"Tripper" (tripe46)
11/21/2016 at 10:52 • Filed to: None
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"Tripper" (tripe46)
11/21/2016 at 10:52 • Filed to: None | 0
| 23 |
One of my co workers wants to buy a gaming laptop for his son (yes it has to be a laptop, first question I asked). I’m in the “biz” but I’ve not purchased anything geared for games in over a decade. The kid for whom the PC is being purchased plays mostly FPS games.
I can get a slight discount on anything from Alienware because of our business account with Dell. I told them to expect to spend between $1200-2000.
So what say you Oppo? What would you get yourself with that kind of a budget?
Have a pretty GTV for your time, and a happy start to a short week.
Nibby
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 10:56 |
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gaming laptops are a complete waste, tell him to get a gaming desktop instead.
“gaming” laptops generally do not last very long, overheat, have poor battery life, tend to be bulky and not very portable, and... unless you spend well over $2,000 you will never get desktop level performance.
Seriously, gaming laptops are not a good idea
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Tripper
> Nibby
11/21/2016 at 11:00 |
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So what would you recommend over 2k?
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Nibby
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:00 |
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build a desktop for half the price and buy a decent laptop for everyday use/schoolwork
MUSASHI66
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:09 |
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Costco has a cheap one
$999 and you get a three year warranty if you buy it with a costco CC.
Or this one for $1300
You can spend a lot, up to $2800.
http://www.costco.com/laptops.html?refine=30113+766879&COSTID=Laptops_Gaming
I’d buy a gaming desktop too if I had the choice, but if it has to be a laptop..
StoneCold
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:11 |
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http://lifehacker.com/5950321/when-buying-two-computers-is-cheaper-than-buying-one
Listen to Whitson.
A $1000 tower and a $500-600 laptop is a good productive combo.
JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:12 |
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The price you pay for a gaming laptop is a big, heavy machine with shitty battery life. That being said, the Dell 7559 “Inspiron 15 Gaming” is the machine I got. It’s kinda fat, the battery life when gaming is *SHIT*, maybe 1.5-2 hours, but if you turn on all the power saving crap it just about manage 4-5 hours of web browsing/video playback. It’s got a 4GB GTX960M, (I got the i5 6300HQ version, but it’s also available with an i7 6700HQ) which will run most modern games at high graphic setting in 1080P at ~60FPS, and with a little back off on the AA and quality it should make an FPS player happy with frame rate. I got the regular HD screen, but it is also available optioned with a 4K screen, but that 960M isn’t gonna make an FPS player happy with framerates running at 4K, so unless you like a super-high-res desktop I’d skip that upgrade. Has an 80mm SATA3 M.2 slot and a 2.5" SATA3 bay. I’m not sure it supports RAM beyond 16GB, but 16 is pretty satisfactory for most gaming uses, if not *REALY* heavy multi-tasking. It can also be had for less than $1K. I would *NOT* waste money on a more powerful gaming laptop, it’ll be a MONSTER and a lap-burner, not to mention having even WORSE battery life. But, if like me, you want a machine that *CAN* play games pretty acceptably and still has a chance at being considered portable, it’s an OK thing. nice screen, pretty decent keyboard. The new Alienware 13 looks pretty sweet, but I can’t imagine it has very good battery life or heat management with those specs crammed in a machine that physically small.
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Tripper
> Nibby
11/21/2016 at 11:13 |
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The main reason I posted this is because I agree with you. If I wanted a gaming PC I would build a desktop tomorrow. I wouldn’t get a gaming laptop, but that is what these people want. I’ve already told them that it’s cheaper and better to get/build a desktop. So I have nothing to gain by pushing them into a desktop except blame if it’s not what they/their kid wants.
punkgoose17
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:15 |
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I agree with Nibby on build a desktop and buy a decent laptop for school work. If they are set on a laptop a base Alienware 17 and then replace it with the base Alienware 19 in 2 years.
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Nibby
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:16 |
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if he must, tell him to look at MSI GS60
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Tripper
> StoneCold
11/21/2016 at 11:17 |
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I’m well aware that “gaming” laptops are not as good and more expensive. Had they said that they would go for a desktop, I wouldn’t have even posted about it.
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Tripper
> JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t
11/21/2016 at 11:21 |
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Awesome, thanks for the insight.
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Nibby
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:22 |
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ok look at these two
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154301
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154411
Aaron M - MasoFiST
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:28 |
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The closest you’ll actually get to combining real portability with real gaming capability is buying an external graphics card mount for a laptop. The Razer Blade Stealth plus Razer Core is the only out-of-the-box combo I know of for this, since I’m assuming this customer isn’t interested in anything more complicated than plug-and-play. The laptop plus the core is still $1,800, so it’s a waste of money for anyone but the most diehard adherent to only having one computer.
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Tripper
> Nibby
11/21/2016 at 11:31 |
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Thanks! This kid is young, so the colored keyboard is going to be a big plus lol. I’m going to make a final stand when I go back to the parents with some options. I told them it was cheaper/better to build a desktop and they didn’t care. However, when I tell them that they will probably be buying another laptop before their son ever uses this one for school they might give it a second thought. They think they’re making an investment for the long term.
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Nibby
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:33 |
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Computers are rarely an investment... how old is the kid?
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StoneCold
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:35 |
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Then first, you say they should get two separate ones.
Then, you can recommend this one on closeout from xoticpc as a heavy-hitter option:
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt62vr-dominator-pro-005.html
Or a Dell option that they’d have to add an SSD, and I’d recommend upping the display for $50:
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/alienware-15-laptop/dkcwf03hgsync
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Tripper
> Nibby
11/21/2016 at 11:43 |
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He’s not in HS yet, so 12 or younger? They travel a lot and I think that is why his parents are pressing the laptop.
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JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:45 |
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Oh, if they *DO* get the 7559, beware of driver issues with the touchpad and SSD (depending on if you get a Transcend, SanDisk or non-OEM SSD). It’s a picky little fucker and if you let W10 update it instead of using the approved Dell drivers you’ll have issues. It took me quite a while to iron out a slow-boot and occasional Critical_Process_Died durring boot-time stop-screen, that turned out to be related to the touchpad driver that I had let W10 update automatically.
(this is a common problem with gaming laptops as they tend to feature somewhat esoteric hardware)
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JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 11:58 |
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oh, and for GODSAKES, uninstall the McAfee trial virus-ware *immediately* using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool, not just the add-remove software control panel. It *WILL* fuck shit up all over the place. Install Avast or AVG, they both play better with W10 and the Anniversary Update. McAfee is actually supposed to *BLOCK* the Anniversary Update becuase it’s not compatible, but the blocker fails to work correctly and then the system updates anyway and you’ll end up with shit broken so deep in the registry that the only sane fix is to do a clean install. Ask me how I know. This actually goes for *ANY* machine that comes with McAfee and W10. Just don’t let it happen. bin that shit as fast as you can.
Grindintosecond
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 12:00 |
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Why does it have to be a laptop? What was the reasonable reason?
suba-wagen
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 12:23 |
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I’ll echo all others and say to buy a desktop but since that isn’t an option take a look at Sager Laptops. Custom builds and I have a coworker who swears by them. The price is right there within your quote as well
4kc
> Tripper
11/21/2016 at 13:06 |
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Be sure to point out a gaming laptop is basically not fuctional not plugged in, so it’s portability is extremely questionable
Axial
> Tripper
11/22/2016 at 00:41 |
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On a $2000 budget? I would purchase a Razer Blade 14".