Gaming Laptop

[Rifraf]

HI All,

I am considering a gaming laptop for when I'm traveling and wonder if anyone has one and/or any recommendations? I'm not looking for ultra high end. Been checking reviews and seeing what's out there with a 17" screen size in a high mid range for 1080p gaming. Any ideas appreciated.

 

[kjc733]

I've no experience with gaming laptops, but have been through a number of laptops in my time. Generic things to consider:
1. Ability to upgrade. Some of my older laptops actually were relatively straightfoward to upgrade. My more recent ones are harder, there are no obvious means to get at "stuff" without dismantling the whole thing. My current one says it can't be upgraded. Probably more a concern with standard "slimline" laptops than a gaming rig, but something to consider.
2. Cooling. I have (literally) melted a laptop in the past. They generally design them with vents in the base and again, it can be very difficult to clean the fans without dismantling the whole thing.
3. Laptops are more expensive than desktops for the same spec (and you generally get a lesser spec).

Of course the tradeoff to the above is portability.

If you do want to go gaming then you could consider these build your own sites rather than just buying one off the shelf. I haven't done that with a laptop but the desktop I obtained was competitively priced for the specs and I could more easily balance price vs capability. Plus it came with none of the bloatware found when you buy from PC World etc. I used Novatech (UK based, recommended by a guy who used to do IT for a company), however there are plenty of companies like this about - just need to find one with a good reputation.

 

[Hellkite]

What is your prise rage ?

I go for a MSI or a Acre Predator Triton and stay clear of alienware it nothing but a rbg havey dell

Here is a nice MSI on sale
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Creator-...4?dchild=1&keywords=msi&qid=1628454301&sr=8-4

Standing screen display size‎15.6 Inches
Screen Resolution‎1920 x 1080
Max Screen Resolution‎1920 x 1080
Processor‎2.3 GHz core_i7
RAM‎16 GB DDR4
Memory Speed‎2.3 GHz
Hard Drive‎512 GB flash_memory_solid_state
Graphics Coprocessor‎NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060
Card Description‎Dedicated
Wireless Type‎Bluetooth
Other Technical Details
Brand‎MSI
Item model number‎Creator 15 A10SET-088
Operating System‎Windows 10 Home
Processor Brand‎Intel
Processor Count‎8
Computer Memory Type‎DDR4 SDRAM
Hard Drive Interface‎USB 3.2

 

[Rifraf]

I was thinking around $2K at the high end. But want a 17". Been looking at MSI too. I was looking at an Alienware too. Seemed decent but really looking at all the reviews I can too.

 

[Hellkite]

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GE75-Rai...011,p_89:MSI&rnid=2528832011&s=pc&sr=1-5&th=1


Been shopping around for you this one is a good deal for the money " I have nothing to do stuck in this hospital bed "

But I would not go with Alienware it just a over priced dell

 

[Rifraf]

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GE75-Raider-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B092DF5TQ9/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&qid=1628477356&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin:7817234011,p_n_feature_five_browse-bin:13580787011,p_89:MSI&rnid=2528832011&s=pc&sr=1-5&th=1


Been shopping around for you this one is a good deal for the money " I have nothing to do stuck in this hospital bed "

But I would not go with Alienware it just a over priced dell

That one looks good, thank you. There are so many to look at its overwhelming and my eyes glaze over reading all the reviews. Thank you for taking the time. Hoping you are doing ok.

 

[Hellkite]

Happy to be of service that and it has given me something to do.

 

[Terra_Inc]

I've no experience with gaming laptops, but have been through a number of laptops in my time. Generic things to consider:
1. Ability to upgrade. Some of my older laptops actually were relatively straightfoward to upgrade. My more recent ones are harder, there are no obvious means to get at "stuff" without dismantling the whole thing. My current one says it can't be upgraded. Probably more a concern with standard "slimline" laptops than a gaming rig, but something to consider.
2. Cooling. I have (literally) melted a laptop in the past. They generally design them with vents in the base and again, it can be very difficult to clean the fans without dismantling the whole thing.
3. Laptops are more expensive than desktops for the same spec (and you generally get a lesser spec).

Of course the tradeoff to the above is portability.

All of this, yeah. The main problem with laptops is that they need to be flat, but you still need to cram everything a computer needs into that case. The thinner the laptop, the more components will (have to) be soldered directly onto the motherboard to save space, and thus be very hard to replace/upgrade as a customer. (Obviously, this also plays into planned obsolescence, bleurgh.)
As KJC said, the other issue this causes is the cooling. In a desktop PC, it's simple to move air through the case by using big old fans, as many of them as necessary. In a laptop, your options are limited by the size of the case. To make things worse, you don't have a lot of space for air intake and exhaust, so at least one of those usually goes on the bottom of the laptop, and thus is easily blocked.

 

[kjc733]

Photo of the underside of my old laptop. This spent all of its time on a metal cooling tray!
At the time I didn't have a desktop I could connect to the internet, so it probably didn't help that I played STO on it (although not huge amounts).

 

[Rifraf]

All of this, yeah. The main problem with laptops is that they need to be flat, but you still need to cram everything a computer needs into that case. The thinner the laptop, the more components will (have to) be soldered directly onto the motherboard to save space, and thus be very hard to replace/upgrade as a customer. (Obviously, this also plays into planned obsolescence, bleurgh.)
As KJC said, the other issue this causes is the cooling. In a desktop PC, it's simple to move air through the case by using big old fans, as many of them as necessary. In a laptop, your options are limited by the size of the case. To make things worse, you don't have a lot of space for air intake and exhaust, so at least one of those usually goes on the bottom of the laptop, and thus is easily blocked.

I will definitely get a cooling tray for underneath to help get better airflow. Yikes @kjc. Scary that it melted

 

[SciFiFan]

I am currently on an MSI GS75 Stealth. 17 inch 144 htz 1080p screen. 9th Gen core i7-9750H processor, Nvidia RTX2070 Max-Q 8gb GDDR6, 16gb DDR4 system memory, 1Tb SSD.

It was around the 2K mark when I bought it last year. My only complaint with it is that the lid hinges seems to be a bit weak. Not that it won't hold the monitor where you want it, because it does just fine. The issue is sudden movements can have a tendency to drop the lid. It happened to mine and now the lid has small but noticeable creases at the hinges.