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

I just got a crazy deal on an ASUS ROG G501J - 1920x1080 - 960m - i74750.

This thing is incredibly sleek and pretty damn fast.

I'm excited to upgrade. Last "gaming" laptop/computer was a Lenovo ideaPad y730 (Core 2 Centrino - Mobility Radeon 3650HD).

Excited to hop into my huge steam collection finally.

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Hey all!

Got some money from tax returns and looking to pick up a gaming laptop. I travel every other week for work and would like to have some of my PC games while away.

I am a looking for something that is small (15in max), not heavy (sub 7 lbs), less than $2000, looks mostly professional (no gaudy shit).

I saw that refurbished 2015 Razer blades were $1599 for the 128gb SSD (will upgrade myself). They come with a 1 year warranty, and have received great reviews (save getting hottt).

Had a couple questions though:

I'm assuming Pascal won't be available until Q3 2016 and even then, 'designer' laptops won't have it until early 2017. Is there an expected difference in total power usage or a big difference in performance? Same for Skylake vs the 4720 in the 2015 Razer.

Is getting a gaming laptop now 'smart' as there is a definitive lull in new stuff coming out in the next couple months (no big announcements expected from any hardware provider for the next 1-6 months?).

Beyond the Razer, is there another laptop I should be looking at? Haven't gotten one before so not sure on all options.

Thanks!
 
Hey yall. What's the best laptop I can get for ~$1200

It'll mainly be for work and Adobe Creative Suite stuff.

But I may pick up some games on it.
 
Ended up going with the MSI Ghost as there was an even newer version just made it to the UK, the one with Thunderbolt and USB-C while bumping the SSD to a NVMe one after holding one of those custom build chassis that my friend had. Think the weight is a nice trade off for turning some details down.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156...16gb-ram-128gb-pcie-nvme-ssdplus1tb-hdd-3gb-g

Coming tomorrow, can't wait!

EDIT: Very glad to be going away from this slow £300 AMD laptop. not just for the speed, but this happened at the start of the year...

 
Ended up going with the MSI Ghost as there was an even newer version just made it to the UK, the one with Thunderbolt and USB-C while bumping the SSD to a NVMe one after holding one of those custom build chassis that my friend had. Think the weight is a nice trade off for turning some details down.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156...16gb-ram-128gb-pcie-nvme-ssdplus1tb-hdd-3gb-g

Coming tomorrow, can't wait!

EDIT: Very glad to be going away from this slow £300 AMD laptop. not just for the speed, but this happened at the start of the year...
I loved my MSI gaming laptop.

What games do you plan to play on it?
 
Hey all!

Got some money from tax returns and looking to pick up a gaming laptop. I travel every other week for work and would like to have some of my PC games while away.

I am a looking for something that is small (15in max), not heavy (sub 7 lbs), less than $2000, looks mostly professional (no gaudy shit).

I saw that refurbished 2015 Razer blades were $1599 for the 128gb SSD (will upgrade myself). They come with a 1 year warranty, and have received great reviews (save getting hottt).

Had a couple questions though:

I'm assuming Pascal won't be available until Q3 2016 and even then, 'designer' laptops won't have it until early 2017. Is there an expected difference in total power usage or a big difference in performance? Same for Skylake vs the 4720 in the 2015 Razer.

Is getting a gaming laptop now 'smart' as there is a definitive lull in new stuff coming out in the next couple months (no big announcements expected from any hardware provider for the next 1-6 months?).

Beyond the Razer, is there another laptop I should be looking at? Haven't gotten one before so not sure on all options.

Thanks!

Why not go with an MSI GS60, the one equipped with a GTX 970M.

Hey yall. What's the best laptop I can get for ~$1200

It'll mainly be for work and Adobe Creative Suite stuff.

But I may pick up some games on it.

Might wanna bite on this.

Comes with a free 128GB SSD and a code for Rise of the Tomb Raider.
 
I loved my MSI gaming laptop.

What games do you plan to play on it?

Well I'm up to 800 Steam games, so what won't I play?!

... I'll likely just play a fuckton of Rocket League and XCom 2 realistically though and dabble in everything else. Should probably play Rise of.the Tomb Raiser since it comes with it I guess!
 
Well I'm up to 800 Steam games, so what won't I play?!

... I'll likely just play a fuckton of Rocket League and XCom 2 realistically though and dabble in everything else. Should probably play Rise of.the Tomb Raiser since it comes with it I guess!
I hear Rise is great.
 
Warranty included?

Sorry, didn't see you responded until now!

It didn't come with a warranty but I was able to add 2 years of full coverage (spills, hammer fell on it, fell in the kitchen sink, etc) for $200.

That warranty worked incredibly well for me in the past and now that I have a new baby I definitely didn't want to risk it.

Also worth mentioning - although this laptop only has 8GB of ram and no SSD, our IT department at work is giving me a "lightly used" Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB M.2 and 16 GB of Ram. Thankfully those were the two biggest issues I had with the laptop.

What I wanted most was a laptop with 17 inch screen and a full keyboard that wouldn't struggle too much working with larger PDFs and spreadsheets. With my budget being what it was and needing to get a laptop soon I finally found one I was happy with buying in this.

-----------

Now for some dumb questions -

I want a "clean" install of windows free from everything dell puts on there (mcafee, etc.)
I have a Windows installation disc that came with the laptop.

I haven't done a clean format of a laptop before and I don't want to break anything. Any advice? I'll google for help too, but I worry I might overthink it.

Thanks man.
 
So I got my MSI Ghost Pro GS60 6QE today, just thought I'd share some thoughts.

It feels really premium and I love the keyboard even though it's a chiclet. Lot of room on the press and I'm kind of a sucker for the RGB custom lighting on the underneath. Screen is really nice, but I'm biased since I've come from a TN panel to an IPS one so the fact I can slightly tilt my head and still see the damn screen is a bonus. Shame I can't disable the Intel HD as I wouldn't mind seeing if the screen could be overclocked

Speakers are the weakest point, but my old £300 HP had surprisingly good speakers so it might be good for a general laptop in this price range. It never feels hot and has gotten too loud just yet.

A bit of bloatware, but easily uninstalled. One of the control apps fired off .net errors all over the shop even after upgrading the software, but I've fixed it up now.

Performance in Windows was great, but I've spent the last 7 or so hours trying to figure out some microstuttering in something as simple as Rocket League. After doing everything from underclocking GPU and lowering detail and dealing with VSYNC and FINALLY, I found some random forum post saying to go into power settings and change the maximum CPU % to 99% from 100% and it fixed it. Rocket League is wonderful.

Only issue now is minor. Scan had all the slightly older models with free Rise of the Tomb Raider, but this latest model doesn't. I've emailed MSI to see if I can still get but that's minor. This is pretty fantastic overall, just need to buy a decent portable speaker and maybe one day figure out the screen overclock.

EDIT: And the 2 USB ports are a bit too close. Would have liked one on the other side, maybe where the Type-C port is as the XB1 wireless adapter is too wide to fit that and anything else at the same time.

EDIT2: OK, XCOM 2 on max is making it toasty but runs really well. Fan noise is loud now too, but it's a nice fan noise. Not that whiny noise you get with some laptops.

EDIT3: Noticed a for amount of backlight bleed on dark scenes in XCom now. Doesn't really bother me, but I know it does some people, so worth noting.
 
USA
Maximum budget: $800-$1000 a little bit more if needed.
Max size (can be in screen inches, dimensions, weight): I want something comfy, and quality that won't fall apart in a year.
Planned usage: Gaming/Internet surfing. Ideally I want to play PC exclusive games, MMOs, and Skyrim. So I suppose I'll need a good CPU. 1080p is desirable but, 4k is the bees knees. I suppose to say I want to be able to play a variety without worrying about if my laptop can run it.
Decent battery life. My current battery on low drains in about 1 hour unplugged. Pretty shitty, right?
 
Ended up going with the MSI Ghost as there was an even newer version just made it to the UK, the one with Thunderbolt and USB-C while bumping the SSD to a NVMe one after holding one of those custom build chassis that my friend had. Think the weight is a nice trade off for turning some details down.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156...16gb-ram-128gb-pcie-nvme-ssdplus1tb-hdd-3gb-g

Coming tomorrow, can't wait!

EDIT: Very glad to be going away from this slow £300 AMD laptop. not just for the speed, but this happened at the start of the year...
Got the Ghost Pro too 2 months ago. Thing is incredible. Have been doing a majority of my gaming there now instead of on my desktop.

I'm interested about the usb c port though. When I first got it, it wasn't thunderbolt 3 certified. I wonder if this changed now or if there was a firmware update for it
 
Got the Ghost Pro too 2 months ago. Thing is incredible. Have been doing a majority of my gaming there now instead of on my desktop.

I'm interested about the usb c port though. When I first got it, it wasn't thunderbolt 3 certified. I wonder if this changed now or if there was a firmware update for it
I'd love to know this as well.


I really hope the Razer blade core and other external cards work with other laptops. I honestly think its a gamechanging feature.


I mean if that works then a laptop series like the Dell XPS or even a Lenovo X could be fantastic gaming machines for when you are home.
 
I just picked up an outlet Alienware 15 R2 for $1400, pretty good specs


Processor: Intel Core 6th Gen i7-6820HK Processor (Quad-Core, 8MB Cache, Dynamically Overclocked up to 4.1GHz)
Windows 10 Pro
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
256 GB Solid State drive
16GB (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Memory
15.6inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare 220-nits Display
Intel HD Graphics
Geforce 980m 4MB
Epic Silver
Dell Outlet Alienware 15R2 Laptop

If the screen is to dim I will just swap it out with one on ebay for $30 (300+ nits)

Video Card is top notch and I have the ability to add the $199 amp and throw my desktop 970 in it when Pascal arrives.
 
(all prices US)

Previous laptop is a Lenovo 15" y500 750m sli which has served me well.

I picked it up almost 3 years ago and I use it constantly at work - well I guess during breaks.


between presbyopia and realizing that I just leave the laptop at work I figured I would upgrade to a 17 inch laptop.

Initially I noted that the current 960m lenovo deal (999) seemed like a cheap easy upgrade (1080p/17"/960) but I was wondering if it was worth it to drop the extra cash for either a 970m or 980m.

honestly I almost pulled the trigger as my y500 build is insanely solid.

I have been filtering laptops and multiple choices and it seems that the price to upgrade to a 970 is about 1300-1500, 980 starts at about 2000.

while money isn't really an issue I tend to like to get the most for my money, and this previous laptop has gotten top honors over the past 3 years.


tonight I ran across the Acer Predator G9-791-78CE which seems to be an absolute beast. (1080p/980m/17") for 2100 via newegg.

oddly I find myself debating between the 1k lenovo versus the 2k acer.

I'm wondering if people have experience with either machine - I guess looking for the negatives for each.

I am an avid gamer - the laptop would be 95% of the time used to play games.
 
USA
Maximum budget: $800-$1000 a little bit more if needed.
Max size (can be in screen inches, dimensions, weight): I want something comfy, and quality that won't fall apart in a year.
Planned usage: Gaming/Internet surfing. Ideally I want to play PC exclusive games, MMOs, and Skyrim. So I suppose I'll need a good CPU. 1080p is desirable but, 4k is the bees knees. I suppose to say I want to be able to play a variety without worrying about if my laptop can run it.
Decent battery life. My current battery on low drains in about 1 hour unplugged. Pretty shitty, right?

This one

I just picked up an outlet Alienware 15 R2 for $1400, pretty good specs


Processor: Intel Core 6th Gen i7-6820HK Processor (Quad-Core, 8MB Cache, Dynamically Overclocked up to 4.1GHz)
Windows 10 Pro
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
256 GB Solid State drive
16GB (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Memory
15.6inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare 220-nits Display
Intel HD Graphics
Geforce 980m 4MB
Epic Silver
Dell Outlet Alienware 15R2 Laptop

If the screen is to dim I will just swap it out with one on ebay for $30 (300+ nits)

Video Card is top notch and I have the ability to add the $199 amp and throw my desktop 970 in it when Pascal arrives.

Great specs.

(all prices US)

Previous laptop is a Lenovo 15" y500 750m sli which has served me well.

I picked it up almost 3 years ago and I use it constantly at work - well I guess during breaks.


between presbyopia and realizing that I just leave the laptop at work I figured I would upgrade to a 17 inch laptop.

Initially I noted that the current 960m lenovo deal (999) seemed like a cheap easy upgrade (1080p/17"/960) but I was wondering if it was worth it to drop the extra cash for either a 970m or 980m.

honestly I almost pulled the trigger as my y500 build is insanely solid.

I have been filtering laptops and multiple choices and it seems that the price to upgrade to a 970 is about 1300-1500, 980 starts at about 2000.

while money isn't really an issue I tend to like to get the most for my money, and this previous laptop has gotten top honors over the past 3 years.


tonight I ran across the Acer Predator G9-791-78CE which seems to be an absolute beast. (1080p/980m/17") for 2100 via newegg.

oddly I find myself debating between the 1k lenovo versus the 2k acer.

I'm wondering if people have experience with either machine - I guess looking for the negatives for each.

I am an avid gamer - the laptop would be 95% of the time used to play games.

This is the GTX 980M equipped laptop to spend that kind of money on, as it's better in every way. Better CPU, more VRAM, G-Sync IPS, Blu-ray, best speakers and keyboard of any gaming laptop, etc...

Plus that Predator branding is freaking UGH.
 
USA
$400
13"-15"
Solidworks

Must have at least 8gb of ram and an IPS fHD display.

What's the best used or refurbished computer I can get with the my required criteria? I have seen a lot of dells and hps that meet my criteria on eBay but not sure which would be the best deal. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!
 
This is the GTX 980M equipped laptop to spend that kind of money on[/URL], as it's better in every way. Better CPU, more VRAM, G-Sync IPS, Blu-ray, best speakers and keyboard of any gaming laptop, etc...

Plus that Predator branding is freaking UGH.

thank you for putting this on my radar.
 
Ended up going with the MSI Ghost as there was an even newer version just made it to the UK, the one with Thunderbolt and USB-C while bumping the SSD to a NVMe one after holding one of those custom build chassis that my friend had. Think the weight is a nice trade off for turning some details down.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156...16gb-ram-128gb-pcie-nvme-ssdplus1tb-hdd-3gb-g

Coming tomorrow, can't wait!

EDIT: Very glad to be going away from this slow £300 AMD laptop. not just for the speed, but this happened at the start of the year...

Congrats, got my ghost 2 falls ago and its still going strong. Total beast and always delivers.
 
Silly, silly question, but if you're about to spend $1300 on a laptop, which warranty do you get:

*LIFETIME Ltd Labor* 2 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime 24 Hour Telephone DOMESTIC Technical Support (Labor through XPC) Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Parts Warranty Repairs(SKU: SGR12281) [free]

*2 Year Parts & LIFETIME Ltd Labor Warranty 24 Hour Tech Support w/ LCD Accidental Damage Protection(SKU: 12011) [ +$99.00 ]

*Sager 3 Year Parts & LIFETIME Ltd Labor Warranty w/ Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Customer Support (SKU: SGR12286) [ +$199.00 ]

*3 Year Parts & LIFETIME Ltd Labor Warranty + LIFETIME 24/7 Tech Support(SKU: 11992) [ +$245.00 ]
 
USA
$400
13"-15"
Solidworks

Must have at least 8gb of ram and an IPS fHD display.

What's the best used or refurbished computer I can get with the my required criteria? I have seen a lot of dells and hps that meet my criteria on eBay but not sure which would be the best deal. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

There are no IPS that cheap.

thank you for putting this on my radar.

I own one. Trust me on this.

Silly, silly question, but if you're about to spend $1300 on a laptop, which warranty do you get:

*LIFETIME Ltd Labor* 2 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime 24 Hour Telephone DOMESTIC Technical Support (Labor through XPC) Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Parts Warranty Repairs(SKU: SGR12281) [free]

*2 Year Parts & LIFETIME Ltd Labor Warranty 24 Hour Tech Support w/ LCD Accidental Damage Protection(SKU: 12011) [ +$99.00 ]

*Sager 3 Year Parts & LIFETIME Ltd Labor Warranty w/ Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Customer Support (SKU: SGR12286) [ +$199.00 ]

*3 Year Parts & LIFETIME Ltd Labor Warranty + LIFETIME 24/7 Tech Support(SKU: 11992) [ +$245.00 ]

The first one. 2 years of parts and labor is more than enough value to me.
 
New problem here with the gs60. When outputting a game in exclusive fullscreen to a 1080p TV, output turns to 1080i. Any other lower resolution makes my tv do proper 1080p (or 720p when using 1280x720). Running windowed also gives me proper 1080p

EDIT:
Might be game specific. I first noticed the issue when trying Need for Speed Most Wanted (the free Origin game at the moment). Then I also see the same problem with the Tomb Raider reboot game.
 
New problem here with the gs60. When outputting a game in exclusive fullscreen to a 1080p TV, output turns to 1080i. Any other lower resolution makes my tv do proper 1080p (or 720p when using 1280x720). Running windowed also gives me proper 1080p

EDIT:
Might be game specific. I first noticed the issue when trying Need for Speed Most Wanted (the free Origin game at the moment). Then I also see the same problem with the Tomb Raider reboot game.
yeah that's an Intel Graphics bug that's existed for years now. Affects every laptop ever manufactured with Intel Graphics iirc, including laptops with switchable graphics.
I really wish there was a way to disable/force certain refresh rates.
 
I bought myself a rebranded Clevo notebook November last year
My Specs:

i7 6th gen cpu
970M GTX (6gb)
16 GB DDR4 RAM

costs? 1633 Euro's

Anyone have experience with the Division beta with the same or similar specs?
Dit it fair well? Or did it run like shit?
 
I bought myself a rebranded Clevo notebook November last year
My Specs:

i7 6th gen cpu
970M GTX (6gb)
16 GB DDR4 RAM

costs? 1633 Euro's

Anyone have experience with the Division beta with the same or similar specs?
Dit it fair well? Or did it run like shit?

I have similar specs but with an 980m and The Division Beta ran quite well. Depending on how you want to play you can choose between 30fps/high or low/mid/high custom settings, resulting in almost locked 60fps. It was ok.
 
I have similar specs but with an 980m and The Division Beta ran quite well. Depending on how you want to play you can choose between 30fps/high or low/mid/high custom settings, resulting in almost locked 60fps. It was ok.

That's great news! The only thing holding me back on a pc version is wether my friends are getting this for PS4 or not.

Thanks!
 
I bought myself a rebranded Clevo notebook November last year
My Specs:

i7 6th gen cpu
970M GTX (6gb)
16 GB DDR4 RAM

costs? 1633 Euro's

Anyone have experience with the Division beta with the same or similar specs?
Dit it fair well? Or did it run like shit?
Ran pretty damn good on the gs60 which is similarly spec'ed. Mix of medium and high at 1080p. While I didn't monitor framerates, it was smooth enough staying above 30fps. I would guess 40 - 60fps average IIRC. Maxing it out was brutal though lol

Seems good but, 800 and a Dell what's the catch? Im just cautious.
It's heavy and the screen looked washed out to me. But then again, I only got to try a demo unit at frys for like 10 minutes so I could be off with the screen quality
 
In terms of gaming performance, how much better is the i7-6700HQ over the i5-6300HQ?

I'm currently looking at a V15 Nitro with the i7, 8GB DDR4, a 960m 2GB, 1TB 5400rpm HDD and a V17 Nitro with the i5, same RAM, same GPU, same HDD but also with a 128GB SSD and a Blu ray drive. Both are currently the same price at £799. I'd be adding a SSD to the V15 anyway (though not having to spend any extra to get one with the V17 would be a plus) and while it'd be nice to have, I don't really need a BD drive, so it all comes down to the CPU.

Alternatively, if anyone has any other suggestions for me to look at, I'd really appreciate it. I've also been considering the Lenovo Y700, but its £200 more and lacks Thunderbolt 3.
 
Anybody use Notebook Fan Control? I just got my ASUS ROG G752VY-RH71 and my room is definitely warmer as I'm directly above the boiler and it get's a little warmer sometimes. While playing Rise of the Tomb Raider my GPU hit around 81C with stock fans. I did notice that even at that high they weren't on in full effect, it's like the timing is off on them.

I downloaded Notebook Fan Control and built a custom profile for both CPU and GPU for temps above 45C and how much the fans turn on and they're never hitting 100% speed or even 75%, normally max out at 57% for heavy games and my GPU/CPU temps barely hit 63C the other day.

I guess the only concern would be wear and tear but the only times the fans hike up is during heavy gaming (GTAV barely hits 57C)
 
Hello. I'm looking into buying a new laptop and I have a few questions.


1. Is it a bad time to buy a laptop right now ? - With HBM 2 around the horizon I'm just wondering.

2. How bad is the GTX 960m ? It seems to be in everything in my price range.

3. is the difference enough that I should go ddr4 over ddr3l ?

4. This is probably the biggest thing. I've had some problems with some screens in the past that look uncomfortable to me. I was hoping I could get help to narrow it down. I've only experienced it on two screens. The screen that came with my ASUS k55vj laptop, and then on a samsung monitor i bought recently. A s27d390h Samsung monitor.

5. How is it with upgrading ram and warrenty ? Live in europe btw.

I'm going to mainly be using the laptop for game development, though some gaming will probably occur. I've already kind of narrowed it down to some laptops. I just really would like these questions answered to help me along further.

Is it generally agreed that lenovo build good quality ?

How about MSI ? Acer ?


Thanks in advance for the assist
 
Well... I think my adaptor adapter just died. Anyone knows where I can get a replacement for my MSI GT72S Dominator Pro? Or if I can get a new one from my warranty?

I bought it from Amazon in November/December last year.
 
ended up going with a refurbished dell/alienware

(I know, I know - not the most popular choice)

- currently a 30% off coupon in outlet and I've had great success with outlet in the past


spec: (17R3)

i7-6820HK
1920/1080 IPS
16 gb 2133/ddr4
1TB 7200
1TB M.2 PCIe SSD
980m 4gb
win 10 pro
office home/student

1.8k us (including tax/ship)

- has a 1 week ship date, might cancel if weekend (presidents day) sales change the price of the MSI
- said price doesn't matter, but after taxes/ship the dell is close to 500 less with comparable features (no G-sync but 1 TB ssd)


- thoughts?
 
In terms of gaming performance, how much better is the i7-6700HQ over the i5-6300HQ?
6700HQ runs at 3.1Ghz, vs 2.8Ghz for the 6300HQ

6700HQ has 8 threads, vs 4 for the 6300HQ

I can't give a % difference, but multi-threaded games are going to run better on the i7.

I am quite jealous of the low prices you pay for fantastic hardware in the US. Everything is so expensive in Germany... :(

Could be worse, the gaming laptop market in Canada is truly scary.

Anybody use Notebook Fan Control? I just got my ASUS ROG G752VY-RH71 and my room is definitely warmer as I'm directly above the boiler and it get's a little warmer sometimes. While playing Rise of the Tomb Raider my GPU hit around 81C with stock fans. I did notice that even at that high they weren't on in full effect, it's like the timing is off on them.

I downloaded Notebook Fan Control and built a custom profile for both CPU and GPU for temps above 45C and how much the fans turn on and they're never hitting 100% speed or even 75%, normally max out at 57% for heavy games and my GPU/CPU temps barely hit 63C the other day.

I guess the only concern would be wear and tear but the only times the fans hike up is during heavy gaming (GTAV barely hits 57C)

Temps below 90C are completely safe and ignorable, so I ignore them.

Hello. I'm looking into buying a new laptop and I have a few questions.


1. Is it a bad time to buy a laptop right now ? - With HBM 2 around the horizon I'm just wondering.

2. How bad is the GTX 960m ? It seems to be in everything in my price range.

3. is the difference enough that I should go ddr4 over ddr3l ?

4. This is probably the biggest thing. I've had some problems with some screens in the past that look uncomfortable to me. I was hoping I could get help to narrow it down. I've only experienced it on two screens. The screen that came with my ASUS k55vj laptop, and then on a samsung monitor i bought recently. A s27d390h Samsung monitor.

5. How is it with upgrading ram and warrenty ? Live in europe btw.

I'm going to mainly be using the laptop for game development, though some gaming will probably occur. I've already kind of narrowed it down to some laptops. I just really would like these questions answered to help me along further.

Is it generally agreed that lenovo build good quality ?

How about MSI ? Acer ?


Thanks in advance for the assist

1. No one knows, as we have no release dates, or technical details on what the mobile cards will be like

2. It's a GTX 750 Ti, literally.

3. For gaming? No

4. Get something with an IPS and you'll be fine.

5. Don't break anything and you'll be fine.

6. Lenovo is pretty good build-wise.

Well... I think my adaptor adapter just died. Anyone knows where I can get a replacement for my MSI GT72S Dominator Pro? Or if I can get a new one from my warranty?

I bought it from Amazon in November/December last year.

Contact MSI support and they'll send you a new one.

A PSU dying that fast is strange, unheard of, really. You lost a lottery.

- thoughts?

I'd take a 1TB SSD over G-Sync. Only downside vs the MSI is not getting 8GB of VRAM.

MSI has also promised we'll be able to upgrade to the next generation of GPUs, if that's important to you.
 
So I finally bought the MSI GS60, it arrive on Monday.
I want to try gsync, I need to buy a monitor that support it to use it or I can't because is a laptop?
 
I'd take a 1TB SSD over G-Sync. Only downside vs the MSI is not getting 8GB of VRAM.

MSI has also promised we'll be able to upgrade to the next generation of GPUs, if that's important to you.

- the Vram was part of the consideration, but I couldn't think of anything that would need it for 1080p, at least for awhile.
- I have found every laptop I've owned that are up-gradable that the parts are prohibitively expensive if considering the constant decrease in price of entire packages - after about a year it always seems to be better to update the whole package - with rare exceptions.

edit - this may be changing - I still have a box with a i7-2600k which still performs well - although its the next to upgraded.
 
In terms of gaming performance, how much better is the i7-6700HQ over the i5-6300HQ?
Some engines seem to prefer hyperthreading. I know that Crysis benefits a lot from i7s in desktops so you should see similar boosts with the 6700hq. If you are into emulation, then I guess the higher clocks will help out here too.
 
1. No one knows, as we have no release dates, or technical details on what the mobile cards will be like

2. It's a GTX 750 Ti, literally.

3. For gaming? No

4. Get something with an IPS and you'll be fine.

5. Don't break anything and you'll be fine.

6. Lenovo is pretty good build-wise.

Thanks.

So I was considering A Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 17,3". Can get it for about £1.000 (things are expensive here). But I don't know with the graphics card.. Also my last card was a Radeon 5870, so a GTX 750 ti means little to me :P My last nvidea GPU was a Geforce 8600 ti. According to a benchmark I found, my old radeon 5870hd is supposedly ranked higher, but another benchmark i found, has the gtx960m with pretty decent stats in most games. I suppoe theres newer technology in the newer card to consider.

And I won't be using it exclusively for gaming. I'll also be doing video game development and video editing.

this is the machine specs:
CPU nummer/ model i7-6700HQ
4 cores, 2.6 ghz (which is different than what you wrote above i suppose ? Should still have 8 threads i presume.)
8 gb ddr 4 ram. - Can you put normal ram into a laptop, or do you need special laptop ram ?
Geforce GTX 960m 4gb
screen is 17.3" ips led backlid
got 256 gb ssd, but can always suppliment this.



It does seem a little expensive considering the graphics card... But everything else sounds good.
 
- the Vram was part of the consideration, but I couldn't think of anything that would need it for 1080p, at least for awhile.
- I have found every laptop I've owned that are up-gradable that the parts are prohibitively expensive if considering the constant decrease in price of entire packages - after about a year it always seems to be better to update the whole package - with rare exceptions.

edit - this may be changing - I still have a box with a i7-2600k which still performs well - although its the next to upgraded.

Yeah, but dropping in an $800 GPU, that's twice the 980Ms performance, will be a great investment vs a whole new $2k machine.

Thanks.

So I was considering A Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 17,3". Can get it for about £1.000 (things are expensive here). But I don't know with the graphics card.. Also my last card was a Radeon 5870, so a GTX 750 ti means little to me :P My last nvidea GPU was a Geforce 8600 ti. According to a benchmark I found, my old radeon 5870hd is supposedly ranked higher, but another benchmark i found, has the gtx960m with pretty decent stats in most games. I suppoe theres newer technology in the newer card to consider.

And I won't be using it exclusively for gaming. I'll also be doing video game development and video editing.

this is the machine specs:
CPU nummer/ model i7-6700HQ
4 cores, 2.6 ghz (which is different than what you wrote above i suppose ? Should still have 8 threads i presume.)
8 gb ddr 4 ram. - Can you put normal ram into a laptop, or do you need special laptop ram ?
Geforce GTX 960m 4gb
screen is 17.3" ips led backlid
got 256 gb ssd, but can always suppliment this.

It does seem a little expensive considering the graphics card... But everything else sounds good.

Oh you're in the UK? Try decking out one of these. You can toss in a GTX 970M for not much more.
 
6700HQ runs at 3.1Ghz, vs 2.8Ghz for the 6300HQ

6700HQ has 8 threads, vs 4 for the 6300HQ

I can't give a % difference, but multi-threaded games are going to run better on the i7.

Some engines seem to prefer hyperthreading. I know that Crysis benefits a lot from i7s in desktops so you should see similar boosts with the 6700hq. If you are into emulation, then I guess the higher clocks will help out here too.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to have wait on buying anything now though, as I've just had to replace a broken monitor for my PC, so I may wait a little longer and save up a bit more to get something with a stronger GPU too.
 
Canada
$1500
No max size, bigger and better the screen, the more preferable.
Looking for something to run all Blizzard games (HotS, Diablo 3, Overwatch) and Sims 4 maxed at 1080.

Looks like at Amazon I can get around a 965m for my budget. (Also seems to have G-Sync)
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B015QZV9H6/

But then I'm not sure if I would be smarter to try and go a bit cheaper since I will still play all the big resource hog games on my desktop (Witcher 3 etc.)

Worth going refurbished?
http://m.newegg.ca/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834232910

Here's one more I was checking out:
http://m.newegg.ca/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834315168

Thanks for any help!

Edit:

I think I've come down to 2 models.
The ASUS ROG G751JL-WH71(WX) 17.3" ($1430) - only thing that makes me nervous is the build quality but I like the 965m
The MSI GE72 6QD-040US Apache Pro 17.3" ($1500) - slightly better CPU, 960m but seems like better build quality.
 
Country: USA
Maximum budget: $800 (maybe $900) but hopefully less
Max size: Would love to keep it on the small side
Planned usage: Light-Med gaming (indies/retro mainly) and school

I need a new laptop for my first year of college. I am looking for something tiny, but powerful enough that I will not be kicking myself a year from now for spending almost 1k on a laptop that can't really do anything. Full HD is a must for me, but the cheaper the laptop the better. Weight and size is really, really important. I live 3-4 days a week with my significant other, 3-4 days at my house, and I will be commuting with it to work AND school. Something I can throw in my tote bag that I take every where with me would be preferable.
 
Country: USA
Maximum budget: $800 (maybe $900) but hopefully less
Max size: Would love to keep it on the small side
Planned usage: Light-Med gaming (indies/retro mainly) and school

I need a new laptop for my first year of college. I am looking for something tiny, but powerful enough that I will not be kicking myself a year from now for spending almost 1k on a laptop that can't really do anything. Full HD is a must for me, but the cheaper the laptop the better. Weight and size is really, really important. I live 3-4 days a week with my significant other, 3-4 days at my house, and I will be commuting with it to work AND school. Something I can throw in my tote bag that I take every where with me would be preferable.

perfect for you.

http://slickdeals.net/f/8501941-sta...gtx-960m-700-free-shipping?v=1&src=SiteSearch
 
Unfortunately, that is not going to help me. I'm not in the UK, it's just easy to translate my currency to it :P

It bothers me that so few machines support radeon cards considering all the talk of nvidea gimping their old cards through drivers.

Well then the GTX 960M is your best bet.

Canada
$1500
No max size, bigger and better the screen, the more preferable.
Looking for something to run all Blizzard games (HotS, Diablo 3, Overwatch) and Sims 4 maxed at 1080.

Looks like at Amazon I can get around a 965m for my budget. (Also seems to have G-Sync)
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B015QZV9H6/

But then I'm not sure if I would be smarter to try and go a bit cheaper since I will still play all the big resource hog games on my desktop (Witcher 3 etc.)

Worth going refurbished?
http://m.newegg.ca/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834232910

Here's one more I was checking out:
http://m.newegg.ca/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834315168

Thanks for any help!

Edit:

I think I've come down to 2 models.
The ASUS ROG G751JL-WH71(WX) 17.3" ($1430) - only thing that makes me nervous is the build quality but I like the 965m
The MSI GE72 6QD-040US Apache Pro 17.3" ($1500) - slightly better CPU, 960m but seems like better build quality.
I'd take the stronger GPU.

Just bought a Clevo Gaming Laptop.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jKJmpIu8OQ0

If you want a solid 3+ year laptop, get this Clevo laptop.

Beast of a machine, no question.

Country: USA
Maximum budget: $800 (maybe $900) but hopefully less
Max size: Would love to keep it on the small side
Planned usage: Light-Med gaming (indies/retro mainly) and school

I need a new laptop for my first year of college. I am looking for something tiny, but powerful enough that I will not be kicking myself a year from now for spending almost 1k on a laptop that can't really do anything. Full HD is a must for me, but the cheaper the laptop the better. Weight and size is really, really important. I live 3-4 days a week with my significant other, 3-4 days at my house, and I will be commuting with it to work AND school. Something I can throw in my tote bag that I take every where with me would be preferable.


Came to recommend this myself.
This is definitely an option, thanks.

I was also looking at these,
k8j3tmr.png

and the Zenbook really caught my eye because of how light it was, I don't know if I should compromise an i7 over a couple pounds though....

That's way more portable, and far less powerful.
 
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