Imo the 2060 is the sweet spot right now for laptops. Plenty of juice for 1080pSo should I go for a RTX laptop for my next or is it not worth it and got with a GTX 1080 instead?
I would ask you to answer these questions:So should I go for a RTX laptop for my next or is it not worth it and got with a GTX 1080 instead?
I have a 970m right now and I've just been casually browsing Amazon. My budget would prob be $2000 at most.I would ask you to answer these questions:
1. What do you have now? CPU/GPU
2. What is your budget?
3. At what price can you acquire a GTX 1080 laptop?
GTX 970M.... hmmm. This is a tough spot.I have a 970m right now and I've just been casually browsing Amazon. My budget would prob be $2000 at most.
Either you get small, or you get power.I recently sold my old Asus UX501 and I'm in the market for something fresh, preferably with an RTX 2060.
Thinking about making the jump to 17", for visual comfort mostly. Are there any really compact machines in that size now ? Something that would fit in a 15" case from like 5-6 years ago. Because space is a bit of an issue.
Dimension wise, the MSI GS75 is about as "compact" as a 17" laptop can get, yet I doubt it will fit in a case truly designed for 15.6" laptops.I recently sold my old Asus UX501 and I'm in the market for something fresh, preferably with an RTX 2060.
Thinking about making the jump to 17", for visual comfort mostly. Are there any really compact machines in that size now ? Something that would fit in a 15" case from like 5-6 years ago. Because space is a bit of an issue.
Either you get small, or you get power.
17" in a 15.6" frame? No.
There are 17" "slim" laptops, but if you want compact, you'll have to bite on a 15.6".
Dimension wise, the MSI GS75 is about as "compact" as a 17" laptop can get, yet I doubt it will fit in a case truly designed for 15.6" laptops.
17.3" machines are always about 1.4-1.5" longer than their smaller counterparts.
If your case is at least 15.6"x10.3"x.75" you have a shot at the slimmer 17" machines.
American prices tend to not include the added cost of taxes until you actually buy it, so maybe not that fucked.Yeah I figured this was going to be complicated.
Checked out the GS75 and it looks like a great product and good enough size, but woof, 2300 euros for the 2060 configuration is huh... pretty steep. Looks like it's lower than $2000 in the US so I really feel like I'm getting fucked there.
Since I haven't had a proper gaming laptop in ages (the 960m in the UX501 wasn't exactly top tier), maybe I'll just start with a 1070 or something because it's probably going to take long before the RTX are affordable, at least in Europe.
That 2070 mq.....how far would emulation go to? PS2? PS3? I know cemu and citra would probably run ok....
Do you need windows? A MacBook pro would probably honestly fit the bill best for music productionCan anyone recommend me a music production/gaming laptop? Budget is $1800~ but will go higher if needed. Things that are important are CPU, thin, battery life, and can be purchased on Amazon.
It will be music production 1st and gaming 2nd if that helps.
Do you need windows? A MacBook pro would probably honestly fit the bill best for music production
Acer Predator Triton 500, if you want to spend the full budget on a premium feeling, very well reviewed machine.Can anyone recommend me a music production/gaming laptop? Budget is $1800~ but will go higher if needed. Things that are important are CPU, thin, battery life, and can be purchased on Amazon.
It will be music production 1st and gaming 2nd if that helps.
Acer Predator Triton 500, if you want to spend the full budget on a premium feeling, very well reviewed machine.
Depending on the game the RTX 2060 is 20-35% at 1080p Ultra settings.Thanks. That looks perfect. I've been out of the loop on the laptop GPU side of things. How big is the jump from a GTX 1060 to RTX 1060? If not that big, Is there a laptop like this one with a slight downgrade at GPU to save a little cash? If not, this one will be at the top of the list.
Depending on the game the RTX 2060 is 20-35% at 1080p Ultra settings.
To step down I'd just wait for the new GTX 1660 Ti laptops that are reported to be dropping in the next few weeks. No reason to look at the GTX 1060 when these will be hundreds cheaper than the RTX 2060 SKUs.
American prices tend to not include t
Yeah, it seems 1660 Ti will be great price point coupled with better battery. Should be substantially faster then a 1060, marginally slower then a 2060, but cheaper and able to fit into slimmer systems for less.Depending on the game the RTX 2060 is 20-35% at 1080p Ultra settings.
To step down I'd just wait for the new GTX 1660 Ti laptops that are reported to be dropping in the next few weeks. No reason to look at the GTX 1060 when these will be hundreds cheaper than the RTX 2060 SKUs.
I'd feel comfortable betting money, that this 1080p 240Hz TN panel looks better than any 1080p IPS laptop display you've used prior.Edit: Looks like the 240hz panels are TFT. That's probably going to a no go from me. I'll hold out a little longer and see how low the 8th Gen 2060s drop to in the next few weeks.
I'd feel comfortable betting money, that this 1080p 240Hz TN panel looks better than any 1080p IPS laptop display you've used prior.
If MSI has thunderbolt, you can always get an external enclosure. If its for music/videos/docs/etc can always put together a NAS.Thinking about getting myself a gaming laptop soon. I could really use freeing up some space on my desk and as my monitor is on its way out I figured it would be a good time.
At the moment I'm considering the MSI GS65 Stealth or the Razer Blade 15. I think I like the GS65 more but the lack of extra storage does worry me a bit if I'm expecting this to replace my current desktop.
Going to be a couple of months of putting money aside before I can afford either though so I'll definitely be doing some more research then as well.
Factory defaults = How the laptop came out of the box, meaning Acer's defaults.Hi, guys.
Just got an Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop for work and would like to reset to factory defaults. Will this remove any pre-installed Acer apps and driver's?
Thank you.
Your CPU is soldered to the motherboard so an upgrade is not possible.Hi everyone
How hard is it to swap out a CPU in a laptop? Bought a laptop with an I7 7500U (940mx) in it a bit over a year ago. Didn't game on it much due to having a PS4.
Recently been travelling and am looking to use my laptop more for gaming. Don't mind running things on 720/low but want good frame rates and being a dual core it's just to limited.
It's obviously not a good time to do a complete upgrade, but if it's possible to put a CPU with enough cores to run current gen games for a good price that would be ideal
You're more GPU limited.Hi everyone
How hard is it to swap out a CPU in a laptop? Bought a laptop with an I7 7500U (940mx) in it a bit over a year ago. Didn't game on it much due to having a PS4.
Recently been travelling and am looking to use my laptop more for gaming. Don't mind running things on 720/low but want good frame rates and being a dual core it's just to limited.
It's obviously not a good time to do a complete upgrade, but if it's possible to put a CPU with enough cores to run current gen games for a good price that would be ideal
Factory defaults = How the laptop came out of the box, meaning Acer's defaults.
You would want to use Microsoft's Media Creation Tool to do a true "clean install".
Thanks for this great writeup, I recently upgraded from an Alienware R3 to a Lenovo Legion Y740 but I was considering this model before deciding that at the moment it was too rich for my blood. I love that the hype is real on it though and I'll keep it on my radar in the future when I cycle out the second 13-inch R3 and turn the Y740 into my backup.Cross-posing
Hey all!
I posted here several months ago after ordering the Area 51M, and after a few weeks with it - and with jut a couple days left in my return period - figured it might be helpful to post some impressions. TL;DR version - Lots of positive surprises, but still has some of the issues you'd expect from a desktop replacement from AW. Overall, though, I'll definitely be keeping it.
First things, first - Dell's ordering process is absolute garbage. Simple as that. If I want a MacBook Pro, I go to Apple's website, click MBP, select a size, have a drop down for some options, and order. The laptop arrives in 2-3 days. Even on brand new releases (I've ordered several within an hour of them going up), Apple's 1-2 week delivery is HYPER conservative. I ordered the Area 51M in the middle of February, and after not one... not two... not three... but FOUR delays, I finally received it in the first week of April. Every single time I was given no notice or courtesy email. I had to reach out to Dell and waste my time to get an update. And that's just shipping. The actual process of ordering it is a pain, too. There are a million combinations of this thing on their site, and eventually you'll find there will be one "pre-configured spec" that, once customized, ends up being more affordable for your desired build - even when every.single.part is the same - than ordering a different configuration start. And then every other week there's a 15% of here, $300 off there, 17% off there but with higher prices, etc. Just... yuck.
Fortunately, the machine itself has been great!
You immediately notice the build quality. It's not svelte like a MBP or Surface... but it's not trying to be. It's a non-apologetic desktop replacement - meant only to be moved on rare occasion to the LAN party, the hotel for an extended stay, or to your buddy's on a weekend. This is not meant for coffee shop reading or airport lap work. But it doesn't try to be that. It's a tank, and fortunately feels supremely solid - possibly the most rigid palm rest of all time - zero keyboard flex. A wonderful, solid hinge. Everything just feels of very high quality, and I'm a huge stickler for that. Keyboard feels just fantastic. The trackpad is far from Apple good, but it's toe-to-toe with Razer or Surface, IMO; though I wish it was a bit bigger. While yes, it's heavy, and yes, it's large, it's much smaller in person than I expected. I had the Alienware DTR of old in my mind, but really, it just feels like a Dell or Toshiba or HP laptop from ~8 years ago; just MUCH better build. But it's not a monstrosity - the thin bezels and angled design when closed really bring the thing to a manageable size when sitting on a desk.
The screen is the best 1080p LCD laptop screen I've ever used. On one hand, that's a great compliment... on another, that obviously makes it clear it could be much better. Backlight bleed and LCD glow are kept to a minimum. Colors are solid. It gets more than bright enough for inside the home. 144hz G-Sync is incredible - I'm used to 165hz at my desk and so giving up the high refresh rate would be really hard. It's a good monitor, for sure. And the thin bezels again make it pretty modern looking. But at the end of the day, I do think being 1080p is probably the biggest knock I have against the whole device. Thing is, the rumor is we'll see 4K - possibly high refresh rate - later in the year. Will I regret that? I don't think so (unless they suprise with OLED); I think 1440p would be the sweet spot, but rumors also suggest that's never coming.
Most importantly though... performance, right?
I spent a solid week tweaking, and while I've been able to clock higher and chase 3D Mark scores, the stability hasn't been quite there and temps were ridiculous. For day to day gaming, right now I've been sticking with the following; though I may bump things down even a bit further in the interest of temps:
i9 9900K @ 5Ghz on all 8 cores with ThrottleStop. -125mv Undervolt.
RTX 2080 @ 1875 boost clock @ 875mv, +300 on the memory
64GB DDR4 @ 2400 (BIOS update rumored to unlock 2666 - so, so lame)
1TB 970 Evo Plus x2 in RAID0 with generic heatsinks from Amazon
I've been stable in 3-4 passes of 3DMark, an hour of R6 Siege there, an hour of Overwatch over here, and an hour of PUBG there. The tiniest adjustment to the UV on the CPU gives me total system freezes; any lower mV or higher clocks on the 2080 gives me some graphical glitches in Metro Exodus. That said... pretty insane for a laptop, don't ya think?!
Overwatch sees the CPU hit about ~75c average and 80c max; GPU hits about 70c max.
R6 Siege - which is notoriously hard on CPU - hits about 80c on average and hits 90c VERY rarely for a split second. GPU hits about 67 max.
PUBG has no idea what it's doing, but averages after 3 rounds at 74c on CPU and 69c on GPU.
FireStrike nets me at 24K like this, I got to 26K with more agressive settings. 28,000 graphics score.
This is all with unlocked framerate and "performance" fans which is about 1 tier down from max. They're loud, but they're not whiny and they wouldn't be picked up on a headset.
I intend to De-lid my CPU and I already have some FujiPoly Extreme pads and Thermal Grizzy K paste for the CPU and GPU. All that replacing the stock cooling should easily shave another 3-4c on all the temps above.
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So yeah - it runs warm, for sure. But versus other gaming laptops, I feel like it's pretty damn solid - and that's ignoring the fact it's a full desktop 9900k which runs hot in anything, and a 200w 2080. It's not nearly as cool as my old custom water loop - but it's in a laptop, ya know? And something about that just seems cool to me. In no way, shape, or form do I think most would want to justify the cost - it's spending a lot of money to get objectively worse performance and cooling than a desktop, of course. But, it fills a niche that I find pretty exciting, and I'm really glad this exists, even if I know I'll probably go right back to a desktop in a couple years when I grow bored of the "uniqueness."
Happy to answer any questions!
You're so right about that. I have an Alienware 17 R4 with the Vindicator rolling bag to take it as carry on. I flew enough times with it to get pissed off at the bag and size. Ended up getting a 13 R3 OLED to travel with.It's a non-apologetic desktop replacement - meant only to be moved on rare occasion to the LAN party, the hotel for an extended stay, or to your buddy's on a weekend. This is not meant for coffee shop reading or airport lap work.
What's your price range?I'm starting to look into possibly switching from desktop gaming to getting a gaming laptop.
My current PC has an i5-8400 and a GTX 1070 (not the ti version) and I'm pretty happy with its performance.
What's the rough equivalent to those specs on a laptop? Could I get one of the upcoming cheapish GTX 1650/1660 laptops and get similar performance.
Also, I know Costco get pretty great deals sometimes, does anyone know how often those sales come around? Just Christmas time/black Friday, or are there any summer sales?
I don't need a laptop right this second, so I can wait for a solid sale.
That's a good question! Haha.
Do you mind if I PM you?That's a good question! Haha.
For now I'm looking in the $1000-1200 range.
Really depends on what I'm able to sell my Desktop for (never sold a custom PC before, don't really know where to start, hopefully I can get at least $500 for it), and my older little Surface 3 tablet (can probably get at least $250 for that).
The more I get from those the higher I can go. I know the $1500 range can get some pretty good specs, but I don't want to break the bank getting one of these (which is why I'm open to waiting for sales).
Not at all, go ahead.
I have been eyeing those Lenovo Legion's. I like how they keep the "gamer" aesthetic minimal, and a normal looking keyboard,and I like that they have a bunch of ports on the rear.Just lateraling directly from desktop 1070 to laptop 1070 is well within that budget. Hell I recently bumped up to 2060 and it was only about $1300 for the whole laptop (Legion Y740).
1060 or 1660?MSI has already some 1060 TI laptops available here. I might jump on the GL63.
Whoops, meant 1660 :)
Did you ever get this sorted?Welllp
Got my Legion Y740 (yay!), went to do a clean install, now it's booting to black ;__;
I heard Cortana the first time I started it up, now it's just sorta sitting there. I can get into bios, so I don't think it's a display thing.
Guess I'm gonna have to work up an installation media and boot from USB next.