PC Sherdog Gaming Laptop & Review Thread (OP Updated Apr-2019)

[avenue94]

Well, being the decisive sort, she's already gone ahead and ordered the HP so from here on out it's moot unless she finds it's not adequate during the return window. But I will keep this in mind if that happens. That one at $650 seemed ok. Thanks for your effort.

As an overanalyzer when shopping, I salute your wife's decisiveness.

 

[Andy Capp]

As an overanalyzer when shopping, I salute your wife's decisiveness.

Yeah, you can quickly reach the point of diminishing returns when it comes to that stuff but it can also pay off if your needs are very specific.

I'm somewhat like you. That's why I hate shopping. But she's a beast when it comes to that.

 

[avenue94]

Yeah, you can quickly reach the point of diminishing returns when it comes to that stuff but it can also pay off if your needs are very specific.

I'm somewhat like you. That's why I hate shopping. But she's a beast when it comes to that.

Yeah, I don't like shopping at this point since my busy seasons are when people are shopping lol. There's something to be said about just spending a little extra money so you're done and don't have to think about it.

As far hotface USB card, I got nothing, it's most likely a bad translation of something lol.

 

[Andy Capp]

I'm not at all bothered by a second set of eyes, here, but I don't understand. He is getting RAM. The 32GB in the unit he has selected is double-- and sometimes quadruple-- what most offerings in that price range carry. He also managed to find a unit with a whopping 2TB SSD which is quite impressive for $849 CAD ($628 USD for reference of comparison to us Yanks).

The thing about "business class" laptops that aren't truly business class (a vague terminology alluding to a superior build quality) which is pretty much all laptops under $1500 is that it often makes sense to sacrifice some processing power bang-for-your-buck. That's because the low-end processors today are more than enough for most business users, and because the cooling systems are not robust, so a less powerful processor tends to stress the laptop less, meaning that it enjoys a longer lifespan operating in its ideal performance state as it would out of the box the first time.

That's why I think his find is better than this $899 HP Pavilion on Memory Express, for example, which has the significantly more powerful overall processor in the i5-1340P. For gaming or editing, that's a very large advantage. However, look at the web browser benchmarks and single core scores comparing those processor. These are more meaningful for how an office user or casual home user would use a laptop. There's almost no difference at all. And the i3 will offer this parity at a lower temp. Meanwhile, the only other disadvantages are the slightly slower ports (no Thunderbolt) and the inferior WiFi networking card (WiFi 5 in his unit vs. WiFi 6 in the Pavilion). So for $50 less, he's getting 4x the SSD storage, double the RAM, that bonus 32GB flash drive, an SD media card reader, and a slightly larger screen (15.6" vs. 14.0").

That's the stuff I was looking at.

Please tell me about the 32GB flash drive. Why is it called hotface and what is it for, if you please?

 

[Madmick]

Please tell me about the 32GB flash drive. Why is it called hotface and what is it for, if you please?

Just jargon as far as I can tell. It's just a regular USB flash drive. I assume it's 2.0, it might be 3.0.

 

[rikwebb]

Just jargon as far as I can tell. It's just a regular USB flash drive. I assume it's 2.0, it might be 3.0.

I wouldn't be surprised if its a 2.0 at most seeing as they all tend to be those cheap looking credit card style USB drives that are offered

 

[koquerelle]

I'm not at all bothered by a second set of eyes, here, but I don't understand. He is getting RAM. The 32GB in the unit he has selected is double-- and sometimes quadruple-- what most offerings in that price range carry. He also managed to find a unit with a whopping 2TB SSD which is quite impressive for $849 CAD ($628 USD for reference of comparison to us Yanks).

The thing about "business class" laptops that aren't truly business class (a vague terminology alluding to a superior build quality), which is pretty much all laptops under $1500, is that it often makes sense to sacrifice some processing power bang-for-your-buck. That's because the low-end processors today are more than enough for most business users, and because the cooling systems are not robust, so a less powerful processor tends to stress the laptop less, meaning that it enjoys a longer lifespan operating in its ideal performance state as it would out of the box the first time.

That's why I think his find is better than this $899 HP Pavilion on Memory Express, for example, which has the significantly more powerful overall processor in the i5-1340P. For gaming or editing, that's a very large advantage. However, look at the web browser benchmarks and single core scores comparing those processor. These are more meaningful for how an office user or casual home user would use a laptop. There's almost no difference at all. And the i3 will offer this parity at a lower temp. Meanwhile, the only other disadvantages are the slightly slower ports (no Thunderbolt) and the inferior WiFi networking card (WiFi 5 in his unit vs. WiFi 6 in the Pavilion). So for $50 less, he's getting 4x the SSD storage, double the RAM, that bonus 32GB flash drive, an SD media card reader, and a slightly larger screen (15.6" vs. 14.0").

That's the stuff I was looking at.

Great answer. Mea culpa. I didn't realize he was getting this much. I still hate HP with a passion though.

Here is where I was coming from (not knowing all the facts).

I've bought numerous laptops (Sony, HP, Lenovo, etc.) because my wife and I are independent workers who need to be able to work from anywhere, and they pretty much did all the same thing. Great for a year, then they start to slow down, then they're just trash.

We don't do hardcore stuff. We're translators. So we have MS Word, a browser with 6-7 tabs and maybe Antidote open. It might not seem like much, but I think it's enough to wear down a laptop.

I bought a MSI laptop because I wanted to do some light gaming and that thing was a beast. I had it for 4 years before giving it to my nephew who's been using for more than 2 years now. When my wife needed a new computer (her Lenovo was probably the worst laptop we've owned), I convinced her to get a MSI or something similar.

She didn't like the price tag, but bought a MSI. 2 years later, same reaction I had. She will never go for a "cheap" laptop anymore.

@Andy Capp

 

[Madmick]

Great answer. Mea culpa. I didn't realize he was getting this much. I still hate HP with a passion though.

Here is where I was coming from (not knowing all the facts).

I've bought numerous laptops (Sony, HP, Lenovo, etc.) because my wife and I are independent workers who need to be able to work from anywhere, and they pretty much did all the same thing. Great for a year, then they start to slow down, then they're just trash.

We don't do hardcore stuff. We're translators. So we have MS Word, a browser with 6-7 tabs and maybe Antidote open. It might not seem like much, but I think it's enough to wear down a laptop.

I bought a MSI laptop because I wanted to do some light gaming and that thing was a beast. I had it for 4 years before giving it to my nephew who's been using for more than 2 years now. When my wife needed a new computer (her Lenovo was probably the worst laptop we've owned), I convinced her to get a MSI or something similar.

She didn't like the price tag, but bought a MSI. 2 years later, same reaction I had. She will never go for a "cheap" laptop anymore.

@Andy Capp

It's all gravy, I think she'd end up about equally happy with any of them, really, I don't think too hard about it. I'm sort of indifferent to sub-$1000 laptop purchases for the reasons you mentioned, they're all designed to sort of shit the bed in 3 years, I just offer my eyes and some brief thoughts. She went with the one he found.

In the past I'd expend more energy making the case @avenue94 made towards prioritizing a stronger processor with less RAM, it's more obviously logical, but I don't know what anyone's workload is, and I also know that some might like to stretch out a laptop as long as 5 years or even more. Since the cooling systems are so poor, and usually the CPU demands minor, without much advantage above the i3's for most as I outlined, I tend to favor those lesser processors simply because they generate less heat, and so the laptop lives longer, and is more likely to work optimally throughout that lifespan. Meanwhile, while those who build PCs aren't at all uncomfortable adding/upgrading RAM or SSD storage, including flashing a new installation of Windows if necessary for an SSD replacement, which can be a frugal avenue for upgrades, most aren't, and don't want the hassle, so if they are the kind to really stretch out a laptop's lifespan, the overabundance of RAM and especially the extra storage will probably be a welcome luxury down the road. Typically those demand a large premium up front, and that was the most appealing aspect of his find. I don't agree that most people don't use up most of their storage. In my experience, people cram their drives. Although perhaps less so in the smartphone age. The burden has been shifted.

When it comes to this 12th gen i3 vs. the Ryzen 7000 series there is not too great a difference in the heat strain or power consumption. Bear in mind that Ryzen 7000 mobile processors vary widely in sophistication. Some are still Zen 2 based (i.e. same as in the Ryzen 5 3600). For example, the Zen 2 R5-7520U is an inferior processor, and yet only uses about 11 fewer watts under Cinebench load (37W vs. 48W). Meanwhile, the Zen 3 based 7530U is in some laptops that were around the same price, and is a significantly superior processor in terms of performance, but also consumes more power (60W vs. 48W).

Andy may have done a bit better, but I think he did alright.


*Edit* Moved all of the posts in Andy's discussion to the laptop thread.

 

[Andy Capp]

Great answer. Mea culpa. I didn't realize he was getting this much. I still hate HP with a passion though.

Here is where I was coming from (not knowing all the facts).

I've bought numerous laptops (Sony, HP, Lenovo, etc.) because my wife and I are independent workers who need to be able to work from anywhere, and they pretty much did all the same thing. Great for a year, then they start to slow down, then they're just trash.

We don't do hardcore stuff. We're translators. So we have MS Word, a browser with 6-7 tabs and maybe Antidote open. It might not seem like much, but I think it's enough to wear down a laptop.

I bought a MSI laptop because I wanted to do some light gaming and that thing was a beast. I had it for 4 years before giving it to my nephew who's been using for more than 2 years now. When my wife needed a new computer (her Lenovo was probably the worst laptop we've owned), I convinced her to get a MSI or something similar.

She didn't like the price tag, but bought a MSI. 2 years later, same reaction I had. She will never go for a "cheap" laptop anymore.

@Andy Capp

It's all gravy, I think she'd end up about equally happy with any of them, really, I don't think too hard about it. I'm sort of indifferent to sub-$1000 laptop purchases for the reasons you mentioned, they're all designed to sort of shit the bed in 3 years, I just offer my eyes and some brief thoughts. She went with the one he found.

In the past I'd expend more energy making the case @avenue94 made towards prioritizing a stronger processor with less RAM, it's more obviously logical, but I don't know what anyone's workload is, and I also know that some might like to stretch out a laptop as long as 5 years or even more. Since the cooling systems are so poor, and usually the CPU demands minor, without much advantage above the i3's for most as I outlined, I tend to favor those lesser processors simply because they generate less heat, and so the laptop lives longer, and is more likely to work optimally throughout that lifespan. Meanwhile, while those who builds PCs aren't at all uncomfortable adding/upgrading RAM or SSD storage, including flashing a new installation of Windows if necessary for an SSD replacement, which can be a frugal avenue for upgrades, most aren't, and don't want the hassle, so if they are the kind to really stretch out a laptop's lifespan, the overabundance of RAM and especially the extra storage will probably be a welcome luxury down the road. Typically those demand a large premium up front, and that was the most appealing aspect of his find. I don't agree that most people don't use up most of their storage. In my experience, people cram their drives. Although perhaps less so in the smartphone age. The burden has been shifted.

When it comes to this 12th gen i3 vs. the Ryzen 7000 series there is not too great a difference in the heat strain or power consumption. Bear in mind that Ryzen 7000 mobile processors vary widely in sophistication. Some are still Zen 2 based (i.e. same as in the Ryzen 5 3600). For example, the Zen 2 R5-7520U is an inferior processor, and yet only uses about 11 fewer watts under Cinebench load (37W vs. 48W). Meanwhile, the Zen 3 based 7530U is in some laptops that were around the same price, and is a significantly superior processor in terms of performance, but also consumes more power (60W vs. 48W).

Andy may have done a bit better, but I think he did alright.


*Edit* Moved all of the posts in Andy's discussion to the laptop thread.

I appreciate the info from both of you. We would have preferred to take more advantage of your analyses but with the boot drive of her work machine munged we were in a hurry. The information will still come in handy when it's time to replace mine.

These days it seems quite hard to determine what is good quality and what is going to be useless in a year. It seems like sometimes it's best to just assume the latter and buy whatever is cheap but that way of doing things is very wasteful and it grosses me out. My desktop at home is 10 years old and still good for just about anything I might need it for except gaming--it was quite a beast when I first got it but I also dropped a good chunk of change on it. The price/performance/quality calculation is much harder nowadays, it seems.

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

Gaming laptops are a massive waste of money imo. They just cost way too much for what you get. Unless I was competitively playing, I would never get one.

 

[avenue94]

Gaming laptops are a massive waste of money imo. They just cost way too much for what you get. Unless I was competitively playing, I would never get one.

Compared to prebuilds or DIY? They've gotten pretty competitive on the budget end to mid range because Nvidia has abandoned that segment. Especially during clear outs.

 

[Andy Capp]

Gaming laptops are a massive waste of money imo. They just cost way too much for what you get. Unless I was competitively playing, I would never get one.

Indeed, I learned that lesson recently. Mine makes a great leg warmer in the winter, though.

 

[snowbro]

Just ordered this one!

ROG Strix G18 (2023) G814

13th Gen Intel Core i9-13980HX Processor 2.2 GHz (36M Cache, up to 5.6 GHz, 24 cores: 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU
ROG Boost: 2330MHz* at 175W (2280MHz Boost Clock+50MHz OC, 150W+25W Dynamic Boost)
12GB GDDR6

ROG Nebula Display
18-inch
QHD+ 16:10 (2560 x 1600, WQXGA)
IPS-level
Anti-glare display
DCI-P3:100.00%
Refresh Rate:240Hz
Response Time:3ms
G-Sync
Pantone Validated
MUX Switch + NVIDIA Advanced Optimus
Support Dolby Vision HDR

16 GB DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM
(Seemed a little lacking so i grabbed another 16 GB DDR5 to slap into the empty slot)

1TB PCIe® 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD

Going to be a huge upgrade for me !
Should arrive on Tuesday.

that thing is sweet! what are your temps like?

 

[snowbro]

Gaming laptops are a massive waste of money imo. They just cost way too much for what you get. Unless I was competitively playing, I would never get one.

Not true. My laptop runs cold as fuck! Came with amazing specs, build quality, accident warranty and cost under $900 US.

Gaming laptops used to be big, hot and much slower but now they've caught up.

Also, its actually cheaper to get a laptop as opposed to custom building yourself.

Over the last 4 years I built and sold a few pcs and tried out a whole bunch of different laptops and learned a lot. When it comes to laptops, build quality is probably the most important thing and a huge majority of the cheaper gaming laptops are built poorly. If you know what to look for you can do quite well.

 

[Your Salad]

that thing is sweet! what are your temps like?

Temps are very manageable. High 70s in Cod and low 80s in Cyberpunk(100 fps with ray tracing set to ultra and DLSS set to balanced) on turbo fan settings. I could even crank them up more in a manual setting but I haven't needed to and I don't really want to set up a fan curve.
Really enjoying the laptop and would definitely recommend it.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

So check this out..... a new duo screen laptop from ASUS unveiled at CES.



Seems amazing. Somehow it looks like different games are being played on each of the screen concurrently.

Does the new integrated Intel Arc GPU on the meteor lake give serious gaming juice?

Right now this thing is looking like a dream machine for me. 14 inch and not huge form factor so still portable. The multiple configs of the screens give a lot of versatility. Can set up on a desk, or use the laptop on a bed.

OLED screens. Touchscreen. Also can use a stylus.

Price is apparently only $1499 on the lowest spec machine, but I think I'd be happy with the i5 version for the processor.

Suppose to arrive end of march-ish.

 

[Madmick]

Does the new integrated Intel Arc GPU on the meteor lake give serious gaming juice?

Yeah. Two of the recent Steam Deck rivals use it. You probably saw all the headlines about the MSI Claw A1M following CES. Recently, ONEXPLAYER, which is another company that produces a series of products rivaling the Steam Deck, in fact the only one that makes a competing handheld that actually also uses SteamOS, announced a new product with that same Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor in MSI's Claw, the ONEXPLAYER X1. It's way too expensive to be anything more than a niche product, but it's pretty awesome on paper. It's the first one I've seen that is testing the demand for dedicated handheld gaming that breaks the 7"-ish mold:

OneXPlayer X1 is a Nintendo Switch-inspired 3-in-1 handheld gaming PC with Meteor Lake and a 120Hz 1600p display​

It was demoed running Cyberpunk 2077 at over 60FPS

Specs-wise, the handheld comes with Intel's brand-new Core Ultra 7 155H or Ultra 5 125H CPUs. These chips come with Intel's new bleeding-edge Meteor Lake CPU architecture that is more efficient than its previous Raptor Lake architecture. These new CPUs also come with Intel's most potent integrated graphics solutions, featuring the same Xe graphics architecture as Intel's higher-end A-series desktop GPUs. The Ultra 7 155H gets eight Xe cores, while the Ultra 5 125H gets seven.

The OneXPlayer X1 also has high-speed memory and storage solutions, including LPDDR5x memory clocked at 7467MHz, and a M.2 2280 slot featuring PCIe Gen 4 speeds. Memory capacity can be configured as high as 64GB, while SSD capacity can be as high as the PCIe Gen 4 NVMe protocol allows for. The Best SSDs on the M.2 form factor top out at 8TB.

OneXPlayer has opted for a large, high-resolution display compared to other handheld competitors like the Steam Deck. It measures just shy of 11 inches, and the screen resolution is 2560 x 1600 to keep pixel density as high as possible. Unsurprisingly, the screen refreshes at 120Hz, making it perfect for fast-paced games.

Other specs include a Harmon AudioEFX system, detachable controllers (similar to the Switch), Thunderbolt 4, Oculink, USB 4, and a 65.02-watt-hour battery featuring 100W rapid charging.

They're wisely picking Cyberpunk 2077, as that game leans heavily on the CPU, and these mobile processors are still more impressive in terms of CPU performance vs. the GPU respective to desktop hardware, but 60fps at 1600p is still pretty impressive.

Phoronix also did a recent showdown between the Core Ultra 7 155H and the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processors. The latter integrates the Radeon 780M GPU. The 780M is what is in most top-of-the-line Steam Deck competitors whether it is with the Z1 Extreme processor or the incrementally more powerful Ryzen 7 7840U (i.e. ASUS ROG Ally Extreme, ONEXPLAYER 2 Pro, Lenovo Legion Go, GPD Win 4 2023, Ayaneo 2S). Most of Phoronix's benchmarks are synthetics, though, so I'm not sure if there will be the same deficit in actual game performance observed with the Arc desktop GPUs compared to what you would expect from their hardware pipelines, but so far, I believe this Intel is outperforming the AMD in games, too, consistent with its slight overall edge seen below.

Intel Meteor Lake Arc Graphics: A Fantastic Upgrade, Battles AMD RDNA3 Integrated Graphics Review - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

It's hard to place it, more accurately, since Intel still hasn't shared the exact pipelines of the iGPU, but we're talking about hardware that is better in almost all aspects than the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro consoles that came out in 2016.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Gaming laptops are a massive waste of money imo. They just cost way too much for what you get. Unless I was competitively playing, I would never get one.

They are very expensive if they’re any bit decent, and they tend to wear out faster. I only recommend it for people who have to travel a lot. Otherwise you should get a desktop

 

[avenue94]

They are very expensive if they’re any bit decent, and they tend to wear out faster. I only recommend it for people who have to travel a lot. Otherwise you should get a desktop

They aren't that expensive these days. You can get a midrange (RTX 4060) for under a grand, 4070s start at around $1,200, and there hasn't been much discounting to speak of since launch for most of those.

It won't be as cheap as building a desktop, but it isn't that much more expensive these days and they'll last a couple years.

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

They are very expensive if they’re any bit decent, and they tend to wear out faster. I only recommend it for people who have to travel a lot. Otherwise you should get a desktop

Threres just so much more you are capable of with desktops at a much lower price tbh. You are correct. It only makes sense for people who travel a lot. I had a pretty powerful laptop back in the day, but it was still nothing compared to my desktop which cost less.