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2016+ Gaming Laptop Thread: Embracing Pascal's Wafer (Please Read OP)

The base Alienware 14 is a lot of money, to only come away with gt750m

Yeah i thought it was a gtx card. Now im undecided. I have been keeping an eye out on dell outlet for an alienware, im not sure what people think on the refurbs?

Another option are the asus gaming laptops, they look nice too.
 

Veelk

Banned
Country: US
budget: $500-700
Size: 15 inches atleast (or large enough to include a number pad)
Planned usage: This is going to be a college laptop so, largely speaking, I will mostly be using it for writing and the occasional movie. All the same, a high resolution would be appreciated. Not necessary, but I'm going to be playing 1080p movies on it, so I'd like it to measure up.
Misc.: A light up keyboard would be nice.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Country: US
budget: $500-700
Size: 15 inches atleast (or large enough to include a number pad)
Planned usage: This is going to be a college laptop so, largely speaking, I will mostly be using it for writing and the occasional movie. All the same, a high resolution would be appreciated. Not necessary, but I'm going to be playing 1080p movies on it, so I'd like it to measure up.
Misc.: A light up keyboard would be nice.

Sony VAIO Fit 15 or Inspiron 17.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I factory reset my kids' laptop as it was crashing and getting slow. But it is still crash while playing minecraft. If I set it to integrated graphics it's fine (but very slow), so I figure it's the graphics driver (gt540m so Optimus). I downloaded the latest drivers but doesn't seem to help. How do I rollback to the drivers that came with the laptop, or alternatively what is a good stable driver for Optimus?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
What do you think of this one? It looks pretty decent. It looks like it has solid performance, without being "big and bulky"

Two 765M = one 780M. That's impressive in such a slim chassis.

I factory reset my kids' laptop as it was crashing and getting slow. But it is still crash while playing minecraft. If I set it to integrated graphics it's fine (but very slow), so I figure it's the graphics driver (gt540m so Optimus). I downloaded the latest drivers but doesn't seem to help. How do I rollback to the drivers that came with the laptop, or alternatively what is a good stable driver for Optimus?

Have you monitored the temperatures of the GPU?
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
No, will try that - GPU-Z logging to file should be enough right? Although tbh it is only minecraft so shouldn't be stressing it too much, and it occurs seemingly randomly.

Are haswell laptops significantly better with IGP than sandy bridge?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
No, will try that - GPU-Z logging to file should be enough right? Although tbh it is only minecraft so shouldn't be stressing it too much, and it occurs seemingly randomly.

Are haswell laptops significantly better with IGP than sandy bridge?
Maybe run HWMonitor, to see the CPU and GPU temps.

Haswelll does have a faster IGP, yes. The implementation is still the same as Sandy Bridge.
 

Clearos

Member
Country: US
Price range: $2000 max.
Usage: Gaming laptop. Will be playing MMOs, battlefield 4 and also using it as a portable steam box to connect to a tv when friends come over for Samuari Gunn and other 4 player games.

I'm looking at the *Ultra* you mentioned: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CU9GNCS/?tag=neogaf0e-20


Friends are trying to push this one on me..but not 100% i trust his logic behind it.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Fang_Taipan_M2_Gaming_Notebook

Never heard of Fang Taipan, wouldn't mind your opinion on this one.
 
Ok after seeing a hands on video of the Aorus X7, i'm friggin sold.

I might sell off my current laptop AND desktop and just make that my primary machine if the lack of heat holds up in reviews. Price is a little on the high side for me (MSRP $2099 base model) but a 17" under 7lbs with those measurements and 780M performance, it is more than justified.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Country: US
Price range: $2000 max.
Usage: Gaming laptop. Will be playing MMOs, battlefield 4 and also using it as a portable steam box to connect to a tv when friends come over for Samuari Gunn and other 4 player games.

I'm looking at the *Ultra* you mentioned: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CU9GNCS/?tag=neogaf0e-20


Friends are trying to push this one on me..but not 100% i trust his logic behind it.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Fang_Taipan_M2_Gaming_Notebook

Fang Taipan is just another obscure Clevo rebrand. And that laptop is ugly as fug yo.

You don't buy something that enormous for SLI 765Ms.
Ok after seeing a hands on video of the Aorus X7, i'm friggin sold.

I might sell off my current laptop AND desktop and just make that my primary machine if the lack of heat holds up in reviews. Price is a little on the high side for me (MSRP $2099 base model) but a 17" under 7lbs with those measurements and 780M performance, it is more than justified.

I hear the CPU gets toasty, but let's wait for someone like Anandtech to put the X7 through its paces.
 

Clearos

Member
Fang Taipan is just another obscure Clevo rebrand. And that laptop is ugly as fug yo.

You don't buy something that enormous for SLI 765Ms.


I hear the CPU gets toasty, but let's wait for someone like Anandtech to put the X7 through its paces.

K.Jack thanks for the info why I wanted to ask as no one else here has recommended it.

Looks like the MSI GT70 2OD-064US will be my purchase.
 

Smurf Yetti

Neo Member
Hey guys, I have a quick question.

I have an HP DV6 Quad Custom Edition that I picked up a few years ago, and it's aging relatively well. I just upgraded the HDD to an SSD and the machine runs beautifully.

I've been thinking about upgrading the 6GB of RAM sometime in the future because of my virtual machine/light video editing/light gaming use. However, the documentation and drivers for this machine are kind of a nightmare in my opinion.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware/dv6t-6100-quad-core-edition-upgrade-ram/td-p/2220377
This thread says the motherboard should be able to handle upgrading the RAM to 16GB.

However, Crucial thinks it can only handle 8GB of RAM (which may not be worth upgrading to I think).

Can anyone help me out?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
On second thought, yeah, I'll go with a backpack. I'll try to find some 17.3 backpacks on Amazon. Do you have a laptop backpack as well?

Edit: I'd also like gaming mice recommendations, if you have any.
No, I don't have a backpack which can fit my laptop, so I don't have any hard data on what works. I know people who like the Slappa backpacks. They're high quality, and not inexpensive.

Also, Gaming Mouse Advice thread.

Hey guys, I have a quick question.

I have an HP DV6 Quad Custom Edition that I picked up a few years ago, and it's aging relatively well. I just upgraded the HDD to an SSD and the machine runs beautifully.

I've been thinking about upgrading the 6GB of RAM sometime in the future because of my virtual machine/light video editing/light gaming use. However, the documentation and drivers for this machine are kind of a nightmare in my opinion.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware/dv6t-6100-quad-core-edition-upgrade-ram/td-p/2220377
This thread says the motherboard should be able to handle upgrading the RAM to 16GB.

However, Crucial thinks it can only handle 8GB of RAM (which may not be worth upgrading to I think).

Can anyone help me out?

I don't know of any laptops from that generation, which have a chipset limitation on how much RAM the system will recognize. Plus, I tend to trust the community who actually owns the laptop over everything else. Thus, two compatible sticks of 8GB RAM should work fine.

fake edit: FYI, I just tested it and the Crucial site says my GT70 has a maximum limit of 16GB, when I know it can handle 32GB. So take its results for your machine with a grain of salt.
 
Does anyone here have any experience with the Alienware M14x? I've heard that they're pretty good entry-level gaming laptops, and I'm considering saving up for one to replace my current trashy laptop.

EDIT: I'm in Canada, BTW, and I'm not really looking to spend more than $1500 in my current financial situation.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Does anyone here have any experience with the Alienware M14x? I've heard that they're pretty good entry-level gaming laptops, and I'm considering saving up for one to replace my current trashy laptop.

EDIT: I'm in Canada, BTW, and I'm not really looking to spend more than $1500 in my current financial situation.

It's a well built laptop. But, the AW14 is only worth the gamer's purchase, if you go with the i7 + GTX 765M combo. Dual cores are terrible and the GT 750M has little longevity.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
How are the lenovo z500 and upcoming z510 as budget gaming laptops?

Z510 on amazon uk is £549 with i5-4200, 4Gb ram, 1GB gt740, 1TB SSHD
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Anything here worth it? Looking around the $500 range

http://www.woot.com/plus/more-computers

It's for my younger brother, he mostly plays Minecraft. Might play Diablo 3 or World of Warcraft in the future. Don't need anything too crazy just something to last a few years.

This would do.

How are the lenovo z500 and upcoming z510 as budget gaming laptops?

Z510 on amazon uk is £549 with i5-4200, 4Gb ram, 1GB gt740, 1TB SSHD

Medium/Low settings.

already looking forward to a 880m gtx....Some games are already putting strained on my 780m :(

Bad news for you. The GTX 880M is a rebranded 780M.

Nvidia's 20nm Maxwell is what we wait for, and it might be a while.
 

LAA

Member
780M is weak now?
I just got a new laptop (For gaming as well as work), from PCSpecialist (Skyfire III) and it has an i7-4700MQ, 8GB RAM and a GTX780M.

Very impressed with it so far compared to my past GT 555M.

For my past laptop, it may have just been the laptop's cooling efficiency or something, but it ran VERY hot and it certainly couldn't handle things higher than "high settings" most of the time.

So far for me the 780M has wowed me not just with performance (Can handle pretty much everything I play so far with max settings, except Tomb Raider so far, it "could" handle max, but I wasn't entirely happy with the fps. It was playable, but I wanted it to be smoother), but also with the heat of it (Or at least of the laptop itself), compared to my past XPS17, the laptop chasis itself I've never felt the heat yet. Only by the ports and its nowhere near the heat I experienced on like the whole left side of an XPS 17 while gaming or something intensive.

At the time I was wondering waiting for the 880M (Which as others have said, seems it'll be a rebranded 780M), but I didn't think, judging from the specs, it would be worth paying more of a premium for the new GPU for the addition in performance you got. But for me ultra isnt really neccessary on games, its certainly nice, but as long as I can at least play the game (On med/high prefferably), I'm more than happy with it really.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
The GTX 780M is still a desktop GTX 680, running at slightly lower clocks. I don't see many GTX 680 owners complaining about speed. It's still a monster card.

Download an overclocked 780M VBIOS off of Tech|Inferno, to bring it up to the 680's stock speed, if you need more power.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
My MSI GT70-OD finally came in!

img_0491bcu3w.jpg
img_0498qou2e.jpg

img_0506luuy6.jpg
img_0505oxohu.jpg

Big thanks to K.Jack for babying me the whole way through the decision process
(and convincing me to go hundreds of dollars over the original budget)
!

Initial impressions is that this thing is a monster. It frightens me simply looking at it next to my old 14" Acer. A degree of the height is thanks to the chassis and 9-cell, but even without the 17"-cher simply towers it. I also am in love with the matte screen. I haven't played any games on it yet (just clean installed Windows 8.1), but observing through it instantly reminds me of passing annoyances with my Acer's glossy screen. On it I am not able to watch shows/surf/play full screen games without seeing the background or my own mug even in darker rooms. The matte screen doesn't glare an inch and the shift from faux-mirror is much appreciated.

The laptop came with a bookmark folder. I was saddened by the seemingly low Heaven 4.0 score (673), though I have to be reminded that it's still a notebook in the end. In any case, I will be sure to update here about my gaming and entertainment experiences! I'm extremely excited to put it through my common paces.
 

terrisus

Member
My MSI GT70-OD finally came in!

So insanely jealous.


On the plus side, I finally ordered my 120GB Intel mSATA SSD and the Hitachi 1TB 7200RPM drive, so will at least be able to upgrade all of that soon.
After the past month or two being stuck with a 5400RPM hard drive after being used to a SSD and 7200 combo on my last laptop, I'm definitely looking forward to that.
 

theytookourjobz

Junior Member
Hey dudes. I already have a MacBook Air that I use for school but I kinda want a laptop just for indie Steam games (Spelunky and such). How much am I looking at? Don't need a big laptop. Just a CD burner and ability to play some games.
 

Drain You

Member
Always said I would never even consider one because of the price but here I am looking at a gaming laptop. Still only in the consideration phase but what do you guys think of this setup? As is price is 1,234$

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Mobile Processor 2.40 GHz 6M Smart Cache, Max Turbo Freq. 3.40 GHz
HDD: 1 TB 7200RPM SATA300 Hard Drive [-4]
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-1600 SODIMM Memory [+49] (G.SKILL [+0])
MOTHERBOARD: Mobile Intel HM87 Express Chipset Mainboard
SOUND: Supreme HD Audio w/ Sound Blaster X-FI MB3 Technology
VIDEO: NVIDIA GTX 770M 3GB PCIe Video (NB-385-101)
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Hey dudes. I already have a MacBook Air that I use for school but I kinda want a laptop just for indie Steam games (Spelunky and such). How much am I looking at? Don't need a big laptop. Just a CD burner and ability to play some games.

Might as well spring for something of quality, like one of the $750-ish the Lenovo Y410p SKUs.

Always said I would never even consider one because of the price but here I am looking at a gaming laptop. Still only in the consideration phase but what do you guys think of this setup? As is price is 1,234$

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Mobile Processor 2.40 GHz 6M Smart Cache, Max Turbo Freq. 3.40 GHz
HDD: 1 TB 7200RPM SATA300 Hard Drive [-4]
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-1600 SODIMM Memory [+49] (G.SKILL [+0])
MOTHERBOARD: Mobile Intel HM87 Express Chipset Mainboard
SOUND: Supreme HD Audio w/ Sound Blaster X-FI MB3 Technology
VIDEO: NVIDIA GTX 770M 3GB PCIe Video (NB-385-101)

Sager? Pay for the 2nd year of warranty. I'd get a small SSD too.
 

Jay Sosa

Member
Hi Folks!

Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask, but It's the only laptop related thread I found

Could you help me decide between:

Acer V5-573

Intel i5-4200U Dual-Core
39,6 cm (15") Full HD 16:9 LED Display (non-glare)
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M

Datasheet:V5-573G

and the

Acer V5-552

39,6 cm (15.6"), 1366x768, non glare
AMD-Quad-Core A8 Prozessor (2,1 GHz)
AMD-Grafik Radeon HD8550G
8GB RAM

V5-552

The first one is obviously the better machine but is it worth the price difference of 170€?

Besides the lower res display and the CPU/Graphic Card it's the same laptop. I'll probably play games via my TV anyway so the display isn't that important if it's good enough to work outsides. And since I do a lot of multitasking I would prefer a quad over a dualcore. I do watch a lot of hi-res movies but that shouldn't be any problem on any of those two machines, right? According to notebookcheck (552/573) both are good enough to run newer games...

Thanks in advance!
 

Tizoc

Member
Man I am loving my new ASUS GJ750X, it runs fast, hardly slogs down at anytime when programs are running and the bigass 17inch 1080p display just now makes me realize how tiny the screen size of my old lappy is.
1080p makes 720p and lower resolution vids look...tiny when not fullscreened.
 

Ultimadrago

Member
So insanely jealous.

On the plus side, I finally ordered my 120GB Intel mSATA SSD and the Hitachi 1TB 7200RPM drive, so will at least be able to upgrade all of that soon.
After the past month or two being stuck with a 5400RPM hard drive after being used to a SSD and 7200 combo on my last laptop, I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Hah, less so if you knew the price :p

Congrats on the hard drive upgrades! I made sure to give SSD/7200 a go for this laptop and I'm loving the combo so far. It took me a while to figure out how to make it where the larger 7200 took the default bulk of my download damage, but once I got that set up it was smooth (,much faster) sailing.

Man I am loving my new ASUS GJ750X, it runs fast, hardly slogs down at anytime when programs are running and the bigass 17inch 1080p display just now makes me realize how tiny the screen size of my old lappy is.
1080p makes 720p and lower resolution vids look...tiny when not fullscreened.

Yeah, I finally got around to playing Witcher 2 and my experience playing it on my new MSI laptop under High settings with high framerates versus my struggle on my previous laptop make it an almost surreal experience. Heck, when the program icons were smaller by default, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. Thankfully, I've gotten used to that rather quickly and greatly prefer it due to highly increased desktop estate. My 1366 x 768 is instantly dated on consecutive glances. I don't think I can go back in terms of resolution/screen size.
 
I've been pleased with my Sager NP7330, but I really overrated the importance of portability I've found. It sits on my roomy desk at work for 10 hours, then on my roomy desk at home the rest of the time. So I think it's time to go bigger.

MSI GS70 ($1529 w/ tablet+headset) vs Asus G750JX ($1689) vs Gigabyte P27K-CF2 ($1299)

The Gigabyte is on sale right now for hundreds less than the Asus and MSI. Yet I really like how much attention Asus give to cooling and airflow, plus it comes with a 770m. The MSI appeals because a 17" at under 6 lbs is ridiculously awesome, though temps would concern me.

Arggggh. I welcome GAF input!
 

terrisus

Member
Hah, less so if you knew the price :p

Congrats on the hard drive upgrades! I made sure to give SSD/7200 a go for this laptop and I'm loving the combo so far. It took me a while to figure out how to make it where the larger 7200 took the default bulk of my download damage, but once I got that set up it was smooth (,much faster) sailing.

Oh, trust me, I know, since I had spent a whole bunch of time looking at it and dreaming about it, when I thought I might be able to manage that - as opposed to inherting my wife's hand-me-down Dell 17r (which, as I said earlier, to be fair I can't complain too much, since it's a pretty decent computer, and we got her a much less capable computer to replace it)

But, yeah, SSDs are one of those things that, once one experiences it - especially as a boot drive - it's very difficult to ever go back to anything else. Having to deal with the extreme of going all the way back to a 5400 as a boot drive has just been torture. Looking very forward to it coming in and getting it all installed and working.
 

Drain You

Member
Sager? Pay for the 2nd year of warranty. I'd get a small SSD too.

It actually wasn't sager, but some other random website. Now that you mentioned that name though I have been looking into Sager. Starting to lean towards one I've configured on their website. Pretty similar specs but with twice the ram, a 120gb SSD, an a Blu-ray drive, and a 2 year warranty as you suggested. Little pricier but I really like the simple look of it. Now just to convince myself to spend the cash :p
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Hi Folks!

Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask, but It's the only laptop related thread I found

Could you help me decide between:

Acer V5-573

Intel i5-4200U Dual-Core
39,6 cm (15") Full HD 16:9 LED Display (non-glare)
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M

Datasheet:V5-573G

and the

Acer V5-552

39,6 cm (15.6"), 1366x768, non glare
AMD-Quad-Core A8 Prozessor (2,1 GHz)
AMD-Grafik Radeon HD8550G
8GB RAM

V5-552

The first one is obviously the better machine but is it worth the price difference of 170€?

Besides the lower res display and the CPU/Graphic Card it's the same laptop. I'll probably play games via my TV anyway so the display isn't that important if it's good enough to work outsides. And since I do a lot of multitasking I would prefer a quad over a dualcore. I do watch a lot of hi-res movies but that shouldn't be any problem on any of those two machines, right? According to notebookcheck (552/573) both are good enough to run newer games...

Thanks in advance!
One machine has the 1080p display, fastest CPU, and the 3x faster graphics card? You make it so easy.

Couple things:

- The AMD quad core is slower than the Intel dual core
- The 8550G is near worthless, for modern gaming. Notebookcheck's test results are fake, and I can prove it. You know something is off, when their tests of the 8650G are significantly lower than the 8550G, and more inline with what should be expected. These are integrated graphic, so there's no way the 8550G is that quick.

The better machine is worth the extra money.

I've been pleased with my Sager NP7330, but I really overrated the importance of portability I've found. It sits on my roomy desk at work for 10 hours, then on my roomy desk at home the rest of the time. So I think it's time to go bigger.

MSI GS70 ($1529 w/ tablet+headset) vs Asus G750JX ($1689) vs Gigabyte P27K-CF2 ($1299)

The Gigabyte is on sale right now for hundreds less than the Asus and MSI. Yet I really like how much attention Asus give to cooling and airflow, plus it comes with a 770m. The MSI appeals because a 17" at under 6 lbs is ridiculously awesome, though temps would concern me.

Arggggh. I welcome GAF input!

When in doubt, choose the one with the fastest GPU?

It actually wasn't sager, but some other random website. Now that you mentioned that name though I have been looking into Sager. Starting to lean towards one I've configured on their website. Pretty similar specs but with twice the ram, a 120gb SSD, an a Blu-ray drive, and a 2 year warranty as you suggested. Little pricier but I really like the simple look of it. Now just to convince myself to spend the cash :p

Which laptop are you configuring?
 

Jay Sosa

Member
One machine has the 1080p display, fastest CPU, and the 3x faster graphics card? You make it so easy.

Couple things:

- The AMD quad core is slower than the Intel dual core
- The 8550G is near worthless, for modern gaming. Notebookcheck's test results are fake, and I can prove it. You know something is off, when their tests of the 8650G are significantly lower than the 8550G, and more inline with what should be expected. These are integrated graphic, so there's no way the 8550G is that quick.

The better machine is worth the extra money

Thanks!
 
Newegg > Laptops > Gaming Laptops

Yesterday - Close to 80 models
Today - 9 models

3 laptops I had in my cart yesterday, gone. Wtf. I'm assuming it's some kind of db issue?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
That is super weird. Amazon is still showing a lot of the major laptop machines as in stock, so it must be a site issue.
 

vapor

Member
Timely thread, I'll be in the market for a gaming laptop soon!

I'm curious though; is the best way to find a 120hz-capable screen just to get the nvidia 3D-vision stuff? or are there known panels that are easily / safely overclockable to 120hz?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Timely thread, I'll be in the market for a gaming laptop soon!

I'm curious though; is the best way to find a 120hz-capable screen just to get the nvidia 3D-vision stuff? or are there known panels that are easily / safely overclockable to 120hz?

Are you asking about external panels, or internal?

As far as internal go, there's sadly very few notebook vendors who are offering 120Hz Nvidia 3D Vision read panels. If fact, at this time, only the Alienware 17 supports the option. The second model there can be configured with the 120Hz panel.
 
Really need your help here:
Is there a decent laptop for $500 or less that plays indie games such as Spelunky, rogue legacy, nidhogg, super house of dead ninjas, ftl, gone home, octodad, etc. without sounding like it's a jet taking off? Building a PC isn't an option due to my lifestyle being much more laptop-friendly.
 
Looking to get rid of my very old, terrible pc because my mum needs the lower room for her hospital bed =[.

I'm eying up that skyfire deal, but as a maker I've never heard of, I'm not sure. Should I?
 
Really need your help here:
Is there a decent laptop for $500 or less that plays indie games such as Spelunky, rogue legacy, nidhogg, super house of dead ninjas, ftl, gone home, octodad, etc. without sounding like it's a jet taking off? Building a PC isn't an option due to my lifestyle being much more laptop-friendly.
Try this one.

By the way, if you have any questions on gaming laptops, this forum is pretty quick to answer them:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/
 

Tizoc

Member
Yeah, I finally got around to playing Witcher 2 and my experience playing it on my new MSI laptop under High settings with high framerates versus my struggle on my previous laptop make it an almost surreal experience. Heck, when the program icons were smaller by default, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. Thankfully, I've gotten used to that rather quickly and greatly prefer it due to highly increased desktop estate. My 1366 x 768 is instantly dated on consecutive glances. I don't think I can go back in terms of resolution/screen size.

1366x768 was my old lappy's resolution too! Oddly enough when I went back to it since I needed to check a few things...everything seemed big on the screen as opposed to my new one.
Shit was weird man.
 
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