Considering New laptop

[random_soldier1337]

Hi I am in the market for a new laptop. Following is a template from laptop forums to help guide the selection process.

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.

 

[ssjwizard]

A bit expensive but Id recommend HP Omen or HP ZBook both have the option for a global service warranty, and both can be ordered with high end GPUs. Omen would be a Geforce and ZBook would be Quadro based(usually).

 

[random_soldier1337]

A bit expensive but Id recommend HP Omen or HP ZBook both have the option for a global service warranty, and both can be ordered with high end GPUs. Omen would be a Geforce and ZBook would be Quadro based(usually).

Thanks. Could you please comment with regard to the issues I mentioned about the thermal paste, battery swelling and CMOS battery dying?

 

[EarthDog]

Thanks. Could you please comment with regard to the issues I mentioned about the thermal paste, battery swelling and CMOS battery dying?

Non issues...or issues you'd see with most laptops. I don't think anyone mentions what paste they use or guarantee how long it will last. I'd say your experiences are more of a one-off than a common thing to worry about and try to prevent (especially battery swelling, CMOS batteries die like any battery). IF something like this happens (see big "if"?), rma the device... don't try to repair it.

 

[mackerel]

I'm mostly happy with my Lenovo Legion 5. 5800H + 3070, 15" 1080p 165 Hz screen. If I were to buy a new gaming laptop I'd certainly consider them again, maybe going for a 17" model unless you want to use external display. Think I'd rather have the display size now, and ideally 1440p could be useful. Cooling is decent enough for a laptop. I've had it nearly two years and no problems with it so far. I don't know if all laptops offer it, but it does have a "battery saver" mode where when it is used plugged in, it wont charge above 60%. Personally I would look for a laptop that has a mux, which might only be on higher end models. This allows the dGPU to be directly connected to display and the iGPU is disabled. This makes it run more like a desktop and you don't get Windows doing stupid things when it gets it wrong switching between the GPUs. It used to work better when it was controlled in nvidia's software, but Microsoft took over and it doesn't work for me.

Note since getting the laptop I have done some upgrades. Added 2nd SSD. Replaced original SSD with bigger one. Replaced ram with better performing and higher capacity. I had to clean the fans once as they were thick with dust.

 

[random_soldier1337]

Non issues...or issues you'd see with most laptops. I don't think anyone mentions what paste they use or guarantee how long it will last. I'd say your experiences are more of a one-off than a common thing to worry about and try to prevent (especially battery swelling, CMOS batteries die like any battery). IF something like this happens (see big "if"?), rma the device... don't try to repair it.

Thanks for the answer. What's the situation like nowadays regarding RMAs? Companies seem to have gotten a lot more anti-consumer lately so I am not sure if they won't find some loophole or try to fight me tooth and nail for it.