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General discussionNeed a gaming laptop. What's a good one under or a little over $1,000?(14 posts)(14 posts)
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Posted February 04, 2019
I've been looking into good gaming laptops around and under $1,000. It's the general range where I find PC's to be getting too expensive, but below this, I feel I'm losing out on key components.

I'm getting it for my significant other who wants to game with me on the go as she travels a lot, thus she wants a capable laptop. We've hesitated for years because we don't trust laptops to deliver as good experiences as desktops. These days they at least seem to be getting better.

I've looked at the top sellers at Newegg among other big online retailers. I'm mainly looking to get her one with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB hard drive. An IPS/anti-glare screen is a must. A backlit keyboard is beneficial but not a requirement. It needs a good and capable graphics card and processor. It needs to be capable to play all games out through at least 2018. We've been through two HP laptops (bought nearly a decade ago), and we'd like to move away from HP's, Dell's, and anything lower than a 4 out of 5 rating is out of the picture.

While it's a bit higher than what I'd like it to be, I've been eyeing the following laptop and have watched a review on Youtube:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154791

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

Apparently, the retail price of this was over $2k in 2017. It's half that now.

I already have an extra cooling fan I'm getting for any laptop I get as I know overheating can be a problem:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DQ8L38Z/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A3TJEO884AOUB3&psc=1

I'm not new to buying PC's, but I'm no pro at purchasing affordable yet powerful laptops. I've considered refurbished but a lot of them don't come with any warranty. The MSI laptops seem to have pretty good customer service, though I've never owned one, so I can't back that up yet.

I don't trust a lot of "best gaming laptop" lists as I feel they're always leaning towards the editor's preferences or a sponsored item. I would like some feedback from a community that plays a lot of PC titles.
Post edited February 04, 2019 by JinseiNGC224
Posted February 04, 2019
I just bought a laptop on sale at BestBuy for $720USD that's not the top of the Acer gaming line but good enough for me. It's an Acer Nitro 5, model ANS-15-53-52,GTX1050 Nvidia, 15GEN INTEL CORE. On the Acer website I think it retails for almost $800USD. I guess it's a "first-time gamer" kind of model, but I like how it looks, feels, sounds, and plays---not top tier but pretty nice so far. Just a suggestion, good luck.
Post edited February 04, 2019 by Fran67
Posted February 04, 2019
I cannot suggest any specific models but a couple of details:
♦ I can understand not wanting a TN panel, though they have improved so much since twenty years ago, but no need to be dead set on IPS as there are other that are very nice too. I have enjoyed MVA for instance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin-film-transistor_liquid-crystal_display
♦ Beware of eIPS, which is unsuitable for gaming!
♦ Many times, but NOT always nowadays, a mobile part number so and so does not equal the desktop version with the same name (just one example: a mobile Ryzen 5 2600H equals a desktop Ryzen 5 1400).
♦ I recommend not going for resolutions over 1920x1200 as you need such a powerful GPU to drive that.
Posted February 05, 2019
I never buy the latest and greatest. Often i'm a generation or two behind.

Think the most i've put in any single computer is $700, and it's a beefy thing.

Laptop? I wouldn't recommend it. Like having $800 phones. why????

Few days ago disappointed i couldn't get (refurbished) a $59 laptop with a swivel/touch screen... but oh well...
Posted February 05, 2019
Well, aren't you a big spender?

The last two laptops I bought were a refurbished Dell E6430 and a E7440 respectively for 239 USD each.

The way I see it, if you're buying it because it specifically says "gaming" on it, you've already lost. If you really want to knock her socks off, buy her a nice 8Bitdo controller so she doesn't have to swap controllers when a game is X or D input only. They're all bluetooth too.

As for PCs, I bought myself a nice Dell Optiplex 9010, mini tower chassis, which has more than enough room to expand and fill.
Posted February 05, 2019
I bought an HP zBook X4 G2 from B&H for $899 on sale
last Fall. I7, 16GB RAM, 14"+ screen, Wacom Digitizer pen and touch screen...blah blah blah

I bought it for work and mainly for the Wacom digitizer pen,
but it also works pretty well for playing modern games.

It has an NVida graphics card, Matt touch screen, back-lit DETATCHABLE keyboard. It's like a Surface Pro on steriods.

I like it because I can play a game in windowed mode and write notes
on the side with the pen, or(gasp) read a Walkthrough if I get stuck.

Check around for pricing and reviews to see if this may fit your needs.
Posted February 05, 2019
Last year I got a Lenovo Y520 (7th gen Core I7, 16GB RAM, GTX 1050 TI) that I have been pretty happy with. Here is a refurbished one for under $1,000:

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Legion-1920x1080-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B074PH4GF7/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1549345296&sr=8-6&keywords=lenovo+y520
Posted February 05, 2019
avatar
Darvond: The way I see it, if you're buying it because it specifically says "gaming" on it, you've already lost.
Thank you, just a bit ago I argued on another forum that laptops branded "gaming laptop" are a rip-off (especially when people think it has the same power as an equally priced tower PC) but I was alone with that opinion (or at least didn't receive any support).
Posted February 05, 2019
Had a MSI GS70 and now own a GE72, both very nice and pretty machines. If you want to do normal gaming, the machine will be fine and can be a desktop replacement. MSI laptops usually are quite easy to upgrade, changing SSD HDD, WIFI and ram is easily done. Have a bigger SSD and HDD inside. Rge GS is very mobile and lightweighted.
Downside of these MSI machines is. Because they are very thin and lightweighted, especially the hinges arent that sturdy and battery holds not for too long (but this counts for most "gaming" laptops).
Posted February 05, 2019
avatar
Lucumo: Thank you, just a bit ago I argued on another forum that laptops branded "gaming laptop" are a rip-off (especially when people think it has the same power as an equally priced tower PC) but I was alone with that opinion (or at least didn't receive any support).
Hah, it helps that I've always leaned Utilitarian. Right now, I'm typing away on a pinging, springing, buckling spring keyboard and clicking away on a trackball. (Don't even have keylegends.)
Posted February 05, 2019
avatar
JinseiNGC224: I've been looking into good gaming laptops around and under $1,000. It's the general range where I find PC's to be getting too expensive, but below this, I feel I'm losing out on key components.

I'm getting it for my significant other who wants to game with me on the go as she travels a lot, thus she wants a capable laptop. We've hesitated for years because we don't trust laptops to deliver as good experiences as desktops. These days they at least seem to be getting better.

I've looked at the top sellers at Newegg among other big online retailers. I'm mainly looking to get her one with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB hard drive. An IPS/anti-glare screen is a must. A backlit keyboard is beneficial but not a requirement. It needs a good and capable graphics card and processor. It needs to be capable to play all games out through at least 2018. We've been through two HP laptops (bought nearly a decade ago), and we'd like to move away from HP's, Dell's, and anything lower than a 4 out of 5 rating is out of the picture.

While it's a bit higher than what I'd like it to be, I've been eyeing the following laptop and have watched a review on Youtube:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154791

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

Apparently, the retail price of this was over $2k in 2017. It's half that now.

I already have an extra cooling fan I'm getting for any laptop I get as I know overheating can be a problem:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DQ8L38Z/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A3TJEO884AOUB3&psc=1

I'm not new to buying PC's, but I'm no pro at purchasing affordable yet powerful laptops. I've considered refurbished but a lot of them don't come with any warranty. The MSI laptops seem to have pretty good customer service, though I've never owned one, so I can't back that up yet.

I don't trust a lot of "best gaming laptop" lists as I feel they're always leaning towards the editor's preferences or a sponsored item. I would like some feedback from a community that plays a lot of PC titles.
Well, if it has to be a laptop I would go for an Asus one (that is a general mark of quality) but there are nice Acer-lappies as well. Try find one with a GTX 1050 or GTX 1060, that oughta give you enough juice to play most games. You will however need to limit your expectations if you haven't already: My laptop has GTX 950m (I usually play games on my desktop PC) and I've used Nvidia control panel to limit the FPS to 30, scaled back resolution to 720p on just about every game and cut back on most graphic settings. Makes for a decent experience with older games at least.
Posted February 05, 2019
I'm not up to date, but I almost got a lemon this black friday, so it's better to let others know. I don't remember the link for the product, but it was: ASUS TUF FX504 with i7 8750H and GTX 1060, all for a little under 1000USD.

That sounded so good that I just had to search around to see if there might be something wrong with it, and it turns out that the current tuf fx504 line from ASUS is utterly borked, and they're selling it cheaper to get rid of the stock. The cooling system that they used is insufficient, so in order to avoid frying the CPU, they changed the CPU throttling states in the firmware. So that awesome CPU, is barely power by 25W, when it should work at 45W.

As a general advice. NEVER get the GTX1050! Search for GTX1050Ti or higher(1060/1070/1080). Always get a SSD, either because it comes with one, or you add one. A 1TB HDD is great for storage, but a 512GB SSD for Windows and games, should be the top priority. I would say it should be a priority over the 16GB of RAM or IPS panel.
Post edited February 05, 2019 by MadalinStroe
Posted February 05, 2019
https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-6-inch-Anti-Glare-WLED-Backlit-15-cx0056wm/dp/B07KQXHP4M/

I would buy this one just because it has ridiculous specs for the price ($617.05) comparing to other models. You can add more RAM and an SSD if needed.
Post edited February 05, 2019 by PainOfSalvation
Posted February 06, 2019
avatar
PainOfSalvation: https://www.amazon.com/HP-15-6-inch-Anti-Glare-WLED-Backlit-15-cx0056wm/dp/B07KQXHP4M/

I would buy this one just because it has ridiculous specs for the price ($617.05) comparing to other models. You can add more RAM and an SSD if needed.
Wow. That's great for the price!
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General discussionNeed a gaming laptop. What's a good one under or a little over $1,000?(14 posts)(14 posts)
(14 posts)