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Laptop Replacement/Suggestions Thread: Bring out yer dead laptops!

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Posts

  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Ryzen 5 and Intel i5 should be pretty comparable.

    Out of those if it’s in your budget I’d definitely pay a bit more for a 1650 over a 1050.

    -Loki- on
  • LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    Repeating myself from the build thread since I didn’t know this one existed:

    I’m looking for a laptop that would be good for photo editing, quick browsing, and maybe light gaming like Civ, other RTSs that wouldn’t really work on my Xbox, and potentially MMOs (though I’m not looking for the gaming part enough to be willing to pay the premium that gaming laptops usually ask).

    Ideally I would like to also get a dock and just fully replace my desktop with it.

    The second BestBuy Asus at the top of the last page is probably the top of my budget that I’m willing to spend.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    $600ish is probably a bit low for a true desktop replacement, depending on specific needs. That being said, something like that Asus TUF would work. Granted, I don't believe Asus has much support for docks. Those tend to be handled by Dell, HP, or Lenovo.

    If you have access to a Costco, they are currently running some decent markdowns on some Lenovo and Dell laptops. It's worth taking a look.

    If you can't go with a friend or family member, you can pay for a 1-day membership (I want to say $15 but don't quote me) to have a look and maybe purchase.

  • LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    $600ish is probably a bit low for a true desktop replacement, depending on specific needs. That being said, something like that Asus TUF would work. Granted, I don't believe Asus has much support for docks. Those tend to be handled by Dell, HP, or Lenovo.

    If you have access to a Costco, they are currently running some decent markdowns on some Lenovo and Dell laptops. It's worth taking a look.

    If you can't go with a friend or family member, you can pay for a 1-day membership (I want to say $15 but don't quote me) to have a look and maybe purchase.

    For what I’m wanting to do, what specs should I be looking for?

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Anyone have any experience with the MSI Stealth?

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-32gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-512gb-solid-state-drive-matte-black-with-gold-diamond-cut/6343975.p?skuId=6343975

    The screen to my Lenovo of the last eight years just snapped off the base.

    MegaMan001 on
    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    Specs look good, and $500 off feels like a steal, but I’m not sure what prices are good in the US.

    Not a fan of no platter drive and just a 512gb SSD, but that’s just personal preference.

  • NogginNoggin Registered User regular
    I bit on that ASUS today. I probably bored it by playing D3 first, but was still happy to see that it landed on mostly high settings, high res, and it plays very smoothly.

    Now it’ll be fun to see what else it can do! Thanks again for the help, laptop thread.

    Battletag: Noggin#1936
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    Noggin wrote: »
    I bit on that ASUS today. I probably bored it by playing D3 first, but was still happy to see that it landed on mostly high settings, high res, and it plays very smoothly.

    Now it’ll be fun to see what else it can do! Thanks again for the help, laptop thread.

    There’s a review on that BB page that mentions there’s an accessible RAM slot, likely under a removable back plate.

    I’d recommend hunting down another 8gb stick to throw in there. But enjoy the gaming.

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    edited November 2019
    -Loki- wrote: »
    Specs look good, and $500 off feels like a steal, but I’m not sure what prices are good in the US.

    Not a fan of no platter drive and just a 512gb SSD, but that’s just personal preference.

    Yeah the size of drive is not ideal, and there are places I could go to customize it like CUK or XoticPC but without the Black Friday discount.

    EDIT:. And huh that $500 discount is gone as of this morning.

    MegaMan001 on
    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    PCGamer says the display is capped at 1080p and the GPU can run hot (because it's a desktop chip), but that will depend on your specific use. Otherwise it gets good marks.

    You can clone and replace the drive if you want something larger, especially with holiday sales coming up. I don't see 512GB as a bad size, but that's subjective.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    The GPU is a year old, but otherwise this is a solid deal. I haven't dug into the details of the display, but that's the other thing to check (i.e. whether it's locked to 1080p or not). The description at Walmart says FHD (1080p), but I would check details at Lenovo's site. I would not be surprised if it's a 1080p screen, just based on the price point.

    The aesthetic can be a bit offputting depending on your style, but I wouldn't call it garish or gaudy "Gamer".

    Lenovo Y540 at Walmart -- $800 US

    https://kinjadeals.theinventory.com/save-big-on-this-sleek-portable-and-powerful-lenovo-ga-1839798098

  • NogginNoggin Registered User regular
    Noggin wrote: »
    I bit on that ASUS today. I probably bored it by playing D3 first, but was still happy to see that it landed on mostly high settings, high res, and it plays very smoothly.

    Now it’ll be fun to see what else it can do! Thanks again for the help, laptop thread.

    So it handled path of exile no problem, and exceeding expectations, even the outer worlds! Everything looks and plays great, and seems to often default to medium-high settings. Also, a benefit I didn’t even consider is how easily it can output to our living room TV, paired with our wireless Xbox controller.

    Sorry if I’m veering off topic for the thread, I’m just very pleased with how this has turned out so far!

    Battletag: Noggin#1936
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    You're not veering off at all. I'm glad it's working out well for you!

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    You're not veering off at all. I'm glad it's working out well for you!

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    XOTIC Pc has big sales on the MSi Stealth I wanted, but the reviews online of that company are...mixed at best.

    Anyone have any dealings with them or know of any horror stories?

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    XOTIC Pc has big sales on the MSi Stealth I wanted, but the reviews online of that company are...mixed at best.

    Anyone have any dealings with them or know of any horror stories?

    Me! *raises hand*

    I purchased one of their brand name Valkyrie notebooks and it was great. Customer service was good too. After a few months of play, one of the SSDs crapped out, and they send me a replacement, free of charge.

    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    I tend to take reviews about returns and customer service with a lot of salt.

    All hardware can fail, so unless I’m seeing majorly biased reviews towards hardware failure I’m not too concerned. Same with customer service - if you’re an asshole to them, they likely will be an asshole back.
    Unless I see a similarly biased reviews to bad customer service, I’m not too concerned.

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Alright I'm rolling the dice on this guy.

    MSI GS75 Stealth

    Display 17.3- FHD (1920x1080), 144Hz, Matte

    Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB GDDR6 with Max Q Technology

    Processor Intel® 8th Gen Core™ Coffee Lake i7-8750H ( 9MB Cache, 2.2GHz - 4.1GHz, 6 core | 12 thread )

    RAM 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 2666MHz Dual Channel SO-DIMM Memory


    M.2 SATA / PCIe / NVMe SSD Drive Slot 1 256GB M.2 PCIE NVME SSD - DEFAULT

    M.2 SATA/ NVMe/ PCIe SSD Drive Slot 2 1TB Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe SSD (Read 3500MB/s | Write 2500MB/s)

    Wireless / Bluetooth Killer N1550i Combo (2*2 ac) Intel ® PTT BT 5

    Thermal Compound Thermal Grizzly Thermal Compound CPU/GPU


    Operating System Microsoft® Windows® 10 Professional 64 Bit(Pre-installed - No Media)

    Bolded the upgrades. Total cost 2,500.

    Is it worth fifty bucks for upgraded FujiPoly Heat Pads whatever the hell those are?

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    I'm assuming those pads are for the GPU. That's fully based on your intended use case.

    It's worth noting that 2080 can easily drive 1-2 full external monitors in addition to the FHD panel in the laptop.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    I love the combination of a 2080 with a 1080p display. Some would call it overkill, but it'll both future-proof well and make use of that 144Hz refresh rate. Especially if it's a G-Sync panel.

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Thanks for the blessing, guys. I've never actually done something like this before, but since my desktop and laptop both went under in the same few weeks I think it's time.

    It's way more laptop than Ive ever had but with $600 off and those upgrades (which I'd never attempt myself) it's worth it to replace both dead systems at once.

    @Mugsley I was hoping that was the case cause I might get a cooler and use it as a Steam Box to my TV.

    MegaMan001 on
    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Part of me wants to know how that beast of a laptop is performing, @MegaMan001 ; another part of me doesn't because I know I'll be jealous! :lol:

    My own one is kind of a monster, at least for a couple of years ago when I got it, but that one has me comprehensively beaten. The only question really is if the Max Q configuration slows it down any. (And even then, it makes that laptop weigh literally half as much as mine, so, you know, fair tradeoff!)

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Jazz wrote: »
    Part of me wants to know how that beast of a laptop is performing, @MegaMan001 ; another part of me doesn't because I know I'll be jealous! :lol:

    My own one is kind of a monster, at least for a couple of years ago when I got it, but that one has me comprehensively beaten. The only question really is if the Max Q configuration slows it down any. (And even then, it makes that laptop weigh literally half as much as mine, so, you know, fair tradeoff!)

    I don't really understand the whole Max Q thing, the comparisons I've read show it like a fraction slower but a lot lighter and cooler.

    Best Buy has two MSI models at my local store and the GS75 felt lighter weirdly enough than the GS65 and I don't know if that's because the weight is more evenly spread throughout the chassis?

    If anyone is looking for a great gaming laptop, they will have $500 discount on the GS65 with a RTX 2060 on black Friday.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    I wonder if the GS65 has glass and the GS75 is a matte screen? That could be the weight disparity.

    Also that's a hell of a discount for a very well received/reviewed laptop.

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Mugsley wrote: »
    I wonder if the GS65 has glass and the GS75 is a matte screen? That could be the weight disparity.

    Also that's a hell of a discount for a very well received/reviewed laptop.

    The Best Buy employee was unable to tell if that discount will be store only, but suspected it was online as well since it was a preview sale a week ago Sunday.

    XoticPC had it for 600 off which I jumped on with the above upgrades because I didn't want to miss out on another sale. we

    EDIT:. You can see the anticipated sale price if you go to Best Buy.com and Preview the Black Friday Deals and scroll down to PC Gaming. For some reason it's listed under there and not Laptops.

    MegaMan001 on
    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    Jazz wrote: »
    Part of me wants to know how that beast of a laptop is performing, @MegaMan001 ; another part of me doesn't because I know I'll be jealous! :lol:

    My own one is kind of a monster, at least for a couple of years ago when I got it, but that one has me comprehensively beaten. The only question really is if the Max Q configuration slows it down any. (And even then, it makes that laptop weigh literally half as much as mine, so, you know, fair tradeoff!)

    I don't really understand the whole Max Q thing, the comparisons I've read show it like a fraction slower but a lot lighter and cooler.

    That's pretty much it as far as I know. I doubt the performance hit will be worth noting, honestly. (Also I suspect it may be a bit quieter than mine is.)

    But yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing just how awesome it is when you put it through its paces. I kinda feel like doing a Wayne's World "we're not worthy" thing towards it!

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    Basically the Max Q parts drop the TDP of the GPU down a bunch, which reduces power consumption. there's a performance penalty to that obviously, but the curve isn't linear. I'm making these numbers up, but think reducing the TDP by 35% nets only a 10% reduction in capability of the GPU. Something like that.

    It's always made me wonder what the curve would look like on the desktop parts. Like, if you took a 2070 super and reduced it's TDP by 35% what kind of performance penalty would it take? does that 90-100 performance delta take that much TDP/power on every card?

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • KingofMadCowsKingofMadCows Registered User regular
    Does anyone have a Gigabyte Aero 15? I'm thinking of buying the Aero 15 with RTX 2070 Max-Q. How are the temperatures? Will repasting help much?

    Right now it's $1600 on Newegg and Amazon. I don't think the price will drop much lower this year. I'm also considering the Eluktronic MAG-15 but that costs $1600 with a 1660 Ti and $1900 with a 2070 Max-Q, and I don't think the price will drop much any time soon.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RT5GVMN?ref=emc_p_m_5_i&th=1
    https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16834233270?Item=N82E16834233270&Tpk=N82E16834233270

  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    well it finally happened.
    My old XPS 13 ultrabook gave up the ghost after 6 years of abuse and loyal service.
    The same week as black friday...

    I'm thinking of the Helios 300 15" from acer but battery life gives me pause. I am looking for about 5-6 hours of "normal" use like watching videos, heavy web browsing, listening to music, occasional office work but with capability of playing games (mostly plugged in).
    Games like WOW, Borderlands 2, AOE 3, Battletech, Diablo 3, XCOM 2 etc...

    Will the Helios serve me or are there some better options?
    The 1660ti in the Helios and the 144hz screen is very appealing but less than an hour of gaming on battery and even just over 4 hours of "normal" use is not great :/

  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    The Helios 300’is a dedicated gaming laptop. They’re not really known for battery life.

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Aridhol wrote: »
    well it finally happened.
    My old XPS 13 ultrabook gave up the ghost after 6 years of abuse and loyal service.
    The same week as black friday...

    I'm thinking of the Helios 300 15" from acer but battery life gives me pause. I am looking for about 5-6 hours of "normal" use like watching videos, heavy web browsing, listening to music, occasional office work but with capability of playing games (mostly plugged in).
    Games like WOW, Borderlands 2, AOE 3, Battletech, Diablo 3, XCOM 2 etc...

    Will the Helios serve me or are there some better options?
    The 1660ti in the Helios and the 144hz screen is very appealing but less than an hour of gaming on battery and even just over 4 hours of "normal" use is not great :/

    For my extremely limited knowledge of 'gaming laptops' over the last month - which I guess would be anything greater than a GTX 1660?, from this hallowed forum and elsewhere, the only model i've seen with that much battery life is the MSI GS 65/75 (depending on the size of the system you want) and are both currently on sale on xoticPC.com and will be on sale on Black Friday at Best Buy for $600 and $500 respectively.

    With that said, I finally got my GS75 from xoticPC.com a few days ago (total turnaround time was 9 days from order to delivery) and here are the specs I ended up with. I've bolded the upgrades I added and the total price. I would like to wholeheartedly endorse xoticPC.com as well, as they've clearly righted the ship since having some very public (very easily Googled) customer service fuck ups. I was really hesitant to buy from them and even used a credit card and not direct wire payment (3% discount be dammed), just in case I had to fire off a dispute if they fucked me. Much to my fortunate surprise, everything was clearly communicated and delivered as ordered without issue. I will absolutely buy from them again.

    MSI GS75 Stealth

    Display 17.3- FHD (1920x1080), 144Hz, Matte
    Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB GDDR6 with Max Q Technology

    Processor Intel® 8th Gen Core™ Coffee Lake i7-8750H ( 9MB Cache, 2.2GHz - 4.1GHz, 6 core | 12 thread )

    RAM 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 2666MHz Dual Channel SO-DIMM Memory - $89

    500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe SSD - $139
    M.2 SATA/ NVMe/ PCIe SSD Drive Slot 2 1TB Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe SSD (Read 3500MB/s | Write 2500MB/s) - $199


    Wireless / Bluetooth Killer N1550i Combo (2*2 ac) Intel ® PTT BT 5

    Thermal Compound Thermal Grizzly Thermal Compound CPU/GPU - $49
    Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads - $49


    Total: $2,594.00 USD

    With the original sale and the upgrades I still came out ahead from what the non-sale price was, but honestly my reason for doing this was twofold. First, as documented elsewhere on the forums, my gaming desktop and everyday laptop died within a week of each other. The Desktop started suffering hard drive and mobo failures and the lid of the laptop just snapped off completely one day. Research demonstrated that after about 7-10 years, shit just breaks, which is exactly where I was. So I decided to buy something I've never been able to afford before - a gaming laptop.

    My criteria was basically twofold: first, less than 5 pounds and second, not look like a gaming laptop. This limited the field to mostly MSI, Asus ROG, and Lenovo Costco models, but I really liked the feel and the look of the MSI GS and then both models went on sale. Also, as I said before, the 17 inch model (GS 75) feels lighter than the 15.6 inch model (GS65) even though it ways supposedly 0.6 lbs heavier. I think this has something to do with the extra surface area stretching out the weight...but don't really have an answer for it.

    I've had the thing for a week and I've tried it with my most graphical intensive PC game (Metro) at ultra settings and it ran without any hiccups way north of 90 FPS and it's light enough in my bag that I don't really notice it. Also, for a real endorsement, the power brick has been streamlined and is like two decks of cards laid out end to end. Way smaller than a lot of other power bricks which is nice. It does get loud, but not noticeably so and I haven't really stressed it for heating (or even opened the case to find out if they actually installed those FujiPoly pads) but it feels cool'ish on my legs when watching TV.

    Long term I'll buy a cooler for when I actually wanna seriously game for a few hours or longer and I definitely need a laptop sleeve.

    All in all, MSI 5/5 would definitely use xoticPC.com again because I'm sure as hell not going to open the case up and flip around a motherboard to install stuff.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    -Loki- wrote: »
    The Helios 300’is a dedicated gaming laptop. They’re not really known for battery life.

    I take your point but "known for" and "can use it for less than 1 hour" aren't synonymous.

    In the reviews I've read, one culprit is that they added a space to add a 2.5" SSD which cut into available battery space so presumably other laptops in the space would not have this same consideration.

  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    I ended up getting the Lenovo Y540 17"

    https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y540-17IRH/p/81Q40008US

    For the sale price it was nice to get into an RTX 2060 and a 144hz panel.
    I also really liked the back input selection instead of cramming everything in the side.


    I'll do a little review / first impressions when I get it.


    edit: I sacrificed battery life which is going back on my original post as my wife asked me to count the times I take the laptop anywhere and I could do it on 1 hand for this year so....

    Aridhol on
  • LostNinjaLostNinja Registered User regular
    Any thoughts on this Dell?

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-17-3-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-1tb-hard-drive-256gb-ssd-abyss-gray/6350871.p?skuId=6350871

    The plan would be to also get a dock and monitor for it for when I want to play/work at a desk (any recommendations on either of those fronts?). Mostly want it for moderate gaming and some photo editing.

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Can anyone explain why my new laptop won't charge its battery past 56%?

    EDIT: ignore me. I've never had a system that had a separate program (MSI Dragon Center) that apparently changes your battery behavior to prolong its life.

    MegaMan001 on
    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • -Loki--Loki- Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining. Registered User regular
    Seems there’s a few people in here with new gaming laptops. Just a bit of advice - use heat monitoring software to check your thermals.

    About 2 years ago I got a Acer Predator 17, and noticed the fans really kicking in. Running some thermal software I saw the CPU was hitting 100 celcius while gaming. I tried a lot of ways to reduce that, but the simplest way was the Advanced Battery Settings. They allow you to throttle power to various components.

    Setting the CPU to 90% power rather than the default 100% dropped it to a more sane 80 celcius. Still hotter than most like but much better considering it’s a laptop. Performance was barely impacted.

  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    LostNinja wrote: »
    Any thoughts on this Dell?

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-17-3-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-1tb-hard-drive-256gb-ssd-abyss-gray/6350871.p?skuId=6350871

    The plan would be to also get a dock and monitor for it for when I want to play/work at a desk (any recommendations on either of those fronts?). Mostly want it for moderate gaming and some photo editing.

    Its a good price for what appears to be a good machine.
    Just watch some reviews to get an idea of the build quality and tangible stuff like the keyboard and trackpad.

  • LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    I also recommend learning how to open the laptop up for cleaning. A good thorough dusting of the insides once every 6 months or so can do amazing things for your thermals.

  • AridholAridhol Daddliest Catch Registered User regular
    Got my y540 so some first impressions in the first hour or so of use.

    Good:
    Feels well built and love the "normal" aesthetic, no crazy gamer grills or neon.
    Screen looks really great, 144hz smooth AF and good color out of the box. No dead pixels.
    Large machine but not unwieldy.
    Touchpad is excellent
    No bloatware

    Ok/meh:
    Keyboard is nice to type on but the arrow keys are in a weird spot that I don't like.
    Numlock is not on upon boot and no config option for it so I had to edit registry.
    Power brick is huge and weighs more than a pound (knew this going in).
    Speaker's sound good but a little bass heavy by default

    Bad:
    Webcam is shit and in a shit spot.


    Overall happy with it so far and I was especially surprised it came with zero bloatware. The only thing I had to uninstall was a office 365 trial and McAfee.

  • JazzJazz Registered User regular
    edited December 2019
    A pound? IIRC my power brick weighs about three :lol:

    The Y540 is definitely a very handsome laptop. Glad you're getting on well with it.

    Jazz on
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