If you're arguing if a laptop can be just as powerful as ANY desktop regardless of financial constraints the answer is obviously no. With the ability to have several (up to 4 at the moment) top of the line GPUs running in parallel, several top of the line CPUs running in parallel, phase change cooling for overclocks up to 6GHz on modern cpus, many SSDs running in parallel through an RAID card, up to 128GB of RAM on a multi-socket motherboard, etc. a desktop will obviously win. Sure this will cost a lot but if the question doesn't take financial limitation into account than this is the answer. You cannot build a top of the line custom laptop setup that is on par with a top of the line desktop setup.
Now if you say "but that's far too expensive and unpractical". Then why would it be ok to compare an $800 desktop against a $2,000-4,000 laptop and say "price doesn't matter"? You can build a laptop that is on par with a high end desktop for several times as much but for the same cost you could build an even more powerful desktop.
In either case in boils down to desktops having higher performance per dollar no matter how much or how little you spend. Desktops will always outperform laptops at every price range due to technical limitations. And desktops will always be able to scale higher than laptops in performance due to the same technical limitations.
Now if you say "but that's far too expensive and unpractical". Then why would it be ok to compare an $800 desktop against a $2,000-4,000 laptop and say "price doesn't matter"? You can build a laptop that is on par with a high end desktop for several times as much but for the same cost you could build an even more powerful desktop.
In either case in boils down to desktops having higher performance per dollar no matter how much or how little you spend. Desktops will always outperform laptops at every price range due to technical limitations. And desktops will always be able to scale higher than laptops in performance due to the same technical limitations.
"Normally if given a choice between doing something and nothing, I’d choose to do nothing. But I would do something if it helps someone else do nothing. I’d work all night if it meant nothing got done."
-Ron Swanson
"I shall be a good politician, even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else for that matter. "
-Mark Antony
-Ron Swanson
"I shall be a good politician, even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else for that matter. "
-Mark Antony