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[K.Jack]

There is no "stress" you can put on a laptop. It doesn't care what settings you run, it doesn't care what FPS you target.

Its components only cares if they are running at temps beyond safe operating parameters. Otherwise running under load is like good sex to it. That's what it was built to do.

 

[Geraldo_Ray]

Gonna go ahead and try this. The laptop I currently have is 6 years old (Alienware M15x, don't remember the exact model), and I've been meaning to replace it.

Country: US
Budget: $2000 ($2800 maximum)
Size:No preference, but if I had to choose I'll go with 15 inches.
Usage:Hoping to play modern games (Doom 2016, Witcher 3, etc.) at 60FPS and relatively high settings. Also looking for one with a 120Hz display (if possible) as well as G-Sync. 1080p as far as resolution goes.

 

[K.Jack]

Gonna go ahead and try this. The laptop I currently have is 6 years old (Alienware M15x, don't remember the exact model), and I've been meaning to replace it.

Country: US
Budget: $2000 ($2800 maximum)
Size:No preference, but if I had to choose I'll go with 15 inches.
Usage:Hoping to play modern games (Doom 2016, Witcher 3, etc.) at 60FPS and relatively high settings. Also looking for one with a 120Hz display (if possible) as well as G-Sync. 1080p as far as resolution goes.

Well you'll only find the 120Hz G-Sync on 17" machines.

The GT73VR is the default recommendation right now, in 1070 or 1080 flavor, depending on the budget. The 1070 SKU (MSI GT73VR TITAN-017) mstarts at $2,199, while the 1080 SKU (MSI GT73VR TITAN PRO-003) is $2.799. Both have the 1080p 120Hz G-Sync and the unlocked i7-6820HK processor.

 

[Exuro]

The GTX 1060 is at the top of his range.

This Sager is a good buy. There's a 17" model as well.



Knowing what laptop it is would help us help you.

It's this guy. The 8gb 1tb model was $750. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014MIBR7K/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[K.Jack]

It's this guy. The 8gb 1tb model was $750. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014MIBR7K/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Why not buy the SSD SKU? It looks about the same price as the HDD one.

 

[Exuro]

Why not buy the SSD SKU? It looks about the same price as the HDD one.

The hdd one was on sale at bestbuy for $750 and amazon price matched it. It's $880 for the 1tb and $990 for the ssd for me right now.

 

[TBiddy]

The GTX 1060 is at the top of his range.

This Sager is a good buy. There's a 17" model as well.

Thanks. But probably out of range, though. Is it worth it getting a GTX 950M, or are those shite?

 

[LostCaress]

There are no 13" laptops with decent graphics. Check out the 14" MSI GS43 though.

I was thinking some light gaming. Anyway with Kaby Lake coming along I think I'll wait for either a Lenovo Yoga 910 or the asus zenbook that comes with the new i7, hd620, a matte 1080p and is ultra portable. Asus has so many models it gets a little bit confusing.

 

[K.Jack]

The hdd one was on sale at bestbuy for $750 and amazon price matched it. It's $880 for the 1tb and $990 for the ssd for me right now.

I gotcha. I don't know if the Lenovo comes with a driver disc, so I'd definitely be sure to download the essentials beforehand.

Thanks. But probably out of range, though. Is it worth it getting a GTX 950M, or are those shite?

Can he get this cheaper SKU?

If not, I have to recommend that he wait until the GTX 1050 gets announced. Buying a 900M laptop is a really bad move, with Pascal coming out.

I was thinking some light gaming. Anyway with Kaby Lake coming along I think I'll wait for either a Lenovo Yoga 910 or the asus zenbook that comes with the new i7, hd620, a matte 1080p and is ultra portable. Asus has so many models it gets a little bit confusing.

Seems like a reasonable decision.

 

[mordecaii83]

Well you'll only find the 120Hz G-Sync on 17" machines.

The GT73VR is the default recommendation right now, in 1070 or 1080 flavor, depending on the budget. The 1070 SKU (MSI GT73VR TITAN-017) mstarts at $2,199, while the 1080 SKU (MSI GT73VR TITAN PRO-003) is $2.799. Both have the 1080p 120Hz G-Sync and the unlocked i7-6820HK processor.

I'll absolutely second this recommendation, I have the 1080 model and I love it so far!

 

[Tony Iron Man Stark]

How is this for $959 + tax? Final cost is $983.94 after tax and Discover cash back.

Dell Outlet XPS 15 - 9550
Internal Backlit Keyboard - English
512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
16GB (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Memory
15.6inch FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge
NVIDIA GTX 960M 2GB DDR5
6-cell battery
Windows 10 Pro

 

[K.Jack]

The hdd one was on sale at bestbuy for $750 and amazon price matched it. It's $880 for the 1tb and $990 for the ssd for me right now.

I gotcha. I don't know if the Lenovo comes with a driver disc, so I'd definitely be sure to download the essentials beforehand.

Thanks. But probably out of range, though. Is it worth it getting a GTX 950M, or are those shite?

Can he get this cheaper SKU?

If not, I have to recommend that he wait until the GTX 1050 gets announced. Buying a 900M laptop is a really bad move, with Pascal coming out.

How is this for $959 + tax? Final cost is $983.94 after tax and Discover cash back.

Looks like a good deal, especially with such a large PCIe SSD.

 

[j-wood]

something doesn't seem right on my gs63vr with the gpu. When I'm playing wow and I alt tab to check temps in the dragon center app, it shows my gpu core clock as 139 MHz and the memory clock as 405 MHz.

I thought this was supposed to be in the 1,000s? Or is this a unit issue with the MH part?

 

[mordecaii83]

something doesn't seem right on my gs63vr with the gpu. When I'm playing wow and I alt tab to check temps in the dragon center app, it shows my gpu core clock as 139 MHz and the memory clock as 405 MHz.

I thought this was supposed to be in the 1,000s? Or is this a unit issue with the MH part?

If the GPU were really running at that speed, you'd be playing WoW at like 20fps or less. When you alt-tab, the GPU is most likely downclocking to its non-gaming 2D mode.

 

[j-wood]

If the GPU were really running at that speed, you'd be playing WoW at like 20fps or less. When you alt-tab, the GPU is most likely downclocking to its non-gaming 2D mode.

Ok phew, that seems to be the case. I was getting between 80-100fps in wow. I used a pop up tool and caught it was around 1800MHz before quickly dropping down when I alt tabbed.

 

[shockdude]

Ok phew, that seems to be the case. I was getting between 80-100fps in wow. I used a pop up tool and caught it was around 1800MHz before quickly dropping down when I alt tabbed.

If you want to view gpu statistics in-game, you'll need to use a monitoring tool that has an in-game overlay like MSI Afterburner.

 

[Elite Knight]

For someone interested in the Dell Inspiron i7559, am I right to understand that soon new hardware is going to come out in the $800 range that is 40-50% more powerful. And on top of that, the Dell Inspiron i7559 will not be dropping in price?

That is what I have gathered from reading a few pages. I am fine with waiting, but the specific model I eluded to is exactly what I'm looking for. I like how it has an open spot for extra RAM and extra storage is easily added too. It's like a desktop replacement at a great price. I don't need an optical drive either. I'm fine with the $800 range because I would be comfortable dropping settings to Fair/Medium if necessary.

So what type of sites do you guys follow for new hardware? When should I expect the new hardware to start showing up?

 

[SwiftDeath]

For someone interested in the Dell Inspiron i7559, am I right to understand that soon new hardware is going to come out in the $800 range that is 40-50% more powerful. And on top of that, the Dell Inspiron i7559 will not be dropping in price?

That is what I have gathered from reading a few pages. I am fine with waiting, but the specific model I eluded to is exactly what I'm looking for. I like how it has an open spot for extra RAM and extra storage is easily added too. It's like a desktop replacement at a great price. I don't need an optical drive either. I'm fine with the $800 range because I would be comfortable dropping settings to Fair/Medium if necessary.

So what type of sites do you guys follow for new hardware? When should I expect the new hardware to start showing up?

Yes and Yes?

One would assume that the 7559 would be refreshed with a successor GPU at some point which logically be a 1050 (laptop variant) however the laptop variant of the 1050 won't be announced/released until after the 1050 desktop variant is announced released and we have yet to see this yet.

My guess is by the end of the year but K.Jack could probably provide more insight.

Power increase in the released pascal mobile cards has actually been greater than a 75% increase I think I average so the 1050 should be fairly powerful.

 

[RoKKeR]

Today I realized that the laptop I'm waiting for is an XPS 15 with a 1060, and I have to imagine it's coming soon...

 

[Tony Iron Man Stark]

Today I realized that the laptop I'm waiting for is an XPS 15 with a 1060, and I have to imagine it's coming soon...

I bought 2 of those with 960 because of fall sale. I can't wait to get the 1060 next year in the same sale.

 

[K.Jack]

Anyone expecting the Dell to drop with a 1050 at that same $799 price, is certain to be greatly disappointed.

Oh and the XPS 15 has approximately a 0% chance at having greater than a 1050.

 

[Specialmias]

Getting my GT73VR tomorrow.

Finally.

Going to test Oculus with the Type C connector adapter .
Going to remove most of the bloatware too, anything I should avoid touching? I'm assuming dragon center is required for some background hardware stuff.

Also now kind of worried that a Blizzard tech support rep is saying these laptops are having issues with World of Warcraft. I'm not surprised given its wow and these laptops don't seem to have the best stability.

http://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20749094921?page=1

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Anyone expecting the Dell to drop with a 1050 at that same $799 price, is certain to be greatly disappointed.

Oh and the XPS 15 has approximately a 0% chance at having greater than a 1050.

The XPS15 is such a good laptop. I'm hoping for ~GTX 960 level power from the laptop 950 and Kaby Lake CPU. That would make the XPS15 a very viable gaming machine while also being an outstanding laptop in general, light weight and small size for its screen, good materials, good track pad and so on.

 

[X05]

Hey K.Jack, any news on MXM 10x0 cards?
Not sure if I'd go that route, but haven't heard anything about it and got me curious.

Today I realized that the laptop I'm waiting for is an XPS 15 with a 1060, and I have to imagine it's coming soon...

The replacements go like this:
980 (Desktop) -> 1080
980M -> 1070
970M -> 1060
960M/965M -> 1050

An updated XPS 15 is going to get a 1050, not a 1060.

EDIT:

The XPS15 is such a good laptop. I'm hoping for ~GTX 960 level power from the laptop 950 and Kaby Lake CPU. That would make the XPS15 a very viable gaming machine while also being an outstanding laptop in general, light weight and small size for its screen, good materials, good track pad and so on.

The 1060 trades blows with the 980, I expect the 1050 to perform notably better than a 960

 

[TBiddy]

Can he get this cheaper SKU?

If not, I have to recommend that he wait until the GTX 1050 gets announced. Buying a 900M laptop is a really bad move, with Pascal coming out.

Thanks - but still way over budget. One of the disadvantages of living in Denmark is that all prices in USD gets 10 times higher, when converted to our local currency, even though the real currency difference is like 1 to 6, or so.

I'll advise him to wait for the 1050, I think! Thanks!

 

[zsswimmer]

Got my gtx 1080 GT73VR. Just gotta wait till I get off work... ugh...thr anticipation

 

[BumRush]

Is there a site that lists the Laptop-specific GPUs and what their console equivalent is?

Edit: actually the OP does a great job with this!

 

[RoKKeR]

Anyone expecting the Dell to drop with a 1050 at that same $799 price, is certain to be greatly disappointed.

Oh and the XPS 15 has approximately a 0% chance at having greater than a 1050.

The XPS15 is such a good laptop. I'm hoping for ~GTX 960 level power from the laptop 950 and Kaby Lake CPU. That would make the XPS15 a very viable gaming machine while also being an outstanding laptop in general, light weight and small size for its screen, good materials, good track pad and so on.

Hey K.Jack, any news on MXM 10x0 cards?
Not sure if I'd go that route, but haven't heard anything about it and got me curious.


The replacements go like this:
980 (Desktop) -> 1080
980M -> 1070
970M -> 1060
960M/965M -> 1050

An updated XPS 15 is going to get a 1050, not a 1060.

EDIT:

The 1060 trades blows with the 980, I expect the 1050 to perform notably better than a 960

Got it, thanks all. Well either way, a refreshed XPS with Pascal is incredibly enticing to me – will definitely keep an eye out.

 

[GalacticMouse]

So I've been thinking about ditching my rMBP 15" M370x for one of the new MSI GS63vr models.

Does anyone here have the amazon-exclusive 512GB SSD model? I'm trying to figure out if the 2.5" internal bay is still available in that model for me to add my own 7200rpm drive or if I'm better off going with the 512gb + 1TB model they have?

 

[anddo0]

It's finally here.. Much lighter than my old lappy.

 

[Specialmias]

Holey shit. I am now convinced pascal laptops are a thing on the GT73VR. The screen is amazing, the performance is amazing and it honestly isn't that bad to move around except for the power brick which is well actual brick size.
This is without optimizing and just removing norton on the 1080:

I ordered a custom laptop sleeve from Waterfield bags:

https://www.sfbags.com/collections/sleeves/products/pc-laptop-sleevecase

Got the USB C to USB for Thunderbolt 3 and Oculus. Holy shit it works amazingly well. I loaded all the USB ports up intentionally, hooked up the OR. INCLUDING VR desktop projectors like bigscreen they work flawlessly even while the monitor is off. I was able to use Big screen for an HOUR without the battery dying too.

My only complaint is that if that USB type C adapter moves even slightly the entire OR setup disconnects. If I had to do this again, I would defenitely research a good reseller and get my warranty from a credit card benefit program + the reseller.

I will say however, the software, manuals, online surveys and support are in the most broken English I've ever seen.

 

[zsswimmer]

Ahh yeaaa

 

[CazTGG]

Finally got my 2nd OCZ SSD installed in my laptop, now i've got room to breathe for capturing lots of footage for various projects and playing games until I replace my PC.

 

[anddo0]

Loving the temps (NP8173-S) CPU 40c idle, 48c web browsing, YT.

Hats off to Sager, they gave us features that render MSI Afterburner an afterthought (somewhat). This beast is fully overclockable.. Ton's of audio options, the keyboard feels incredible, the track-pad is ten times better than my old laptop.

What's the quickest way to move my Steam library?

 

[Pics_nao]

What're the battery lives looking like on the Pascal laptops? Specifically the GS43VR. Was thinking about just hopping on by the end of the month but I can make due if battery life will get better in the next 6 or so months

 

[Got the Shakes]

Loving the temps (NP8173-S) CPU 40c idle, 48c web browsing, YT.

Hats off to Sager, they gave us features that render MSI Afterburner an afterthought (somewhat). This beast is fully overclockable.. Ton's of audio options, the keyboard feels incredible, the track-pad is ten times better than my old laptop.

What's the quickest way to move my Steam library?

You're making it tempting for me to order a Sager...

 

[Tony Iron Man Stark]

I recently bought a Dell XPS 15, but it gets hot and the fan runs loud whenever I closed the laptop. I took it out of my backpack like that.

What should I do?

 

[Got the Shakes]

Loving the temps (NP8173-S) CPU 40c idle, 48c web browsing, YT.

Hats off to Sager, they gave us features that render MSI Afterburner an afterthought (somewhat). This beast is fully overclockable.. Ton's of audio options, the keyboard feels incredible, the track-pad is ten times better than my old laptop.

What's the quickest way to move my Steam library?

Curious about a few things. How customizeable is the keyboard? How is the battery life during non gaming use? And what kind of audio options do they give you? Thanks.

 

[shockdude]

I recently bought a Dell XPS 15, but it gets hot and the fan runs loud whenever I closed the laptop. I took it out of my backpack like that.

What should I do?

Either the laptop isn't able to go to sleep when closing the lid, or it turned on while the lid was closed.
Check your power settings, check Windows Update, and maybe check Dell's website for updated power management drivers.
Also make sure you don't have a wireless mouse or keyboard plugged into the laptop as those can wake up sleeping laptops.

Loving the temps (NP8173-S) CPU 40c idle, 48c web browsing, YT.

Hats off to Sager, they gave us features that render MSI Afterburner an afterthought (somewhat). This beast is fully overclockable.. Ton's of audio options, the keyboard feels incredible, the track-pad is ten times better than my old laptop.

What's the quickest way to move my Steam library?

Quickest way is to copy & paste the entire Steam\steamapps folder.

What does the BIOS of the NP8173-S look like? Is it barebones like previous Sagers, or does it actually have options?

 

[anddo0]

Curious about a few things. How customizeable is the keyboard? How is the battery life during non gaming use? And what kind of audio options do they give you? Thanks.

Keyboard uses Flexikey

-Individual key macro's
-Stats page, tracks keystroke frequency
-Backlight- partial/full color rbg control, brightness control (4 levels). It's fully featured.

The track-pad is godlike IMO. I almost feel like I can use it for non-gaming..... Almost; I use a Logitech G9X


Still testing the battery

Balanced- 2 hours with brightness at 80-90% (had steam downloading, so that may have impacted it)...........Power saving- 2 and half hours

I have yet to try switching to the Intel card. I guess it would help. Also, there are other battery boosting options.

CPUID says the battery wear is already at 3%. I'll have to keep an eye on that. I don't want this thing to die in under two years.

Audio:

Onkyo speakers; sound okay, not too tinny, but is definitely aided by the other on board software.

Sound Blaster X-IF5: lot's of options to boost and even out the overall sound. It's needed to boost the quality of the speakers IMO. The speakers sound at least 45% louder with tweaks to X-IF5.

Texas Instruments and Sabre Hi-Fi: Bring your headphones, speakers to life. The improvement to the DAC is dramatic to say the least. I feel like I'm getting the most out of my headphones.

The overall sound package is among the best I've experienced with a laptop period. The speakers are nice and loud; even in a room with my 55" Sony tv at 88 volume. I could still hear my YT video clearly.

What does the BIOS of the NP8173-S look like? Is it barebones like previous Sagers, or does it actually have options?

bare-bones like my last Sager

 

[zsswimmer]

I'm loving the GT73VR, Battlefield 1 and Deus Ex MD running at ultra settings smooth as silk... soo good

 

[Nikodemos]

Techgaf pls halp.

I idiotically attempted to upgrade my video driver instead of doing a clean uninstall / install, despite knowing how shit Win 10 is with video drivers.

Long story short, the desktop isn't displayed anymore, and the only thing on screen is the mouse cursor. How the heck do I enter safe mode from boot? I tried all manner of key combinations to no avail.

 

[anddo0]

Techgaf pls halp.

I idiotically attempted to upgrade my video driver instead of doing a clean uninstall / install, despite knowing how shit Win 10 is with video drivers.

Long story short, the desktop isn't displayed anymore, and the only thing on screen is the mouse cursor. How the heck do I enter safe mode from boot? I tried all manner of key combinations to no avail.

Do you have a custom Bios or something?

F8 should get you to safe mode

Do you have access to a usb stick with the Win10 upgrade on it?
Anything at all that can get you to the Windows repair screen?

 

[anddo0]

Killer Networking; killing my network?

Anyone have a history with these guys?

I'm to the point where I completely removed the software suite, in an attempt to see if the constant network drops stop. It's a problem with Killer for sure. I have my other laptop running side by side, it hasn't suffered any drops period (outside of ISP outages)

I've tried everything, all drivers are updated. I'm hoping the generic Killer drivers Windows installed holds up. So far, the Killer brand is way over-hyped IMO. The software is nothing special. My Asus RT-AC68U has many more network traffic flow options. I regret not going with a stand Intel wifi card.

 

[Nikodemos]

Do you have a custom Bios or something?

F8 should get you to safe mode

Do you have access to a usb stick with the Win10 upgrade on it?
Anything at all that can get you to the Windows repair screen?

Problem is, I can't reach the recovery / safe mode screen. In their infinite idiocy, Microsoft have cut boot key detection to a few milliseconds, so F8/Shift+F8 don't really work now in Win10.

I've read some more, and it seems my two options are attempting to brute force safe mode by repeatedly switching the laptop on/off or by resetting the boot sequence from BIOS (by using the laptop's Novo key) in order to boot in legacy mode.

 

[Got the Shakes]

Problem is, I can't reach the recovery / safe mode screen. In their infinite idiocy, Microsoft have cut boot key detection to a few milliseconds, so F8/Shift+F8 don't really work now in Win10.

I've read some more, and it seems my two options are attempting to brute force safe mode by repeatedly switching the laptop on/off or by resetting the boot sequence from BIOS (by using the laptop's Novo key) in order to boot in legacy mode.

Do you have a laptop with a removable battery? After I installed the the W10 anniversary update on my desktop I was having the same problem. I could get into the boot options when it was booting up and when it would load the desktop it was just a black screen. The only way I was able to get into the Windows recovery options was to physically pull the power when it was booted into the desktop but showing me a black screen. After pulling the power and starting my desktop again it automatically went into the repair and recovery options because it was triggered by Windows not properly shutting down to the power being pulled.

 

[shockdude]

Problem is, I can't reach the recovery / safe mode screen. In their infinite idiocy, Microsoft have cut boot key detection to a few milliseconds, so F8/Shift+F8 don't really work now in Win10.

I've read some more, and it seems my two options are attempting to brute force safe mode by repeatedly switching the laptop on/off or by resetting the boot sequence from BIOS (by using the laptop's Novo key) in order to boot in legacy mode.

What laptop do you have? Lenovo laptops have a separate power button dedicated to booting into the BIOS, and other laptops may also have such a feature.
Other than that, I've done the "turn off the computer mid-boot" trick before to get into the BIOS.

 

[caesar]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IOHNQQK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Is this a good price or do you think I should just go for the 2200+ ones?

 

[Nikodemos]

Managed to fix it by using the panic-force-restart, entering safe mode w/ network, grabbing the driver erasing tool then reinstalling everything from scratch.

Oddly enough, it now detects my graphics chip as something else.

 

[anddo0]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IOHNQQK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Is this a good price or do you think I should just go for the 2200+ ones?

Is a 1060 good enough for you?
How important is the 120hz panny to you?
The GS is super thin and light, other models may not be.

I was close to getting that model (it was literally at my door). I choose a Sager 1070 with G-sync 75hz monitor, over the 120 hz (no G-sync) 1060 MSI GS73.

It's totally worth the price, if you want that 120 hz monitor... If all you want is standard FHD IPS, or even G-sync, you can find cheaper 1060 laptops out there. With the GS73, you're really paying for that monitor.

MSI GE72VR Apache Pro is $1599.. IPS. Good deal, more or less the same specs. Keeps that slightly slim chassis.

MSI VR Ready GT72VR Dominator-071 $1599 .. G-sync, you lose that slim form actor

GT72VR Dominator Pro-015 $1999 G-sync+1070... Thick, but for $100 more you get a 1070

And finally the GT73VR Titan $2200... Good overall laptop, offers the best of both worlds (G-sync+120 hz). Again with this you're paying extra for the screen.


If you have $2100-$2300 budget, and want G-sync and 120hz, Titan
If you have want to stay at the $2000 mark, standard G-sync, GT72 Pro-15

And then you have $1599 to $1800. I would go Apache Pro at $1599, if all you want is a IPS FHD panny and a 1060. Or lose the slim form factor and get a GT72VR , better screen and graphics card at the same price as the Apache Pro.