Computering idiot looking for help to pick a new laptop.

[Redflyingmonkey]

Hey. 

There must have been like, hundreds of those kinds of posts here and I've seen a lot of insightful advice, so I'm calling out for help here. I have absolutely no idea how to pick a computer which fits what my needs and my wants. My budget is around 1400€, which should be roughly 1900$. I'm looking for a laptop with an i7, a decent (and silent !) cooling system, 16go memory, Nvidia graphics (I have no idea how to pick laptop cards, but I recon a 860M should be around what I want), and if possible with over 5 hours of autonomy. 

I'm going to be flying around a lot next year, I got some work in Cambodia then I have to finish my college year in France before leaving at the end of the year for Australia, so I'm really looking for a powerful gaming laptop which could run the long distance and work properly even while working on batteries. 

Thank you a thousand times in advance to anyone who answers ! 

[sorsharavenwing]

This is what I have: http://www.asus.com/us/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/ASUS_ROG_G750JS/ and I absolutely love it. They say it only gets 3.5 hours battery life. But I've modified my power settings and can get just over 4.5 hours out of a full charge.

[Rayblue]

Alienwares are built for gaming but somewhat overrated; didn't like Acers and MSIs because of overheating and build quality... also, any laptop with Optimus would be a pain in the ass if you use ENBs.

 

Apparently with their GPU power half of what their desktop counterparts churn out, in laptops I think SweetFX does better along with Dynavision, providing some ENB features without taxing your would-be machine.

[Redflyingmonkey]

The ASUS's specs are really close to what I'm looking for but it's reaaaally ugly tho ! I'm definitely bookmarking this one, if I don't find any better in the next days I'm taking this one. 

And yeah, no AlienWare, I don't know much about gaming laptops but I'm certainly not buying one of those, I've tried two and they've been disappointing compared to their description and the advertisement. Also, I know about this issue with Optimus, but I'm playing right now on a laptop with switchable graphics (a HP notebook, not great but it gets the job kind of done) without having any issue with ENB, so if I can find one like this with better specs that'd be great. 

[SirNibbles]

If u live in the netherlands or the UK (ur talking about euro's so yh....) u could try this site: pcspecialist.co.uk

 

In there u can choose ur own custom parts including the chassis for a cheap price (compared to other websites).

If u don't live in the netherlands or UK it's another story, but I can assure u that website is trustable. Ordered my current laptop from there too and it works perfect.

[zzz72w3r]

My only advice is to never buy "gaming" laptop, whether it is the brand or the product.  They are always either overpriced or sacrificed built quality for some spec highlights.  Go for a solid grade from a solid brand within your budget with higher allocation to GPU, that's all.  For example Lenovo ThinkPad is usually of better quality than its IdeaPad grade and that Toshiba Satellite class almost always use the cheapest components. 

[lidowxxx]

If you are going to spend that much money on a laptop, I'd suggest you make a post on this forum: http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/

 

Very good laptop site and a great community, I used to be an active member there for a long time until I gave up on laptop gaming, there are lots of laptop gurus that can help you pick the right one for you. Just copy and answer the questionnaire in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/29271-what-should-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html  and then start your post. It's worth the registration, trust me, you don't want to buy a 2k $ computer and start resenting your decision after some days use.

[zzz72w3r]

Oh, screen size is usually the most important factor in picking a laptop.  It determines budget, battery life and mobility.  17" is good for gaming but is effectively immobile.  12-13" is probably the largest one should go in terms of real mobility.  15" is a compromise but in my opinion a lousy one. 

[lidowxxx]

My only advice is to never buy "gaming" laptop, whether it is the brand or the product.  They are always either overpriced or sacrificed built quality for some spec highlights.  Go for a solid grade from a solid brand within your budget with higher allocation to GPU, that's all.  For example Lenovo ThinkPad is usually of better quality than its IdeaPad grade and that Toshiba Satellite class almost always use the cheapest components. 

This guy is somewhat right about gaming laptops, they do not always have inferior build quality, but overall laptop parts(GPU and Motherboard in particular) are much more likely prone to fail compare to their desktop counterparts due to cramped space/very poor cooling. I have bought 2 gaming laptops over the last few years, an Asus G50vt and an Alienware M17xr3, they all ended up dead in 2-3 years, worst part about the Alienware is I RMAed it 3 times during the warranty!! Once was because of motherboard, twice because of faulty GPUs, and the GPU went south 1 month right after the warranty expired. After that I swear I will never buy a gaming laptop again, a total waste of money and a headache, multimedia laptop with a decent GPU might be the highest I'd probably go for.

[Redflyingmonkey]

 

This guy is somewhat right about gaming laptops, they do not always have inferior build quality, but overall laptop parts(GPU and Motherboard in particular) are much more likely prone to fail compare to their desktop counterparts due to cramped space/very poor cooling. I have bought 2 gaming laptops over the last few years, an Asus G50vt and an Alienware M17xr3, they all ended up dead in 2-3 years, worst part about the Alienware is I RMAed it 3 times during the warranty!! Once was because of motherboard, twice because of faulty GPUs, and the GPU went south 1 month right after the warranty expired. After that I swear I will never buy a gaming laptop again, a total waste of money and a headache, multimedia laptop with a decent GPU might be the highest I'd probably go for.

 

That's what is really scaring me, I really don't want to have constant issues with a laptop until it ultimately dies and fills up my closet like an expensive decoration thingy. I bought 4 laptops the last 5 years, 2 of them are now hiding a hole on my wall, while I put my stash of weed in the other. But at the same time, I can't do without, I got a decent desktop rig at my parents' house and it has been sitting there for years, I changed parts and upgraded it a hundred times and I can't move it, takes too much space and as I've said, I need to move a lot so it's really not practical. 

Thanks for the info people, I'm going to post the same thing on some other forums too. 

[GrayRune]

didn't like Acers and MSIs because of overheating and build quality... also, any laptop with Optimus would be a pain in the ass if you use ENBs.

 

I second the avoidance of Acers and MSIs. I've had nothing but problems with Acers in my work, and while MSIs are OKAY (I say that with much generosity), I wouldn't use them for gaming. Their support isn't that great either, if you did end up having problems.

 

In regards to monitor size, I agree with w3r6zz72z - 17" is nice, but usually too big and heavy for mobility. Personally, I can't game on an 11-13" though - it just feels too small. 15" hits a nice middleground for me. I used to heft a 15" Dell Inspiron E1505 around back in 2006. Laptops have gotten thinner since then luckily, so 15" shouldn't be that bad nowadays. However, it is subjective so it's best to actually check out a live model and see how it feels to you in size and weight.

 

Don't forget your plug adaptor with all that globe-hopping.

[zzz72w3r]

Let me elaborate why "gaming" laptop is a bad idea:

 

The reason gaming laptops are prone to break is very obvious: heat generated from the GPU.  The only way to solve the heat problem is via active cooling but reliable and dependable active cooling inside a small form factor is very difficult to design.  Most big brands don't want to do gaming laptops because they tend to engineer their products with very high hurdle rate of MTTF (mean time to failure) usually way beyond the standard 1 year warranty.  Their internal varying hurdle rates is basically what separates a Thinkpad from Ideapad, i.e. business vs. consumer class laptops, and what we commonly refer to as built quality.  High MTTF = higher costs for the same performance.  Major brands do not believe they can profitably sell a gaming laptop meeting their MTTF hurdle rate because of the thermal problem. 

 

Gaming laptop brands have a much lower hurdle rate for built quality because they are not looking to build life long brand loyalty.  The gaming laptop demographics usually buy just one or two before graduating to either business or consumer/multimedia laptops because of real life.  So these companies engineer their products emphasizing performance in order to grab that first purchase.  These machines sacrifice MTTF to get performance under a certain price point.

 

This is why I advice against "gaming" laptop in general because there are trade offs between price, performance and reliability.

 

PS: I am also against stashing weed using a gaming laptop because the heat can be fire hazard

[Redflyingmonkey]

Let me elaborate why "gaming" laptop is a bad idea:

 

The reason gaming laptops are prone to break is very obvious: heat generated from the GPU.  The only way to solve the heat problem is via active cooling but reliable and dependable active cooling inside a small form factor is very difficult to design.  Most big brands don't want to do gaming laptops because they tend to engineer their products with very high hurdle rate of MTTF (mean time to failure) usually way beyond the standard 1 year warranty.  Their internal varying hurdle rates is basically what separates a Thinkpad from Ideapad, i.e. business vs. consumer class laptops, and what we commonly refer to as built quality.  High MTTF = higher costs for the same performance.  Major brands do not believe they can profitably sell a gaming laptop meeting their MTTF hurdle rate because of the thermal problem. 

 

Gaming laptop brands have a much lower hurdle rate for built quality because they are not looking to build life long brand loyalty.  The gaming laptop demographics usually buy just one or two before graduating to either business or consumer/multimedia laptops because of real life.  So these companies engineer their products emphasizing performance in order to grab that first purchase.  These machines sacrifice MTTF to get performance under a certain price point.

 

This is why I advice against "gaming" laptop in general because there are trade offs between price, performance and reliability.

 

PS: I am also against stashing weed using a gaming laptop because the heat can be fire hazard

 

Yeah, but at the end of the day I still "need" one, as in I want to play games this coming year and a gaming laptop is kind of the only way around. I agree with your analysis but still, tbh it does not really help me regarding this problem, it's just making me even more nervous about buying one (and it will be bought !). So, how to say it, I know gaming laptops are unreliable but if someone could indicate me the "least unreliable" of the lot, that could last at least for 4 years (I'm not doing hardcore gaming, just graphic intensive games for 3/4 hours max one time every two days), that'd be great ! 

 

PS : Don't worry, I was talking about my laptops that fried the past 5 years, they're completely unusable, so no fire hazard and my weed is safe. 

[zzz72w3r]

Sigh, as in desktops function wise a so called "gaming" laptop is no different from a regular laptop with good GPU hence my usage of "gaming" instead of gaming.  Since you already made up your mind on must getting a "gaming" laptop instead of a good laptop that you can play games then you are better off seeking advice in the gaming forums in notebookreview.com for specific models.  Be specific over there or you will get plenty of recommendations that are not "gaming" laptops.