Hey folks,
Looking to get a gaming laptop after a decade plus of no PC gaming. Budget isn't a particular issue, but I'd like to not jump off deep into diminishing returns territory. Priorities are going to be build quality, reliability of the machine, not too much fan noise and heat, if possible, a great screen, hopefully good speakers, and overall a nice "product" package. So, I don't really want to assembly components into a case, I want it to be a nice experience overall.
I will probably mainly be using it to play indie games from the steam store, but I want to actually have the option to play whatever I want on it at pretty good settings, and hopefully future stuff for a while too. Probably going with a 16 inch screen.
So, it seems like the main computers that are kind of in the range I'm talking about are ASUS Zephyrus G16, Lenovo Legion, Razer Blade. Do folks have any experience with those, especially WRT to build quality, and general reliability? Like, I don't want something that just has general problems from bloat, or general crappiness either.
Another question I had is WRT to processor. I understand that AMD Ryzen chips are generally thought to be better than Intel ones these days. If my priority is not to produce too much heat and fan noise, is that still probably the case? How about the Intel Core Ultras, I understand they are more efficient (though perhaps less powerful) than the i9, correct? How do they hold up to the Ryzen? If I want a chip that's not going to throttle me with gaming stuff, but will put out the least heat when doing so, which ones should I be targeting?
Finally, graphics card. I'm thinking probably between 4070 and 4080. Those should be plenty good for what I'm trying to do, right? 4090 is more for real hardware sickos that want to push cutting edge graphics to the extreme, right? Do I actually even need the 4080 to play modern games at 60 with highish settings, or could the 4070 do it?
I know there are a billion pieces of content on these questions all over the internet, but its always hard to know who is paid and who isn't, etc. so I thought I'd ask here.
Posts
If you want an actual portable PC gaming experience, have you considered the Steam Deck? I also hear the ROG Ally is pretty good, though ASUS has had some problems with their customer service recently so I hesitate to recommend them.
What sort of GPU you need to hit specific framerates in games depends on your screen resolution. If you're going for a 4k display (which I would not recommend on a 16" screen) then a 4070 will probably hit that 60FPS reliably on even AAA modern games with frame gen. For a 1440p or 1080p screen, you can go lower, like a 4060. However, these are numbers for the desktop version of these GPUs. Notebook versions tend to be cut down and draw less power, for less overall performance. And since their cooling will be more questionable, performance will come down to the model of notebook.
I suggest hitting up the PC thread in the Gaming Subforum on Tech. My info isn't the most up-to-date as I haven't been in the market for a bit. They may be able to clue you in on better info.
The main reason I want a notebook instead of a desktop is that I like the flexibility of where I can be when using it. I don't really have a space in my house that i can dedicate to a desk/monitor/tower/keyboard/mouse set up, and even if I did, I like to be in different rooms at different times.
I plan to primarily use the laptop monitor, so 4k probably isn't necessary.
Also, I do have a Costco membership, and noticed the MSI stuff there. I got the impression that MSI stuff is plastic-y, and kind of just a box to house components. Maybe the build quality and "sleekness" for a lack of a better term, isn't there. Am I wrong in that?
I did dig through the G&T subforum for some kind of hardware discussion but missed it. Maybe I'll give it another look.
Since I expect I would probably still do any AAA gaming on the console, this might be a pretty great setup, actually.
https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/247558/pc-build-thread-whats-your-budget#latest
This is the PC Build Thread in G&T. I've found it to be very helpful in the past, even if you're buying a prebuilt or notebook.
You can also check the r/buildapcsales subreddit, where they post deals for online sales. Most of them are for individual parts, but they do notebooks too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/
If you want to go for a desktop, Dell makes systems that are functionally identical to Alienware but with the traditional black box aesthetic. If you want to go portable, my opinion is skip notebooks entirely and go for the handhelds. Basically the same tradeoffs you make with a notebook, but I feel the exchange is much more in your favor.
Also when comparing laptops in general, make sure to look at specs and don't be fooled by some model number that is almost the same as a another model you saw a review of - it may well be they are very different.
ASUS answer to the steam deck
Handheld gaming pc thing
Asus ROG Ally. The main competitor to the Steam Deck, runs straight Windows (though Steam is apparently developing a branch of SteamOS for it). Most points of comparison are a wash, both are great systems.
Ally has slightly higher specs, but the Deck has some neat tricks that make performance pretty much a wash. The Ally does have a higher power mode for when it's running off the plug, though, a feature that the deck lacks.
It also has a slightly larger and higher resolution screen. The deck has better contrast, and resolution is a double edged sword at these sizes as it means smaller text and interface elements.
The downside that made me go with the deck instead is suspend and resume. PC gaming in general struggles with this and the ally is no better than any windows system. I don't know how they did it but the deck has nearly flawless suspend and resume, even if you're not careful with pausing games in safe positions first.
You pay a huge premium for laptop "gaming" performance and personally I struggle to see the value when you're also using a laptop display as the output.
Have a 17" MSI laptop, bought in 2019 that's starting to drop out of usability as a AAA gaming rig even for lower settings. It's got a full-size NVIDIA RTX 2080 8G card in it, with an 8th gen i7 chip. Very happy with it, it's a monster but still smaller than a desktop setup. Not over the top GAMERZ!! style but not a Thinkpad either.
When I replace it, I'll definitely start by looking at MSI.