Still Considering New Laptop

random_soldier1337 · May 23, 2023

Hi I had made a thread a while back about a laptop purchase. I have spoilered the details answering pertinent questions about my purchase at the end, since they don't change.

However, I have made a new thread as I was hoping in the past few months prices might have dropped, if just a bit. Just in case recommendations change because of that or some other reason. I plan to complete the purchase some time next month.

Also adding a few details that might further help: I am currently using a 2017 ASUS Strix G15 with an i7 7th gen, Nvidia GTX 1070, 16 GB RAM, 15" 1080p display, 256 GB SSD + 1000 GB HDD, Windows 10 Home. Whatever I buy next I am hoping for equivalent, if not better performance, without breaking the bank.

I have little knowledge of whether AMD or Nvidia is better but assuming the latter, I am hoping to upgrade to an RTX 4000 series and I am linking a few laptops with 4090s as well as 4050s, to demonstrate some of the prices and specs that are available to me. Please help me consider what I should buy.

Some 4090s:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/razer-...2gb-ram-2tb-ssd-black/6533840.p?skuId=6533840

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/razer-...2gb-ram-2tb-ssd-black/6533938.p?skuId=6533938

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-st...ssd-64gb-memory-black/6532165.p?skuId=6532165

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-st...90-2tb-ssd-core-black/6539612.p?skuId=6539612

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...090-2tb-ssd-off-black/6535581.p?skuId=6535581

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...with-16gb-and-1tb-ssd/6544090.p?skuId=6544090

Some 4050s:

Following are details from my original thread:

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Indefinite. That said, I am not shelling out $10,000+ nor am I paying an extra $1,000 for an extra 10 GB of storage or 1 GB of RAM.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?a. Ultraportable; 10" - 12" screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen Doesn't matter. Primarily for gaming and essentially a portable machine. Whichever offers the best performance is fine for a good price.

3) In which country will you buying this notebook?

USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:
b. Dislike:

None in particular. As long as it is good quality.

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

No.

6) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?

Gaming.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Desk. It's mostly a compromise for a gaming desktop as I am not settled enough to keep a huge gaming rig I can only move once very so often.

Will you be playing games on your notebook? (If so, please state which games or types of games?)

Yes. All kinds.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Doesn't matter. Not familiar with current quality but battery was not good for gaming last I checked and again it's a compromise for a gaming desktop.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebook you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Whichever guarantees I am getting what is advertised. Also to consider, I may have to move countries in a month or two if my contract isn't renewed, so I am not sure if I will have time to make any requests of the manufacturer if things go bad. Also problematic if warrantees and other post purchase services are completely limited to the USA (i.e. nothing outside).

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, etc.

Whichever is offered with the best performance.

12) What ports do you require on your laptop? (ex. MiniDisplayPort or HDMI? Displayport or USB-C w/ DP?)

Not sure. Any help with this one?

Screen Specifics

13) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer? See further below for explanations.

Doesn't matter. I just care about the performance. I doubt anyone is selling gaming laptops below 1080p and I don't care for 4K/8K.

14) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? See further below for explanations.

Matte preferred but not required.

Build Quality and Design

15) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

No.

Notebook Components

16) How much storage space do you need?

Doesn't matter. I doubt anyone is selling below 500 GB and I don't keep too much on my computer at once.

Timing, Warranty and Longevity

17) When do you consider purchasing this laptop?

Immediately.

18) How long do you expect to use this laptop?

If all goes well, about half a decade. I have managed to use my current gaming laptop for about 6 years (with some troubles...).

19) How long could you afford to do without your laptop if it were to fail?

Not long at all.

20) Would you be willing to pay significantly extra for on-site warranty, or would it be acceptable to you to have to ship the laptop to the vendor for repair with perhaps a week or more outage?

If possible, neither. But if I have to choose, the former.

Other: For experience, I'd say to err on the side of caution and consider me a novice. I have had gaming/multimedia laptops twice before. The first had poor quality thermal paste that degraded within two years. The second (current) had it's battery swell up which I had to personally remove by opening it (which I remember being easily removable by design in my first machine) and also it's CMOS battery dried up.

To be clear, I'm not debating whether or not these should be there. I'd simply prefer these and other lifetime limiting issues not be present. Again, not debating that there should not be any. As far as paste is concerned, I know from experience that the manufacturer can definitely provide high quality thermal paste. I'd simply appreciate not having to open up my machine in a market where modularity and right to repair is being limited and it is becoming easier to brick your machine if trying to attempt a repair that can be done but the manufacturer does not provide themselves.

Please let me know if there are any other details I can provide.

Thanks and regards.

Zerileous · May 26, 2023

Just would like to point out, the only thing the laptop GPUs have in common with the desktop models is the name and generation. i.e. the 4090 mobile is not just a 4090 with a lower power limit. In a lot of ways it is closer to the 4080. It will still mop the floor with a 1070 mobile. I would honestly say that it probably gives you a real useful gaming experience. Check out this review https://www.techspot.com/review/2624-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-laptop-gpu/

I think the 4050, what I have seen, will not do that well playing current games, especially if it only has 6GB of vram. Even 8GB is proving inadequate for some 1080p Playstation ports (albeit because developers are no longer optimizing for 8GB

)

MisterEd · May 26, 2023

random_soldier1337 said:
Whatever I buy next I am hoping for equivalent, if not better performance, without breaking the bank

I looked at your list. I don't about you but a lot of those would have broken my bank.

random_soldier1337 · May 28, 2023

Zerileous said:
Just would like to point out, the only thing the laptop GPUs have in common with the desktop models is the name and generation. i.e. the 4090 mobile is not just a 4090 with a lower power limit. In a lot of ways it is closer to the 4080. It will still mop the floor with a 1070 mobile. I would honestly say that it probably gives you a real useful gaming experience. Check out this review https://www.techspot.com/review/2624-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-laptop-gpu/

I think the 4050, what I have seen, will not do that well playing current games, especially if it only has 6GB of vram. Even 8GB is proving inadequate for some 1080p Playstation ports (albeit because developers are no longer optimizing for 8GB )

Thanks. That is some really useful technical advice I wish I was getting most places I tried. I've only gotten it from you so far. Would you happen to know some way of technically and objectively assessing what I should get? A lot of places just ask your budget and tell you whatever they think is best for that price.

I probably won't get something with a 4090 since most of those seem like they are close to 4000 USD.

Amen to the poor optimization. That seems like a problem in general what with 150 GB+ install sizes, a lot of which turns out to be redundant or useless, and the AAA games being pushed out as of late requiring top of the line hardware and running like stuttering unoptimized messes even with that.

MisterEd said:
I looked at your list. I don't about you but a lot of those would have broken my bank.

They are not the actual machine I will buy. Just mentioning what is available to me in retail and what its range is.

MisterEd · May 29, 2023

random_soldier1337 said:
They are not the actual machine I will buy. Just mentioning what is available to me in retail and what its range is.

Back in 2018 I tried to be practical and bought a laptop for $650. It has integrated graphic + discrete graphics. The discrete graphics were for light gaming. That was a mistake because it is was poor for any of the games I tried. Last fall the laptop was having problems so I took that as an excuse to buy a new laptop. This time I went way beyond my budget and bought a new laptop for $1500. At least I can play the games I want.

If you can afford to spend the money buy what makes you happy. You won't regret it.

Zerileous · May 29, 2023

random_soldier1337 said:
Thanks. That is some really useful technical advice I wish I was getting most places I tried. I've only gotten it from you so far. Would you happen to know some way of technically and objectively assessing what I should get? A lot of places just ask your budget and tell you whatever they think is best for that price.

Well let's start with what kind of games you want to play, and yes, budget. Also do you have a preferred FPS/refresh rate and resolution?

On a laptop there are a lot of factors that play into budget, weight, portability, quality of built in peripherals, screen resolution and size, brightness, battery life, etc. Nearly endless factors outside of just the hardware, so pick your deal breakers and things you can compromise on, then find something that fits into your budget without overly sacrificing your priority points.

This article is a good place to start: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-laptops,4828.html

Edit just glancing at the list this seems like a pretty reasonable balance of price and performance https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo...9ed&ref=198&skuId=6534468&utm_source=narrativ

random_soldier1337 · May 29, 2023

MisterEd said:
Back in 2018 I tried to be practical and bought a laptop for $650. It has integrated graphic + discrete graphics. The discrete graphics were for light gaming. That was a mistake because it is was poor for any of the games I tried. Last fall the laptop was having problems so I took that as an excuse to buy a new laptop. This time I went way beyond my budget and bought a new laptop for $1500. At least I can play the games I want.

If you can afford to spend the money buy what makes you happy. You won't regret it.

I appreciate the thought. However, my concern is planned obsolescence. Or it doesn't even have to be planned. Just shoddy build quality that causes it to start having issues, conveniently as the warranty period runs out. That's what happened with my first one in 2010. It only had an international warranty of one year so I couldn't RMA after that and poor thermal paste meant it started throttling a lot around the turn of 2012/into 2013. Anti-right-to-repair design also meant I couldn't just do it myself.

I can spend a lot but I don't want to in case this turns out to be the case again.

Zerileous said:
Well let's start with what kind of games you want to play, and yes, budget. Also do you have a preferred FPS/refresh rate and resolution?

On a laptop there are a lot of factors that play into budget, weight, portability, quality of built in peripherals, screen resolution and size, brightness, battery life, etc. Nearly endless factors outside of just the hardware, so pick your deal breakers and things you can compromise on, then find something that fits into your budget without overly sacrificing your priority points.

This article is a good place to start: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-laptops,4828.html

Edit just glancing at the list this seems like a pretty reasonable balance of price and performance https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-legion-pro-5i-16-240hz-gaming-laptop-wqxga-intel-13th-gen-core-i7-with-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-onyx-grey/6534468.p?acampID=0&ar=1809663472360475897&cmp=RMX&irclickid=zAly8WS5wxyNWYew1s1Z:V0SUkASLO1fU2Xcxk0&irgwc=1&loc=Narrativ&mpid=376373&nrtv_cid=a343b212ae90115f102b2fd0de29b2d97f66e36786210515cade9b044198e9ed&ref=198&skuId=6534468&utm_source=narrativ

Thanks. I'll have a look at all that. I might settle on something with a 4070. That's what I am hearing from a lot of places that I have asked. But I will look at your articles and consider it a bit more thoroughly.

Zerileous · May 30, 2023

Yeah for sure, its a reasonable place to start. You could also look at older last gen maybe or higher budget. Honestly the 4070 is the lowest of the current gen laptop GPUs that I would use in a laptop. Following the trend with the other models, it is actually a 4060Ti GPU (https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/nvidia-ad106.g1014), and then running at a lower power to boot. Also 8GB is enough vram for most games out now at 1080p, but some of the newer console ports are using more. So it really depends on what you want to play. A weaker GPU even than that would be fine for a lot of older games at 1080p, especially if you don't expect super high FPS. I'm still not sure of your budget or your intended use, and that's fine because it's best if you do your own research there. I just want to make sure you don't confuse these laptop GPUs with their desktop counterparts only to be severly disappointed by the performance.

DeadSmiley · Jul 22, 2023

I got the Legion Pro 7i with i9-13900HX, RTX 4090, 32GB DDR5-5600 and a 1TB M.2 for $2,881.18 total ($2699.00 before tax, or $600 off). Free shipping and no interest for 12 months with B&H Payboo Credit Card.

I don't have any pics of my laptop. Here is a link with current pricing.

Lenovo 16" Legion Pro 7i 16IRX8H Gaming Laptop (Onyx Gray)

Buy Lenovo 16" Legion Pro 7i 16IRX8H Gaming Laptop (Onyx Gray) featuring 2.2 GHz Intel Core i9 24-Core (13th Gen), 32GB DDR5 RAM | 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD, 16" 2560 x 1600 240 Hz IPS Display, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 (16GB GDDR6), USB 3.2 Gen 1 & Gen 2 | Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1 Port, Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)...

www.bhphotovideo.com

I scored 22 119 in Time Spy

Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, NVIDIA RTX 4090 (notebook) x 1, 32768 MB, 64-bit Windows 11}

www.3dmark.com

So far, I like it. Thermals are really good unless I run it under stress tests constantly. I undervolted the CPU -100mv using the Lenovo Advantage app that comes with the laptop. It's really easy to use without getting too far down in the weeds. I am kinda beyond the point of spending a week working on the optimal undervolt/overclock.

Still Considering New Laptop

random_soldier1337

New Member

Zerileous

Senior Member

MisterEd

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random_soldier1337

New Member

MisterEd

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Zerileous

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random_soldier1337

New Member

Zerileous

Senior Member

DeadSmiley

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Lenovo 16" Legion Pro 7i 16IRX8H Gaming Laptop (Onyx Gray)

I scored 22 119 in Time Spy

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