Tech Looking for a portable gaming laptop.....

[King Sean]

So I'm totally in need of help finding a gaming laptop.. I have a budget of around 1300 and I'm looking for the most powerful and portable gaming laptop that I can take to and from school. I want to use it to take notes in class, browse the internet, do a good deal of programming, and most importantly game. I want to get into playing games on Steam when I'm not home and my current laptop is outrageously outdated.

I've had my eyes on this >>>> http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-GL551JM-DH71-Gaming-Laptop-Notebook/dp/B00MMMMMX2/ref=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_t

And this >>>>>>> http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-I...cs&ie=UTF8&qid=1423617929&sr=1-2&keywords=y50

They both aren't that portable, but I really need portability and these two have great graphics cards.

I was looking at the Yoga 3 14 inch released this year as well, but it isn't as strong graphics wise. But it is so sleek, portable, and it's four modes of use are so convenient.

I don't want any hiccups playing any games I want to down the road, and need something portable for college. What do you think?

 

[iSmiff]

I'm looking for the most powerful and portable gaming laptop that I can take to and from school.

Okay, so if you want the best value for money you're going to have to give up on gimmicks like the Yoga. You're paying for a flippy screen rather than decent hardware to run programs on with stuff like that.

Amazon isn't exactly the best place to go shopping for hardware either. I mean, it's not bad, but it's hardly a specialist. I wouldn't buy my computer from there, that's for sure.

I can't speak for the USA market but if you're serious about getting the best value for money i'd suggest building your own Laptop. Even if not literally - type it in to google and im sure there are hundreds of sites that let you 'build' your own laptop to your own specifications.

There are plenty of benchmarking websites which compare all the best processors etc so it's really down to you to do some research.

Memory and hard drive you can upgrade very easily later on so i'd suggest those are the parts you can cheap out on for the short term, whereas motherboard, graphics card etc are more of a pain in the ass to replace so i'd recommend getting the best one possible from the beginning of your purchase.

Picking your own spec is the best way to go. These bundles from places like Amazon are designed at people who don't know what they are looking for, people on a budget or parents buying laptops for their kids who are impressed by 16gb of cheap as shit RAM and don't pay attention to the pathetic processor.

Also; STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS 8. Just trust me. Build your own Laptop and pick windows 7.

 

[Six]

@Ethics could probably give you a hand. I'm savvy when it comes to computers, but not that savvy.

And even though I did love and prefer Windows 7 myself, Windows 8 is honestly not THAT bad, so if that's your option, it's not the end of the world.

What did catch my eye was the one cooling fan... for a gaming laptop? Hm... As long as you use a table and not your lap!

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

Yooooo, sup? iSmiff up there is right about the Yoga thing. Avoid gimmicks the best you can and just go straight for power and performance. For $1300, you're looking at a lot of good options. Hell, right off the bat I was able to find you this badboy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232122

Now, the processor could be better, and the graphics card isn't the best of the best, but it's still pretty beast. But, then again, it's just the first one I saw that looked decent. Newegg is a good website to go to for gaming laptops. As for brands, I HIGHLY recommend Asus and MSI. MSI can require some work at times though. If you know what you're doing, go with MSI, if you don't quite feel like troubleshooting right off the bat with a new laptop, go Asus.

Don't be afraid to shop for refurbished too. My laptop is worth $1300 and I bought the damn thing for $800 because of a scratch that was on the lid. To this day, I still don't know what the hell they were talking about. I didn't see shit then and I don't see it now. Laptop was working fine, but came with Windows 8 rather than 7. Windows 8 isn't the worst thing in the world, but you can squeeze more performance out of Windows 7. But hell, with Windows 10 coming out soon and the fact that you'll get it for free if you have either 7 or 8... yeah. No real biggie.

Always go with 64bit when it comes to processors and operating systems. Also, you don't need 16 gigs of ram. Sure, it's nice, but in a laptop, you don't need it. Desktops are a different story. Hope this helped you out, man.

 

[King Sean]

Yooooo, sup? iSmiff up there is right about the Yoga thing. Avoid gimmicks the best you can and just go straight for power and performance. For $1300, you're looking at a lot of good options. Hell, right off the bat I was able to find you this badboy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232122

Now, the processor could be better, and the graphics card isn't the best of the best, but it's still pretty beast. But, then again, it's just the first one I saw that looked decent. Newegg is a good website to go to for gaming laptops. As for brands, I HIGHLY recommend Asus and MSI. MSI can require some work at times though. If you know what you're doing, go with MSI, if you don't quite feel like troubleshooting right off the bat with a new laptop, go Asus.

Don't be afraid to shop for refurbished too. My laptop is worth $1300 and I bought the damn thing for $800 because of a scratch that was on the lid. To this day, I still don't know what the hell they were talking about. I didn't see shit then and I don't see it now. Laptop was working fine, but came with Windows 8 rather than 7. Windows 8 isn't the worst thing in the world, but you can squeeze more performance out of Windows 7. But hell, with Windows 10 coming out soon and the fact that you'll get it for free if you have either 7 or 8... yeah. No real biggie.

Always go with 64bit when it comes to processors and operating systems. Also, you don't need 16 gigs of ram. Sure, it's nice, but in a laptop, you don't need it. Desktops are a different story. Hope this helped you out, man.

The one you linked is the one that I feel the most attracted to. I've read some rad reviews on it and its performance is awesome from what I've seen on YouTube. I think it might be the one, but I'm still looking at some offerings from MSI now. I did find this site that let's me build a PC and that's awesome! I thought I was stuck with only windows 8 options This is so fun and hard.

 

[Ethics]

You and Ringo linked some solid laptops. I use ASUS myself because I enjoy their products and customer service, so I'd lean that way. The laptops they linked seem solid, and if you're sure a gaming laptop is what you want I'd recommend them, but I would like to offer a bit more information. Gaming laptops struggle to keep pace with traditional PCs because of the watered down hardware, you will likely find that you need an update far before an equally priced desktop. It might be worth picking up a cheaper laptop for your school and building a decent shrine for home. I understand if you don't consider it an option, but it is something you should really consider. I enjoy my ASUS G75-VW, but looking back, I could have truly made a monster desktop with the same budget.

Additionally, despite what people say, I've come to prefer Windows 8. In my own testing, I've managed to actually gain ~4fps in Windows 8 on the same hardware on the same game under identical conditions. I use programs such as StartIsBack and Clover to add to the experience, but I've never looked back to Windows 7 since I started using 8. Don't be disheartened if it comes with Windows 8, because it isn't as bad as people say. At the end of the day, I'd advise to a clean install of the OS anyways, so feel free to change.

Finally, my last piece of advise in this is that you should consider casting a wider net for opinions and input. While you and Ringo suggested solid laptops, we may be mistakenly overlooking something. I would suggest making a post at Tek Syndicate forums, /r/PCMR and /r/buildapc (if you decide to make a desktop). The brothers and sisters there are extremely insightful, knowledgeable and numerous. More so in at all categories than you could get here, and we would be doing you a disservice to pretend otherwise.

Welcome to the master race.

 

[iSmiff]

Do you not find windows 8 to be a RAM Hungry evil monster? Meh. Windows 7 until windows 9 comes for me..

 

[Ethics]

No, not particularly. Its performance differences are negligible at best, but there a lot of quality of life changes I'd have trouble living without now. I haven't ran any tests to prove or disprove it, but I feel as though many things are considerably more snappy and I wonder if the OS is lighter or just better utilizing my CPU. It may just be animation time, as well. Task manager is another improvement I've thoroughly enjoyed.

With StartIsBack, I often times fail to tell the difference between 7 and 8 when I am using someone else's PC who is running Win7.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

Do you not find windows 8 to be a RAM Hungry evil monster? Meh. Windows 7 until windows 9 comes for me..

Not really, no. It only uses about 2gigs of ram whereas Windows 7 was doing the same for me. I think the most problems I've ever had out of Windows 8 is that when I went to 8.1 my light up keyboard no longer lit up. I can live without that.

No, not particularly. It's performance differences are negligible at best, but there a lot of quality of life changes I'd have trouble living without now. I haven't ran any tests to prove or disprove it, but I've feel as though many things are considerably more snappy and I wonder if the OS is lighter or just better utilizing my CPU. It may just be animation time, as well. Task manager is another improvement I've thoroughly enjoyed.

With StartIsBack, I often times fail to tell the difference between 7 and 8 when I am using someone else's PC who is running Win7.

I'm going to have to try out the things you linked above. However, as it stands whereas you got a 4fps increase from Windows 8, I feel like I've gotten about that much in loss. Going to have to see if I can tweak shit. Maybe I'll actually getting around to making my keyboard light up again.

 

[King Sean]

Ugh, a lot of these laptops, including a custom one I have in another tab, are kind of heavy. I do work out and the weight isn't that bad, but then the battery life on these things is abysmal. Not to mention they all seem to have heating issues. Now I'm being pushed back into my internal ultrabook vs gaming laptop dilemma. I want to be able to play any games that I want on steam as I want to get into PC gaming, but I will be taking notes on this computer as well as doing tasks in class, playing visual novels, and many other things. Is there any laptop with good enough graphics that is also lightweight with a decent battery? I've been looking everywhere and all I see are weak ultrabooks or low stamina, powerful gaming laptops.

 

[Ethics]

Decent GPUs are quite large and output lots of heat. It's something that the industry has been attempting to remedy for year now, and we have no real good balance yet.

Unfortunately, you will have to take a hit somewhere with a laptop. Power vs size, battery and weight. Currently, there is no way around it as the demand of games outstrips that of hardware.

 

[King Sean]

Decent GPUs are quite large and output lots of heat. It's something that the industry has been attempting to remedy for year now, and we have no real good balance yet.

Unfortunately, you will have to take a hit somewhere with a laptop. Power vs size, battery and weight. Currently, there is no way around it as the demand of games outstrips that of hardware.

I know.

I guess I might just go with this one. If I can't make a compromise, then I'll go all out with power!

Sager NP8651

It is compact enough and I love the reviews I've read about it. I have seen some benchmarks of the gtx970 it comes equipped with, and they are just kick ass! The whole laptop looks awesome. Not too flashy, not too IBM 1990.

I'm paying extra for a better display and more advanced heat dispersion, but other wise, this is the best I've seen that comes close to what I want now.

 

[Ethics]

I say go for it, then. Just don't make the decision lightly...it's a big purchase.

Solid CPU, solid GPU (potentially overclockable), room for a second drive so you could even put in a SSD boot drive if you want.

 

[King Sean]

I say go for it, then. Just don't make the decision lightly...it's a big purchase.

Solid CPU, solid GPU (potentially overclockable), room for a second drive so you could even put in a SSD boot drive if you want.

I still have time to look for some more options. Definitely losing sleep over deciding on all my options.

I'm learning about computer hardware doing all this research, so that is a big plus too.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

Ugh, a lot of these laptops, including a custom one I have in another tab, are kind of heavy. I do work out and the weight isn't that bad, but then the battery life on these things is abysmal. Not to mention they all seem to have heating issues. Now I'm being pushed back into my internal ultrabook vs gaming laptop dilemma. I want to be able to play any games that I want on steam as I want to get into PC gaming, but I will be taking notes on this computer as well as doing tasks in class, playing visual novels, and many other things. Is there any laptop with good enough graphics that is also lightweight with a decent battery? I've been looking everywhere and all I see are weak ultrabooks or low stamina, powerful gaming laptops.

Sounds about right, really. Gaming laptops are motherfucking "XBox Hueg" (not typo). The weight isn't a problem you're going to solve, but hell, consider it a workout whenever you carry it. GET FIT AND PLAY GAMES AT THE SAME TIME. As for the power, put it on low performance and you have about 2 hours minimum. There are a few tricks you can use at that point as well. If your classes have power outlets, make sure you sit next to one and plug yourself in.

 

[cheney]

ASUS Or MSI was your choice when pick up laptop for gaming

My friend bought a ASUS ROG G751JY-DH71, It was a awesome machine,gives you great gaming experience, it beats everything at the similar price range