It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionWhat is a good gaming laptop these days?(78 posts)(78 posts)
(78 posts)
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
This is my favourite topic
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
Orkhepaj: clearly show you are just trolling
Two peas in a pod.

Takes one to know one.

Pot, kettle, black, much?

etc ad nauseaum

back under the bridge henceforth hencewith
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
rojimboo: Gaming laptop.

That's an oxymoron.
While I liked my 4gb 960m - yeah, it was still, more or less, on par with a 7xx desktop series cards, at that time. Nowhere was that 960m even close to its 4gb 960 desktop brother.

They've improved greatly in the video card department since the GTX 1000 series and they've gotten much closer to their desktop brethren.

I have a laptop with a GTX 1060 6gb card and it ran very well, back when I bought it, some 2 1/2 years ago or so. Maxed-out at 1080p, it was running games like GR: Wildlands at 90fps.

Mind you, 3000 laptop series isn't as close to its desktop brethren as say the 1000's and RTX 2000's laptops were with the RTX 3000's - but still, 1080p60fps shouldn't even be an issue w/ most games even with a RTX 3060 laptop card or better.
Post edited February 26, 2021 by MysterD
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
MysterD: While I liked my 4gb 960m - yeah, it was still, more or less, on par with a 7xx desktop series cards, at that time. Nowhere was that 960m even close to its 4gb 960 desktop brother.
Don't get me wrong, I had one of them too with an i7 and Nvidia 960M back in the day. It could fairly comfortably play some of the games I enjoyed, possibly even at a respectable 1080@60 or close to it.

Forgetting about the price premium for a minute, and the performance loss - my extreme statement was more about it being a 'lap'top.

The more powerful you go, the bulkier they get, with immense overheating problems. If you need a triple fan cooler seat for your laptop at a desk, then it ceases to be a portable laptop to me.

There are many many other negatives about gaming on a laptop, but even then I enjoyed playing older games on my older lappie.

It's happily now with my sister, with Ubuntu Mate installed on it and my Steam library fully accessible to her amongst others. Playing Final Fantasy 13 on it last time I checked.

I just find the whole notion of them being 'lap'tops, portable things that you can keep on your lap etc. as being fanciful.
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
MysterD: While I liked my 4gb 960m - yeah, it was still, more or less, on par with a 7xx desktop series cards, at that time. Nowhere was that 960m even close to its 4gb 960 desktop brother.
avatar
rojimboo: Don't get me wrong, I had one of them too with an i7 and Nvidia 960M back in the day. It could fairly comfortably play some of the games I enjoyed, possibly even at a respectable 1080@60 or close to it.

Forgetting about the price premium for a minute, and the performance loss - my extreme statement was more about it being a 'lap'top.

The more powerful you go, the bulkier they get, with immense overheating problems. If you need a triple fan cooler seat for your laptop at a desk, then it ceases to be a portable laptop to me.

There are many many other negatives about gaming on a laptop, but even then I enjoyed playing older games on my older lappie.

It's happily now with my sister, with Ubuntu Mate installed on it and my Steam library fully accessible to her amongst others. Playing Final Fantasy 13 on it last time I checked.

I just find the whole notion of them being 'lap'tops, portable things that you can keep on your lap etc. as being fanciful.
My 960m was not that hot (good) with heat. I had to use programs like ThrottleStop, even w/ a cooling pad, to keep the heat down. I often had to run at 900p, just to keep the heat down below 90-100 degrees Celsius.

The heat was much better on my EVGA SC15 laptop with the 6GB GTX 1060. Sure, I used ThrottleStop on that a bit, too - but I didn't have to sacrifice a ton in performance just to get the heat levels down on some games like MechWarrior 5 and Metro Exodus.

Both laptops, I do have HDMI or DP cables, of course. So, I can connect the laptops to a monitor via HDMI (960m laptop) or Displayport (SC15 laptop with the 1060). BTW, the monitor is a ViewSonic 240hz 1080p G-Sync monitor.

One nice thing - if I ever get a box to stick a GPU you and another PSU, I could say connect a video card via my ThunderBolt 3 port on my SC15. Never tried though; and probably won't need to now since I got my 3070 desktop.

My RTX 3070 desktop gets the best usage out of that ViewSonic 240hz 1080p with G-Sync, though. Smashing games like Witcher 3 at 1080p maxed-out at 100-150fps and RAGE 2 at 100-200fps is just glorious.
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
rojimboo: The more powerful you go, the bulkier they get, with immense overheating problems. If you need a triple fan cooler seat for your laptop at a desk, then it ceases to be a portable laptop to me.
ANY laptop is a lot more portable than my 25 kg desktop tower. There are quite a few reasons for having a laptop - taking it with you "on the road" is just one of them. Not all powerful laptops have overheating problems - often, if you want a lot for cheap, it means corners have been cut... like insufficient cooling.
Actually, even some expensive laptops have cooling issues - because the manufacturer (e.g. Apple) put too much emphasis on "looks" (thin and small). For the available power, they should've been bulkier.
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
Orkhepaj: at what fps?
avatar
Robette: I never measured it, but I'd say 30+ at 720p for most games I played. Settings very much depend on the game since performance widely differs.

Often something like medium settings, low shadows works fine. Again, I'm not saying this because I recommend it as a gaming set up, but if that is what you got, you still have some options. Especially lowering the resolution gives you a lot of wiggle room.

Here is a clip of Wolfenstein - The New Order on an IntelHD620 for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYrX69mVt7A

However, if you say 1440p and high settings is my minimum then you won't get far of course.
oh forgot to thank you for your reply, thx
avatar
rojimboo: The more powerful you go, the bulkier they get, with immense overheating problems. If you need a triple fan cooler seat for your laptop at a desk, then it ceases to be a portable laptop to me.
avatar
teceem: ANY laptop is a lot more portable than my 25 kg desktop tower. There are quite a few reasons for having a laptop - taking it with you "on the road" is just one of them. Not all powerful laptops have overheating problems - often, if you want a lot for cheap, it means corners have been cut... like insufficient cooling.
Actually, even some expensive laptops have cooling issues - because the manufacturer (e.g. Apple) put too much emphasis on "looks" (thin and small). For the available power, they should've been bulkier.
hmm watching some yutbob vids even apple fails with cooling, people should expect quality for that money ...
thinking about it maybe thats why they want cooler chips :P
Post edited February 26, 2021 by Orkhepaj
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
teceem: There are quite a few reasons for having a laptop -
Oh?
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
teceem: There are quite a few reasons for having a laptop -
avatar
rojimboo: Oh?
I have a small hardware-based (synths) music studio. Limited space and the laptop is mainly used for recording. (most?) standalone 1080P (or more) monitors (screens) would just take up too much space.

Space is not an issue for my general usage / gaming desktop - but that one isn't surrounded by a bunch of synthesizers and midi controllers.

Sure, this example might sound highly specific to you, but it is one nonetheless.

Also, I have an old (ex-work) laptop for watching movies/series on the couch when the TV is occupied.
Post edited February 26, 2021 by teceem
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
teceem: why laptops in general are useful that nobody was contesting
I was more referring to 'what benefits are there outside of portability to owning a gaming laptop instead of a gaming desktop'? Considering the thread and topic we're in...
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
mystikmind2000: Hi, anyone up to date on what is a good gaming laptop these days? (Budget up to AUD $2000.00)
Or knows a good computer forum i can join and ask about it there?
1. Go to https://www.youtube.com and search for "gaming laptop". You will find lots of good channels for (gaming) laptop reviews, subcribe to one's you find the best.

2. https://www.notebookcheck.com for some more information.

However I am unsure what would be a good forum for talking about gaming laptops in particular. I think reddit has some discussion but I don't hang around there.

GOG forum is not that good a place for this unfortunately because whenever you ask about gaming laptops here, you will get a few dozen messages saying "Come on, why do you want to buy a gaming laptop? Please don't buy a gaming laptop. Buy a gaming desktop, and then maybe some $100 cheapo laptop. I will not let you buy a gaming laptop!"

It is a similar argument as saying "Come on, why do you want to buy a gaming PC? Buy a PS5 console instead. Don't be a fool, buy a console!". Sure, there are certain caveats and drawbacks in buying a gaming laptop, but if you have decided a gaming laptop serves you better than a gaming desktop, you just go ahead. Don't listen to naysayers, trust your own feelings Luke.
avatar
mystikmind2000: I have always been reluctant to buy a gaming laptop, since every other laptop i have ever owned suffers from catastrophic slow down after a number of years - something that my desktops have never done, so i am always scratching my head on that one?? One time a few years ago my laptop had a dramatic slowdown after a windows update, it never recovered from that, this is the laptop i am trying to replace, hell it takes 1 minute for the power options to appear after clicking on it, that is how slow it has gotten.... Yeah i know, i should block windows updates and set up a restore point when the laptop is new.... yada yada yada, when will i learn? LOL
That doesn't sound like a "laptop problem", more like something that "reinstalling" (resetting) Windows could have fixed.

I haven't had that negative experiences with my gaming laptops. This laptop where I am writing this message is my 8-9 years old ASUS G75VW gaming laptop. Sure it doesn't play current AAA games well anymore (too slow now), but it is still working great. I do play lots of games on it, but I probably wouldn't try to play e.g. Cyberpunk 2077 or Control or Kingdom Come: Deliverance on it, but for a bit older games (including AAA games), it works fine.

The maintenance I have done for it over the 8-9 years I've had it are:

- Opened it up and dusted it off completely twice (the last time was two months ago or so, and earlier like 4-5 years ago maybe).

- Replaced both of its two fans three years ago or so, when one of them started making some extra noise and was probably going to break down. (I ordered the fans from some online store abroad, and replaced them myself.)

- I've doubled the RAM from 8 GB to 16 GB.

- I've replaced the two 750 GB HDDs that it originally had with three (3!!!) 2 TB HDDs, totalling 6 TB of hard drive space internally. The third hard drive: I took out the internal DVD-RW drive (which had actually broken down at some point even though I hardly ever used it), and put a third HDD in its place with a HDD bay. I have an external USB DVD-RW drive if I ever need to use one.

- I've re-installed Windows on it maybe 3-4 times, and also Linux on the side. Maybe that has kept my Windows working, reinstalling it from a clean table a few times. Crap tends to accumulate to the system, sometimes it is good to start from a clean table.
avatar
mystikmind2000: 1) The laptop i am looking for does not have to be small or light, hell it can even have a cd drive just for kicks - (i need it).
I don't think any new laptops have internal CD/DVD drives anymore, really. If you want one, buy an external USB DVD-RW drive. I have one too.

If you are fine with thicker gaming laptops, look at e.g. what XMG or Eluktronics are offering. I think XMG is mostly operating in Europe and is Eluktronics its American "cousin" offering similar or even the same (design) laptops in America? Or at least I recall XMG to be mentioned to be the "European cousin" of some other laptop company which is operating in America...

https://www.eluktronics.com/

https://www.xmg.gg/en/en/laptops/

I am personally considering something like this, but possibly later this year if and when they introduce a 2021 version with NVidia RTX 30xx GPU:

https://www.xmg.gg/en/xmg-apex-15

EDIT: The Eluktronics-equivalent of the XMG APEX-15 seems to be the appropriately-named THICC-15:

https://www.eluktronics.com/THICC-15/
avatar
mystikmind2000: 2) I don't mind paying a bit extra for longer battery life.
Well that will be a problem. Gaming laptops in general are not designed for long battery life, but good performance (when plugged in into power). For instance that XMG Apex 15 laptop's battery life is well under 2 hours I think, only little over 1 h with power use. So it is not really designed to operate on battery power for long times, the battery is merely a backup or for "emergency cases".

It may be you just have to look for some more regular laptop, that can run games passably too if needed. Not specifically a "gaming laptop". You have to decide if you want it to be as high performance as a laptop can be (in your price level), or good battery life.
avatar
mystikmind2000: 3) I want a LAN port and a HDMI port
Pretty much all generic and especially gaming laptops have those, standard stuff.

To me it was actually a surprise that my colleague's work laptop (some thin Dell laptop) does not have a LAN port at all. My Dell work laptop has one, fortunately. However... I guess you can use also an USB-C port for "LAN", at least through a USB-C hub. For instance at my work I have a Dell hub box to which I connect my Dell laptop with one USB-C cable, and I get everything from that one hub connection: two monitors (HDMI), USB keyboard/mouse, LAN internet, and even power.
avatar
mystikmind2000: 4) Solid state drive - (pretty standard nowadays)
You probably will not even find new laptops with HDDs anymore. At best, some have a HDD bay in case you want to add a secondary HDD, many laptops don't have even that but are SSD only.

I guess that is fine nowadays, 1TB SSDs are starting to be at a comfortable price range. No need to use some shitty 128 or 256GB SSD anymore as your C: drive. 512GB SSD is pretty much the minimum nowadays you should look at.
Post edited February 26, 2021 by timppu
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
mystikmind2000: I noticed in minecraft you can expand the horizon if your computer can handle it.... that would be nice!
Well, if your system is up to it, nowadays you can even have raytracing in Minecraft. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NehSihoHCpc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNdxiotnawc

avatar
Orkhepaj: how much would one cost?
$700 - $5000, or thereabouts.
Post edited February 26, 2021 by timppu
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
rtcvb32: Laptop are low energy usage, proprietary, nonmodular, can't fix/update anything, and what you get is a craps shoot. Although mobile video chips are getting better there's a tone of features they just don't do, though basic 3D more or less seems to be normal.

Then there's the OS. I remember things working fine on XP. Then go to Vista and you needed 2Gb just for Aero (which i never used) and the OS was slow and clunky and thankfully i opted to stay with XP. (And there's a repeat with 10 now...)

If you want to spend thousands on a laptop be my guest. I'm sure you can run the latest games on it.
avatar
Robette: Sure, I get that laptops are much more restricted than tower PCs, but that was not the point of the post. The point was that I don't get why people pretend non-gaming laptops only play games up to the mid-2000s.

I used an i5 with 8gb ram and an intel hd620, and it would run stuff like MGS5, FF13, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dying Light, etc. Integrated graphics got pretty powerful by now, although you reach your limited somewhere in the 2015 range.
Playing on low is for peasants! ;)
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
rtcvb32: Laptop are low energy usage, proprietary, nonmodular, can't fix/update anything, and what you get is a craps shoot.
You can't fix/update the CPU or GPU, but lots of other parts in laptops, especially gaming laptops, are replaceable.

Naturally e.g. RAM and HDDs/SSDs can normally be replaced. Some laptop models may have soldered RAM, but even to those you can add more RAM. I think especially in gaming laptops it is much more common that all RAM sticks can be replaced, if needed.

I myself have e.g. replaced the two fans on my 8-9 years old gaming laptop, all by myself. It is not like laptops are generally glued together so that nothing can be replaced, unless you are talking about iPhone or iPad but they are not laptops, are they?

Naturally certain parts would need a specific replacement part from the laptop manufacturer itself (e.g. the internal keyboard, or the integrated screen), but so far I haven't been able to break down the screen even on my oldest laptops (if something has broken for good, it has been something else besides the screen), and for the keyboard... well, if the keyboard would really break down, you'd still have an option to use an external USB or wireless keyboard with the laptop. I use external keyboards with my laptops quite often.

Then again, the chiclet-type keyboards on laptops also seem quite durable, again I haven't encountered a broken keyboard on my oldest laptops.

avatar
rtcvb32: Then there's the OS. I remember things working fine on XP. Then go to Vista and you needed 2Gb just for Aero (which i never used) and the OS was slow and clunky and thankfully i opted to stay with XP. (And there's a repeat with 10 now...)
I have no idea what that has anything to do with laptops, but whatever...

avatar
rtcvb32: If you want to spend thousands on a laptop be my guest. I'm sure you can run the latest games on it.
Well, it isn't really like you can buy a gaming desktop which can run latest games with raytracing in ultra settings for under 2000€ or so either, considering that the graphics card alone can easily cost up to 1000€.

There is very high variance in price with gaming laptops, and clearly some manufactures have a much higher premium price for a gaming laptop performance level that you can get much cheaper from some other manufacturer. That is one of the reasons I am looking at those XMG gaming laptops, they seem to offer quite good bang for the buck.

Sometimes when i consider if I should buy a gaming desktop instead of a laptop, I go to check how much some 8-core Ryzen system with RTX 3060 or 3070 might cost (RAM, SSD, monitor included)... and then I find out geez it costs already closer to 3000€! And some make it sound like you can buy a whole gaming desktop PC for like 700€ (monitor included) and it will run all the latest games at 4K ultra and raytracing at full. That doesn't seem to be the case at all.

avatar
Orkhepaj: and how do they use the laptop , just plug it into a docker and use external keyboard mouse monitor?
I use my laptops both ways. Sometimes they are even connected to the TV, and I operate them with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Wheee!

Just because it is a laptop, does not mean you have to keep it only on your lap and operate it using its trackpad, if there is a perfectly good desk available and you can also use an external keyboard/mouse. Why not to use them, if you can?
Post edited February 26, 2021 by timppu
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
teceem: why laptops in general are useful that nobody was contesting
avatar
rojimboo: I was more referring to 'what benefits are there outside of portability to owning a gaming laptop instead of a gaming desktop'? Considering the thread and topic we're in...
I think the reason in my example is valid for gaming laptops as well: if space is an issue. Though, personally, I can't imagine living somewhere where you can't put a desk dedicated to a desktop PC (low to average income, urban Asia?).
Posted February 26, 2021
avatar
Robette: Sure, I get that laptops are much more restricted than tower PCs, but that was not the point of the post. The point was that I don't get why people pretend non-gaming laptops only play games up to the mid-2000s.

I used an i5 with 8gb ram and an intel hd620, and it would run stuff like MGS5, FF13, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dying Light, etc. Integrated graphics got pretty powerful by now, although you reach your limited somewhere in the 2015 range.
avatar
Snickersnack: Playing on low is for peasants! ;)
Amen.

For me:
At least 1080p @ Medium with at least 30fps is passable.
60fps for me is fine.
90fps+ is definitely preferred.
120-240fps (or better) is incredible.
Post edited February 26, 2021 by MysterD
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionWhat is a good gaming laptop these days?(78 posts)(78 posts)
(78 posts)