Laptop recs?

[tiesto]

So I've had my ASUS ROG since 2010 and the graphics card shit the bed. Computer is constantly crashing unless I deactivate the drivers, been seeing some overheating glitches... So I'm in the market for a decent laptop, around the $1500 price range.

Definitely want something with good storage space, lots of RAM. Not a big PC gamer, most of what I play tends to be from Falcom or indie games, but something that's slightly future-proof would be nice.

Or should I just go and get a desktop and augment with say a $300 Lenovo that I can load up with Traktor for the occasions where I DJ? If I go the 'build your own' route, are there any cheap bundles to get MS Office, Win10, etc?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm the only tech person who has never built a PC from scratch

[close]

[Himu]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06XFGF7SN/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504285098&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=geforce+1000+laptop&dpPl=1&dpID=41zfabBnrLL&ref=plSrch

Corei17 and gtx 1050 in it. 800 bucks. Best bang for your buck laptop that can play games on the market.

[Brehvolution]

That's a nice deal, but I'd pay the extra $50 for 16gb ram and 512 ssd.

5400rpm drives 

[Himu]

Well yeah. Still the best deal on the market.

[Valkyrie]

Build your own PC → Buy cheap laptop if you need it too → KMSPico (from MDL only)

[Human Snorenado]

The laptop QoI linked to in the 512 gb ssd and 16 gb ram configuration is probably the best deal you're going to find. And honestly tiesto, anything you're going to want to play on it will probably not ever push that thing.

[Nabbis]

Unless you buy a bulky well ventilated monster, i suggest you don't go over a 1060gtx unless you like heat or noise. Probably plenty of such laptops in that price.

[tiesto]

So I'm thinking that a desktop might be a better route for me to go down - worse comes to worse I can always steal my mom's Lenovo i3 and put Traktor on there if I need to DJ (or maybe sneak Traktor on my awesome 32gb RAM i7 HP laptop for work), which is about 2-3 times a year... and I don't really travel much. I can also always upgrade a desktop or replace a busted part much easier than a laptop.

Of course, I feel I need to go through the geek right of passage and build my own, but some more questions:

-what do I do about coolant?
-what kinda graphics card is sufficient to run Witcher 3? That's probably the most tech-intensive game I'd be interested in. $500+ for a 1080 is definitely a bit too steep.
-now I don't really play graphically intensive PC games, but I am a dev and will need to run an IDE, web server, etc from my machine. I also use Photoshop, edit sound files, and warp tracks. I assume this stuff is more RAM dependent - am I better off splurging for extra RAM or processor than I am a graphics card?

I'm using pcpartpicker.com, any other recs or 'how to' guides would be nice. Gonna see if via my job I can score some stuff (MS Office, Win10) on the cheap.

[bork]

I just went and bought a desktop off Amazon last year instead of building, but yeah, it's worth getting a desktop and then just get a cheap laptop or tablet to use for on-the-go stuff instead.  Although you could also get a laptop that accepts a firewire connection for an external desktop graphics card to work as well, that can be pretty pricey.

[bork]

Well yeah. Still the best deal on the market.

Pretty sure I saw a laptop with an i5 and a 1060 in it (although it could have been a 1050) at a Microsoft store for $750 over the weekend.

Costco also sells a 17" laptop with a 1060 for like $900, IIRC.

[thisismyusername]

Or should I just go and get a desktop and augment with say a $300 Lenovo

This, TBH fam. You really don't need an "$800 laptop that plays games" for Falcom stuff (IIRC, might have jumped in specs) and even then you can just emulate the PSP stuff on an Atom IIRC.

If I go the 'build your own' route, are there any cheap bundles to get MS Office, Win10, etc?

Unless you go shady key sellers: Nope. And honestly, you probably don't need MS Office now a days. I don't think Google Suite is conflicting with businesses that use Office. Windows will set you back $150 or so, but that's not too bad.

I just went and bought a desktop off Amazon last year, but yeah, it's worth getting a desktop and then just get a cheap laptop or tablet to use for on-the-go stuff instead.  Although you could also get a laptop that accepts a firewire connection for an external desktop graphics card to work as well, that can be pretty pricey.

Not worth the hassle.

[bork]

No, I meant one of the newer laptops or tablets that is made for using external GPUs.  ASUS makes a Surface Pro clone that does this, I believe some Dells do this (as well as Alienware), and there's the Razer Stealth line, although the prices are pretty high and there are some limitations.

[thisismyusername]

No, I meant one of the newer laptops or tablets that is made for using external GPUs.  ASUS makes a Surface Pro clone that does this,

Will have to check around for those. As I'd be into that.

[bork]

Oh man, I'd love to ditch my Surface Pro 4 and get this instead.

https://www.amazon.com/M580VD-EB54-VivoBook-i5-7300HQ-backlit-keyboard/dp/B072C7TNBZ/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1504570410&sr=1-4&keywords=gtx+1050+laptop

[bork]

No, I meant one of the newer laptops or tablets that is made for using external GPUs.  ASUS makes a Surface Pro clone that does this,

Will have to check around for those. As I'd be into that.

Old video; the laptop is supposed to be much better now, although you could probably pay less money for a regular Razer laptop and get something better than buying a Stealth + Core + Graphics card.



Still, I love the idea of this.

[thisismyusername]

Ah, those. AFAIK those are still in the $1,000 range which is "WHOO, NO."

[a slime appears]

Unless you actively travel for business you're wasting your money on a laptop.

Build a desktop if it's a home PC.

Go here:

• https://pcpartpicker.com/
• http://www.logicalincrements.com/

[Brehvolution]

Oh man, I'd love to ditch my Surface Pro 4 and get this instead.

https://www.amazon.com/M580VD-EB54-VivoBook-i5-7300HQ-backlit-keyboard/dp/B072C7TNBZ/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1504570410&sr=1-4&keywords=gtx+1050+laptop

Asus laptop customer support is terribad. Stay away.

[bork]

So uh...I did end up ditching my Surface Pro 4.  I can get $600 for it...so I went to see what wouldn't cost too much more.  Costco has a Lenovo Legion Y520 for $999 with the following specs:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Processor & Memory:
Intel® Core™ i7-7700HQ Processor 2.8GHz
16GB DDR4 (2-DIMM) RAM

Operating System: 
Microsoft® Windows 10

Drives:   
2TB 5400RPM Hard Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive
No Optical Drive

Graphics & Video:   
15.6" Anti-glare LED Backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) Display
4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti Graphics

Communications:
802.11 Wireless-AC + Bluetooth® 4.1
100/1000M Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 Connector)
Integrated HD Webcam

Audio:   
2x 2W speakers + Harman® Audio Premium Processing

Keyboard:
Backlit Keyboard with Numeric Keypad

Ports & Slots:
2x USB 3.0
1x USB 2.0
1x HDMI
1x Media Card Reader
1x Combination Audio Jack

Battery:   
Up to 4-hour Battery

Additional Information:
Dimensions: 14.96" x 10.43" x 1.02"
Approximate Weight: 5.28lbs

[close]

So the battery life isn't great, but that's OK since I rarely if ever use a laptop on battery.  $400 for this wasn't bad and it's gonna game a hell of a lot better than the Surface did, lol.   Should make for a good secondary PC.  Setting it up now.

[bork]

And now I'm getting another laptop.


Already getting caught back up in this mess that I don't need to be a part of.  Saw that Amazon is selling the Acer Helios 300, which as far as I can tell is the cheapest laptop to offer a GTX 1060, for $1049, so I jumped on that.  Will return the one I got last night unless the Acer just seems crap.

[chronovore]

Wife needs a new mobile device for business traveling. Is this decent?
https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Flagship-Performance-128GB-Bluetooth/dp/B017UAMI2U/

[tiesto]

Speaking about Asus, what about this for a desktop? I know it looks tacky af, but it seems to have all the shit I want at a fairly reasonable price.

https://flash.newegg.com/Product/238-007E-00001?nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwordsNF-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwordsNF-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Computers-_-238-007E-00001&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIy_CyyPWR1gIVUIBpCh17lQctEAYYASABEgJbHfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'm thinking of just going ahead with something prebuilt, saves me the headache of building my own. I'm lazy, so shoot me

Also, is it just me or has PC specs not jumped up -that- much in the past 7 years? Like really... we're only up to around 16gb ram? My 2010 laptop has 8.

[thisismyusername]

If all you're doing is playing Falcom titles, that's WAY overkill.

And frankly, you're better off learning to build your own in the long-run. It'll help with cleaning and upgrades and the like.

[tiesto]

Well, I'll be playing Witcher 3 and hopefully (if it ever comes out and turns out decent) Cyberpunk with it as well. And like I said, running a web server, a dev environment/IDE, doing Photoshop, warping tracks...

I do know how to swap out graphics cards, install new RAM, etc. Just the whole thing from scratch is something that I don't quite feel comfortable doing. I'm not super-handy, and don't have too much time on my hands.

[bork]

$1300 seems like an awesome price for that...it has everything you need.  Would building his own PC using the same components even save Tiesto any money?  The 1080 alone is like $550-$600.

I do know how to swap out graphics cards, install new RAM, etc. Just the whole thing from scratch is something that I don't quite feel comfortable doing. I'm not super-handy, and don't have too much time on my hands.

I'm with you there.  I don't do very well with hardware-- I did take apart a PC and put it back together for a college course, but then later on when I tried to just change the graphics card and power supply in a desktop I had a few years ago...I killed the HDD and lost everything, lol.   Nothing wrong with buying a prebuilt machine...you're going to get something that looks better and is much cleaner/more organized internally, plus a warranty and support.  I don't think I would have been able to put together something equivalent to the MSI Nightblade I bought last year- it's got an almost console-sized form factor and the cabling inside is immaculate.

[Brehvolution]

Speaking about Asus, what about this for a desktop? I know it looks tacky af, but it seems to have all the shit I want at a fairly reasonable price.

https://flash.newegg.com/Product/238-007E-00001?nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwordsNF-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwordsNF-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Computers-_-238-007E-00001&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIy_CyyPWR1gIVUIBpCh17lQctEAYYASABEgJbHfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'm thinking of just going ahead with something prebuilt, saves me the headache of building my own. I'm lazy, so shoot me

Also, is it just me or has PC specs not jumped up -that- much in the past 7 years? Like really... we're only up to around 16gb ram? My 2010 laptop has 8.

Considering a 1080 goes was north of $500 by itself, that is a pretty great price. That rig will crush anything running at 1080p/60 and will do very well at 4K.
Witcher3 in 4K

[chronovore]

$1300 seems like an awesome price for that...it has everything you need.  Would building his own PC using the same components even save Tiesto any money?  The 1080 alone is like $550-$600.

I do know how to swap out graphics cards, install new RAM, etc. Just the whole thing from scratch is something that I don't quite feel comfortable doing. I'm not super-handy, and don't have too much time on my hands.

I'm with you there.  I don't do very well with hardware-- I did take apart a PC and put it back together for a college course, but then later on when I tried to just change the graphics card and power supply in a desktop I had a few years ago...I killed the HDD and lost everything, lol.   Nothing wrong with buying a prebuilt machine...you're going to get something that looks better and is much cleaner/more organized internally, plus a warranty and support.  I don't think I would have been able to put together something equivalent to the MSI Nightblade I bought last year- it's got an almost console-sized form factor and the cabling inside is immaculate.

Wow! I had a similar experience. I went from building Chinese clone PC/XT machines in high school, back when the mobos had physical dipswitches, and repairing them in college — and then I killed a machine trying to swap out a HDD, and haven't felt like building one since then.

[bork]

Speaking of PC woes, my desktop started making noises last weekend.  Opened the case and used an air duster in it.  Was fine again until yesterday, when I got up from a nap and found not only the PC off, but the surge protector it was connected to as well.  Turned it on and heard noises again.  Cleaned again and it was fine again for a few hours, then got worse.  I think it's the fans in the power supply, although weirdly enough, when I did not connect an HDMI 2.0 cable I got for my 4K TV recently...it seemed to run better.  Maybe it's the fan on the 1070 and that cable was making it go haywire?  But regardless, I still heard something abnormal and I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole- contacted the company I got it from for assistance. 

Fortunately it came with a three year warranty and I'm OK if I have to ship it to them for a while...now I'm really glad I got that laptop, heh.

[bork]

Hey Tiesto, something to consider with that kind of desktop- It seems similar to mine in that it's all in a smaller, specialized case.  I got my PC repaired and asked them what I might need to do if I wanted to upgrade from a 1070 to a 1080.  Thought it would just need a new power supply, but instead they told me it was not a normally upgradable-PC and used all-specialized parts.  Mine is an MSI machine and according to them, unless MSI releases new parts, I'm S.O.L. and it's like I bought a laptop in a desktop case.


I'm kinda ok with this just because the desktop is so powerful that it's gonna last me a good long time anyway, but still...kind of sucks.

[tiesto]

Ended up buying an Acer Aspire V17 Nitro-

Win 10
16gb ram upgradeable to 32
i7-7700
512gb SSD
GTX1060
17" screen at 1080p resolution

Bought for $1200 at Microcenter

So far I haven't played around with it too much, but it warps tracks nice and fast, which is good!

Is this good enough for Witcher 3?

[Rufus]

Yup. Better than what I played the game with.

[thisismyusername]

Yes, easily. Your CPU is better than mine, but that's basically the same (nearly) loadout I'm playing the Witcher 3 on currently.

I'd suggest playing 1-2 before doing 3, since you can blow through those in an afternoon (well 2, really), but YMMV if you aren't ready for some jank in those.

[Valkyrie]

It's a good laptop but I don't understand why you spent $1200 on hardware you could've gotten for less than 1k if you bought the parts and built it yourself.

[Valkyrie]

Dufus pls

[bork]

Ended up buying an Acer Aspire V17 Nitro-

Win 10
16gb ram upgradeable to 32
i7-7700
512gb SSD
GTX1060
17" screen at 1080p resolution

Bought for $1200 at Microcenter

So far I haven't played around with it too much, but it warps tracks nice and fast, which is good!

Is this good enough for Witcher 3?

About the only reason I'd consider returning it would be for a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 and the ability to use external GPUs, but I don't know if anything good enough would be in that price range.

$1200 seems like a good deal for that.  I paid $1050 for what is essentially the same thing (Helios 300) but 15.6" from Amazon.  You should go buy an additional SSD or HDD for space, though, especially if you plan on doing a lot of gaming. 

[Rufus]

It's a good laptop but I don't understand why you spent $1200 on hardware you could've gotten for less than 1k if you bought the parts and built it yourself.

He takes it to gigs, I think. Nobody wants to schlep a desktop around.

[Valkyrie]

It's a good laptop but I don't understand why you spent $1200 on hardware you could've gotten for less than 1k if you bought the parts and built it yourself.

He takes it to gigs, I think. Nobody wants to schlep a desktop around.

lol, look at his posts - he's the one who mentioned and asked about desktops too. I'm just replying to stuff I read, from him.

 

[Rufus]

I drive-by shitpost most of the time, Val, don't mind me. :B

[tiesto]

Yes, easily. Your CPU is better than mine, but that's basically the same (nearly) loadout I'm playing the Witcher 3 on currently.

I'd suggest playing 1-2 before doing 3, since you can blow through those in an afternoon (well 2, really), but YMMV if you aren't ready for some jank in those.

I've actually played through the first 2 games a few years back, even with the jankiness I really liked 1 more than your typical western rpg. Maybe it spoke to my 1/2 Polish ancestry or something, I dunno... but I've been wanting to play the 3rd, just the length is scaring me off. Way too many longass games lately!

[Brehvolution]

You should use the HDMI on the laptop and play on your big screen tv while you are at home. There is a setting in the power options to not put the laptop into sleep mode when it's plugged in and the lid is closed.

[Nabbis]

You should use the HDMI on the laptop and play on your big screen tv while you are at home. There is a setting in the power options to not put the laptop into sleep mode when it's plugged in and the lid is closed.

I liked the idea of that but the reality is me just playing on my laptop since im too lazy to plug it in. There's also the keyboard and mouse cables complicating things, though i suppose it's mostly a problem due to the shitty cave i live in.

[Brehvolution]

Wireless m/k combos are pretty cheap these days.

[bork]

Or get a dock.  Or just buy a USB hub so you only just have to plug in the video, power, and a single USB cable.  I use monitor stands with built-in USB ports. 

I work at home three days a week and for my work laptop I just plug in two video cables for both monitors, power, and a single USB cable and I'm ready to use my keyboard/mouse/headset/etc.  Works nicely and doesn't make my desk look cluttered with cables.

[Nabbis]

Obviously there are possible solutions but it's a little more complex due to the size of the apartment and the layout to make it really comfortable and hassle free. I know i originally said it's due to "laziness" but there's more to it.

[Tasty]

Didn't realize this was the thread.

Anyways yeah, in the market, what's gud out there?

[Human Snorenado]

Didn't realize this was the thread.

Anyways yeah, in the market, what's gud out there?

The computer market moves faster than the shit dirtperson console market, but it's a fairly safe bet that anything someone said was good JUST A FUCKING MONTH AGO is still gonna be pertinent to that question today, just sayin.

(In other words, maybe go back to the beginning of the thread and fucking read it, turd.)

SORRY THAT SOUNDS V AGRO I'M A BIT DRUNK

BUT FUCKING STILL

[bork]

Didn't realize this was the thread.

Anyways yeah, in the market, what's gud out there?

For a laptop?  How much do you want to spend?

If it's for gaming and you want something around $1000, it's hard to beat the Acer Helios 300 right now.  Only laptop I've found in that price range with a 1060.

[Tasty]

$1000-1200 yeah.

As for Triumph, there was no definitive answer to a good laptop in that range a month ago. Maybe go back and read it yourself, bitch.