In the market for a new laptop

[korme]

Nothing facy shmancy. Not interested in a TouchSmart or anything. Looking for recommendations on brands, particularly those to stay away from. My last Gateway was a real piece of work. Know next to nothing about Acer and Lenovo.

Looking for something with at least an intel core i5, 8 gb of memory and 500 gb hd.

I'd like to keep my budget in the 700-900 range.

[cartman]

I picked up a new laptop back at the beginning of the year. It was an HP Envy 15, with a Core i7, touch screen and 16GB of RAM. It was just under $1k. I ended up swapping out the 1TB drive with a 512GB SSD and that added another $300 to the price. I've had no issues at all with the laptop.

[Autumn]

I've got a Lenovo and love it. my wife just got one as well--she'd always bought Dell (ugh) but realized if I'd never buy one, there must be something about this Lenovo! They're really solidly built, and hers actually looks nice as well.

[PilotMan]

I'm personally a big fan of Asus, but I have had to return a couple of things to them for warranty work too. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that Gateway and Acer and clones. FTR, I've had a good experience with both of them.

Here is a model I'd have no trouble recommending. It's got all you ask for plus a dedicated graphics card, usb 3.0 and a graphics card. It's priced right at $700 and has free shipping.

MSI CX61 2PC-499US Notebook Intel Core i5 4200M (2.5GHz) 8GB Memory 750GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 820M 15.6" Windows 8.1

Newegg.com - MSI CX61 2PC-499US Notebook Intel Core i5 4200M (2.5GHz) 8GB Memory 750GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 820M 15.6" Windows 8.1 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152586)

[korme]

Thabks for the feedback/suggestions so far.

What am I missing where this laptop is only $499? Is the processor weak, or graphics card? Dell Inspiron 17R Laptop | AMD A8 | Amethyst Purple (http://m.costco.com/Dell-Inspiron-17R-Laptop-%7C-AMD-A8-%7C-Amethyst-Purple.product.100106176.html)

[PilotMan]

Price is good for me there are 3 drawbacks.

1) It's a big 17 inch screen. Some people might like that but it's really not portable.

2)The processor is comparable to a Core i3 although slightly worse. It's still going to be zippy, but this is part of the reason why it's cheaper.

3)It has an integrated video card. I know it may not seem like a big deal, but if you do any gaming at all it will really help.

4)It's got a tiny battery. 4 cell/45w/hr battery won't last very long with that big screen.

It's got some good upsides for sure, it's just a budget version with some entry level options. For sure the price is good and if you aren't going to worry about some of the performance issues it could probably serve you well.

If you get 3 years out of it it'll cost you $176.67/yr, where if you spend $700 you'll have to get 4 years out of it to get to $175/yr. So how long until you think you'll want to upgrade again?

[cartman]

What PilotMan said, plus it is Amethyst Purple.

[korme]

Lol. Thanks again, it helps to know some who know what they are talking about.

[korme]

I'm personally a big fan of Asus, but I have had to return a couple of things to them for warranty work too. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that Gateway and Acer and clones. FTR, I've had a good experience with both of them.

Here is a model I'd have no trouble recommending. It's got all you ask for plus a dedicated graphics card, usb 3.0 and a graphics card. It's priced right at $700 and has free shipping.

MSI CX61 2PC-499US Notebook Intel Core i5 4200M (2.5GHz) 8GB Memory 750GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 820M 15.6" Windows 8.1

Newegg.com - MSI CX61 2PC-499US Notebook Intel Core i5 4200M (2.5GHz) 8GB Memory 750GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 820M 15.6" Windows 8.1 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152586)

Im kind of an impulse buyer. Purchased.

[Scoobz0202]

That looks like a pretty solid purchase. The thing that sucks about laptops is it is hard, if not impossible, to get great specs WITH a great screen for under a grand. The only two negatives I see for that laptop are the lower resolution and the slower hard drive which the hard drive can be replaced down the road with an SSD or faster regular HD. But other than that, that should be a good setup.

[britrock88]

Mind if I threadjack a little?

I have a Lenovo Ideapad U460 that's approaching 4 years old. Its switchable graphics haven't worked, and have been causing some stability issues, for a while. Here are the specs:

Intel i5 (dual core) processor @ 2.66 GHz
4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ram (2x2)
500GB HD (5400rpm)
14" display, 1366x768 res
Intel HD/NVIDIA GeForce 305M (512MB) switchable graphics
8-cell LiIon battery/65w adapter
No optical drive

I snagged this for $750-$800 at the time. I'm having a hard time finding anything better now--I can basically get the same computer for the same price, from my early impressions.

If age and declining graphics capability (laptop ran hot with Civ 5, etc.) are the main issues I've had, should I look in any particular direction for a new laptop?

Thanks.

[britrock88]

Self-bump, but I've honed in on the Ideapad Y410p and Y510p.

[Marc Vaughan]

You really want a laptop with Windows8 on it? - I've been shocked at how vehement my dislike of that OS is ...

[jeff061]

I love my Lenovo Yoga.

[britrock88]

You really want a laptop with Windows8 on it? - I've been shocked at how vehement my dislike of that OS is ...

Seems almost inevitable at this point. I would be willing to fight through it. I don't know anything about how "bad" it is other than the top-level UI that people have found workarounds for.

[The Jackal]

I've been waffling on getting a gaming PC for a while now. Originally I thought I wanted an Alienware but after reading a lot it seems like it's just overpriced and not worth it.

The leading candidate at the moment is an ASUS, probably the one going for $1.3k, but I can't decide. Reading that the parts break down, and remembering why I switched to macs in the first place 7 or so years ago. But I'd really like a decent gaming PC that will run games for the next few years. I don't need to run them at super high settings, even low graphics is fine - just as long as it's not slow as hell.

[chadritt]

Does anyone have a recommendation of how I can get a good cheap Mac laptop? My work is almost exclusively on macs so Id prefer to have one but theyre so incredibly expensive. Has anyone had really good luck with a refurb or something like that?

[stevew]

Macofalltrades had a good reputation. There's a lot of eBay refurbers as well.

[Ajaxab]

I've been waffling on getting a gaming PC for a while now. Originally I thought I wanted an Alienware but after reading a lot it seems like it's just overpriced and not worth it.

The leading candidate at the moment is an ASUS, probably the one going for $1.3k, but I can't decide. Reading that the parts break down, and remembering why I switched to macs in the first place 7 or so years ago. But I'd really like a decent gaming PC that will run games for the next few years. I don't need to run them at super high settings, even low graphics is fine - just as long as it's not slow as hell.

I'm in the same position. I have a 3 year old Sager that is just starting to feel its age. I would definitely have them at the top of my list again. I haven't dug into things in depth yet, but it's been my understanding that Sagers are very comparable to Alienwares in terms of performance and build quality, but the prices are much more reasonable. You can also bring your Sager to different places without drawing attention to the fact that you have a gaming pc. Sager might be worth investigating.

[Scoobz0202]

Does anyone have a recommendation of how I can get a good cheap Mac laptop? My work is almost exclusively on macs so Id prefer to have one but theyre so incredibly expensive. Has anyone had really good luck with a refurb or something like that?

The refurbs through the apple website are top notch. They are under warranty I believe. I know a couple people who purchase exclusively through their refurb program for the savings for pretty much a brand new laptop.

Also, the new Airs were just upgraded slightly with a $100 price drop.

[zums]

Wasn't sure whether to post this in this thread or the Windows 8 thread, but either way it would have been somewhat of a thread jack.....

Anyway, I just snagged the following laptop:

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire V5-552P-X617 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Cool Steel): Computers & Accessories (www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V5-552P-X617-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen/dp/B00FS4UNG4)

at Staples, new in box for $277 out the door after tax. Was on clearance to ~$355 with a $100 off coupon. Couldn't pass it up... been running an old HP core 2 duo that has sufficed but has really started to show its age lately.

Don't do much gaming or heavy editing, etc so didn't need something top of the line. I use the laptop more as a desktop, outputting via hdmi to a 24 inch monitor at all times... didn't want to get an actual desktop because if you can get portability why wouldn't you?

Anyway, this is my first brand new laptop and/or PC in a very long time, and I'm interested in doing two things:

- Clean install of the operating system (Windows 8) to remove bloatware, etc
- Replace the hard drive with a SSD.

I bought the following:

Amazon.com: Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GB SATA III 2.5-Inch 6.0 Gb/s Solid State Drive SH103S3/120G: Computers & Accessories (www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-2-5-Inch-SH103S3-120G/dp/B007R67FNA)

a long time ago but wussed out on ever replacing the drive in my current laptop for fear of effing something up. With a brand new pc I don't have fear of losing anything important, so it's a go.

Can anyone give me a step by step breakdown of how to go about the above two things? Or point me to a nice tutorial online?

I'm competent enough to replace the drive, install software, etc but this is a new experience for me as I have never replaced a drive with a different sized drive or done a clean install of windows before, so need a little hand holding. All I have done so far is turn of the new laptop and gone through initial setup to ensure it turned on/worked.

Do I partition the existing drive down to 120 GB then clone it to the SSD? Do I just pop in the SSD and install windows and register it with existing key? I did not get restore disks or anthing, so how do I get a fresh copy of windows to install? Should I upgrade the laptop to 8.1 before doing any of this? Etc etc etc etc.... As you can tell I'm a little hesitant to turn my new laptop to a brick, but feel like this shouldn't be too difficult.

Any help on a Friday night at home?

[korme]

You really want a laptop with Windows8 on it? - I've been shocked at how vehement my dislike of that OS is ...

Im very interested on learning how to revert from W8 to W7 once this thing arrives.

[Izulde]

Personally, I've become a fairly big fan of Lenovo in the budget computer category the last few years.

[stevew]

Im very interested on learning how to revert from W8 to W7 once this thing arrives.

If your old laptop has a win 7 license, just Google the digital river downloadable version of windows 7 and fresh install that.

[The Jackal]

I'm in the same position. I have a 3 year old Sager that is just starting to feel its age. I would definitely have them at the top of my list again. I haven't dug into things in depth yet, but it's been my understanding that Sagers are very comparable to Alienwares in terms of performance and build quality, but the prices are much more reasonable. You can also bring your Sager to different places without drawing attention to the fact that you have a gaming pc. Sager might be worth investigating.

Interesting, Sager hasn't popped up in my searches yet but I'll give it a look see.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Interesting, Sager hasn't popped up in my searches yet but I'll give it a look see.

I would second the Sager recommendation. I have had two. I bought the first one in December of 2008 and the second in November 2012. I've done all of my PC gaming on a Sager laptop for the last five and a half years.

Very good machines. Zero bloatware. Solid prices. I am big fan and will probably stick with them.

Here is the re-seller I used to buy my first machine:

Gaming Laptops | PowerNotebooks.com™ | Custom Built Laptops (http://www.powernotebooks.com/)

Here is the other top re-seller:

Gaming Laptops - XOTIC PC - Gaming Notebooks - Custom Laptops - Custom Notebooks (http://www.xoticpc.com/)

Their prices are pretty similar.

For my second laptop I went with these guys:

MYTHLOGIC :: Custom Performance Computers (https://www.mythlogic.com/)

I chose them mainly because they are local (in Ann Arbor).

There are a few posts in older threads on Sager. Just do a search for it.

I did a very extensive (near obsessive) search on gaming laptops back in 2008 when I first decided to go that route. I had never heard of them before, but after doing a lot of research it's the direction I chose.

[britrock88]

Hmm. One (probably silly) question: 8gb of RAM or 12gb? I presume the 12gb is 2x6. If the 8gb is 1x8, that's nice and upgradeable...

[rjolley]

I've used Asus' ROG line of laptops for the past 4 years as my main machine because it has a good cooling system and comes with good power for a decent price. I went with the G75jh a few years ago and the G75vx a year or so ago. I'm not a big gamer, but they provided the best combo of power and cost for me. I usually have a couple of virtual machines running with an Oracle db and the machines have performed very well. The main complaints I've had are related to the battery: the battery life is very short, especially on the g75jh, and finding replacement batteries has been a pain.

Otherwise, they have handled pretty much everything I've thrown at them.

Edit: For the memory, the 12g is usually 3 4g sticks, at least that's the way I noticed it when I looked into it during my last laptop purchase.

[The Jackal]

I don't really care about battery life - I'll always have whatever PC I get plugged in when I use it.

[The Jackal]

But the cooling reviews on the Asus were definitely helping lean me in that direction.

[stevew]

Hmm. One (probably silly) question: 8gb of RAM or 12gb? I presume the 12gb is 2x6. If the 8gb is 1x8, that's nice and upgradeable...

12 is probably 1*8 and 1*4 and 8 is either 2*4 or 1*8. I'd look it up to be sure though.

[MrBug708]

My laptop is near the end. It's 2011 Dell refurbished computer which has done a pretty good job for me, but it's time to upgrade. I was giving an xbox one for Christmas, but I'm taking it back to put the money in a better gaming laptop. My budget is around 1K for it, which puts me on the low end of the gaming computers. I have a few questions in general though.

The kind of games I play are generally CK2 and FM so I generally get lag when I'm playing. Paradox games are hell on my current setup, to the point where the fastest speed is sometimes like the second slowest speed. Even Mount/Blade Fire and Blood has terrible load times. Ironically, Elder Scrolls and Tropico 5 do not, but I'd prefer OOTP/FM/CK2 to run fast. I have bought some other STEAM games and I'm afraid to really try them.

Which aspects are most important? SSD? Graphics Card? Memory? I'm pretty much set on an i7-4700 series and up processor. I'm looking at NVIDIA GTX 860 or up, but could live with the renamed GTX 850 card (which isn't really a GTX, but a GT). It seems like ram at 16 is ideal, but 12 or 8 would suffice.

Would the SSD make the biggest difference? Since it's been some time since I've really looked into it, everything I've seen tells me that makes the biggest difference. Would an intel 4600 graphic system, 16gb of Ram, and an SSD drive be better than GTX card, I7, and non SSD drive?

A few computers
ASUS ROG GL551 series GL551JM-DH71 Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) 16GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB 15.6" Windows 8.1 64-Bit - Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232122)
Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition VN7-791G-7484 Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) 16GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2 GB GDDR5 17.3" Windows 8.1 - Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314704&cm_re=gtx_i7-_-34-314-704-_-Product)
MSI GE60 Apache-629 Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) 8GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M 2GB 15.6" Windows 8.1 64-Bit Multi-language - Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152668&ignorebbr=1)
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-Y50-Intel-Core-i7-8GB-Memory-1TB-HDD-8GB-SSD-15.6-Notebook-Windows-8.1/37673230
http://www.walmart.com/ip/ASUS-X550JK-Intel-Core-i7-8GB-Memory-1TB-HDD-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-850M-15.6-Notebook-Windows-8.1-64-bit-X550JK-DH71/40514815

I'm leaning towards the first one. An Ideal laptop would be i7-4710, 2 gb dedicated GTX card, and an SSD drive all for about a grand, but havent seen them less than 1200.

Any ideas or feedback?

[weegeebored]

The two most important performance factors are RAM and an SSD. Eight gigs is usually enough for good performance; if you can afford 16 then by all means get it. An SSD makes a world of difference speed-wise and I can't recommend one enough. Of course, you still need adequate CPU and graphics power but I wouldn't sacrifice the RAM/SSD for a slight upgrade on the processor/graphics. I think that laptops with SSDs are more than you want to spend, though. Having a price limit sucks because we all would like all four bits to be top notch.

[MrBug708]

So you would rank it
SSD
Ram
Processor
Video Card

Obviously a dedicated card would be preferred but could I get away with an integrated Intel 4600 graphics card?

[weegeebored]

I would rank RAM and SSD as 1 and 1a. What I mean is that an SSD will make your system fast but you don't want to get bogged down with less than enough RAM. Again, 8 gigs is plenty. But if you have a lot of things running and a shortage of RAM, you don't want Windows to have to write to the swap file if it can be helped. One of the downsides of an SSD is the limited number of writes you will get. My understanding is that there will be very little warning that the SSD is about to fail. This may not be a problem (depending on usage) if you're going to buy a new laptop in 3-5 years.

A dedicated video card is always better, but if you're not playing anything graphically intensive you should be alright. If you are, then that may be a higher priority than an SSD.

[Coffee Warlord]

I have the 15.6" Asus ROG laptop. Simply put, it's a beast. High quality manufacturer, spiffy looking, excellent keyboard. My buddy recommended it to me, he loves his, and I second the motion.

[MrBug708]

CW - What specs?

[Coffee Warlord]

ASUS ROG GL551 series GL551JM-DH71 Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) 16GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB 15.6" Windows 8.1 64-Bit - Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232122)

Exact one I got. No SSD is the only drawback, but that wasn't a huge deal for me on for a portable gaming rig. If it was a desktop replacement, I'd want an SSD and a 17" monitor.

[rjolley]

I'll second the ASUS ROG laptop lineup love. I have a G75VX that I've had for about 2 years. I got it more for the computing power and the ability to expand it to 32G more than for gaming, but it's been able to handle the games I play with no problems.

This is the second ROG that I've owned and they both have done very well. The only drawback for me is using it as a work laptop replacement. My company is starting to allow us to bring our own computers in to work and I'd like something that doesn't stand out as much externally. The ROG laptops definitely stand out.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'll second the ASUS ROG laptop lineup love. I have a G75VX that I've had for about 2 years. I got it more for the computing power and the ability to expand it to 32G more than for gaming, but it's been able to handle the games I play with no problems.

This is the second ROG that I've owned and they both have done very well. The only drawback for me is using it as a work laptop replacement. My company is starting to allow us to bring our own computers in to work and I'd like something that doesn't stand out as much externally. The ROG laptops definitely stand out.

I'll third it. I'm on an ASUS ROG right now and it is a great laptop. I can play any game I want on it and it is very efficient for work projects as well.

[MrBug708]

Seems like that is some overwhelming good recommendations. It has less reviews than this acer, but other than a bigger screen, it looks the same?

Acer Aspire V17 Nitro Black Edition VN7-791G-7484 Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) 16GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2 GB GDDR5 17.3" Windows 8.1 - Newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314704&cm_re=nitro_laptop-_-34-314-702-_-Product)

Probably pull the trigger on the ROG tonight

[MrBug708]

Looking further, the ROG is in stock at Costco, so for 100 dollars I can get three years of squaretrade protection.

[Coffee Warlord]

When I was researching laptops, I pretty much arrived at the conclusion from a couple friends + the intertubes that Acer produces cheap, unreliable garbage. Had a buddy who had nothing but problems with one, and a couple of google searches for comparisons between Acer & Asus led me to conclude the quality of Asus is way, way higher.

[Neon_Chaos]

I have a Lenovo Ideapad.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y510p/

Has not failed me in gaming so far. (I opted for the additional video card set to dual SLI mode instead of the disc drive)

[QuikSand]

My last laptop was a gamer-friendly one, but in two years I rarely used anything that really put the graphics, etc to the test. I am leaning toward something more lightweight and battery-friendly, but still powerful enough to multitask, etc without much guff.

Here's my current leaning:
ATIV Book 9 (2014 Edition) (http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/pcs/NP940X5J-K02US)

It's going for $1638 at Amazon, haven't check around to see if that's the best price around.

[Scoobz0202]

On other forums I read one of the first gaming laptops I see recommended is the Lenovo Y50. I saw that they are on sale over at the Lenovo website. Might want to check it out.

[flere-imsaho]

I've heard very good things about that ASUS. Back when I used to build PCs I used their motherboards quite frequently and they were always solid quality.

[MrBug708]

Showed up today. Pretty slick, just trying to get used to the keyboard layout

[The Jackal]

I've been quite happy with my Asus ROG G750JM-DS71. Only use it for gaming.

[MrBug708]

I'm still amazed at how fast CK2 runs. Didn't know the very fast option a cry ally takes about a second to go through a month

[Arles]

My wife need a new laptop for home and isn't much of a gamer. She wants one for storing pictures, working from home (Excel, payroll applications), browsing the net, and other fairly small tasks. She wants it to be lightweight and likes the idea of a 2-in-1. Best Buy has a nice price on this ASUS 2-in-1 (15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive) for $699:

asus-2-in-1-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-black (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-2-in-1-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-black/5827053.p?id=1219163970040&skuId=5827053)

Is there any better option out there? I haven't bought a laptop in years, but I've always heard good things about ASUS.

[INDalltheway]

I am loving the look of Dell's coming XPS 13. I have a 15 that is wonderful, but the nearly bezel-less display is beautiful.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4OwWgpNRIKc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[ISiddiqui]

Everyone is raving over it and its easy to see why. Looks like a fantastic screen on the two higher end models as well.

[cartman]

If anyone has picked up a Lenovo laptop/desktop recently, there was a massive security hole installed from the factory.

Lenovo preinstalls man-in-the-middle adware that hijacks HTTPS traffic on new PCs | PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2886357/lenovo-preinstalls-man-in-the-middle-adware-that-hijacks-https-traffic-on-new-pcs.html)

[PurdueBrad]

Hey guys, probably should've checked here first but my wife was pushing me to buy myself a new laptop and so I ordered one. Here's what I got:

Toshiba Satellite S50-B (customized)
Intel I7-4510U
AMD Radeon R7 M260 2GB dedicated graphics
500 GB hard drive (don't do much w/ videos or music)
15.6" 1920x1080 TruBrite LED backlit LCD
8 GB (4gb x 2) 1600 Mhz DDR3L memory

Any thoughts on quality? Thanks for feedback.

[Dutch]

If you have a Lenovo, you can check this site to test if you have the Superfish thing.

https://filippo.io/Badfish/

[Edward64]

About to buy the XPS 13 for my daughter. She does homework and lite video editing. Plays minecraft on the desktop currently.

i5, 8GB memory, 256GB SSD. Figure this should be good for the next 3 years.

[INDalltheway]

About to buy the XPS 13 for my daughter. She does homework and lite video editing. Plays minecraft on the desktop currently.

i5, 8GB memory, 256GB SSD. Figure this should be good for the next 3 years.
I have that model. I love it. It's so light and portable, but packs enough of a punch.

[Edward64]

I have that model. I love it. It's so light and portable, but packs enough of a punch.

Good to know. I'm a Lenovo guy but was swayed by the XPS. Great reviews and cheaper than a Thinkpad X or T series with equivalent config.

What type of games have you been able to play on it?

[INDalltheway]

I have played Civ V and all my text sims. I haven't pushed it too hard, but Civ runs very well.

[stevew]

Need some help finding something around $1000 that can play overwatch. No HPs plz

[RainMaker]

Need some help finding something around $1000 that can play overwatch. No HPs plz

How much do you care about the graphic settings? Is this the only game you'll really be playing? What other things are you using it for?

Something like this might work.

MSI GL62M 7RD-058 15.6" Intel Core i5 7th Gen 7300HQ (2.50 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 8 GB Memory 128 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop -- "ONLY @ NEWEGG"-Newegg.com (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834154497)

The SSD it comes with is small so with the savings I'd recommend buying a beefier one (250gb or 500gb) with the difference. But a 1050 will play Overwatch on Ultra at a really nice FPS. Will struggle more with games that are more graphic intensive like Witcher 3 for instance but they are still playable.

Only knock on that one is it's not a true IPS monitor. But I feel that's overrated for most people.

[RainMaker]

Looking around a bit more I like this one too.

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire VX 15 Gaming Laptop, 7th Gen Intel Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050, 15.6 Full HD, 8GB DDR4, 256GB SSD, VX5-591G-5652: Computers & Accessories (https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-Gaming-GeForce-VX5-591G-54VG/dp/B01N11JKA3/?th=1)

Gives up a little bit in the CPU but has a true IPS display and bigger SSD already inside. Spend $50 on an 1TB HDD that you can put in for extra space (I believe you have to request a free bracket from them) and you're all set. The backlit keyboard is nice too.

Problem with Acer is bloatware. So I recommend immediately putting a fresh Windows install on the drive once you get it. It's pretty simple if you need help.

As for brands, I'm a big fan of MSI. Build quality is higher and they are more geared toward gaming (they know how to build laptops that disperse heat). Asus isn't bad either and Acer usually has good deals if you're looking to get the most bang for your buck.

If you have specific questions, let me know. I know way too much about this stuff. Just got done building a PC for myself too.

[CrescentMoonie]

Grabbed this Lenovo a few weeks ago from Costco for $999 and used the Costco VISA to get 4 years warranty. It's great while it's running but it crashes (BSOD or black) every 24-48 hours. I've done all the driver updates, done a clean boot, and a clean install. Taking it back next week if I can't figure things out. Avoid at all costs.

https://www.costco.com/Lenovo-LEGION-Y520-Gaming-Laptop---Intel-Core-i7---4GB-NVIDIA-Graphics---1080p.product.100347159.html

[stevew]

How much do you care about the graphic settings? Is this the only game you'll really be playing? What other things are you using it for?

Something like this might work.

MSI GL62M 7RD-058 15.6" Intel Core i5 7th Gen 7300HQ (2.50 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 8 GB Memory 128 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop -- "ONLY @ NEWEGG"-Newegg.com (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834154497)

The SSD it comes with is small so with the savings I'd recommend buying a beefier one (250gb or 500gb) with the difference. But a 1050 will play Overwatch on Ultra at a really nice FPS. Will struggle more with games that are more graphic intensive like Witcher 3 for instance but they are still playable.

Only knock on that one is it's not a true IPS monitor. But I feel that's overrated for most people.

It's for my daughter for college This one does look promising though.

[RainMaker]

It's for my daughter for college This one does look promising though.

If she's into aluminum more, this is nice as well. Buy a 256GB SSD M.2 and put the operating system and such on that. Leave the 1TB hard drive in as a backup for her files and other stuff.

MSI PE60 7RD-1042 15.6" Intel Core i7 7th Gen 7700HQ (2.80 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 8 GB Memory 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop - Newegg.com (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154369)

Should note that these gaming laptops don't have great battery life so if she is using this in class without being plugged in, it might not hold up well. That's the problem with gaming laptops.

Also I think having an SSD is going to be really important for someone in college. Don't have to wait a minute and a half to boot up your computer.

[stevew]

Ended up getting a solid deal(900)on a Dell Inspiron Gaming 15 7000 series with a 1GB hybrid drive, 8gb of ram, an i7, and a 1050ti card. I upgraded to the IPS monitor. My dad was paying for it so it was easier to sell a Dell than some Chinese brand.

[CrescentMoonie]

Ended up getting a solid deal(900)on a Dell Inspiron Gaming 15 7000 series with a 1GB hybrid drive, 8gb of ram, an i7, and a 1050ti card. I upgraded to the IPS monitor. My dad was paying for it so it was easier to sell a Dell than some Chinese brand.

I'm returning my Lenovo and getting the 5000 series with a 6th gen i7 and the 960 card with everything else the same for $750 plus the 4 year warranty from Costco.

[RainMaker]

Ended up getting a solid deal(900)on a Dell Inspiron Gaming 15 7000 series with a 1GB hybrid drive, 8gb of ram, an i7, and a 1050ti card. I upgraded to the IPS monitor. My dad was paying for it so it was easier to sell a Dell than some Chinese brand.

That's a good computer. The IPS is a nice upgrade. You can always upgrade to an SSD and make the other drive a backup one down the road too. Everything else should hold up for many years.

[stevew]

If the hybrid drive is at all similar to the one in my dad's 5K Imac, it should be really fast to boot.

And yeah, hopefully it lasts all 4 years.

[cartman]

I just got my HP Spectre x360 15 inch laptop delivered. Getting everything set up on it. The 4k screen is incredible, and the pen with Windows Ink works really well. It is the same screen size as my 4 year old HP Envy, but a whole lot lighter.

[Edward64]

Thinking about a new laptop this year. I'm a Thinkpad and XPS fan (its gotta look good also!).

I'm thinking about the 2018 XPS 15 (which isn't on sale yet in the US) because it'll have a big screen, good graphics for game playing (e.g. combining an Intel chip with a new RX Vega M GL).

Most of the 2018 Thinkpads have the Intel 620 but there are some with the MX150 which from my research isn't that great compared to RX Vega M. If the Thinkpads were magically paired with the RX Vega M (probably next year), I would jump on it.

Main concern is Dell had problems with throttling, overheating, coil whine etc. in 2017 XPS's. So I'll wait for the user reviews before buying.

[Kodos]

Any recommendations for a cheapish laptop for my soon to be teenager? He plays games like Minecraft and Roblox, in addition to watching YouTube and Netflix on his old laptop. $300 range, maybe a little higher.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thinking (maybe) new laptop ... and so help me, it's to the point of overwhelming for me.

Just kinda sorted out the whole i3 vs i5 vs i7 distinctions ... and then sorta realized that when it comes to gaming compatability apparently I have to worry about not only getting that part right but also the clocking as well. And that's before even trying to figure out whether a video card meets min specs and recommended specs (which isn't easy to me once you get into specs listed in one series/nomenclature but cards listed in a different line of the same manufacturer)

Somewhere along the way, this shit just passed me right on by. Probably doesn't matter, pretty clear that running games from the last year or two is likely to land well outside what I can justify spending anyway. But, seriously, fml on how complex this shit seems now.

[Lathum]

Thinking (maybe) new laptop ... and so help me, it's to the point of overwhelming for me.

Just kinda sorted out the whole i3 vs i5 vs i7 distinctions ... and then sorta realized that when it comes to gaming compatability apparently I have to worry about not only getting that part right but also the clocking as well. And that's before even trying to figure out whether a video card meets min specs and recommended specs (which isn't easy to me once you get into specs listed in one series/nomenclature but cards listed in a different line of the same manufacturer)

Somewhere along the way, this shit just passed me right on by. Probably doesn't matter, pretty clear that running games from the last year or two is likely to land well outside what I can justify spending anyway. But, seriously, fml on how complex this shit seems now.

I'm in the same boat.

I need a new laptop, but it's like reading Chinese to me.

Anyone have a suggestion for a decent laptop that I can play mostly sim games, FM, Hearthstone, etc..on? I also stream a lot of sports to my laptop, MLB.tv, pokergo, stuff like that. I have zero interest in a MAC.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The other thing that I hope someone can offer some insight on is the issue of "refurbished".

I mean, from major branded outlets (Amazon, who has some theoretical standards for anything called refurbed, or even Best Buy)

The price difference seems to be around $100 (on stuff in the $350-$550 range) ... but I have no clue whether that's pennywise & pound foolish.

[Edward64]

The other thing that I hope someone can offer some insight on is the issue of "refurbished".

I mean, from major branded outlets (Amazon, who has some theoretical standards for anything called refurbed, or even Best Buy)

The price difference seems to be around $100 (on stuff in the $350-$550 range) ... but I have no clue whether that's pennywise & pound foolish.

I would personally stay with the big boys and order from them vs. buy from Amazon or BestBuy.

Dell has alot of refurbished stuff.

I have bought desktops but will not buy a laptop from them.

If you go into the forums/reddit, many people return laptops because of heat issues (and some have tried putting special paste on them), unsatisfactory keyboards or, most important to me, unsatisfactory monitors.

There is a higher chance that refurbished laptops have something messed up.

For desktops, I don't really care if there is a dent in the case.

One more thing: your son may be able to get you some student discounts from major manufacturers.

[tarcone]

This is right up my alley. What can I buy that meets the above standards for around $300?

[RainMaker]

What kind of games are you looking to run on it?

[tarcone]

Civ5 to CK2 and the ilk. Nothing major.

[RainMaker]

$300 is pretty tight when it comes to gaming. This would work for a little more. You could also upgrade the hard drive to an SSD down the road.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079TGL2BZ/

Basically you're looking at something with integrated graphics in that price range and the Intel HD Graphics 620 is solid on low settings.

[korme]

This thread I started is so old that I'm almost again the market for a new laptop

[Edward64]

Four years is a long time. It was before the really thin laptops came out.

Yeah, $300 is pretty tight.

[Lathum]

Four years is a long time. It was before the really thin laptops came out.

Yeah, $300 is pretty tight.

Any suggestions for something in the 1K range? No high end gaming, just text sims, etc...

I stream a lot of sports so mostly looking for something that can handle streaming a ballgame while playing online poker or something.

[RainMaker]

Any suggestions for something in the 1K range? No high end gaming, just text sims, etc...

I stream a lot of sports so mostly looking for something that can handle streaming a ballgame while playing online poker or something.

You really don't need to come close to $1000 for what you're looking to do. It'd just be overkill.

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GL62M-7RDX-1408-Performance-SteelSeries/dp/B071K1Q8TK/
MSI GL62M 7RDX-1408 15.6" IPS Intel Core i7 7th Gen 7700HQ (2.80 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 8 GB Memory 128 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop - Newegg.com (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154230)

That'd be solid. You want an SSD which this has. It's a solid display. Great keyboard, powerful processor for text sims, and a good enough graphics card that you could play games on high settings it if you want.

You could always downgrade the processor a bit, dump the extra hard drive (which you could actually just use from your old laptop), and save more. Plus this one has a 256GB SSD vs 128GB.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834154234

Whatever you buy, you want an SSD at your price point.

[JonInMiddleGA]

You really don't need to come close to $1000 for what you're looking to do. It'd just be overkill.

Pretty much what I was thinking.

I will say however that checking the min specs on the text sims you have in mind would be a good idea. Some are surprisingly demanding while things that are graphicaly in nature are surprisingly forgiving (at least to hit min specs).

[henry296]

My biggest problem in the past with laptops is battery life. Any good suggestions for one that can give me 3-4 hours unplugged while playing games like FM/Civ6.

[Comey]

My biggest problem in the past with laptops is battery life. Any good suggestions for one that can give me 3-4 hours unplugged while playing games like FM/Civ6.

I think many of them can do that pretty easily now.

The Best Battery Life Laptops of 2018 | PCMag.com (https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400588,00.asp)

Laptops with the Longest Battery Life 2018 - Laptop Mag (https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/all-day-strong-longest-lasting-notebooks)

These 12 laptops deliver the best battery life | ZDNet (https://www.zdnet.com/pictures/laptops-with-the-best-battery-life/)

[RainMaker]

I'm not a big expert on the battery life stuff but I do think you're going to have a hard time playing a game like Civ 6 for 4 hours. Basically the laptops that can handle the high end games usually have better monitors and dedicated video cards that suck energy.

I used to look at the battery numbers but they'd always tell me 8 hours or something and I'd never get close to that. Even messing with brightness and other factors.

[Dantooine98]

yup, mine too battery says 8 hours but it's empty after just 4 hours specially when playing games. maybe the 8 hours is just for web browsing or typing something on word

I'm not a big expert on the battery life stuff but I do think you're going to have a hard time playing a game like Civ 6 for 4 hours. Basically the laptops that can handle the high end games usually have better monitors and dedicated video cards that suck energy.

I used to look at the battery numbers but they'd always tell me 8 hours or something and I'd never get close to that. Even messing with brightness and other factors.

[henry296]

That has been my experience and the other research I've been doing suggests that most laptops will just get 1-2 hours with any GPU intensive games. I even had issues with OOTP on my wife's MacBook which has a very good battery.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Round one of laptop purchase effort has been a pretty big bust.

(Please, try to restrain the computer snobbery stuff, I was making choices on a budget here)

My long-time warhorse desktop, 15 years and 3 necromances in, runs WinXP with an AMD Athlon Dual Core 4050e at 2.11ghz, with 4mb of RAM.

My new purchase (pending return) is a Win10 Dell Inspiron 15-3567, Intel Core i5-7200u, 8gig 2400 mhz ddr4, 1TB HDD, Intel HD 620 integrated graphics. List was around $600, pretty much everyone is/was selling it around $500, rollback pricing that seemed pretty much exclusive to Walmart was $415.

Now look, I know the downside of int. graphics, I knew there were limitations there.

First problem: the text of the item (from Walmart) listed an 8th gen i5, not a 7th. Testing info says that's a pretty big difference, anywhere from 33% to near 50% speed difference. So I got ripped a little bit right off the bat.

Second problem: So far, in 6 tries, with Steam games released between 2012 and 2016, I can successfully (i.e. without crashing after a short time) run ONE game that wouldn't run on the old machine. (the newest of the bunch, Darkest Dungeon. So far no consistent joy with Civ 5, HOI 3, nor even Battle Bros)

Speed for common tasks - like social media - feels pretty much identical.

The "upgrade" to Win10 seems to have created as many problems as it solved with regard to my lack of pc gaming ability, and "compatability mode" has yet to solve jack shit.

This has been, honestly, a near total bust for me & will probably be returned. But it's pretty f'n sad that I can't seem to get a meaningful improvement
over a 15 y/o Frankenputer without dropping at least $500 (and realistically, honestly, probably need to get up to near $700 to see a huge difference)

A week of this has done little for me aside from cause angina & sleep loss, not really what I was looking for out of $400+

[RainMaker]

That's disappointing to hear. The 620 should be able to handle those kind of games. Civ 5 for instance is just not that intensive.

Is there a chance this is an issue with DirectX? The crashing would make me think this is much more likely to be a software issue than a hardware one. I've seen people talking about this issue a lot with Civ 5.

Fix for Civilization V Windows 10 crash after launch - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qVvlMQEZWA)

Maybe it's a driver issue? I'd recommend downloading the 620 driver directly from Intel's site.

Downloads for Intel® HD Graphics 620 (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/96551/Intel-HD-Graphics-620)

I'd also recommend a clean install of Windows to get rid o Dell's bloatware if you haven't already. Might not solve the crashing issue but should help with performance ones.

From the looks of what you bought, you got a really good deal and that looks like a solid computer. I think it has to be more of a software issue.

[JonInMiddleGA]

That's disappointing to hear. The 620 should be able to handle those kind of games. Civ 5 for instance is just not that intensive.

Is there a chance this is an issue with DirectX? The crashing would make me think this is much more likely to be a software issue than a hardware one. I've seen people talking about this issue a lot with Civ 5.

Fix for Civilization V Windows 10 crash after launch - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qVvlMQEZWA)

Maybe it's a driver issue? I'd recommend downloading the 620 driver directly from Intel's site.

Downloads for Intel® HD Graphics 620 (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/96551/Intel-HD-Graphics-620)

I'd also recommend a clean install of Windows to get rid o Dell's bloatware if you haven't already. Might not solve the crashing issue but should help with performance ones.

From the looks of what you bought, you got a really good deal and that looks like a solid computer. I think it has to be more of a software issue.

Thanks. So far I've made a bit of an improvement to performance just by removing anything with the McAfee name (went to Avast for AV like I have for years now). That got it to "feels about the same as what I'm used to". Before that change, honestly, stuff like website response time felt worse.

as for DirX stuff, yeah, that's probably gonna be a thing in perpetuity. So far I've:

Chased down a missing .dll just to get HOI3 to run at all.
(speaking of which, that user-made file I finally got from the P'dox forums has at least gotten it to run for more than five mins without a crash ... we'll see whether it's actually playable later)

Installed DX9 (via ... civ5 I think it was)

Civ5 seems to be a graphic issue (crash got a brief "failed to render" error msg followed by a file name as it crashed on turn two). I'll check the drivers, as you suggest, I guess but good grief, ya know?

[RainMaker]

I would look at doing a clean install of Windows. It basically just puts Windows 10 on the computer and removes all the crap Dell added on. I always find this to provide a nice boost. If something screws up or you want to go back and use the old Dell software, you can use their recovery partition. In any case, if you go the clean install route, this should help guide you (there's also a ton of YouTube videos).

Start fresh with a clean installation of Windows 10 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10startfresh)

It does seem to be common for what it's worth (with Civ 5 at least). Just a quick Google search shows tons of threads about it. But man the fixes seem like a pain in the ass.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I would look at doing a clean install of Windows. It basically just puts Windows 10 on the computer and removes all the crap Dell added on. I always find this to provide a nice boost. If something screws up or you want to go back and use the old Dell software, you can use their recovery partition. In any case, if you go the clean install route, this should help guide you (there's also a ton of YouTube videos).

Start fresh with a clean installation of Windows 10 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10startfresh)

I was gonna say "how'n the hell do you do that without buying a full copy of Win10" .. and then I checked the link. While I feel like I've got things pretty well cleaned up (aside from the "Dell update" tool), I did not have the slightest idea this route to a clean install even existed. Kinda just commenting on that aspect so as to flag it for other people like me who didn't know that you could basically do that -- with Microsoft's blessing -- with a simple tool from MS.

[quote]It does seem to be common for what it's worth (with Civ 5 at least). Just a quick Google search shows tons of threads about it. But man the fixes seem like a pain in the ass.

It is very PITA. So far in the last 24 hours I've gotten Civ 5 to work with relative stability (2+ hours of game play on two different saves) but it took something like 2 hours of trial and error, start/crash/try again, playing with compatability modes, DirX version, resolutions, and so forth.

The issue becomes that process repeated for half the games I want to play.

[RainMaker]

I was gonna say "how'n the hell do you do that without buying a full copy of Win10" .. and then I checked the link. While I feel like I've got things pretty well cleaned up (aside from the "Dell update" tool), I did not have the slightest idea this route to a clean install even existed. Kinda just commenting on that aspect so as to flag it for other people like me who didn't know that you could basically do that -- with Microsoft's blessing -- with a simple tool from MS.
.

Yeah Microsoft started letting you do this a few years back. Once a computer has been activated, it saves a "digital ID" of your parts so that you can re-install Windows over and over on the computer without dealing with a key.

It's nice to have since some of these computer companies got a bit carried away with their bloatware. I remember buying an HP desktop like 10 years ago and there had to be 30 programs added to it.

[Lathum]

Anyone notice if there were any good Amazon Prime day deals on laptops?

[Lathum]

Can someone in the know tell me if this laptop is good for some basic games and streaming video? Usually MLB games.

Sorry! Something went wrong! (https://www.amazon.com/8th-Gen-i5-8300H-GeForce-FireCuda-Windows/dp/B07BP9QG2J/ref=gbps_rlm_m-8_60d4_8a5570af?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=d4d850bb-9bd6-4e1a-8756-8ad85fd760d4&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=13887280011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0P472NX3CRFFMXDDYXH5)

[Lathum]

or this one

Sorry! Something went wrong! (https://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-i7-8550U-GeForce-NanoEdge-Display/dp/B07B7VFTN9/ref=gbps_rlm_m-8_5ba0_5c5816cf?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=0d8de7f5-6ea2-40ab-ada3-e74de5295ba0&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=13887280011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=4ZCDW6EFGQKRCF654288)

[Lathum]

The link is weird, I think Amazon is getting pounded right now

[RainMaker]

Can someone in the know tell me if this laptop is good for some basic games and streaming video? Usually MLB games.

Sorry! Something went wrong! (https://www.amazon.com/8th-Gen-i5-8300H-GeForce-FireCuda-Windows/dp/B07BP9QG2J/ref=gbps_rlm_m-8_60d4_8a5570af?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=d4d850bb-9bd6-4e1a-8756-8ad85fd760d4&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=13887280011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0P472NX3CRFFMXDDYXH5)

What games?

It should easily handle streaming MLB.

[Lathum]

What games?

It should easily handle streaming MLB.

Nothing fancy. Mostly text based sims, hearthstone, basic steam games.

[RainMaker]

1st laptop
- Better CPU
- Better video card


2nd laptop
- Slimmer and lighter weight
- Better monitor
- Has a SSD

If the monitor isn't a big deal to you, I'd go with the 1st one and add an SSD on your own. You can buy one here (I believe this works but check Crucial's website (http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/ASUS/tuf-gaming-fx504)):

Sorry! Something went wrong! (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-250GB-2280SS-Internal/dp/B077SL4FZG/)

An SSD is such a huge improvement to speed. And it's really easy to install. Put your operating system on it and it'll load up in seconds. Leave the bigger hard drive in and use it for storage and backups of files (or you can remove it and turn it into an external hard drive).

Either way, both laptops should easily be able to handle all those games and video.

[Lathum]

Thanks!

[RainMaker]

If you go with the first and add the SSD (I highly recommend this, it's the single best upgrade you can make on a laptop), here is a video of the machine being opened up.

ASUS TUF Gaming FX504 - disassembly and upgrade options - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if_qq-co1Gw)

The SSD slot is to the left of the hard drive. It just slides in and a screw holds it down. Takes like 5 minutes.

Then just load Windows 10 on to it and you're ready to go.

[Lathum]

If you go with the first and add the SSD (I highly recommend this, it's the single best upgrade you can make on a laptop), here is a video of the machine being opened up.

ASUS TUF Gaming FX504 - disassembly and upgrade options - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if_qq-co1Gw)

The SSD slot is to the left of the hard drive. It just slides in and a screw holds it down. Takes like 5 minutes.

Then just load Windows 10 on to it and you're ready to go.

So I am pretty dumb with this stuff.

Doesn't the machine come with windows 10 already?

Would Windows reside on the SSD card instead of the hard drive making it quicker?

[RainMaker]

When you turn on the computer for the first time without the SSD, Windows will make a digital fingerprint of your computer. That means you can swap in and out hard drives and keep your copy of Windows active without having to do anything. It just knows that this Motherboard with this CPU belongs to this computer.

So after turning it on once, you'd turn it off and install the SSD card. You'd then boot up your computer with USB stick that has Windows on it (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10). That link is how you get Windows 10 on to USB.

When booting up you'd tap F2 to get to the boot menu. This allows you to tell it to boot from the USB drive. Windows installation menu will come up and ask you where you want Windows installed to. You will pick the SSD. It'll take it from there.

You might have to go back in later and make sure it boots from the SSD first by setting it higher in the boot order. But once that's done, Windows 10 will boot from your SSD and you can format your other hard drive and use it as storage.

I know it's a bit complicated and there might be easier ways to do it now. You can probably find a million YouTube videos on how to install Windows 10 on a new SSD.

And yes, you want Windows to reside on the SSD. It will be so much faster. Like your computer will boot up in 3 seconds.

[Scoobz0202]

Agreed with the above points. SSD's are one of the greatest things in the consumer market for PCs since 3D graphics cards, imo. An SSD is non-negotiable for me in any PC/Laptop.


I find it similar to when HD TVs first became more mainstream. At the time I, as I am sure many others, thought "Why pay more for an HD TV? This TV is fine and I can see everything fine. Can it be that much better?" Then you got an HD TV and never went back. Neither, SSD or HD TV, are necessities but they are just such good improvements over the previous generation.

[Lathum]

So since #2 comes with SSD already, will windows automatically reside there or do I need to do something?

I like the idea of speed.

[Radii]

As Scoobz said, an SSD is one of those things that once you have it, you'll never be able to go back. Not as revolutionary as smartphones, HDTV, or DVR's, but it had that same "oh how did i ever go without this?" effect.

[Scoobz0202]

Yea, #2 will have the OS on the SSD. I think they are both good laptops as far as the needs for you. If you truly are just playing text sims games and maybe just FM then #2 will be fine. If you start to get into anything more graphically intensive then #1 will be better because if my light reading is correct the GPU in #1 is twice as good. BUT, the GPU in #2 is perfectly capable of handling the basic games you are discussing.


Personally, I like #2 better then #1 in almost all aspects minus the GPU difference. But I think a large part of that is the aesthetics. I really don't like the "GAMER" look of #1. I like the sleek body of #2, the almost edge to edge screen. Its much more portable while also being capable enough for your games. The keyboard on #1 is prolly more "desktop" then #2 which may be a pro to you, but meh.

[RainMaker]

So since #2 comes with SSD already, will windows automatically reside there or do I need to do something?

I like the idea of speed.

Yes. Windows isn't like the old days where you need a code or CD. It's basically embedded into the computer. That way you can put it on any hard drive you want.

[Lathum]

Just bought #2.

Don't really need a new laptop, but mine is about 3 years old and slowing down a bit and this seemed like a good deal. Plus my 8 year old can inherit my current one now.

[RainMaker]

Solid choice. And if you're using it to stream videos, the higher quality monitor will make a difference. If you've never had an IPS monitor before, you're in for a treat.

[tarcone]

Okay guys. I finally got the go ahead from the wife to get a new laptop.

I like the idea of a ssd. But I hate the idea of installing it myself.

I want to do some gaming. Nothing major. I mentioned earlier what I play, but Civ and CK2 and Niche and the ilk. Motorsport manager is also there.

Mostly turn based stuff.

I want a little bigger monitor if possible. 14" is not big enough.

I would love to stay in the $500 range. But would go a little higher.

i am an infant when it comes to this stuff, so nothing to taxing for my brain.

Want to buy it off Amazon

What should I get?

[Edward64]

FWIW, you do want a discrete GPU (not integrated graphics) and SSD (instead of mechanical HD), and 15 inch is a good idea. However, I don't have much experience with your price point for laptops so don't think I can recommend any for you.

Monitor Slickdeals: The Best Deals, Coupons, Promo Codes & Discounts (www.slickdeals.net) for BF deals.

Assume a laptop is a must? If you can live with a desktop, it definitely increases your options.

[tarcone]

I want a lap top.

I could probably go a little higher, maybe 800. I would prefer not.

I dont do a lot on the lap top. I surf and play games. Thats about it.

[ISiddiqui]

I want a lap top.

I could probably go a little higher, maybe 800. I would prefer not.

I dont do a lot on the lap top. I surf and play games. Thats about it.

The type of games you play makes a huge difference though in specs needed. What games?

[PilotMan]

I want a lap top.

I could probably go a little higher, maybe 800. I would prefer not.

I dont do a lot on the lap top. I surf and play games. Thats about it.


OK, you can actually get a pretty nice set up for around $750. Gimme a sec.

[tarcone]

I dont play any high end games. Civ 5 and such. I couldnt play OOTP 17 on my set up.
But I still have windows 7 on it. That should tell you how old it is.

Basically, text sims with the 2D games. Turn based startegy games. RTS games. But I can play most of that.

I watch netflix and sports on it as well.

[PilotMan]

Are you a human? (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834235023&ignorebbr=1)


Are you a human? (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315493R&ignorebbr=1)


Are you a human? (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834155024&ignorebbr=1)


My opinion is that the SSD stand alone drive's aren't big enough for a laptop, so you probably want to look at a hybrid that uses a small ssd for cache swap. You certainly want to have a dedicated graphics card with as much ram as possible. All of these could stand to have the memory upgraded to 16 instead of the 8, but it's a good start. You'll get good performance regardless.

[tarcone]

Awesome thanks. Will check those out.

[CU Tiger]

Let me jump in here, please.

Need to pick up a laptop for the kids.

They don't play games. Watch movies and vids on their phones. This will be pretty much microsoft office for school projects and some web research.

One unusual feature request. The wider spaced the keys the better. My son has trouble hitting a single key on smaller form factors and separate keyboards while an option decrease portability

Anyone got a cheap recomendation?

[PilotMan]

CU for that, and I know the keyboard isn't big, but I'd just stick to a Chromebook. The Price is right, long battery, pretty much perfect for school work and research. Anyone can adjust to the key size. Just takes practice.

[CU Tiger]

Looked at chrome books, but unless I'm mistaken it requires an internet connection which isn't always available for us.

Regarding the keyboardd...kid has big hands. Like size 16 ring and an 11.5" hand measurement so it's a tougher adjustment than some.

[Scoobz0202]

What do you mean by requires an internet connection? I don't have a chromebook, but my GF does. She loves it. I know the newer Chromebooks even have the Google Play Store access so you can download Android apps to it. I think you can even use an Office 365 subscription on it since you can use that in Chrome.. I think? It might even have an offline mode for Office? Would need somebody with more experience then me with regards to the Office. There is also always Google Docs which I have used and find it works well enough


For her, we basically found at the price point chrome books were hard to beat. Does it compare to a Macbook in build quality and what not? No. Of course not. $1000 difference, right. But when it comes to comparing it window machines in the same price point to be honest it's crazy how much better the Chrome book was. My Sister-in-law is always buying the $200-400 windows laptops at best buy and I've used hers before. They are always slow as shit. Maybe she has it loaded with junk. My GF's chrome book is still really fast 2 1/2 years later because the Chrome OS is so light.

[PilotMan]

Looked at chrome books, but unless I'm mistaken it requires an internet connection which isn't always available for us.

Regarding the keyboardd...kid has big hands. Like size 16 ring and an 11.5" hand measurement so it's a tougher adjustment than some.


How much of a budget are you looking at?

I'm not a fan of cheaper dual core processors as they don't seem to age as well as quad cores. You'll want to toss it and replace it faster than something a little beefier.

I'm sure you can get an ok system out of the box right now for a 250-300, but a system closer to $500 will be better, longer.

[RainMaker]

Okay guys. I finally got the go ahead from the wife to get a new laptop.

I like the idea of a ssd. But I hate the idea of installing it myself.

I want to do some gaming. Nothing major. I mentioned earlier what I play, but Civ and CK2 and Niche and the ilk. Motorsport manager is also there.

Mostly turn based stuff.

I want a little bigger monitor if possible. 14" is not big enough.

I would love to stay in the $500 range. But would go a little higher.

i am an infant when it comes to this stuff, so nothing to taxing for my brain.

Want to buy it off Amazon

What should I get?

If you're looking around the $500 range, this is about as nice as you're going to get for a "gaming laptop". The GPU is good enough to play a game like Civ 6 on medium settings (which is more than enough). The CPU isn't special but it should handle what you're looking to do on it. Anything less is going to struggle with modern games.

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire 5, 15.6" Full HD, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U, GeForce MX150, 8GB DDR4 Memory, 256GB SSD, A515-51G-515J: Computers & Accessories (https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-i5-8250U-GeForce-A515-51G-515J/dp/B075KCJHMD/)

I've always found 250GB is plenty for storage for me. Windows 10 takes up a small amount of space these days and it lets you put a dozen or so games on it along with your programs.

If space is an issue, it's really simple to add a secondary hard drive to a computer like this. There are dozens of videos online and Acer even offers up a tutorial that I guarantee you could pull off. Again, this is only if you think you need over 250GB of storage (remember Windows 10 uses much less space than your current Windows 7).

If you want to spend more, Acer has a similar model. It has a better processor, better GPU, and an IPS display if that matters to you.

Amazon.com: 2018 Flagship Premium Newest Acer Nitro 5 15.6 Inch FHD IPS Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i5-7300HQ, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5, Backlit Keyboard, WiFi, Windows 10) Choose Your RAM and SSD: Computers & Accessories (https://www.amazon.com/Flagship-Premium-Acer-i5-7300HQ-Keyboard/dp/B07F5QGPZG)

[CU Tiger]

Many of their high school teachers require things submitted in word, excel, powerpoint etc.
We have a desktop the kids share and it has open office and of course Google docs. But that has had a few challenges with upconversion etc. Part of the plan is to get a laptop specifcally with office as a requirement.

My understanding with the chrome books was they were internet based and werentbset up to actually install office etc.

We have a loft in the barn where we lived while remodeling our house. It's the defcato kid hang out spot. That's where their desktop lives currently and they do most homework. There is no internet there as its waaaaay out of wifi range from the house and no cell signal.

[PilotMan]

Looked at chrome books, but unless I'm mistaken it requires an internet connection which isn't always available for us.

Regarding the keyboardd...kid has big hands. Like size 16 ring and an 11.5" hand measurement so it's a tougher adjustment than some.


The thing my son likes about his Chromebook is that if you have an android phone all your work is synch'd in the cloud and available on his phone and laptop. He starts to write something on the chromebook in google docs, then finishes it on the phone. I think it does need internet access to work on the WP though, but he the accounts all being together is a plus.

[CU Tiger]

How much of a budget are you looking at?

I'm not a fan of cheaper dual core processors as they don't seem to age as well as quad cores. You'll want to toss it and replace it faster than something a little beefier.

I'm sure you can get an ok system out of the box right now for a 250-300, but a system closer to $500 will be better, longer.

I'm fine spending 500 if the quality is considerably better than a 200 machine. Heck I'm fine spending $1,000 as ,ong as the price to qualoty value is there

[CU Tiger]

The thing my son likes about his Chromebook is that if you have an android phone all your work is synch'd in the cloud and available on his phone and laptop. He starts to write something on the chromebook in google docs, then finishes it on the phone. I think it does need internet access to work on the WP though, but he the accounts all being together is a plus.

And my kids are iphone users

[RainMaker]

Many of their high school teachers require things submitted in word, excel, powerpoint etc.
We have a desktop the kids share and it has open office and of course Google docs. But that has had a few challenges with upconversion etc. Part of the plan is to get a laptop specifcally with office as a requirement.

My understanding with the chrome books was they were internet based and werentbset up to actually install office etc.

We have a loft in the barn where we lived while remodeling our house. It's the defcato kid hang out spot. That's where their desktop lives currently and they do most homework. There is no internet there as its waaaaay out of wifi range from the house and no cell signal.

Microsoft now has Office apps that work specifically on Chromebooks. As long as the Chromebook you buy supports Android apps (almost all the newer ones do). They'll even work offline.

You can get them pretty cheap too.

Amazon.com: Acer 14" Full HD IPS anti-glare display 1920x1080 Chromebook , Intel Celeron N3160 processor 1.6GHz, 4GB RAM, 32GB SSD, 802.11ac, Bluetooth, HD webcam, HDMI, wireless mouse, Chrome OS: Computers & Accessories (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078G6B7TW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_IS-uBb91FFCSY)

With Office 365 (which I'm assuming your kids are using), it'll sync with anything that runs it. So they can pull up their documents on their iPhone if they have the app installed too.

[RainMaker]

One unusual feature request. The wider spaced the keys the better. My son has trouble hitting a single key on smaller form factors and separate keyboards while an option decrease portability

I'll look into it but I think this might be a tough one. Almost all keyboards are standard in size. They do make some of the ergonomic ones that split apart which may help.

The other option is a mechanical keyboard. Little pricey but they provide tactile feedback which can help with typing. I use one and recommend them to anyone who types a lot. They won't be wider but they help with the mishits.

[henry296]

Any opinions on Acer or asus chromebooks in terms of reliability? Thinking about a flip version for the kids.

[Scoobz0202]

On the lower end the Acer's and Asus's are probably very comparable and I don't think one has a large edge over the other.


Have read good things about this Flip for $320:


Sorry! Something went wrong! (https://www.amazon.com/Chromebook-C213SA-YS02-Ruggedized-Touchscreen-Dual-Core/dp/B06Y31BH12)


This one is really nice but a heftier $475:


Sorry! Something went wrong! (https://www.amazon.com/C302CA-DHM4-Chromebook-12-5-inch-Touchscreen-Convertible/dp/B01N5G5PG2)


Couple black friday deals I've seen to go a little cheaper:


This will be $179 on Black Friday


https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-2-in-1-11-6-touch-screen-chromebook-mt8173c-4gb-memory-32gb-emmc-flash-memory-blizzard-white/6296001.p?skuId=6296001&refdomain=starryhope.com&ref=199&loc=Bu0M6K8pybI&acampID=13472402324&cmp=RMX




Costco will have $100 off this to make it $289. Nice price on a 1080p convertible.



Acer R13 Touchscreen 2-in-1 Chromebook - 1080p (https://www.costco.com/Acer-R13-Touchscreen-2-in-1-Chromebook---1080p.product.100321190.html)

[GoldenEagle]

I am looking for a new laptop to my gambling hub.

It will primarily be used for playing online poker.

So here is my question - what is the difference in screen size? I have a Dell XPS13 right now. I can 4-table on it, but I can't quite fit all 4 tables comfortably on the screen. I would like to be able do that.

I notice that both a Dell XPS13 and Dell XPS15 both have the same max screen resolution. But I should be able to have bigger tables on the larger monitor - correct?

[Racer]

My current HP laptop is 5 years old and starting to run loud so I figure I should start shopping around.

I'm looking to get a computer that can run Cities:Skylines and Civilization 6 reasonably well.

This is one computer I'm looking at

Configure (https://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&catEntryId=3074457345618810319&urlLangId=&quantity=1&jumpid=ma_omen-gaming_product-tile_laptops_6_3aw55av-1_omen-laptop---17t-ga)

and another

HP® Laptop - 17z Value (https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-laptop-17z-value-5jr92av-1)

Looking at Can You RUN It | Can I Run It | Can My PC Run It (https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri)

The first laptop meets the recommended requirements of those games while the 2nd one only meets the minimum requirements (due to solely the video card I think). Is the first one overkill or is it about what I need to spend on a lower end laptop to run these types of games well?

I'm also open to buying other brands (aside from Dell because the last laptop I bought from them was garbage after a couple of years) though I am looking to buy a '17 inch laptop.

[MrBug708]

Walmart has two on sale right now with their new brand, overpowered or something like that. Theybhave a 15 and 17 inch


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.walmart.com/ip/OVERPOWERED-Gaming-Laptop-15-2-Year-Warranty-144Hz-Intel-i7-8750H-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1060-Mechanical-LED-Keyboard-256-SSD-1TB-HDD-16GB-RAM-Windows-10/510869060&ved=2ahUKEwiu5IKKxcjfAhUhoFsKHQgfBCYQjjgwAHoECAkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0H2dRA-tRqNaurmQ_jGhzk

[henry296]

Any current thoughts on the Acer Nitro laptops? Primarily text sims and Civ. Likely to go with one with 8 gb of ram and 4gb video ram.

[miked]

I'm confused and new to this chromebook game. I have a work laptop that I use at home, but with kids both doing digital learning we are having some issues. I have access to MS Office and all that stuff, but if I buy a chromebook it will only allow Word/Excel when in wireless?

Forbidden (https://www.itechdeals.com/collections/chromebooks)

Any of these good deals, some local parents bought some off of this website and report positive experiences. I'm so used to buying laptops for work (higher end) that I have no idea what to buy my kids who really need like 4 things.

[Scoobz0202]

Can't speak to those chromebooks on that site, but if i recall correctly:


Office 365 web version is the better version. Needs online to work. Still not a direct replacement for a Windows full featured version, but perfectly fine


If the chromebook has access to the Play Store where you can download android apps you can download the Microsoft Office apps. Those work offline, but i think are more limited in features than the web version, but still basic features.


A third option. Use Google Docs. It has compatibility with office files. Can save as office. There MAY be some formatting that needs fixed when going back and forth, but overall I have had good results. Those can be used offline.

[Edward64]

I've been toying with the idea of getting a laptop and just wanted to share.

The laptop CPU market is a little crazy right now. A "generational" leap has occurred with the AMD Ryzen 7 cpu performance and arguably still happening with Intel fighting back with a soon to be released Tiger Lake cpu (4Q).

Bottom-line, if you are looking for a new laptop and want performance, don't assume the older Intel cpu (anything that is not Tiger Lake) is a good deal because it will get leap-frogged as the Ryzen 7 and forthcoming Tiger Lake become more mainstream. On the other hand, if you are happy with a general-use cpu, the older Intel works fine and there are some pretty good sales as they are trying to get rid of older inventory.

[DeToxRox]

I’m hankering you get back into games like FM, but I need a new laptop. I’ll basically only use it for gaming though. I don’t want to say money is of no object, but I also don’t want to just go cheap. Any suggestions?

[Edward64]

I’m hankering you get back into games like FM, but I need a new laptop. I’ll basically only use it for gaming though. I don’t want to say money is of no object, but I also don’t want to just go cheap. Any suggestions?

I am a Lenovo Thinkpad fanboy. My kids picked Dell XPS 13 for school but I'll stick with the Thinkpad primarily because of the keyboard (typing) experience.

FM does not require a discrete dGPU to play. So get an 13 inch X13 or a 14 inch T14 with AMD Ryzen 7 4750u. The integrated iGPU is just a tad below the discrete MX350 in performance and that is pretty good for an iGPU. Get a SSD vs mechanical HD and at least 16GB ram (they are soldered on and you won't be able to add to it later). You can find them on the Lenovo site for < $1,000. One reason I won't get an X13 or T14 is because the top bezel is pretty large (e.g. archaic) but you may not care about that.

If you need a dGPU, then you should consider the 15 inch X1 Extreme Gen 3 (I'm looking at these). However, these laptops only have the Intel chips and not Ryzen. For an i7, you can get those for about $1,600.

Go through the Visa site, you get much better Lenovo discounts. Search on "Visa Lenovo" and it'll take you to the Visa site and then push a button to get into the Lenovo Visa site.

You may be able to get them cheaper during BF but with the Visa discount, they are pretty low priced already. I don't think you'll save more than $100 if you wait.

[Swaggs]

I have had Macs for about the last ten years (played FOF on an old laptop until it died a few years ago), but want to get something Windows-based to play OOTP and FOF. Maybe Minecraft, but not if it dramatically drives the price up a whole lot. Would 95% be the sports sims. Wanted some recommendations for a smaller laptop or maybe a Surface that would run them?

[Swaggs]

Budget would like to stick below $750, but if that’s unrealistic, more isn’t a deal breaker. And by small, smaller than 15.6 my son has.

[korme]

Here we are again. My laptop is running slow as molasses. Like people above, the only gaming I'll be doing on here is games like FM, and I'll be mostly using it for reading and writing that I'd prefer not to do on my phone.

Really just bumping this so I can refer to some of the very informative replies above

[Edward64]

Here we are again. My laptop is running slow as molasses. Like people above, the only gaming I'll be doing on here is games like FM, and I'll be mostly using it for reading and writing that I'd prefer not to do on my phone.

Really just bumping this so I can refer to some of the very informative replies above

If your laptop was doing okay and then now it is slow as molasses, it is probably something you downloaded, installed or running out of hard disk space.

It's also possible there are other "hardware" issues but the first step I would take check hard disk space and if that is okay, then reinstall Windows.

Share your specs - CPU, Type of Hard drive (mechanical or SSD) and amount space remaining, amount of RAM memory, Windows version

Questions - is it slow for a particular app (e.g. Chrome) or overall (e.g. with Windows file manager)?

[CrimsonFox]

I finally got a low end gaming laptop. The Acer Nitro 5 for 600
Nice little machine

Currently looking for a gaming monitor now. I am hoping to get one on amazon but I'm having difficulty finding one with all the things I want

[Edward64]

Wife said she wants a new laptop for Christmas. Currently using a Dell 2/4 core. Has 16GB RAM but horrible screen, is about 4 years old so hoping I can sell it for $300'ish on ebay.

She wants a MBP, newer models with a significant upgrade coming supposedly in Fall. This will be the first Apple computer we'll be getting.

[Edward64]

Dell is now selling their Alder Lake desktops. Still a little pricey and especially since they are bundling GPU cards with it. My guestimate is about $300-$400 more than pre-supply chain mess.

My desktop is a i7-6700 with 16GB & SSD, so about 6+ years old, still perfectly functional for the basic stuff but wanting to get a 12th gen CPU to play Stellaris (e.g. without the really bad late stage lags). Also have a 750ti and so time to get something else.

All indications are the 12th gen Alder Lake CPU has really good performance.

I think I'll wait for the Memorial Day or Jul 4 sale when it (hopefully) won't be quite as bad.

We did not get a MBP for wife last BF sale. It would have been about $2K. She didn't want to spend that money and we agreed to wait. I'm thinking the next Air 3 sometime this year as I still owe her a nice Christmas & Birthday present.

[sterlingice]

My current laptop is on its last legs (well, either the screen or the screen cable) and I've been shopping around a bit and stuff is just, well, expensive right now, as to be expected. Doesn't make it any less annoying, though.

SI

[CarterNMA]

I hadn't realized until the other day when my wife mentioned it that my laptop is now 5 years old. It's an AlienWare 17" and it still working beautifully. I then realized that if I don't act soon (now?) I won't be able to get a Windows 10 laptop. I'm always slow to adopt new Windows version because I'm not a paid beta tester or QC/QA specialist. And to me W11 looks like they are trying to drift towards a Mac-like interface and eff that noise.

While I like my AW I'm more interested in getting a gaming machine from a different company. Does anybody have a good experience they can share? Also, anybody have any experience with ASUS laptops? I have a lot of ASUS products in my self-built desktops and have been generally impressed with them.

[rjolley]

I've had Asus ROG laptops before and they've been solid machines. Can't go wrong with them.

I currently have a Lenovo Legion Y740. When I got it, it was the best deal for the specs by far due. Their prices tend to be lower than other comparable laptops because they have frequent deals. The current gen Legion laptops seem to be following in that tradition. It has run everything that I've wanted to play with no real issue.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I just bought a MSI GE76 Raider. My latest gaming laptop was almost 6 years old, so it was time for an upgrade. I’ve had it for a few weeks now and love it. Runs great, looks good. I got it from Hidevolution - reseller.

All of my previous gaming laptops had been Sager/Clevos and had always had good experiences with them.

I really wanted to get a Lenovo Legion, but the build I wanted had a 4+ month wait for it, so I went with the MSI.

[sterlingice]

I also previous had a Sager/Clevo but they have really cut back on their offerings, sadly. I just recently picked up a Lenovo Legion 7 slim from Best Buy, but also threw in more memory (keep in mind they're going to be 1x16 so they're not the fastest memory), a second HD, and a better network card (apparently they got a bad batch of stock ones, if reviews online are to be believed). I also loaded Win10 - I bought a license and downloaded the media from Microsoft's site. Like H_B said, the waits for a custom one online are like 2-4 months so I had to make a couple of minor sacrifices in what I wanted or wait a while.

That said, I also don't do much gaming - I'm looking more for a content creator box so the 3060 was more than enough for me. I haven't had a chance to really put it through its paces though, as the last month has been really busy at work so I'm still operating off my old laptop and gradually building out the new one.

SI

[Honolulu_Blue]

My previous three gaming laptops were all Sager/Clevos, but I agree they have seemed to have cut back lately, which led to the change to MSI. I, also, looked closely at Falcon NW for a custom-made laptop.

I did just see that there are Legion 7i Gen 6 Intel (16") with RTX 3080 currently in stock at Lenovo.com. Looks like a great machine. Not cheap, but super solid. If it had been available a few weeks back, I likely would have picked it up.

[CarterNMA]

Thank you, gentlemen!

Seems I have a bit of homework to do. I would have never considered a Lenovo had I not asked.

Now I have to go see what I can learn from Kodos' post about his son's laptop.

[Edward64]

Got a new Thinkpad X1 Yoga for my wife, shipping date is next week. She's been using an old 2 core/4 thread Latitude for a while now so time for an upgrade.

I'm looking at a used Thinkpad T14S Gen 2 (AMD) myself. There are some relatively good Thinkpad deals out there but you have to check daily. There are some Legion laptops for gaming but no experience with them. See below link for the Lenovo outlet store.

logaze - watching laptops on Lenovo outlet (https://ackerleytng.github.io/logaze/)

FWIW, my strategy now is to stick with laptops. They keep their value better and easier to re-sell (every 2-3 years) on eBay than a desktop.

[Edward64]

I love how we can start charging laptops with USB-C Thunderbolt or USB4. Do away with all that proprietary power plugs.

[Edward64]

Excited. My new X1 Carbon Gen 10 is sched to arrive this Thu and it'll replace my old i7-6700 desktop (circa 2015).

It's not a gaming laptop but the current iGPU is better than my old desktop discrete 750Ti so I should be happy with the performance.

[Tyanzun]

My laptop is HP and has been working on it for almost 6 years. Nowadays, it reacts to overheating and dead pixels on the screen. Currently, I'm planning for the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 to accomplish my work.

[Ksyrup]

It seems like there's the potential for a decent deal on a laptop in the next 2 months. Anyone seen any pre-Black Friday deals or know which manufacturers may be more motivated than others to deeply discount? I'm not in the market but mine is 3 years old and I'd upgrade a bit early if I can get a great deal.

[Edward64]

Gaming or regular laptop? Budget (great deal is relative)?

I'm partial to Thinkpads (non-gaming). I check the below link which "scrapes" their outlet store into xls format for easy filtering & sorting for 1+ year old models. Many of them still have warranty.

logaze - watching laptops on Lenovo outlet (https://ackerleytng.github.io/logaze/)

I've also bought used from eBay and it turned out to be a good experience. But good deals on eBay are the 3+ year old models.

If looking for a new laptop, then I'd say wait till closer to around BF and create alerts/monitor Hot Deals - Slickdeals.net (https://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9)

[Ksyrup]

Leisure/gaming - although I don't do too much heavy lifting as far as games go. I still like to have the ability to ramp it up for a game if something looks cool.

[sterlingice]

I got a laptop a few months ago and I'll second Edward on Lenovo. I can't speak to the Thinkpads, but I went with a Legion and I've been really impressed with the build quality for the cost. Heck, during the early days of the pandemic, we got my son a cheapy Lenovo Chromebook and that thing has held up better than a lot of laptops I've seen

I mean, at the end of the day, stuff is becoming so white box where most of it is made by Foxconn and the aesthetic design and build quality is all that's different, even in laptops.

That said, I haven't been out shopping the last few months - I bought this at the beginning of the year and both the supply chain and changes in crypto use with graphics cards have made some pretty substantial changes to the market.

SI

[Ksyrup]

I've got a Legion now and it's been solid.

[Edward64]

Leisure/gaming - although I don't do too much heavy lifting as far as games go. I still like to have the ability to ramp it up for a game if something looks cool.

Something that I considered is a Thinkpad T14S Gen 3 with Ryzen 7 6850u. It has iGPU 680M which is currently the best iGPU you can buy with pretty decent CPU performance.

If I was in the market there is a pretty good deal now for $1,150 (see below link). The 32GB RAM will future proof for another 5+ years.

https://slickdeals.net/f/16091311-now-cheaper-lenovo-thinkpad-t14s-laptop-14-wuxga-ryzen-7-pro-6850u-32gb-ddr5-256gb-ssd-1157-13?attrsrc=search%3Aterm%3Athinkpad%7Csearch%3Apage%3A1%7Csearch%3Aposition%3A2%7Csearch%3Aresult_type%3Athread%7Csearch%3Aresult_id%3A16091311&src=SiteSearchV2_SearchBarV2Algo

I'm more focused on "business" so I lean towards Thinkpads (can't beat the keyboards). If you are more "gaming" then go with the Legion.

[thesloppy]

I bought a laptop like 6 months ago & like everybody else here I heard great things about Lenovo/Thinkpads...but I bought a Gigabyte A5 X1 cuz it was on a very good sale, even in the middle of the GPU lean times. In fact I just looked it up & it is still going for $200 more than I paid for it. It's been great, but I pretty much treat it like a desktop.

[Edward64]

BTW, for Lenovo, if you have a Visa card, you can use link below

https://www.lenovo.com/us/members/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t14s-gen-3-(14-inch-amd)/len101t0015?groupId=visacardholders

More often than not, it gives better deals ($200+ off) than the regular site.

[rjolley]

I'll third the Lenovo Legion. Bought one just before the pandemic and with deals, I got a laptop that was better spec'd than anything else I could find for the cost.

Lenovo always has deals going on, so if you can wait a bit, it might be the best bang for the buck.

Also, I've been watching the Amazon Prime Days deals. There have been some interesting offers. And with the 40XX laptops due out, more deals for the 30XX laptops will be coming.

[Coffee Warlord]

I was so pleased with the Legion I got, I got a second one for my son.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I really wanted to get a Lenovo Legion, but when I was looking there were none available for months.

[Coffee Warlord]

Similar to laptop - I'm looking for a new windows tablet (good sized) for my dad. Any recommendations?

[Edward64]

Sorry, no experience with Windows tablets.

[Edward64]

Article is desktops but figure to put it here since there's not a dedicated desktop thread. I'd assume the laptop versions will also have a pretty good uplift.

Basically, if you are in the market for an intel desktop, you may want to consider waiting for the 13th gen sometime early next year. Performance increase is pretty good, especially in multi-threaded apps. Unfortunately, I don't need all that horsepower and can't justify it.

Core i5-13500 ES CPU Beats Core i5-12500 By Over 50 Percent In Early Multi-Threaded Benchmarks | Tom's Hardware (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/core-i5-13500-es-cpu-beats-core-i5-12500-by-over-50-percent)
The Core i5-13500 poses to be one of the best CPUs, according to early benchmarks. A BiliBili content creator recently posted a video showcasing an engineering sample(opens in new tab) of Intel's upcoming mid-range Core i5-13500 Raptor Lake processor and what it can do in Cinebench R23 and CPU-Z. The performance characteristics of the new CPU are impressive, with the chip boasting a whopping 56% multi-threaded performance advantage over its Core i5-12400 Alder Lake predecessor, thanks to the inclusion of eight additional efficiency cores on the Raptor Lake chip.
We see this massive boost in core count clearly in Cinebench R23, where the chip in the Bilibili video hits a multi-threaded score of 19,891 points. It represents a whopping 56% performance improvement for the Core i5-13500 compared to the Core i5-12500, which scores 12,678 points in the same benchmark, according to Tech Notice(opens in new tab).

In CPU-Z's benchmark, the results are even more impressive, with the Core i5-13500 pulling out a score of 8,222 points in the multi-threaded benchmark, and is 61% faster than the official Core i5-12500 multi-threaded CPU-Z score of 5,108 points.

The single-threaded results aren't very imposing, with the Core i5-13500 pulling out a 9% lead over the Core i5-12500 in Cinebench R23, with a score of 1,901 vs. Tech Notice's score of 1,736 for the Core i5-12500. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a CPU-Z single-threaded result since the video's image quality was too blurry to make out any detail.

[Edward64]

Son got a new gaming desktop so he sold me his XPS 8940. Wife and I are primarily using laptops but he gave me a great deal (and desktop 1660 ti is better than my laptop's 780m).

There was an irritating noise coming from the CPU cooler. I can handle a steady hum but the noise was whiny (?) & fluctuated, and that bugged the heck out of me. Watched some YT and replaced the stock cooler with a Vetroo V5 for about $30. It also came with a thermal paste that I used.

Steady hum now while playing Civ 6.

[sovereignstar v2]

@Pass

Is it safe to assume you have a Microcenter by you then since you were linking to some laptops there previously? I could try parting out something local to you (option of having Microcenter build it) or go the pcpartpicker route using Amazon/Newegg.

[Passacaglia]

Yes, I'm pretty much halfway between the one in Chicago and the one in Westmont. Also, to answer your question from the other thread, I definitely don't need it before December. My goal is to have it before Civ 7 comes out in February, and if it's a little after, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I'm only looking now in case there are good Black Friday deals.

[sovereignstar v2]

Okay, I think some people would say it's dumb to get a RTX 4070 right before the 5000 series is released, but I think availability of the new cards is going to suck and there is no guarantee there will be any older stock around to get for cheap once they are out. That's unless you wanted to dive into the used market, which is going to have the potential to be dicey.

[Passacaglia]

That makes sense, especially if I can upgrade later

[sovereignstar v2]

Here is a start. I used the Chicago store. I'm at $1,350 before selecting a case. I chose a microATX motherboard to give you more size options when it comes to the case. We'd just want to make sure the GPU is going to fit (pcpartpicker can help with that).

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=8a1b865d-4e4b-4c6d-b4ad-c7330110c432

Some notes:

CPU: You could upgrade to the AMD Ryzen 7600x3d. While it's a bit older, it's more gamer-focused. It's +70$
CPU Cooler: Both CPU's are only 65w, so you don't need a giant cooler. I'm partial to Noctua, but they are spendy. They don't have any Thermalright ones in stock - those are the best bang for buck right now
Video card: Could always spend more here if you really wanted to. RTX 4070 Ti would be the next bump up
Storage: NVMe SSD are the way to go here. Fast, cheap, and don't take up any space

You can get Windows 11 for free if you are willing :). Microcenter might end up charging you something like $100 for it.

[sovereignstar v2]

My two go-to brands for cases are Fractal Design and Lian Li

[GrantDawg]

Looks good, but my only add would be either go with at least 2 to on the hard drive, or get a second 1tb. I just added a second 1tb drive, because my initial 1tb was just too small.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[sovereignstar v2]

Actually I'd be tempted to go with the 7600x3d as the motherboard will support it without any BIOS update. Without doing any research on the motherboard it might be tricky to do the BIOS update without an older CPU unless Microcenter did it for you

[sovereignstar v2]

Looks good, but my only add would be either go with at least 2 to on the hard drive, or get a second 1tb. I just added a second 1tb drive, because my initial 1tb was just too small.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

Yep, storage is pretty cheap so not a bad idea to go big

[GrantDawg]

Newer games have just gotten so big, and the operating system takes up so much space, 1tb just disappears fast.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[Passacaglia]

Thanks sov! Stupid questions:

if I've been looking at laptops that are AMD Ryzen 7 or 9, should I be looking at that instead of a 5? Or is it that a 5 for a desktop is better than for a laptop?

It looks like the cooler is out of stock, I'll look for a Noctua or something to replace it. There's probably no issues with compatibility for that right?

Is there any benefit to Windows 11? We'd probably rather stick with 10 if we could.

[Ksyrup]

I've still got one computer I've left on Windows 10 and recently, the messaging changed that they would stop supporting it soon. I don't know if they've officially announced anything but I noticed it was a different messsge.

[sovereignstar v2]

Yeah, you can't directly compare desktop and mobile CPUs and GPUs. They will have similar names, but the mobile stuff is nerfed/more efficient due to size/heat concerns. I picked parts to stay around that 1500 mark, but there are certainly upgrade possibilities.

The CPU I picked is only 65w so it's pretty efficient and doesn't need much of a cooler and shouldn't make a ton of noise. You can't go wrong with a Noctua, just don't buy one of the big dogs unless you decide you want a Ryzen 7/9 and start overclocking or something.

No harm in sticking with Windows 10. The nagging about upgrading gets kind of old and eventually MS will stop supporting it. You will still need to get a license unless you have the retail version that is transferrable. There are activation scripts out there that will grab legit digital licenses for either 10 or 11.

[Passacaglia]

Thanks for the help with the setup sov! I think I'm going to hold off for a bit. Like I said, I don't really need this until Civ comes out in February, and that gives me time to find a place to put it. I'd like to have a desktop again, but in a small house with so much kid crap, we're not really ready for it yet.

I might get a new laptop in the meantime, though, since this one seems like such a good deal.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/670247/hp-victus-16-r0073cl-161-gaming-laptop-computer-(refurbished)-mica-silver
HP Victus 16-r0073cl
Intel Core i7 13700HX (1.5GHz) Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Graphics Card
32GB DDR5-4800 RAM
250 nits, Refresh Rate 144 Hz

In the BF thread, I was seeing love for Lenovo, specifically the Legion. I looked at their site, and here's the only BF deal that I see for one:

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-pro-series/legion-pro-5-gen-8-16-inch-amd/82wm001jus
Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 AMD (16") with RTX™ 4060
AMD Ryzen™ 7 7745HX Processor (3.60 GHz up to 5.10 GHz)
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6
16 GB DDR5-5200MHz (SODIMM) - (2 x 8 GB)
16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 100%sRGB, 300 nits, 165Hz, Narrow Bezel, Low Blue Ligh

The HP Victus is $770 ($690 if I get an open box), and the Lenovo is $970 after the Rakuten discount. So for $200 more, I'm getting the Lenovo brand that seems to be more recommended, 300 nits instead of 250, 165 Hz instead of 144, but also 16GB less RAM? Are those monitor details that big of a deal, or is RAM not that big of a deal? Or is there something else about Lenovo Legion that makes it better?

[Ramzavail]

I had never heard of the HP Victus before this, but at that price it doesn't look bad. I will say the Legion monitor is worth the $200 price difference but you are getting more RAM on the other machine....but RAM is easy to purchase and install yourself, if you wanted to upgrade to 32GB. Clearly, I am partial to Lenovo Legion.


FWIW, with the 15% cash back from Rakuten, I couldn't help myself from getting this.


Legion Pro 5i Gen 9 Intel (16") with RTX™ 4070
$1,499.99

Saving $920.00 (38%)
26176126994_LegionPro5iG9RGB_IMG_20231113031452.PNG
Part Number: 83DF00AQUS
Get it by Wed. Dec 04
Qty 1
Instant Savings
- $920.00
Hide Specs
System Specs: :
Processor : 14th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-14900HX Processor (E-cores up to 4.10 GHz P-cores up to 5.80 GHz)
Operating System : Windows 11 Home 64
Graphic Card : NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6
Memory : 32 GB DDR5-5600MHz (SODIMM) - (2 x 16 GB)
Storage : 2 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 TLC (2 x 1 TB)
Display : 16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, HDR 400, 100%DCI-P3, 500 nits, 240Hz, Low Blue Light
Camera : 1080P FHD with Electronic Privacy Shutter and Microphone
Keyboard : 4zone RGB Backlit, Black - English (US)
WIFI : Wi-Fi 6E 2x2 AX & Bluetooth® 5.1 or above
Warranty : 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
Color : Onyx Grey
Operating System Language : EN:English

[henry296]

Also, looking for a new laptop for Civ7. Current laptop is a 5 year old HP. Has 12 GB of RAM, i5 and the Nvidia 1650, so between the min and recommended specs. Hard drive space should be fine as I still have 147 GB free. Besides Civ7, most work is office / web. Battery not a concern as I just keep it plugged in near the sofa. Hoping that whatever i get can last 5-6 years.

Curious about the cost trade-offs to upgrade everything by a generation for $300.

Option 1 (HP): 12th gen i7, 16 GB DDR4, GeForce 4050 for $800
Option 2 (Acer): 13th gen i7, 16 GB DDR5, GeForce 4060 for 1100.
Option 3 (MSI): 13th gen i5, 16 GB DDR4, GeForce 4050 for 700

[Edward64]

Any of the 3 will work. The Civ 7 requirements are

Civilization 7's system requirements are here and they look downright breezy, plus you'll only need 20 GB of storage space | PC Gamer (https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/civilization-7s-system-requirements-are-here-and-they-look-downright-breezy-plus-youll-only-need-20-gb-of-storage-space/)

I can't speak to quality, heat management (fans can be annoying, high core temps can reduce CPU power etc.) of the 3 but generally, the newer the better. For future proofing, I suggest getting 32GB vs 16GB

[Edward64]

My 2 year old laptop started giving me an annoying fan "noise" even though my Windows performance setting was "Balanced". Fan noise is okay but mine wasn't a constant fan blowing noise (which I would expect) but more rough (? not sure how to describe it).

I've read enough to know the thermal paste put on laptop CPU are often lower quality and doesn't last long so went ahead and bought below. Essentially, the CPU heats up more/quicker as the paste wears off and therefore the fan kicks on more.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MZ45X9G?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Watched some videos. Backed up my laptop, turn off bitlocker & password, took off the bottom cover, took off the cover covering the CPU, cleaned off the old paste with the supplied alcohol wipes, applied the new paste (just one drop in the middle), and put things back together.

Works great now. No fan noise during "Balanced" and constant fan blowing in "Best Performance".

TLDR: if your laptop fan noise is annoying you, give the above thermal paste a try. The $15 and 20 min of watching YT may/will save you a lot of aggravation