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[JohnnyFootball]

So I bought this laptop from Amazon. Seems great for the price. What do you think? Did I get a good deal or is there a better laptop out there around the $1000 or less price range? I’d be willing to go a little over that if there is a drastically better option. It needs to have at minimum a 3060 GPU. On my desktop PC I prefer to go balls to the wall, but on a laptop I’m fine with a 1080p display. Screen size isn’t a big deal.

GIGABYTE A5 K1 - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz - AMD Ryzen 7 5800H - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6 - 16 GB Memory - 1TB PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home - Gaming Laptop (A5 K1-BUS2150SB) - Newegg.com​

Buy GIGABYTE A5 K1 - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz - AMD Ryzen 7 5800H - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6 - 16 GB Memory - 1TB PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home - Gaming Laptop (A5 K1-BUS2150SB) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

 

[MidGenRefresh]

PC? How many times a day do you update the drivers?

 

[JohnnyFootball]

PC? How many times a day do you update the drivers?

How is this question remotely relevant to the topic?

 

[MidGenRefresh]

How is this question remotely relevant to the topic?

It's a meme. Check any PC-centric thread on NeoGAF and you'll understand.

I have some questions to you:

1. Why are you asking after buying it?
2. What games are you planning to play on it?

 

[MikeM]

Why buy this when you have a tower PC? Probably will help in determining if this machine is good enough.

Personally, i’d spend a bit more and go for a 12 gen intel GP66 with at least a 3070.

 

[Ceadeus]

Hello, I'm also looking for a laptop of these specs. The price is good but 240hz is overkill for a laptop. With these specs, expect fps under 120hz for newer titles, at high 1080p.

Unless you play older games, that's where you might get 240fps but otherwise a 120-144hz screen is far enough for a laptop.

Personally I'm waiting for the Rog Zephyrus G14 which won hands down the best gaming laptop of the year. Competitor being the Razer 14. A super slick looking but also very overpriced.

I would also suggest watching review video, especially for the thermal section. I've had my laptop for many years now and never had any problems running my gpu/cpu between 70-85 degree. But yeah, if it goes over 90 it's sign of bad thermal design imo.

 

[Husky]

Just make sure you get a computer you can open up. If they make that shit to intentionally keep you out of the internals, then how are you gonna unplug the mic and webcam?

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Why buy this when you have a tower PC? Probably will help in determining if this machine is good enough.

Personally, i’d spend a bit more and go for a 12 gen intel GP66 with at least a 3070.

Because it’s portable….

 

[01011001]

first of all you have to keep in mind that laptop variants of GPUs are not comparable to the desktop versions. if the laptop isn't one with shitloads of loud fans then it will most certainly perform way below what the desktop equivalent hardware would.
power limits are also important to know, because how many watts that GPU is allowed to pull will also influence the performance a lot

for 1080p60fps gaming a mobile 3060 should be alright for example, but just about for games going forward I bet. you will really fast run in situations where you have to drop settings or rely on DLSS

 

[ViolentP]

As with any laptop, comfortability is key. Then determine the smallest size screen you are comfortable gaming on. Spend the rest of the budget on performance.

 

[baphomet]

Honestly it doesn't seem bad for the price.

If I was still travelling with work as much as I was in the past I'd pick it up in a heart beat. The Steam Deck will do me fine for the time being.

 

[cash_longfellow]

So I bought this laptop from Amazon. Seems great for the price. What do you think? Did I get a good deal or is there a better laptop out there around the $1000 or less price range? I’d be willing to go a little over that if there is a drastically better option. It needs to have at minimum a 3060 GPU. On my desktop PC I prefer to go balls to the wall, but on a laptop I’m fine with a 1080p display. Screen size isn’t a big deal.

GIGABYTE A5 K1 - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz - AMD Ryzen 7 5800H - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6 - 16 GB Memory - 1TB PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home - Gaming Laptop (A5 K1-BUS2150SB) - Newegg.com​

Buy GIGABYTE A5 K1 - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz - AMD Ryzen 7 5800H - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6 - 16 GB Memory - 1TB PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home - Gaming Laptop (A5 K1-BUS2150SB) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

Not bad at all for the price. Toward the beginning of last year I grabbed a HP Victus 16.1…upgraded to 16gb, and a 1tb SSD and it has been fantastic. I also only really game in 1080. With the upgrades and stuff I think I paid about $900 or so. Note, I am not a balls to the wall PC gamer. I have been a console guy, but there were several games only on PC that I wanted to play, so the laptop had been perfect for me.

 

[01011001]

just to show the difference between laptop and desktop graphics tho



so keep that in mind

 

[Mr Moose]

Why does it have a 240Hz screen for a laptop 3060 GPU?

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Why does it have a 240Hz screen for a laptop 3060 GPU?

Ill use it for old games.

 

[West Texas CEO]

Get one that can pop your corn.

 

[EekTheKat]

Mux switch is usually quite nice. Basically an option to run the discrete graphics card without running it through the integrated stuff.

Good connectivity. Some laptops use a usb-c connector to displayport for external displays. Some only have HDMI out.

Other than that I generally look at thermals, as that's basically key to getting good sustained performance.

In some instances, heat can cause the GPU to throttle if the CPU is taking up the thermal budget of the cooling system. This is why some people disable turbo boost to give the GPU more thermal overhead.

 

[STARSBarry]

I mean... "gaming" laptop... sure....

You get what you pay for, the mobile 3060 is essentially a GTX 1070, so when your looking at reviews etc you should be expecting to play similair to a mid range desktop 6 years ago. Meaning it will struggle with more modern games but as long as you run at medium it should he fine.

 

[names are for friends]

I'm going to assume, at that price, that the screen is gimp. Probably some really shitty washed out colours. When you see good specs on something reasonably-priced it's usually the case, and I'd be wary where they could have cut back in terms of the overall build quality and thermals.

(Don't think I've ever used gimp as an adjective before... Don't think it's even grammatically correct... But I think I like it.)

Edit: apparently the screen is virtually full sRGB so the colours aren't bad, though the contrast is low even for an IPS so the image will look a little flat in that regard. Some customer review excerpts:

The CPU can run kind of hot. In demanding games temps can reach up to 99 degrees C, but the cpu is rated to go to 105 without being damaged and I've never had any throttling.

Battery life on the other hand is crap. Even on power saving mode I've only been able to get the battery to last just under two hours.

Received it on December and used it for four months, it suddenly not turning on despite the power led and charging indicator turned on.

Most of the reviews on Amazon are positive but expect high CPU temps, short battery life and maybe some QA issues but who knows. Personally I'd be wary about high CPU temps in the long-term but it seems like a good deal in general.

 

[H4ze]

The shit-talking about the mobile 3060 is strong in this thread. I bought a Gigabyte K5 KC laptop last year, with a rtx3060 and it outperforms my gtx 1070 I had in my desktop pc by more than you'd expect.

 

[proandrad]

Honestly if you already had a desktop you should have gone for a Steam Deck.

 

[supernova8]

Need help buying a gaming laptop.​

... but you already bought it.... bit fucking late now isn't it?

It looks pretty damn chunky though. I personally don't see the point of buying a chunky laptop like that (I would get something like the Asus Zephyrus G14) since you lose a lot of the portability. Then again I suppose if your "portability" use-case is just moving it from one room to another or taking it somewhere in the back of your car then it doesn't really matter.

CPU and GPU seem to be fine. Also looks like the memory can be upgraded to max 64GB so that also gives you some future-proofing headroom. 240hz may seem like overkill but that will provide a really nice buttery smooth overall desktop experience (I have a 165hz monitor and it's beautiful against my secondary old 60hz one, I can only imagine 240hz is even better).

Only other thing I would say is..

So I bought this laptop from Amazon

Did you go into a physical shop and try out that laptop or a very similar model before you bought it? Some laptops have really shit trackpads and keyboards. Especially true for trackpads but you can really fuck up with annoying sounding/feeling keyboards.

 

[Surf Ninja]

That's a solid gaming laptop. My advice would be to beef it up a little by returning it and getting a desktop PC instead.

 

[GymWolf]

Not being a laptop is usually the main feature i search.

 

[clarky]

That's a solid gaming laptop. My advice would be to beef it up a little by returning it and getting a desktop PC instead.

Ah the super portable tower pc, always great gaming on the go with one of those.

Plus the OP already has one. Solid advice.

On topic i have a Razer 15 as portability is the main factor for me highly recommend it.

Thought about a steam deck op? Might be an option if you already have a desktop.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Need help buying a gaming laptop.​

... but you already bought it.... bit fucking late now isn't it?

It looks pretty damn chunky though. I personally don't see the point of buying a chunky laptop like that (I would get something like the Asus Zephyrus G14) since you lose a lot of the portability. Then again I suppose if your "portability" use-case is just moving it from one room to another or taking it somewhere in the back of your car then it doesn't really matter.

CPU and GPU seem to be fine. Also looks like the memory can be upgraded to max 64GB so that also gives you some future-proofing headroom. 240hz may seem like overkill but that will provide a really nice buttery smooth overall desktop experience (I have a 165hz monitor and it's beautiful against my secondary old 60hz one, I can only imagine 240hz is even better).

Only other thing I would say is..

Did you go into a physical shop and try out that laptop or a very similar model before you bought it? Some laptops have really shit trackpads and keyboards. Especially true for trackpads but you can really fuck up with annoying sounding/feeling keyboards.

I can return it, genius. Plus it hasn't shipped so it can be easily cancelled.

 

[Surf Ninja]

Ah the super portable tower pc, always great gaming on the go with one of those.

Plus the OP already has one. Solid advice.

On topic i have a Razer 15 as portability is the main factor for me highly recommend it.

Thought about a steam deck op? Might be an option if you already have a desktop.

I should have clarified: gaming laptops are dumb, so I was employing humor to suggest not getting one.

 

[clarky]

I should have clarified: gaming laptops are dumb, so I was employing humor to suggest not getting one.

Not really, I couldn't live without mine, maybe dumb for you.

 

[Surf Ninja]

Steam Deck is a good suggestion, though, if you can get one.

 

[STARSBarry]

The shit-talking about the mobile 3060 is strong in this thread. I bought a Gigabyte K5 KC laptop last year, with a rtx3060 and it outperforms my gtx 1070 I had in my desktop pc by more than you'd expect.

To be fair his will preform even better as the K5 is a 105watt varient while his A5 is a more meaty 130watt version. However outside of specific games such as cyberpunk they do fall under 1080 preformance so it's better to undersell rather than oversell on false promises.

I wish Nvidia had kept the Power-Q designation it made it so easy to find this shit out rather than having to go hunt for it when shopping for a laptop GPU.

 

[Fbh]

Seems good for the price.
I have a 2017 (I think?) Dell with a 1050ti, personally if I ever get a new gaming laptop I'd look for something smaller, with better battery life and a less edgy design.
From the pictures it seems like the one you got is from the new wave of more grounded designs that just look like a regular laptop, which is good. It looks pretty thick though, but how much of an issue that is will depend on what you need it for.

Why does it have a 240Hz screen for a laptop 3060 GPU?

I have a 4K screen on a laptop with a 1050ti lol
(Due to a sale it was cheaper than the 1080p variant, also IPS instead of TN)

 

[clarky]

To be fair his will preform even better as the K5 is a 105watt varient while his A5 is a more meaty 130watt version. However outside of specific games such as cyberpunk they do fall under 1080 preformance so it's better to undersell rather than oversell on false promises.

I wish Nvidia had kept the Power-Q designation it made it so easy to find this shit out rather than having to go hunt for it when shopping for a laptop GPU.

Agreed, the way a 3080 performs in a laptop is not set in stone and its easy to get caught out if you dont know what your buying. Borderline false advertising imo.

 

[wipeout364]

I bought this two years ago for work. It’s reasonably light and plays most of what I throw at it which is not too intense as I have a gaming desktop with a 3080. The new ones have an all AMD configuration which is supposedly better but they seem to be really hard to get.



Edit: I have the 2060 1 tb configuration.

 

[clarky]

I bought this two years ago for work. It’s reasonably light and plays most of what I throw at it which is not too intense as I have a gaming desktop with a 3080. The new ones have an all AMD configuration which is supposedly better but they seem to be really hard to get.

Great laptop.

Personally im waiting for the 240hz oled screens and probably the next wave of 40xx laptops then its upgrade time.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Cancelled the Amazon order and went with this instead. I'll actually get this BEFORE I would have gotten the 3060 laptop.

Amazon.com: GIGABYTE AORUS 15P XD - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz, Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU 8GB GDDR6, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD, Win11 Home, Gaming Laptop (73US224SO) : Everything Else

Amazon.com: GIGABYTE AORUS 15P XD - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz, Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU 8GB GDDR6, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD, Win11 Home, Gaming Laptop (73US224SO) : Everything Else

www.amazon.com

Should be a great laptop that I can game on when I am away.

 

[01011001]

I mean... "gaming" laptop... sure....

You get what you pay for, the mobile 3060 is essentially a GTX 1070, so when your looking at reviews etc you should be expecting to play similair to a mid range desktop 6 years ago. Meaning it will struggle with more modern games but as long as you run at medium it should he fine.

depends on the Laptop tho. while mobile gpus will always be slower, some laptops are made with ridiculously high power limits and really crazy cooling solutions, and those can come close to the desktop variants...

but then you'll have a laptop with loud as fuck fans and it will be massive too.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

My favourite thing about a gaming laptop is that is has a great airflow tower, tons of upgradeability, a full sized big ass GPU and room for expansion.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I really didn’t like my gaming laptop. It was a 2070 performance model with a decent CPU and played anything I threw at it.

However, it was so fucking loud and hot that it put me off of using it. My wife genuinely thought that there was a hairdryer running in the room.

For info, it was a ROG Strix III Scar Edition. Supposedly one of the better gaming laptops.

 

[Apocryphon]

After 2 decades of owning high-end Alienware gaming laptops, I can safely say that I won't be buying another now that I have a Steam Deck.

Portability and power is all well and good, but these things are awful on battery and often heavy as fuck with their bullshit external power bricks. Personally I'm done with the hassle of lumping these things around.

The laptop in the original post certainly doesn't look bad for the money. I doubt you will find anything that is considerably better for $1000. If your set on a laptop and that's your budget, I think you will be happy enough.

 

[STARSBarry]

depends on the Laptop tho. while mobile gpus will always be slower, some laptops are made with ridiculously high power limits and really crazy cooling solutions, and those can come close to the desktop variants...

but then you'll have a laptop with loud as fuck fans and it will be massive too.

I mean between 20-25% diffrence vs their desktop counterpart even at max voltage sure that's kind of close. But your still restricted by the power brick the laptop comes with, it can't put out more wattage total than the brick is advertised for and anything above 220 Watts gets super big hence why you see laptop GPU's maxing out at 130watts to allow for a smaller form factor brick.

Here 330 watt brick to let you get a sense of the chunk

 

[01011001]

I mean between 20-25% diffrence vs their desktop counterpart even at max voltage sure that's kind of close. But your still restricted by the power brick the laptop comes with, it can't put out more wattage total than the brick is advertised for and anything above 220 Watts gets super big hence why you see laptop GPU's maxing out at 130watts to allow for a smaller form factor brick.

there are extreme laptops that come with 2 bricks to push the components to the limits. but yeah, that will still never get close... but we are getting closer in the more extreme laptops

 

[balls of snow]

Loving my Asus Tuf 3060 laptop, if it can play cyberpunk 2077 on high with dlss, it can play most current gen games at 1080P which is all I want from it really. Would get a steam deck if it was more widely available.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Cancelled the Amazon order and went with this instead. I'll actually get this BEFORE I would have gotten the 3060 laptop.

Amazon.com: GIGABYTE AORUS 15P XD - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz, Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU 8GB GDDR6, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD, Win11 Home, Gaming Laptop (73US224SO) : Everything Else

Amazon.com: GIGABYTE AORUS 15P XD - 15.6" FHD IPS Anti-Glare 240Hz, Intel Core i7-11800H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU 8GB GDDR6, 16GB Memory, 1TB SSD, Win11 Home, Gaming Laptop (73US224SO) : Everything Else

www.amazon.com

Should be a great laptop that I can game on when I am away.

Probably going to be returning this laptop. It doesn't appear to support GSync, which makes no sense for a 240Hz display paired with a 3070M

GSync appears to be a rare feature on laptops. I thought it would be on anything high refresh rate with an nvidia GPU. Makes no fucking sense.

 

[Thedtrain]

Probably going to be returning this laptop. It doesn't appear to support GSync, which makes no sense for a 240Hz display paired with a 3070M

GSync appears to be a rare feature on laptops. I thought it would be on anything high refresh rate with an nvidia GPU. Makes no fucking sense.

I went with the legion 5 pro with a mobile 3070. Absolute monster for the money, check it out

 

[Forsete]

Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (16" but screen is 16:10).

AMD 5800H
GeForce 3070 (140W)

Its a beast of a laptop IMO.

Should be on sale every now and then.

 

[StateofMajora]

I never understood gaming laptops. It's like... Maybe only you'd get one if you were traveling all the time and never settled at your house?

But if you have a steady place why not just use a desktop?

I never use gaming handhelds anymore either in my adult life, heck my switch is always docked. If I'm away from home I'm too busy to play games anyway.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

I never understood gaming laptops. It's like... Maybe only you'd get one if you were traveling all the time and never settled at your house?

But if you have a steady place why not just use a desktop?

I never use gaming handhelds anymore either in my adult life, heck my switch is always docked. If I'm away from home I'm too busy to play games anyway.

You just answered why. I won't do much gaming on it, but when I am travelling I want to be able to play games with good specs. It's not a hard concept to figure out.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (16" but screen is 16:10).

AMD 5800H
GeForce 3070 (140W)

Its a beast of a laptop IMO.

Should be on sale every now and then.

I looked at that one quite a bit. Nothing indicates that it supports GSync.

 

[daveonezero]

I would have bought a Zephyrus.

 

[Thedtrain]

I looked at that one quite a bit. Nothing indicates that it supports GSync.

Firmware 1.24.0.0 unlocked g sync in dGPU-only mode.