Seeking laptop advice

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Seeking laptop advice

Postby Absentia » Wed Jan 17, 2018 7:12 am

All right, team. My laptop situation has become untenable. As documented elsewhere, the hinges on my Acer that I got six fucking months ago have gone bad and the thing is literally falling apart. So after spending an evening on Amazon pulling my hair out trying to figure out the details on the stuff they're listing, I decided maybe I ought to see if anyone here either has something they're happy with or knows enough to give me a recommendation.

I'm looking for a relatively modest gaming laptop in the $800 range that can run something like Overwatch at a respectable speed. Right now I've got a GeForce 940MX GPU and it does fine; I'm not going back to integrated graphics. The other major concern is durability because I can't keep buying two of these every year, so I'm thinking I need something with a metal chassis. Any helpful advice is appreciated unless you tell me to get a Mac.
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Re: Seeking laptop advice

Postby Qinglong » Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:46 pm

I don't have any direct experience with gaming laptops, but the Wirecutter has an article on budget gaming laptops. Their recommended model is $900, but some of the article comments indicate that discounts may be available. Even if you aren't interested in their recommendation, they also have a list of laptops to avoid.
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Re: Seeking laptop advice

Postby Absentia » Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:04 pm

Hmm, I had been looking at some of the cheaper Inspiron models but that does look like quite a beast for $900. My only reservation is the plastic case, but the reviews seem to praise the build quality and it's hard to find metal in this price range.

Someday when I have a settled living situation I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go back to gaming on a desktop. Having to sit up at a desk is a drag but I'm just so tired of dealing with shoddy laptop components. It's probably cheaper to just invest in a really comfortable chair.
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Re: Seeking laptop advice

Postby iMURDAu » Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:47 pm

Please don't get a Dell. They're not built like they used to be and their customer service is awful.
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Re: Seeking laptop advice

Postby A Combustible Lemon » Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:06 am

You'll find the best laptop reviews on the internet on https://www.notebookcheck.net/ . Especially useful is the GPU benchmarks they have, which are expressed in framerates at resolution+graphics-setting ordered by how well which game does. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer- ... 849.0.html Overwatch is on this list last I checked.

Usually my process is to find good deals/discounts on laptops, then verify if it's really as good as it sounds by checking the GPU on the benchmark list, then check the actual review to see if they point out any obvious flaws like palm heating.

You also don't need to worry about the integratedness if you're getting a 10 series card. There's a huge gap between this generation and the last, to the extent that the 1070's a better card than the 980Ti (exaggerating but not nearly as much as you'd think). Further, they've removed the M models. the 1080's so efficient the 1080M is just a 1080.
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Re: Seeking laptop advice

Postby Absentia » Thu Jan 18, 2018 7:53 am

ACL, that site has some good information about GPUs but I'm having a hard time browsing their model reviews because they pretty much all link to the wrong listing on Amazon and base their price on whatever random thing they're linking to. So far I've found a $20 "laptop" that is actually a laptop case and a $180 "laptop" that is actually a phone.

murda, everyone's customer service is bad. I have never had a good customer service experience with a computer manufacturer. The problem is that Dell seems to be one of the few players in the lower-end gaming market and I don't see a lot of other good options.
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Re: Seeking laptop advice

Postby A Combustible Lemon » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:31 am

I've never used it from the site side, as I said, I usually go there from amazon or the dell website after shortlisting a few laptops I'm interested in. But usually the model number's enough to find the actual laptop you're looking at. I prefer the site because of the amount of info on there that I don't see in other sites, like overlaying competitor sizes on top of this one, a proper side view of the laptop so I can check out port locations and stuff.
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Re: Seeking laptop advice

Postby Absentia » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:05 am

I went to Best Buy to check out the Dell in person and talk to the sales guy about it and I think that's what I'm going to get. I think I'm going to see if I can get a protective case for it, too.

Thanks, guys.
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