yarn install.

So yes, desktops have higher thermals. But it handles it so much better than a laptop that it almost becomes irrelevant.