Google for your laptop model and see if there are reviews on e.g. Notebookcheck. You get some kind of idea from there also how it would perform with modern games.

I personally like ASUS gaming laptops on the whole, my next gaming laptop will probably be an ASUS as well. I like how they seem to concentrate a lot on efficient (yet relatively quiet) ventilation, and also how they try to make their gaming laptops "dust-resistant", ie. that the dust will not accumulate inside the laptop. Not sure how well that works but I like the sound of that, as opening and dusting off a laptop can sometimes be a bitch.

EDIT: For your specs, I wouldn't want that small primary drive. I'd replace it at least with 256 or preferably 512 SSD.
8 GB RAM also sounds low noadays, but as long as there are free memory slots, you can expand the memory later to 16GB. If not, it would be better to replace it with 16GB already now.

Thanks everyone for your input.

I don’t want to be blown away by graphics or anything, I’m just looking for something that does the job and lets me play some games while away from my desk. I think the Lenovo legion y520 will be enough for me. I could get it from amazon warehouse, it has 3 or 4 scratches on it and the price is reduced to 489 euros with a two year warranty. I think it’s a pretty good deal.

I’m an old gamer, I remember playing the original doom at what looked like 13 FPS, same whit stalker when it came out and I managed to play it on a MacBook using boot camp and windows xp.

My favorite games of the year so far are Gato Roboto and Amid Evil, so I think this laptop will do just fine.

Thanks everyone.

Cheapest i could find was this for 589€:

HP Pavilion 15-bc450ns - Ordenador portátil 15.6" FullHD (Intel Core i5-8300H, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD, Nvidia GeForce GTX1050-4GB, Freedos), Negro

https://www.amazon.es/PORT%C3%81TIL-HP-15-BC450NS-I5-8300H-GEFORCE/dp/B07F35Z364/

But i would wait for Black Friday sales if in need to buy new laptop.

Depends on resolution. Depends on wired vs wireless. Depends on encrypted vs unencrypted.

I never said it was a good solution, just it was an option. And with that loud fan from that one laptop that was suggested... it might be preferred.

Though you could play turn based games or FTL and then lag isn't anywhere near an issue.

Laptops are more specialized, proprietary, low power, more portable, and more expensive. Portability is their main selling point. Unless you have super limited space (say, are in AIT in the military and you have enough spare room the size of a small sock drawer for your personal stuff) or need to be on the move, i wouldn't think laptops are the best option.

I disagree. For me the portability is important even inside my home. E.g. I am writing this with my laptop in the living room right now (connected to my TV with HDMI), and after this I will probably play a bit of Team Fortress 2 on the big screen.

When my wife comes from work, I will probably move this back to bedroom so that she can watch TV, and I can still play if I so choose. Sometimes I even play on the laptop WHILE watching TV.

Of course it also helps that I can easily pack my gaming laptop and take it to e.g. the summer cottage on weekends (for rainy days, u know?), or if I went to Thailand and get an urge to play something there on lull time.

Then maybe, the Nintendo Switch would have been a better match for you.

Honestly, the keyboard/mouse interfaces on laptops is so finicky and difficult to work with, and makes everything more difficult to do. And that extends to everything i do on it, gaming, programming, email, everything. To the point if you bring your own keyboard and mouse and hook up to a different screen, almost wonder what the point of the laptop is beyond it's in a single container ready to use, and doesn't weigh much so you can carry it with you.

Reminds me of the cube...

Currently, I'm waiting for the system reqs of newer games set to be released next year to arrive, then get a new system based on that. The prices would have dropped so it would be cheaper as well.

Meanwhile, I'm just playing the games I already own in my library.

No, because it doesn't run my PC games.

You can use exactly the same mouse and keyboards as you can with desktops, USB and wireless. I am not writing this on my laptop keyboard and touchpad, but with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I like especially the wireless keyboard, the feeling is quite good, it has all the keys (even the numpad), yet it fits nicely into my laptop bag.

That is exactly the point. I can take a laptop to my work and when I simply insert it into the docking station box with a mere USB-C cord, it instantly becomes a full desktop-level workhorse, with two big screens (plus the laptop screen as a third one if needed). I can easily detach it from that even on the fly, and continue doing stuff with whatever I want (wireless mouse and/or keybaord, or the integrated keyboard and touchpad, or whatever).

Yesterday I needed to do exactly that when I had to leave the office and go to the server room to continue what I was doing. I just got my laptop from the desk and continued downstairs.

At this point, having a desktop would feel more like it is bolted on the ground, totally rooted to the ground in one room. I don't want that, it limits me far too much, even inside my home.

Some of you seem religiously against laptops, you can't accept even that others may like them. :)

Is that what it seems like to you?

I see the inherit limitations, and while turned off about it doesn't mean i hate them. But you can't really upgrade them, if they break you can't fix/repair/replace the individual broken parts. And as i said, portability is their main selling point (and their size)

Yes you can. However that's extra equipment you have to lug around because the built-in ones are more or less inadequate for... long term comfort (and they drain the battery faster). The keys are tighter and smaller together, the mouse touch pad might get brushed while typing and change the focus of the program or do odd things. The tiny speakers offer sound but not very high quality or loud enough.

Laptops are like using duct-tape for repairs; They do every job okayish and does nothing optimally.

If a laptop is your preferred or best solution, so be it. Hell i know some suggestions for certain laptops for older gaming because running on native hardware and the like, which would be great if you wanted the authentic experience or compatibility.

You can upgrade parts of them. I mentioned elsewhere that just a few months ago I expanded my main gaming laptop's RAM from 8GB to 16GB, and HDD size from 1.5TB to 6TB (by replacing two 750GB HDDs and an internal DVD-RW drive with three 2TB HDDs; I use a DVD-RW drive so rarely that an external USB DVD-RW is more than enough for me). And before you ask "why do you need that much HDD space?!?"... I have both Windows and Linux running on the system side by side, I like keeping e.g. the whole MAME/Amiga/etc. collection on the hard drive so I can play the games whenever I want, and I generally like the feel I don't constantly have to think about cleaning up the HDDs in order to be able to install and download something else.

True, you can't normally upgrade e.g. the CPU or the GPU on a laptop... but when I think about my past gaming desktops I had, I hardly ever did that anyway (I never upgraded the CPU on a desktop, and only once I have upgraded the graphics card).

Usually when I felt it was time to upgrade CPU and/or GPU, the system was so long in the tooth already that it was better to replace it completely. Quite often the motherboard form factors had already changed (ie. new motherboards wouldn't necessarily fit my old PC case), the graphics card busses had changed, the preferred video ports had changed, the new graphics cards required more powerful power supplies and the connectors between the power supply and the motherboard had changed, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ad nauseam, urea acta est.

No, it was usually just much simpler to replace the whole system, many times including the monitor. Maybe I could keep the old USB keyboard and mouse, though.

Usually when I upgraded single components in my desktop PCs, the upgrades were the same that are trivial to do on laptops too: expanding the RAM, or replacing hard drives. Those are very easy to do on laptops.

EDIT: As for changing broken parts... what usually breaks in a laptop? The only broken part I have ever needed to replace in a laptop is either the battery or the fan(s), and those can be replaced even by yourself. I changed both fans for my aging gaming laptop half a year ago or so, as one (of the two) fans started giving loud noises every now and then.

The operation was somewhat laborious because I had to detach and lift the keyboard in order to get to the fans to replace them... but there were good and detailed instructions on the net how to do that so I just followed them. Then again, I do feel ASUS could have made the operation considerably easier too, like why not make it possible to change the fans from below the laptop? Then one wouldn't have to detach the keyboard. The fans were visible anyway from below when opening the lower lid, they could have been easily replaced from there as well. Anyways...

Depending on the model, battery may be easily replaced as well. If it is internal battery, then it is harder but doable. Then again, a laptop is usable even with a dead battery, it works normally when connected to power outlet. In fact I have detached the battery from my gaming laptop normally, and insert the batter only if I know I might be using it without being connected to power.

The situations where those limitations matter are situations where you couldn't use a desktop PC at all.

So, yeah, true, if I take a laptop out of my bag on a train or airport or airplane, I probably have to do with a "lesser" mouse/keyboard/monitor than if I was at my home or the office... but then that comparison is meaningless because I can't use my desktop at all in the said situations and places.

When I am at the desk at my home or office, I have access to exactly the same monitors, keyboards, mouse and speakers I'd have with a desktop. Sometimes even better, ie. if I now had a desktop in the bedroom, I couldn't use my TV's superior stereo audio system with it like I now can with my laptop, which is connected to the TV with HDMI.

My laptop's integrated keyboard is ok for occasional use and non-action games, but if I want to write more or play more seriously, my trusty wireless Logitech K360 keyboard is great for that. It is small and flat enough to fit into my laptop bag, yet it doesn't feel cramped (it has a separate numpad too), and its feeling is great for a chiclet-style keyboard. Heck, it's feeling is even better than the bigger wired desktop keyboard that my employer gave me in the office (it is bigger in size, and also a flat chiclet-keyboard; chiclet-keyboards seem to be the trend nowadays even for desktop systems).

For me the only advantage with a desktop gaming PC was that if I wanted to have a very powerful gaming system for the newest games running in highest 4K resolutions, Hairworks and shit, and didn't care about e.g. portability at all, then it would be considerably cheaper with a desktop system. Anyway, being a active GOG customer suggests that I am not really playing the newest games, I tend to wait a bit until the bugs are ironed out and all DLCs released. This will go also for Cyberpunk, even though I have preordered it.

THIS LONG MESSAGE WAS WRITTEN WITH A WIRELESS LOGITECH K360 KEYBOARD ON MY LAPTOP WHICH IS CONNECTED TO THE TV, AND MY HANDS ARE NOT EVEN ACHING. HECK, I COULD HAVE WRITTEN EVEN 2-3 TIMES LONGER MESSAGE, DARE ME.

Oh yeah, and my laptop is currently connected to the power outlet, so the fact that using external mouse and keyboard uses a bit of extra power is irrelevant. The only times I use a laptop without being connected to power outlet is when electricity is not easily available, or the task is so small and short that it doesn't matter.

Heck, I can get power to my laptop even inside my car, if I wanted to.

Get a laptop with a Core i7, a GeForce 1060 at least and 16GB of RAM. It's the bare minimum to go on a bit longer in gaming for the time being...

I can vouch for ASUS laptops quality and reliability (thus far)...

Since you asked for advice: if you can make do with a regular PC instead of a laptop, you will get better more bang for your buck.

Literally the only parts you can upgrade/change :P

Keyboards get damaged, screens. Can't air clean them well so they collect dust inside which increases static and heat.

A couple times i've had to open a laptop up and tinker with the board where it wouldn't work at one angle, but would at another.

Sometimes USB ports get damaged, or the powering port, or the battery connections...

In short lots of things.

I'd consider it lucky if you didn't drop your laptop, damage it, drop a drink on it, overheat it, or any number of other activities that make it less useful as a device slowly wearing it over time.

Not going to argue there, i agree with you. I'm just not sure about using a laptop when i could be using a desktop.