2016+ Gaming Laptop Thread: Embracing Pascal's Wafer (Please Read OP)

Hey guys I need some assistance. Friends laptop crapped the bed and he's looking for a new one. Around the $600 (usd) price range. He really has no requirement incept for at least a 15" screen and wants to play his older games like fo new vegas and mass effect 3 as well as hopefully play some newer games (obviously not on high.)

I really know nothing about laptops (nor does he) but he needs one for his traveling job and a desktop just doesn't work for him.

Any suggestions would be awesome. I asked him if refurbished was ok he was kind of meh but if they offer a warranty I dont think it would be an issue.

Thanks gaffers!
 
Hey guys I need some assistance. Friends laptop crapped the bed and he's looking for a new one. Around the $600 (usd) price range. He really has no requirement incept for at least a 15" screen and wants to play his older games like fo new vegas and mass effect 3 as well as hopefully play some newer games (obviously not on high.)

I really know nothing about laptops (nor does he) but he needs one for his traveling job and a desktop just doesn't work for him.

Any suggestions would be awesome. I asked him if refurbished was ok he was kind of meh but if they offer a warranty I dont think it would be an issue.

Thanks gaffers!


i'm also kinda in this same boat. $500-$600 laptop that is reliable, can stream stuff without issue. any gaming abilities would be a bonus. any help would be greatly appreciated
 
Hi GAF

So yeah, I need a laptop. Usage:
- Audio recording, maybe a bit of on location mixing
- some oldtime Arcade emulation
- Volgar and Jamestown
- if it can handle some PSX emulation that would be a bonus but not required
- Windows, not a Chrome book

and that's it.
I found some decent offers for 4-500 from Acer but holy cow, what garbage can did they go through to find screens with 1:200 contrast??
So yes, allrounder is the word.

Thanks :-)
 
Hi GAF

So yeah, I need a laptop. Usage:
- Audio recording, maybe a bit of on location mixing
- some oldtime Arcade emulation
- Volgar and Jamestown
- if it can handle some PSX emulation that would be a bonus but not required
- Windows, not a Chrome book

and that's it.
I found some decent offers for 4-500 from Acer but holy cow, what garbage can did they go through to find screens with 1:200 contrast??
So yes, allrounder is the word.

Thanks :-)

Hey guys I need some assistance. Friends laptop crapped the bed and he's looking for a new one. Around the $600 (usd) price range. He really has no requirement incept for at least a 15" screen and wants to play his older games like fo new vegas and mass effect 3 as well as hopefully play some newer games (obviously not on high.)

I really know nothing about laptops (nor does he) but he needs one for his traveling job and a desktop just doesn't work for him.

Any suggestions would be awesome. I asked him if refurbished was ok he was kind of meh but if they offer a warranty I dont think it would be an issue.

Thanks gaffers!

i'm also kinda in this same boat. $500-$600 laptop that is reliable, can stream stuff without issue. any gaming abilities would be a bonus. any help would be greatly appreciated

I like this one.
 
Well the i7 boosts to 2.9Ghz vs the 2.5Ghz of the i5. If the extra speed matters to your usage, sure.
 
Got my Y50 today. I'm very impressed with its performance. I can play Twilight Princess in Dolphin at 3x native resolution and 1080p. I couldn't believe how well it ran.

edit; nm, just wanted to say thanks for recommending it.
 
Thinking about hooking up my DualShock 4 to the laptop for some gaming. I know there are a few solutions out there:

  1. DS4Windows
  2. DS4 Xinput Wrapper

And surely others.
Anyone with experience?
 
MSI G60 3K or 4K? Assuming everything else is the same (970M 3GB, 16GB RAM, etc.)

4K is 3840x2160 and 3K is 2880x1620.

Bizarrely enough, there's also a G60 with Full HD 1920x1080 that has a 970M with 6GB of RAM.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to game at the 4K and 3K resolutions (at least with newer games), so would it just be better to get the Full HD version with the extra VRAM (it's also cheaper.)
 
MSI G60 3K or 4K? Assuming everything else is the same (970M 3GB, 16GB RAM, etc.)

4K is 3840x2160 and 3K is 2880x1620.

Bizarrely enough, there's also a G60 with Full HD 1920x1080 that has a 970M with 6GB of RAM.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to game at the 4K and 3K resolutions (at least with newer games), so would it just be better to get the Full HD version with the extra VRAM (it's also cheaper.)

I'd definitely take the 1080p and 6GB VRAM, unless you specifically work with programs that would benefit from UHD resolutions.
 
I'd definitely take the 1080p and 6GB VRAM, unless you specifically work with programs that would benefit from UHD resolutions.

Thanks for the advice. I'm kinda curious if that 6GB of VRAM is a misprint so I emailed the xoticpc people to find out.

Either way I think 1080p is probably the best way to go, although reducing resolution is an option with the others I suppose.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm kinda curious if that 6GB of VRAM is a misprint so I emailed the xoticpc people to find out.

Either way I think 1080p is probably the best way to go, although reducing resolution is an option with the others I suppose.

The 6GB is not a typo. Amazon lists it too.

Even a 3k or 4k screen will look like crap, downscaled to 1080p, I can't advise you go that route. Crisp native 1080p >>> fuzzy down-rezzed 1080p.
 
What's a good 17", sub-8lb laptop I can get for ~$1500? School's gonna give me a grant, and I'm in desperate need of a replacement for my current 17" laptop.
 
So I've been browsing some gaming laptops, and the prices are quite absurd. As an example, one has 970M sli but is still only 1080p and the refresh rate is likely only 60hz. Such a waste at that resolution. Does 144hz exist in any laptops yet?
 
What's a good 17", sub-8lb laptop I can get for ~$1500? School's gonna give me a grant, and I'm in desperate need of a replacement for my current 17" laptop.

This is nice.

So I've been browsing some gaming laptops, and the prices are quite absurd. As an example, one has 970M sli but is still only 1080p and the refresh rate is likely only 60hz. Such a waste at that resolution. Does 144hz exist in any laptops yet?

Nope
 
Decided to get a Lenovo Z70-80 since I saw it on sale and the specs are perfect.
A bit more than I wanted to spend but it's still at at 680 Euro it's still under the 800 it costs everywhere else.
In return:
Core i5-5200U
NVidida 840M 2GB
8GB of RAM
1TB SSHD-Hybrid
17" Full-HD IPS Display that actually looks better than what I wanted.
Battery reported to last a good 4 hours under moderate heavy use.

At 580 Euro I get stuff with similar specs but garbage displays. So yeah, here is a 100 bucks to image quality.

Will post pics when I get back :-)
 
Okay, pics tomorrow. Mouse+bag+lappy=710 Euro
First impression: yep, Laptop. Heavy shit. This won't be my constant companion but rather in cases where I need a full blown PC instead of my Galaxy S4.

So yeah, tomorrow audio measurements, Saturday emulation at a meet, next week Chorus recording. Let's see how it goes.
 
Decided to get a Lenovo Z70-80 since I saw it on sale and the specs are perfect.
A bit more than I wanted to spend but it's still at at 680 Euro it's still under the 800 it costs everywhere else.
In return:
Core i5-5200U
NVidida 840M 2GB
8GB of RAM
1TB SSHD-Hybrid
17" Full-HD IPS Display that actually looks better than what I wanted.
Battery reported to last a good 4 hours under moderate heavy use.

At 580 Euro I get stuff with similar specs but garbage displays. So yeah, here is a 100 bucks to image quality.

Will post pics when I get back :-)

Yeah a good display can be priceless. I paid extra to get an IPS and it was worth every penny.

There's a sizable difference between the two? Didn't realize. Saw the 965 had more VRAM, which is always nice.

Something like 40% faster. I wouldn't trade that for anything.
 
Is it possible to use DSR with my y50? I'm pretty sure it could handle Halo at higher than 1080p, but don't see an option for setting custom resolutions via drivers.
 
New Acer gaming laptops revealed

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http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/23/8...gaming-desktop-laptop-tablet-announced-photos
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/acer-unveils-predator-gaming-series,28986.html

For laptops, Acer created a 15- and 17-inch version. Ports include HDMI, DisplayPort, four USB 3.0 and one USB Type-C port.

An optical drive is located on the left side, along with an SD slot and headphone and microphone jacks, and a speaker is located at the front. The keyboard includes five macro keys on the left side and a dedicated button to turn off the touchpad if you're using a mouse. Cooling is always an issue with gaming laptops, but Acer claimed to solve the problem by adding huge grills at the back of the laptop.
 
Is it possible to use DSR with my y50? I'm pretty sure it could handle Halo at higher than 1080p, but don't see an option for setting custom resolutions via drivers.

DSR hasn't been released in the mobile drivers, yet.


I'd rather point you to the Y50, which is also $899 from Lenovo's site.

New Acer gaming laptops revealed

Ugliest branding ever ever.
 
Not sure if I want to buy a desktop or a laptop.

Anyone know how and when Skylark or Nvidia Pastel will affect laptops?

2016 for Pascal, much improvement, so 16nm.

I don't know anything about Skylake, but CPUs don't matter much.
 
Not even my home PC has 16GB and runs everything just fine.
A better GPU will be better worth/money unless you plan more video editing later.
 
Ok cool. I am definitely not educated on a lot of this stuff. I won't be doing any video editing. Just streaming stuff, light gaming and web browsing. So it looks like go with the one with the 940m
 
Guys, I'm currently researching for a laptop for school + hobbies. I already found a prospect but I don't know if the specs are overkill for the price and my needs.

I generally need a laptop that can run...

+ Photoshop/Painter
+ AutoCAD
+ Maya/Zbrush
+ Gaming is secondary

I know for the first two, that this is a bit of overkill, and I think this can handle ZBrush pretty well (8gb ram and i7 processor is usually more than enough, and this is 16gb ram...). I love too that it can have SSDs too. My worry is on maya as when I am researching, I read that Maya is a bit picky on gpu (as it prefers quadros)...

Is there any other recommendations? If possible, I am looking for an 8gb ram, i7 processor, decent sized SSD, and videocard that can run maya without as much hiccups. If I look for all of them together, I end up going to waaaay higher end that I feel like too overkill for what I need...

Or maybe I'm just scared for buying again lol...
 
Well it appears my budget went up a bit for my impending purchase. About $800. Best screen and performance laptop for that price tag?
 
So I'm a bit worried about the gaming performance of the 970M, especially going into the Witcher 3. I'd love get the latest MSI with the 980M, but I'm afraid my current finances are preventing me to do so. Any advice? Sorry for the stupid question, anyway I'm looking at this model - https://pood.elion.ee/productInfo/24/sulearvuti-msi-gs70/GS70%202QE-050NL

Well, if you can you should probably go for gtx 980m. It has more to offer in terms of performance. Have you considered eBay/second hand?
 
Hi GAF

I need help finding a laptop. My current Asus N53J is still working fine, but the problem is that it's rather big and heavy. It's 15.6" and I don't want to lug it around anymore.
I looked around online and I'm not finding many options that I like. I found some with decent specs and a decent price, but their designs are atrocious.
The one that I'm liking right now is the new XPS 13, it looks nice, I like the screen and the size. But it's not exactly bang for the buck.

Country: USA
Budget: A max of $1000, though I'd prefer it if I could find something for $800-ish.
Max size: I think a screen size between 13 and 14" is fine. If there was a 15" laptop with a design similar to the new XPS 13, I'd be down with it. But I really don't want a big laptop.
Planned usage: For the most part I'll use it in class. I type a lot, so hopefully the keyboard isn't horrendous. I prefer using a mouse rather than the touchpad. I will watch films and tv shows on it, so the screen needs to be good and not a glare-fest. I won't be playing much on it since I already have a decent gaming desktop. Every year I'll be away from home for about two months or so, and it will be my main computer, so it can't be too weak/slow for daily use. Other than that, I would use it for some occasional photoshop work, so 8GB of RAM and 1080p screen is the minimum for me. I don't care about how good the speakers are, I always use headphones.

Other than that... I think the design is important. I don't like how suddenly Asus, for instance, has blue and maroon laptops. Don't like that at all! I don't like how plasticy so many laptops are, either. I think I'd be willing to sacrifice some performance for a better built system.

Please help!
 
Well, if you can you should probably go for gtx 980m. It has more to offer in terms of performance. Have you considered eBay/second hand?

Unfortunately i have to get one locally, i understand the prices here aren't really competitive, but it is what it is.
 
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