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

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!

For the new page
 
I can't wait till the Witcher 3 comes out. I feel like that and Battlefront are the only big potential bench mark pushers out there that have been announced.
 
DEATH™;163370710 said:
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...

Take a look at Sager laptops. You can get them with a 970m for around the same price are a 980m for a little more.
 
DEATH™;163370710 said:
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...

Not overkill.

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

The 970M is close to the recommended Nvidia GPU. It'll run the game easily, just not Ultra maxed out. If you can't afford a 980M machine, that'w about all you can expect.

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!

I'd go with the $899 Y50 from Lenovo's site.
 
Btw guys, the original Witcher 3 reveal looked like it'd melt laptop GPUs. The current build looks marginally better than Witcher 2, so 970M and 980M will crush it.

I can look into that... Any other model you recommend that is also smaller?

Well, for me it'd be between the XPS 13 and the Zenbook.
 
Country where it will be purchased: US.
Maximum budget: $1600
Max size: Not a big deal.
Planned usage: School (heavy programming), Gaming, video editing/processing/rendering, and work.

Basically, a Desktop is better in every conceivable way for what I want to do, however I am a sucker for portability and I love that I can take my school/work station with me literally anywhere without much hassle. Plus, sometimes I just want to sit on my deck on a nice day and do some work, other times I like to change location in the home just to change up my thought process a bit.

I do not care if the laptop is refurbished at all. I want there to at least be an SSD for boot purposes, otherwise It's about getting the most for my money that is reliable and won't run super hot.

My main desktop recently started on fire and the current laptop I am on... is on it's last legs (and can't do much of what I want to do with it very well). I've looked into a few computers, but I really am just looking for additional suggestions.
 
Seeing as The Witcher 3 is right around the corner, I'm looking to make sure I'm fully setup hardware wise.

I'm using an Aspire Nitro (V15 Black), this version:
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MQLAA.003

With the i7 and 860M, I should be able to handle the game? I definitely don't want to max it out, but 60fps would be awesome.

Also, I'm using the default mechanical drive that it shipped with. Would this SSD be compatible with my laptop, and what are the chances of me screwing something up during installation/migration of the OS? I've only been able to find videos in German :/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TGIVZTW/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Thanks!
 
Country where it will be purchased: US.
Maximum budget: $1600
Max size: Not a big deal.
Planned usage: School (heavy programming), Gaming, video editing/processing/rendering, and work.

Basically, a Desktop is better in every conceivable way for what I want to do, however I am a sucker for portability and I love that I can take my school/work station with me literally anywhere without much hassle. Plus, sometimes I just want to sit on my deck on a nice day and do some work, other times I like to change location in the home just to change up my thought process a bit.

I do not care if the laptop is refurbished at all. I want there to at least be an SSD for boot purposes, otherwise It's about getting the most for my money that is reliable and won't run super hot.

My main desktop recently started on fire and the current laptop I am on... is on it's last legs (and can't do much of what I want to do with it very well). I've looked into a few computers, but I really am just looking for additional suggestions.
Might as well go all out for a Sager NP8652/8672. GTX 980M is strong.

Will cost about $1750 with a 128GB SSD.

Seeing as The Witcher 3 is right around the corner, I'm looking to make sure I'm fully setup hardware wise.

I'm using an Aspire Nitro (V15 Black), this version:
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MQLAA.003

With the i7 and 860M, I should be able to handle the game? I definitely don't want to max it out, but 60fps would be awesome.

Also, I'm using the default mechanical drive that it shipped with. Would this SSD be compatible with my laptop, and what are the chances of me screwing something up during installation/migration of the OS? I've only been able to find videos in German :/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TGIVZTW/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Thanks!

You'll be able to play it well, but I doubt 60fps is going to happen.

Any M.2 SSD is compatible.
 
Take a look at Sager laptops. You can get them with a 970m for around the same price are a 980m for a little more.

I looked at Sager Laptop just like you mentioned, and darn they are tempting...

The NP7155, NP8650 and NP8268 caught my eye. For the budget I have I would choose NP7155 plus SSD, but NP8268 with the free videocard update offer is tempting (though it's over my price range) and I need to make a decision quick.

Also, my brother-in-law said He has a discount for buying Dell but so far there's none that seems strong enough that is worth the price... Also, I saw This and I want to just through it. I just dunno if it's worth it jumping to nvidia gtx 860m over 960m. When researching, I read that 960m is just an overclocked 860m but I really need someone to guide me on this.. Should I jump out on this one? Is it worth shelling out more money for those higher spec sagers for the long run in the type of work I do?

Guys help! BTW my budget is just a bit over 1000.

Not overkill.

OK thanks... now I'm aiming for those specs...
 
My last two laptops were Clevos and I am happy with them. This time again I am thinking about XMG P505 from Schenker. However, I was surprised to see the prices of MSI laptops in PLN to be even slightly cheaper than XMG prices in EUR. So I might go with MSI directly from a Polish shop instead of importing XMG.

So I have a couple questions:
1) What the general opinion about latest MSI laptops? Like this one:
http://www.sferis.pl/p/356384-laptop-msi-ge62-2qf-025xpl-i7-4720hq-156fhd-8gb-1tb-gtx970m-dvd-noos-czarny.html
2) anyone knows which WIFI card is inside MSI laptops? Their site says just "Killer" so I assume they mean Atheros and not some Intel shit?
3) Is it worth to pay around 250-300EUR extra to get 980M over 970M?
4) Should I expect any overheating problems with MSI 15.6" with 970M (980M) inside it?
5) Is it possible to replace DVD drive with SSD disk by yourself in MSI laptops?
 
videocard update offer is tempting (though it's over my price range) and I need to make a decision quick.

Also, my brother-in-law said He has a discount for buying Dell but so far there's none that seems strong enough that is worth the price... Also, I saw This and I want to just through it. I just dunno if it's worth it jumping to nvidia gtx 860m over 960m. When researching, I read that 960m is just an overclocked 860m but I really need someone to guide me on this.. Should I jump out on this one? Is it worth shelling out more money for those higher spec sagers for the long run in the type of work I do?

Guys help! BTW my budget is just a bit over 1000.

OK thanks... now I'm aiming for those specs...[/QUOTE]

This is the thing, usually it's about taking the most GPU for your budget. The initial 960M equipped laptop you posted was a few ducats short of $1.3k, which makes people wonder why you shouldn't go a few dollars over $1.3k for the 970M equipped Sager.

Sometimes it's about what a GPU will be for you in a year or two. You may become really interested in PC gaming in that period, and you don't want to then have a GPU that's sitting at the minimum requirements of many of the most anticipated releases.

It also depends on how often you upgrade to new laptops. Are you like me, and upgrade every 2 years, or do you stretch laptops 4-5 years. The latter type is the one who really needs to blow their entire budget on getting the absolute strongest GPU they can afford, other upgrades be damned. Again, you don't want to buy a laptop today, only to find out a year later that something has appeared that it can't run well.

Any more questions?

My last two laptops were Clevos and I am happy with them. This time again I am thinking about XMG P505 from Schenker. However, I was surprised to see the prices of MSI laptops in PLN to be even slightly cheaper than XMG prices in EUR. So I might go with MSI directly from a Polish shop instead of importing XMG.

So I have a couple questions:
1) What the general opinion about latest MSI laptops? Like this one:
http://www.sferis.pl/p/356384-laptop-msi-ge62-2qf-025xpl-i7-4720hq-156fhd-8gb-1tb-gtx970m-dvd-noos-czarny.html
2) anyone knows which WIFI card is inside MSI laptops? Their site says just "Killer" so I assume they mean Atheros and some Intel shit?
3) Is it worth to pay around 250-300EUR extra to get 980M over 970M?
4) Should I expect any overheating problems with MSI 15.6" with 970M (980M) inside it?
5) Is it possible to replace DVD drive with SSD disk by yourself in MSI laptops?

1 - The latest of MSI (GE62, GE72, GT72) are the absolute top of the line, as far as build quality and amenities.

2 - MSI uses the Killer Wireless 1525 n/a/ac adapter, and Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet for wired connections. No Intel shit here.

3 - "Worth it" for the 980M? Here is a visual of some head-to-head benchmarks, to help you see the raw difference. Looks like the 980M runs 25-30% faster than its little brother. I love my 980M.

4 - No overheating

5 - I don't know. They have enough M.2 SSD slots for that to not be an issue though.
 
Hey Gaming Laptop Gaf, I want to get a new laptop that I can use for work but also use for some light gaming.

Country: USA
Max budget: $1,000
Max Size: Don't have a max size in mind.
Planned usage: I plan doing some light gaming like TF2 or Terraria. Maybe run Dark Souls. I don't plan on running any of the newer PC games.
Other things: Good battery life would be nice to have.

Thanks for any feedback.
 
Hey Gaming Laptop Gaf, I want to get a new laptop that I can use for work but also use for some light gaming.

Country: USA
Max budget: $1,000
Max Size: Don't have a max size in mind.
Planned usage: I plan doing some light gaming like TF2 or Terraria. Maybe run Dark Souls. I don't plan on running any of the newer PC games.
Other things: Good battery life would be nice to have.

Thanks for any feedback.

The $899 Y50 is tough to beat right now.
 
Country: Canada
Max budget: $500
Max Size: Any
Planned usage: Just need something that can play League of Legends and CS:GO reasonably well when away from home.
 
WItcher 3 Hype is getting insane.

I want to see some benchmarks on 970m and 980m.

I wonder how much VRAM will affect performance.
 
Might as well go all out for a Sager NP8652/8672. GTX 980M is strong.

Will cost about $1750 with a 128GB SSD.

Had a hard time finding anything close to that price range with the 980m, 16gb RAM, and the SSD.

Opinion though - how is the Sager with heat? My friend had one years back and it overheated really bad. Not saying I ever use a laptop on my lap, but I don't like when things run too hot, as I have had parts burn out before because of it.
 
This is the thing, usually it's about taking the most GPU for your budget. The initial 960M equipped laptop you posted was a few ducats short of $1.3k, which makes people wonder why you shouldn't go a few dollars over $1.3k for the 970M equipped Sager.

Sometimes it's about what a GPU will be for you in a year or two. You may become really interested in PC gaming in that period, and you don't want to then have a GPU that's sitting at the minimum requirements of many of the most anticipated releases.

It also depends on how often you upgrade to new laptops. Are you like me, and upgrade every 2 years, or do you stretch laptops 4-5 years. The latter type is the one who really needs to blow their entire budget on getting the absolute strongest GPU they can afford, other upgrades be damned. Again, you don't want to buy a laptop today, only to find out a year later that something has appeared that it can't run well.

Any more questions?

Thanks, I really appreciate this advice since it helped me think ahead. I still do not see myself gaming as hard because studies are taking a toll on me right now, and Lord willing, I do plan to buy a real beefed up PC 2-3 years from now when I'm done with school and get a decent job. This is where I would do all my gaming and intensive rendering on.

The $899 Y50 is tough to beat right now.

I'm planning on getting this now too! Great specs for cheaper! Thanks for the rec!
 
So, I think I might have decided to go with an Alienware. Found one for nearly $400 off the normal retail price.

One thing I find really intriguing is the extra box you can buy for it to add a more powerful GPU in a desktop setting. IT's really appealing to me and it can double functionality as a docking station. I'm not getting this yet (to get the box and a card I actually want that is better than the 970m that is in the computer, I'll need to spend another $500 and I just don't have that money right now), but I think I can be completely happy with the computer as is, especially knowing I have a nice docking station/GPU upgrade in a specific setting I can do. It really makes me even more comfortable with the purchase (I know, there are some alternatives to this, but I like how alienware has it setup. It's just built right into their 2015 rigs)

Best part is, I am getting a near $1900 laptop for $1500 due to teh deal I found. Once I finalize the purchase and it gets sent, I'll share exactly which rig it is if folks are interested in trying to find the deal themselves again int eh future.

I did happen to finally find the right Sager at the $1750 price range with the 980m, I just realized the ability to upgrade toa desktop GPU really outweighed the difference between the 970m and the 980m, while the 970m will serve me perfectly fine in the gaming department when I can't be at home ont eh desk, and it's plenty powerful for everything else I do.
 
Looks like Dell Outlet has a coupon special running - if you're OK with a refurbished Alienware you can get 35% off with the code ALIENWARE35%.

I jumped on this a few weeks ago when it was only 25%...now you can get a refurbished Alienware 15 with 4k display and 980m for $1489... Looks like the other configs might be sold out for now...
 
Country: Canada
Max budget: $500
Max Size: Any
Planned usage: Just need something that can play League of Legends and CS:GO reasonably well when away from home.

Should do okay.

WItcher 3 Hype is getting insane.

I want to see some benchmarks on 970m and 980m.

I wonder how much VRAM will affect performance.

I'll be benching it on a 980M w/ 8GB VRAM. Should be interesting.

So, I think I might have decided to go with an Alienware. Found one for nearly $400 off the normal retail price.

One thing I find really intriguing is the extra box you can buy for it to add a more powerful GPU in a desktop setting. IT's really appealing to me and it can double functionality as a docking station. I'm not getting this yet (to get the box and a card I actually want that is better than the 970m that is in the computer, I'll need to spend another $500 and I just don't have that money right now), but I think I can be completely happy with the computer as is, especially knowing I have a nice docking station/GPU upgrade in a specific setting I can do. It really makes me even more comfortable with the purchase (I know, there are some alternatives to this, but I like how alienware has it setup. It's just built right into their 2015 rigs)

Best part is, I am getting a near $1900 laptop for $1500 due to teh deal I found. Once I finalize the purchase and it gets sent, I'll share exactly which rig it is if folks are interested in trying to find the deal themselves again int eh future.

I did happen to finally find the right Sager at the $1750 price range with the 980m, I just realized the ability to upgrade toa desktop GPU really outweighed the difference between the 970m and the 980m, while the 970m will serve me perfectly fine in the gaming department when I can't be at home ont eh desk, and it's plenty powerful for everything else I do.

The Graphics Amplifier is an interesting option.

Looks like Dell Outlet has a coupon special running - if you're OK with a refurbished Alienware you can get 35% off with the code ALIENWARE35%.

I jumped on this a few weeks ago when it was only 25%...now you can get a refurbished Alienware 15 with 4k display and 980m for $1489... Looks like the other configs might be sold out for now...

Those come with any warranty?
 
Those come with any warranty?

1 year warranty is standard, I think. You can add more in the options before you check out.

I've been very happy with mine, for what it's worth. I did have a couple of problems though - first, Chrome has a bug where it thinks the trackpad on Alienware laptops is a touchscreen, meaning it will ignore you turning off that stupid "natural" scrolling that is all the vogue these days. On my laptop, they installed the OS and recovery partitions on the mechanical drive, which made no sense to me, and getting the OS onto the SSD involved cloning it over with something like Acronis True Image.

The 4K screen is beautiful, but scaling in Windows is still kinda shit. Fortunately most of the stuff I need to run scales properly (except QuickBooks, screw you Intuit)...
 
That's a dang good deal. Amazing, really.

The Chrome thing would drive me mad though.

I just trained myself to use the arrow keys/pg up-down keys to scroll, but yeah it sucks. Only occurs in Chrome, so scrolling is correct everywhere else :(

Would have been nice to save another $230 but it's been useful to have now, so I guess it worked out.

(as an aside I had no problem calling them and asking for a 240w power supply, that thing is comically large)
 
Does anyone build laptops? I've got 16gb/s of Ram and an i7 3610QM and 16gb of DDR3-1600 for a laptop. Any chance of selling it or should I just toss it?
 
I just trained myself to use the arrow keys/pg up-down keys to scroll, but yeah it sucks. Only occurs in Chrome, so scrolling is correct everywhere else :(

Would have been nice to save another $230 but it's been useful to have now, so I guess it worked out.

(as an aside I had no problem calling them and asking for a 240w power supply, that thing is comically large)

That's just weird. Anyone come up with an explanation for why the new Alienwares have this Chrome bug?

Does anyone build laptops? I've got 16gb/s of Ram and an i7 3610QM and 16gb of DDR3-1600 for a laptop. Any chance of selling it or should I just toss it?

Wouldn't hurt to list the CPU on eBay. There are a few listed around $130. You could undercut them by $10 or so.
 
1 year warranty is standard, I think. You can add more in the options before you check out.

I've been very happy with mine, for what it's worth. I did have a couple of problems though - first, Chrome has a bug where it thinks the trackpad on Alienware laptops is a touchscreen, meaning it will ignore you turning off that stupid "natural" scrolling that is all the vogue these days. On my laptop, they installed the OS and recovery partitions on the mechanical drive, which made no sense to me, and getting the OS onto the SSD involved cloning it over with something like Acronis True Image.

The 4K screen is beautiful, but scaling in Windows is still kinda shit. Fortunately most of the stuff I need to run scales properly (except QuickBooks, screw you Intuit)...

I ended up with this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SIJGGGC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Got it for around $1500 (plus tax).

I looked at the Dell Outlet before I purchased it per your suggestion, but they didn't have any of the 15's left. Just the 17's which were considerably more if I wanted to boost it to the 980m. After you posted that I was really hoping for the 15, because hey If I can get the 980m for the same price, might as well right?

Still, I'm perfectly happy with the purchasing decision even with a 970m, since I intended to get the graphics ampliphier later this year anyways. Not because I necessarily NEED it right away, but it's nice to have, and since I want to get a docking station setup when I move to a new home office setting later this summer, I figured I might as well just combine the docking station with that concept anyways, and it really does a good job for those purposes. Saw a lot of reviews and the amplifier works great, and should work great on all new cards for a long, long time.

I am a "bit" limited because I'll be using two 24inch benq monitors with a 75hz refresh rate versus a 144hz, but I am okay with 75 frames for now. Especially if I can run most games at ultra with close to 60+ FPS. 970m can do that - witcher 3 could be a struggle, but graphcis amplifier fixes that later this year.

The trackpad thing with chrome is interesting and overly annoying. I mean, I DO use an external wireless mouse in many situations (with a wired one at the desktop) most of the time because I just don't like trackpads, but it sucks knowing that when I do have to use it, I have to deal with Chrome's confusion.

I hope it comes with the OS on the SSD in mine. I'll be pretty disappointed if I have to put in the extra work to get it on the SSD. I was really hoping I could just plug and play when it got here and that adds time to that. Would rather worry about transferring data and other things.

I'm excited still. Never thought I'd own an Alienware because they are almost ALWAYS overpriced, but around tha tprice range, what I got was a pretty damn good deal. I always heard their tools were fantastic and the quality of the builds were top notch, with really great cooling. Add on the graphics amplifier and I'm pumped. They are really doing something special with gaming laptops these days.
 
That's just weird. Anyone come up with an explanation for why the new Alienwares have this Chrome bug?

I think the explanation is that Chrome thinks the trackpad is a touchscreen, which is why it ignores the trackpad scrolling settings. For those keeping track, a bug report was filed here: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=463350

I ended up with this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SIJGGGC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Got it for around $1500 (plus tax).

I looked at the Dell Outlet before I purchased it per your suggestion, but they didn't have any of the 15's left. Just the 17's which were considerably more if I wanted to boost it to the 980m. After you posted that I was really hoping for the 15, because hey If I can get the 980m for the same price, might as well right?

Still, I'm perfectly happy with the purchasing decision even with a 970m, since I intended to get the graphics ampliphier later this year anyways. Not because I necessarily NEED it right away, but it's nice to have, and since I want to get a docking station setup when I move to a new home office setting later this summer, I figured I might as well just combine the docking station with that concept anyways, and it really does a good job for those purposes. Saw a lot of reviews and the amplifier works great, and should work great on all new cards for a long, long time.

I am a "bit" limited because I'll be using two 24inch benq monitors with a 75hz refresh rate versus a 144hz, but I am okay with 75 frames for now. Especially if I can run most games at ultra with close to 60+ FPS. 970m can do that - witcher 3 could be a struggle, but graphcis amplifier fixes that later this year.

The trackpad thing with chrome is interesting and overly annoying. I mean, I DO use an external wireless mouse in many situations (with a wired one at the desktop) most of the time because I just don't like trackpads, but it sucks knowing that when I do have to use it, I have to deal with Chrome's confusion.

I hope it comes with the OS on the SSD in mine. I'll be pretty disappointed if I have to put in the extra work to get it on the SSD. I was really hoping I could just plug and play when it got here and that adds time to that. Would rather worry about transferring data and other things.

I'm excited still. Never thought I'd own an Alienware because they are almost ALWAYS overpriced, but around tha tprice range, what I got was a pretty damn good deal. I always heard their tools were fantastic and the quality of the builds were top notch, with really great cooling. Add on the graphics amplifier and I'm pumped. They are really doing something special with gaming laptops these days.

Too bad you didn't get a chance to check it out when I first posted, they had some 1080p models with the 970m that would have been sub $1000 after the coupon. (I don't remember if they had the i7 or the i5, though.) But there's something to be said about buying a new one, I suspect the OS on the wrong drive had something to do with the refurbishment process. I had to clone the drive because if you made a bootable recovery USB it remembered the original size of the HDD and refused to install on the smaller SSD.

I will say this, this thing is way quieter than I was expecting. My old Vaio sounded like a jet engine when I would run it hard. It stings a bit to see similar laptops selling for over $200 less now, but I've really been enjoying the ability to get work done away from my desk for the last couple of weeks.
 
I think the explanation is that Chrome thinks the trackpad is a touchscreen, which is why it ignores the trackpad scrolling settings. For those keeping track, a bug report was filed here: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=463350



Too bad you didn't get a chance to check it out when I first posted, they had some 1080p models with the 970m that would have been sub $1000 after the coupon. (I don't remember if they had the i7 or the i5, though.) But there's something to be said about buying a new one, I suspect the OS on the wrong drive had something to do with the refurbishment process. I had to clone the drive because if you made a bootable recovery USB it remembered the original size of the HDD and refused to install on the smaller SSD.

I will say this, this thing is way quieter than I was expecting. My old Vaio sounded like a jet engine when I would run it hard. It stings a bit to see similar laptops selling for over $200 less now, but I've really been enjoying the ability to get work done away from my desk for the last couple of weeks.

Yeah, it's a shame really. If there was a 15 for around $1000 with the i7, an SSD, and a 970m... I would have jumped all over it, even if it was just 8gb. I'd just buy a second 8gb stick to put in it, and i would have had enough money left to get the amplifier and maybe even the r9 290x or a gtx 970/980 for it. Would have been ideal (assuming the models were 2015).

They did have some 17's with the i7, SSD, and 980m I could have nabbed for aroubd 1600 to 1700 (with the coupon), but I just didn't want one that big again. I use to have an HP model that was that big and while I liked it initially, it was just not that portable and considering that I have two 24inch monitors anyways, I would rather make the laptop more portable and have the bigger screens when I am at the desk. A 4k screen would have been cool to play with however, since I have yet to experience anything above 1080p.

As for the OS on the wrong drive, I too worry since technically, I am getting a "used" amazon warehouse one. I just don't want to deal with it honestly, and it doesn't come with OS install discs either, where I could theoretically wipe the drive and reinstall. Then again, I want to keep all the alienware tools too. I just hope they didn't do that. I was fine with the 5400 RPM drive for the 1tb specifically because of the SSD. My friend has an SSD with a 2 tb 5400 RPM drive I couldn't even tell the difference between the 5400 rpm and the 7200, since the OS was so snappy it never felt like there was much load time at all.
 
Tempted to buy the Asus G751JY. My local computershop has one with 250SSD and 16gb ram and I am comming from a 7 year old computer that crashed last week.
Argg the choises in life!
 
Tempted to buy the Asus G751JY. My local computershop has one with 250SSD and 16gb ram and I am comming from a 7 year old computer that crashed last week.
Argg the choises in life!

It really just depends what your budget is and what you want out of it. The G751JY is an excellent gaming laptop. Virtually top of the line. However, even the 980m won't beat a standard desktop 980, and there are other things to consider. For me, I do a lot of my work at home, so to me, getting a 2015 alienware made sense due to the graphic amplifier, which will give me a huge boost in desktop settings. If you don't care about that (which will give your laptop a much longer life, especially if you're going to spend that much) then by all means, you can't go wrong with the asus.

Right now, I'd rank Asus and Alienware as neck and neck depending on what you want when you get to the top end. The biggest reason above all else is those two companies have excellent build quality and superior cooling.

Got my Alienware 15 today and outside of being downright frustrated with how they refurbed it (wrong drive for the OS, missing software, missing basic drivers... such as the driver for the 970m I have in it), it is great. I mean that sincerely. I just played DA:I today on maxed out settings running a steady 45fps+. That was just with the 970m, I have no doubt a 980m could have got me to the 60FPS place many like to be. But with a graphics amplifier I plan to get later this year, I will be joining the 60 fps+ crowd on max settings for most gaems really soon - but it's nice knowing on the go, I can still get that excellent performance anyways.

fyi, my rig has 16gb ddr3, ssd and hdd, 970m, and an i7 4710 (OC'd to 3.2ghz)
 
Tempted to buy the Asus G751JY. My local computershop has one with 250SSD and 16gb ram and I am comming from a 7 year old computer that crashed last week.
Argg the choises in life!

Might as well buy a GT72 at this time.

It really just depends what your budget is and what you want out of it. The G751JY is an excellent gaming laptop. Virtually top of the line. However, even the 980m won't beat a standard desktop 980, and there are other things to consider. For me, I do a lot of my work at home, so to me, getting a 2015 alienware made sense due to the graphic amplifier, which will give me a huge boost in desktop settings. If you don't care about that (which will give your laptop a much longer life, especially if you're going to spend that much) then by all means, you can't go wrong with the asus.

Right now, I'd rank Asus and Alienware as neck and neck depending on what you want when you get to the top end. The biggest reason above all else is those two companies have excellent build quality and superior cooling.

Got my Alienware 15 today and outside of being downright frustrated with how they refurbed it (wrong drive for the OS, missing software, missing basic drivers... such as the driver for the 970m I have in it), it is great. I mean that sincerely. I just played DA:I today on maxed out settings running a steady 45fps+. That was just with the 970m, I have no doubt a 980m could have got me to the 60FPS place many like to be. But with a graphics amplifier I plan to get later this year, I will be joining the 60 fps+ crowd on max settings for most gaems really soon - but it's nice knowing on the go, I can still get that excellent performance anyways.

fyi, my rig has 16gb ddr3, ssd and hdd, 970m, and an i7 4710 (OC'd to 3.2ghz)

NOPE, Alienware and MSI are neck and neck, Asus is a distant third, after Clevo. Having the worst speakers of any gaming notebook drops them off the chart.
 
Might as well buy a GT72 at this time.



NOPE, Alienware and MSI are neck and neck, Asus is a distant third, after Clevo. Having the worst speakers of any gaming notebook drops them off the chart.

The day I buy a gaming laptop based on the speakers feels like the day I am doing it wrong. Not that someone can't place a high premium on it, but honestly in a laptop format, the best audio is always headphones/headset. The speakers on my alienware are admittedly pretty good, but I didn't consider the speakers into the purchase at all.

There are really 3 huge things I look at when you start judging premium grade laptops:

- THe hardware (4k screens, 980m/970m/970m sli), high grade i7 4th gen processors, and then really good HDD/SD). For me, the graphics amplifier was a nice bonus that pushed alienware ahead of the pack.
- Cooling. This is vital. You can have the beefiest of the beefiest hardware, but it doesn't matter if you have average to poor cooling. You don't want to risk overheating. You don't want to risk part burnout after a year or two. If you are investing in a high end laptop, cooling should be an important factor. Asus and Alienware lead in this department by a pretty big margin.
- Quality of the build. You don't want flimsy keyboards, or the case built out of cheap materials. You want something that is durable and comfortable. Style is mostly just a bonus, not a requirement.

MSI does throw in mechanical keyboards on some models which is a huge bonus for some and adds into the quality of the build, but they aren't on par with cooling. Last but not least of course is getting all of that for the best price point.

I've read many reviews and have tried out several different brands in person. Sager gives you most the beef for the cheapest price, but the build quality isn't up there and they sacrifice in cooling. My friend had one with the 880m back when that was the top of hte line mobile card and he had his parts start malfunctioning due to constantly high temps after a year.

MSI gives you the mechanical keyboard and an alright, very basic, build. Cooling is better than the sager, but not as good as Asus and Alienware.

MSI tends to be a bit cheaper than Asus for what you can get for the hardware.

Asus, has a very, very good build quality. I'd argue it might be the best build quality for laptops period. It might not always look sexy, but they don't cheap out on the build. No mechanical keyboards here, but top notch cooling and superior build. Bit pricier.

Alienware is right around the Asus - pretty much matching in cooling and maybe a small step back in build quality. Of course, Alineware also goes for style with all the lights and a unique design - which some certianly will enjoy. Not really important of course. However, surprisingly, alienware is a bit more affordable in some instances with the hardware compared to the Asus. though, it does suck you can';t get a 4k screen without it being a touch screen. Just never been into the whole touch thing on a laptop. I guess artists might really like it?

The differentiator to me in the 2015 models was the graphics amplifier. It's designed right into the build. It's the primary reason I went with them, even though there was a refurbished asus with a 980m for just $20 more I could have gotten.

But, that amplifier isn't going to matter for some, especially in the laptop department when your someone who travels a lot and doesn't get to use their rig at home on a desk.

So, I'd say it's more so: Alienware/Asus, MSi right on their tales, and then everyone else duking it out for 4th, with different companies coming ahead in different areas.

But I think a lot of this may have to do with what we truly value in laptop design. I just don't view speakers as something that valuable, though I would be kidding myself if the higher end model of the alienware with the built in subwoofer didn't seem like a cool concept. Just not something that was worth the extra money really. My only disappointment is that my RPM's on this HD are only 5400, but it hasn't been much of an issue since it's a storage drive that occasionally runs games I don't put on the SSD there.

I also noticed I have a nice expandable bay in my rig, so I will be looking to add a 2nd SSD drive down the road.
 
Yo, Australian here! Bit of a laptop/pc newbie here but have been keen to look for a new laptop for a while now. My current laptop has pretty much had it. Its an ASUS rocking an i5 Geforce GT 325m 1gb and one of the hinges supporting the screen has snapped of completely (surprisingly still working!)

Had a look through the thread but didn't really see anyone talking about this laptop here. The link can sorta bug out sometimes but its a 15.6" Gigabyte P35K-965-4703S.

Not really looking to spend more than $2,200 AUD, or having a screen larger than 15.6". Aiming to play moderately modern games but not too fussed about sub-60fps gaming. What's the concensus on GTX965m's? I'm pretty willing to buy this, but if there's any comparable or refurbished alternatives i'd love to know. Thanks for any help in advance!
 
Yo, Australian here! Bit of a laptop/pc newbie here but have been keen to look for a new laptop for a while now. My current laptop has pretty much had it. Its an ASUS rocking an i5 Geforce GT 325m 1gb and one of the hinges supporting the screen has snapped of completely (surprisingly still working!)

Had a look through the thread but didn't really see anyone talking about this laptop here. The link can sorta bug out sometimes but its a 15.6" Gigabyte P35K-965-4703S.

Not really looking to spend more than $2,200 AUD, or having a screen larger than 15.6". Aiming to play moderately modern games but not too fussed about sub-60fps gaming. What's the concensus on GTX965m's? I'm pretty willing to buy this, but if there's any comparable or refurbished alternatives i'd love to know. Thanks for any help in advance!

You/'re not fussing much about GPU, but 965m is soso. At first I was going to say if you're willing to spend that much you might as well get a much better GPU out of it, then I realized while browsing Australia stores that at your price range, the 960/965m seems to be the best you can get.

I'll do a bit more looking and maybe luck into a refurbished model at that range with better specs. I say that because if you can get to a 970m, you'll be complete stoked and set for a longer period of time.

The 965m is one of those half steps between an 880/960m (960m is just an overclocked 880m) and a 970m. It's certainly not bad and can play many games on high settings, some at medium. But it will probably be most games at medium by the end of 2015, and definitely by the end of 2016. So if you can find something in your budget that goes to the 970m, you'll be playing games on high settings for a 3 maybe even 4 years to come (especially if you aren't fussed about 60fps)
 
I probs could have been clearer. I'm ultimately OK with playing newer games at average settings as long as they can be played. My laptop is on the way out, so i figured i should get a good gaming laptop in the meantime until I'm in a good position to build a powerful desktop, which might be years. I'm also interested in wii/gc and ps2 emulation, which i imagine would work well the CPU GPU combo, but it sounds like i'll want to save a bit more and get the 970m if i want completely problem free gaming for the years to come, judging by some the talk in the thread.

I really like the discrete form factor of the Gigabyte laptops, the added portability is nice cus i'll probably be taking it to Uni alot and hooking it up to my TV aswell. Sounds like i'll wait till my tax return to splurge $2,600 on either the P35W-970 or P37W-970. Thanks alot!
 
Yo, Australian here! Bit of a laptop/pc newbie here but have been keen to look for a new laptop for a while now. My current laptop has pretty much had it. Its an ASUS rocking an i5 Geforce GT 325m 1gb and one of the hinges supporting the screen has snapped of completely (surprisingly still working!)

Had a look through the thread but didn't really see anyone talking about this laptop here. The link can sorta bug out sometimes but its a 15.6" Gigabyte P35K-965-4703S.

Not really looking to spend more than $2,200 AUD, or having a screen larger than 15.6". Aiming to play moderately modern games but not too fussed about sub-60fps gaming. What's the concensus on GTX965m's? I'm pretty willing to buy this, but if there's any comparable or refurbished alternatives i'd love to know. Thanks for any help in advance!

Go for the Metabox P650SE with the 970m from Affordable Laptops. The base price is only ~$1700. And for a few hundred dollars extra you can upgrade to more RAM with a bigger HDD etc. Also metabox have a promotion running at the moment to get a free 250GB SSD etc.

http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d489_metabox-clevo-p650se-laptop-notebook.html
 
Go for the Metabox P650SE with the 970m from Affordable Laptops. The base price is only ~$1700. And for a few hundred dollars extra you can upgrade to more RAM with a bigger HDD etc. Also metabox have a promotion running at the moment to get a free 250GB SSD etc.

http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d489_metabox-clevo-p650se-laptop-notebook.html

Fuaahhh, that's dope. What are the rules on the promotion? Do you just get the 250 ssd installed for free when you buy a metabox laptop? Do i add it in during on the build process or does it get added in later? This is sick though, definitely will consider this! Thanks man
 
- Cooling. This is vital. You can have the beefiest of the beefiest hardware, but it doesn't matter if you have average to poor cooling. You don't want to risk overheating. You don't want to risk part burnout after a year or two. If you are investing in a high end laptop, cooling should be an important factor. Asus and Alienware lead in this department by a pretty big margin.

Thats just not true. GT72 runs a few degrees warmer than Asus G750 and both run MUCH cooler than Alienware 17.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMjc3l2sI8w

MSI gives you the mechanical keyboard and an alright, very basic, build. Cooling is better than the sager, but not as good as Asus and Alienware.
MSI tends to be a bit cheaper than Asus for what you can get for the hardware..

Last I checked mechanical keyboard was available for 1 model and that cost a fortune in comparison to the usual 1800 € price point where laptops with 980M start around.
Cooling on MSI is almost as good as that of Asus (at least when it comes to GT72 vs G750).
Build quality is in slight favour or Asus. My previous laptop was a G53JW and it was really robust, but MSI is pretty decent as well. No complains here, just Asus is a bit better.
Alienware has excellent build quality but ridiculous pricing for the performance/features usually. At least in EU.

ps: MSI has by far the best laptop speakers of anything ever and also I quite like the 4xM.2 SSD option with RAID.
Let it be noted, that eventhough there is a secondary hdd bay inside G72 its not usable unless you rewire the 4xM.2SSD hdd cable to that slot which makes it kind of useless. Odd design choice.
Also, oddly, switchable graphics work with a restart only. Peculiar.


I did a mountain of research and landed with MSI GT72 as my choice for gaming laptop and after about half a year, I very happy with my pick.
 
Hi! My venerable Toshiba A210-10A is about to die after almost 10 intense years. I need your knowledge.

Country : France
Maximum budget : 800€
Size : 15 or 17"
I'll have to use it for : basic office stuff,sound editing, occasional (in case of emergency) video editing, and obviously, internet. I'm already 10 years late in terms of gaming, so I'm not really looking for a beast in this regard, a lot of oldies are ahead for me.

It's a bit superficial, but I'd prefer something with a "solid" look.

Some French retailers :
fnac.com
http://www.materiel.net
amazon.fr

Thanks a lot for your help!
 
The day I buy a gaming laptop based on the speakers feels like the day I am doing it wrong. Not that someone can't place a high premium on it, but honestly in a laptop format, the best audio is always headphones/headset. The speakers on my alienware are admittedly pretty good, but I didn't consider the speakers into the purchase at all.

There are really 3 huge things I look at when you start judging premium grade laptops:

- THe hardware (4k screens, 980m/970m/970m sli), high grade i7 4th gen processors, and then really good HDD/SD). For me, the graphics amplifier was a nice bonus that pushed alienware ahead of the pack.
- Cooling. This is vital. You can have the beefiest of the beefiest hardware, but it doesn't matter if you have average to poor cooling. You don't want to risk overheating. You don't want to risk part burnout after a year or two. If you are investing in a high end laptop, cooling should be an important factor. Asus and Alienware lead in this department by a pretty big margin.
- Quality of the build. You don't want flimsy keyboards, or the case built out of cheap materials. You want something that is durable and comfortable. Style is mostly just a bonus, not a requirement.
-snip-

I appreciate the discourse, but you are really uneducated on MSI.

About speakers: When you spend $2k+ on a laptop, hell yes you should expect everything to be of high quality. Having speakers that rival a $500 craptop simply isn't something I can accept, especially in a thread that's about getting people the best machines for their money. A laptop with one of the main components being mediocre at best simply doesn't have "very good" build quality. There are people in this very thread, who returned their G751 because of how bad the speakers were.

About cooling: My 980M maxes at 70C under load, and that's with the fans on auto.

Also, oddly, switchable graphics work with a restart only. Peculiar.
That's actually a huge plus. Not having Optimus allows us to do things like downsampling (setting the screen to higher than native res in the Nvidia comtrol panel) and screen overclocking.

I'm currently running my screen at 90Hz.


Hi! My venerable Toshiba A210-10A is about to die after almost 10 intense years. I need your knowledge.

Country : France
Maximum budget : 800€
Size : 15 or 17"
I'll have to use it for : basic office stuff,sound editing, occasional (in case of emergency) video editing, and obviously, internet. I'm already 10 years late in terms of gaming, so I'm not really looking for a beast in this regard, a lot of oldies are ahead for me.

It's a bit superficial, but I'd prefer something with a "solid" look.

Some French retailers :
fnac.com
http://www.materiel.net
amazon.fr

Thanks a lot for your help!

Go a little bit over budget for this.
 
Fuaahhh, that's dope. What are the rules on the promotion? Do you just get the 250 ssd installed for free when you buy a metabox laptop? Do i add it in during on the build process or does it get added in later? This is sick though, definitely will consider this! Thanks man
I don't know or exactly how it works, best to email affordable laptops.
 
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