Please help me find a Gaming Laptop. I come to you for aid(again!)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I come to you again in my hour of need. I have probably asked here about this and also for various other tech needs(HDTV’s, etc.) and you are all so very good and helpful. OK, so now that I have buttered you up, here is what I need a recommendation for.

My gaming laptop’s(Lenova Ideapad L340) graphics card blew out in June or July of this year. It’s about $400+ to replace the entire motherboard, so I am looking to find a new gaming laptop PC, but I have a few wants.

I’m happy to play games on lower resolution and reduced graphics settings. I played Elden Ring on my current device(from 2020) and honestly, it looked the same as any videos I’ve seen. I just want to play games!

Required:

17 inch screen

16GB ram, but also nice if upgradeable

Nvidia graphics card - I do NOT need the latest, just enough to play games. I’m mainly familiar with NVIDEA, having a GEFORCE GTX 1650 in my current computer……until it blew

The fans can not be deafening. I was worried about this with my current device, but even at full blast, they are not deafening.

Solid State Drive - 500GB minimum. My current device has 500GB and I manage

Wants:

Intel I7 or better? My current 4-year old has Intel i& 4th generation

4k - I legit do not care if 1080p was max, though. I can’t see the difference. I will downset games to 1080p for smoothness if needed.

Normal/Decent keyboard. You know, I type and create docs on it. Nothing special.

Wants: $1000-$1400 or so? I’m not a cheapo.

Thank you!!!

2

Is this an urgent need? Do you have another computer you can use for a few months (maybe with GeForce Now, the cheap game streaming service) to tide you over? The Nvidia RTX 5000 series are expected to come out early next year, which means either more bang for your buck or discounted 4000 series laptops.

If you can’t wait, I’d just look for any Black Friday deal with an RTX 4060 (but preferably 4070 or above) and preferably an AMD CPU (latest gen Intels have a lot of problems). The rest of your specs should easily fall within your budget, on sale.

Edit: The fans are more an indicator of how hard it’s working. If you get a 4070 and play on 1080p on low or medium settings, you’ll probably never hear them come on. You can use software to throttle the fans down too as long as the ambient temperature isn’t too hot.

3

I can wait. The chipset graphic card(integrated Intel) works for basic functions.

I don’t want to wait until next year, but soon.

Where should I look for the best deals?

4

If you’re not going to wait for the 5000 series, then probably get it over Black Friday / Cyber Monday. (ie either wait for the new generation or buy it soon during the sale; don’t get one in like mid-December).

I’m out right now but I’ll try to find you a few later on. But usually it’s just looking at the big stores (Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, Costco, Micro Center, etc.). It’s also been a while since I’ve had to buy one, so if other Dopers respond in the interim, listen to them instead :slight_smile:

If the fan noise is your specific concern and budget is secondary, getting a more powerful card than you actually need can help with that. Each new generation of chips improves their power efficiency, and power efficiency means less heat for any given graphics output which means less fan. It also means headroom for several more years of gaming without worry.

5

I’m sorry, is this 5000 series the next big thing? I’m not looking for the big stuff, just the middle range that will get me up and running.

6

Sorry for not being clear. The first number, eg 4xxx or 5xxx, indicates a generation. So the 4060s, 4070s, 4080s, and 4090s are all models within the same generation. The 4060 is the entry level one, 4070 the mid, 4080 high, 4090 super high.

When the 5000s come out, they will gradually replace their predecessors. So the 5070 will be the new midrange model, for example, and you’ll get better performance than the 4070 at the same price point. It’s kinda like how Intel does i5/i7/i9, but you have a 4th gen CPU.

So it’s not really that you need the latest and greatest, it’s that the generations usually offer a better value. The flip side of that, of course, is that you’ll probably be able to get a 4000 series during black Friday / Cyber Monday likely as cheap as they’ll be for a while. So either you can get more bang for your buck in a few months, or you can save a few bucks by buying on sale now. Up to you.

I think either will be fine.

7

I just bought (less than a week ago) a new gaming laptop, but it wouldn’t quite meet your needs. I went with the Dell G15 5535, which I got on an early Black Friday Sale for $799.

What’s funny to me is that it matched nearly across the board with your asks, except I was okay with the 15.6 screen, not the 17" you need.

-shrug-

AMD Ryzen™7 7840HS (24 MB Cache, 8 Core, up to 5.1 GHz)
512GB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD
16GB DDR5, 2x8GB, 4800MT/s; up to 32GB (5600MT/s with AMD CPU)
NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX™ 4060, 8GB GDDR6
15.6" FHD (1920x1080) 165Hz, 3ms, sRGB-100%, ComfortViewPlus, NVIDIA G-SYNC+DDS Display

Which was what I felt was a hell of a machine at the price. I’d add another emphatic +1 on going AMD for the near future, what I’ve been reading about chip rot (and being flat out told by friends in the business) meant I was willing to pay a bit more, because most of the big deals are on Intel chips right now.

I’m also buying a RAM upgrade kit out of the gate:

Crucial RAM 32GB Kit (2x16GB) DDR5 5600MHz (or 5200MHz or 4800MHz) Laptop Memory

Which is ALSO on a black friday sale for $80 - since I couldn’t get Dell to configure the extra RAM without losing the $300 holiday sale.

8

Does this have a 17 inch model for a bit more?

9

Kinda, sorta. If you want a better Dell laptop, you have to go for their Alienware line (formerly an independent awesome company):

Has an 18" model, meeting all your specs or exceeding them, currently on sale ($400 off) for $1599. But…

It’s an Intel Chip. So you’re likely accepting an abnormally short CPU life as what I have heard is that the microcode patch is insufficient in fixing the underlying problems fully. But I’m not nearly a professional in the field, just being informed by people who are and advising strongly against it.

Anyway, here are the stats.

Intel® Core™ i7-14650HX (30 MB cache, 16 cores, up to 5.2 GHz Turbo)
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060, 8 GB GDDR6
18" QHD+ (2560 x 1600) 165Hz, 3ms, ComfortView Plus, NVIDIA G-SYNC + DDS, 100% DCI-P3, FHD IR Camera
32 GB: 2 x 16 GB, DDR5, 5600 MT/s, non-ECC, dual-channel
1 TB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD

Added a link to the article about Intel and the issues/concerns, though in short, even if it is getting fixed in the immediate future (claimed, but uncertain) Intel did a terrible job of addressing the problem, and burned a LOT of trust/faith in the community:

10

I wouldn’t worry too much about the 5000 series cards. The 5090 and 5080 are expected to be announced in January but it’ll be months before they likely get to releasing mobile cards in the 5060/70 space.

11

By the way, does it have to be a 17" in particular? That’s a relatively uncommon size which limits your options. Would you consider a 15.6/16" paired with a much bigger and nicer external monitor, for example? Or do you actually frequently game on the go?

12

Yeah, that’s a good point. Even a 4070 would be a huge leap over what the OP has anyway. And the RTX DLSS and frame gen stuff is very very good, in the already-unlikely event that the card can’t natively power a game the OP wants to play at low 1080p.

OP, that just means that Nvidia has gotten very very good at AI-assisted upscaling and frame generation. You can get huge leaps in rendering performance (frames per second) with minimal quality loss just by enabling those settings in games that support them.

The 4070 is already overkill for what you want. Turning those optional settings on will likely push the frame rate way past 100 even on max graphics settings, depending on the game. That just further biases the discussion towards “buy now” instead of waiting for an even more powerful card.

13

I’m concerned that electronics are going to get expensive if Trump gets his tarrifs. If what you want is available now, i would buy it on black Friday/cyber Monday.

14

OP, sorry, I took a look and wasn’t able to find something that exactly matched your specs on sale. It’s the 17" in particular that’s harder to find, especially in AMD.

Here are a few compromises that you can look over, or you can custom-configure a 17" from Dell and a few other companies.

Personally (IMHO only) I would stay away from Acer, HP, Gigabyte, and non-Alienware Dells. Razers are nice-ish builds but overpriced and almost always on older tech; they are not good values. I would trust Lenovo and Asus most, MSI next, along with smaller gaming brands like iBuyPower, CyberPowerPC, and Sager. My 2¢, based on personal and anecdotal experiences only. Acer is the only brand I’d 100% avoid at any price.

A few other lists… many of these are probably spamvertisements, so buyer beware and feel free to double-check here if you’re not sure about anything:

Lastly, OP, are you sure you want a laptop in particular, especially a 17" one? 15.6/16" is the sweet spot because that’s the most mass-manufactured. The best bang for your buck will always be that size. If you can consider coupling the laptop with an external monitor, that will really expand your options and give you better deals for the money.

IMHO saving money on a smaller laptop screen and getting a nice external monitor (I’d suggest an ultrawide or super-ultrawide) will do much more for your gaming experience than going from a 15.6" to a 17".

Similarly, a desktop would be a better choice than a laptop if you don’t game on the go much. They’re not as thermally throttled, are usually cheaper, and are much more upgradeable.

On the other extreme, if you are primarily doing this for mobile gaming, you might want to consider a portable gaming handheld instead, like the Steam Deck or Lenovo Legion Go or Asus ROG Ally. You can usually plug those in to a monitor + keyboard and mouse too, but you can also play them anywhere. They’re not as powerful as a big laptop, but are probably plenty for your needs, and usually much cheaper.

Have fun! I hope you find something you enjoy.

15

I might be up for a Steam Deck.

Anyone know the hot sales? I am cool with refurbished, might want the better model of it with more space.

16

The Steam Decks don’t go on sale often, and when they do, it’s usually the older models.

They all basically have the same performance, so what you’re paying for is the SSD + screen differences (like OLED).

The SSD is upgradable, btw: Steam Deck SSD Replacement - iFixit Repair Guide

Just make sure the games you want to play on it are Deck Verified. They run Linux, not Windows, and many games work on it but not all.

17

I see now Valve has zero refurbished for sale, which I’d be willing to go for.

I’d like $399, but if I see nothing else, I’ll go $499.

I can get that right? 64GB seems tiny, but 256GB would be fine.

Linux?? I thought people ran their (non-steam) windows games over on Steam Deck by using desktop mode. No?

18

They come in and out of stock, I think. You can also just buy the smallest version and upgrade the SSD or put in a fast SD card. But wasn’t your original budget $1500…? Or is this something you’d want to get in addition to the laptop?

You can also find them used on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or eBay.

I sold mine a few weeks after getting it. It was a good device, just not right for me – I prefer high-graphics AAA games, and the Steam Deck was both too slow (in terms of performance) and heavy/uncomfortable to hold after a while. I ended up just keeping my Logitech GCloud instead, which is a streaming-only handheld that’s much lighter and has a better screen. I use it with GeForce Now (the streaming service mentioned earlier, which has also replaced my gaming desktop altogether – primarily because of the zero fan noise, actually).

There are also other handhelds, but the Steam Deck has the best integration and UX, because it’s Valve making their own operating system and virtualization software.

Ehhh, it’s kind of a long story*, but TLDR many games will work without needing to boot into Windows because Valve made special secret software (that you don’t see, as a user, but happens magically in the background) that automatically makes certain Windows games work on Linux. That’s what the “Deck Verified” program is. It lets you know which games will work out of the box with the Steam Deck without having to fuss around with dual-booting.

Yes, you can also try it with Windows, but the drivers are kinda hit-or-mess and the Windows UI was not meant for a tiny screen like that.

* If you want a more technical explanation, yes, the Steam Decks run Linux by default, using a Deck-customized variant of SteamOS. It looks like regular Steam Big Picture, but is actually its own operating system (well, Linux distribution). That is what makes the Steam Deck easier to use than most of its competitors: Valve took a lot of time to create and polish a true handheld experience.

Then, to make Windows games work on it, they created a special translation layer called Proton: Proton (software) - Wikipedia. It is an invisible but magical piece of software that translates Windows software into Linux, and it’s enabled a lot of Linux gaming (and Steam Deck) that was previously impossible. Hundreds of titles can now be run flawlessly on Linux because of it.

But anyway, as a user you don’t really need to know any of that. It’s all invisible and seamless to you as long as the game is Deck Verified.

Or, yes, you can boot into Windows. It’d just be a sub-par experience both in terms of UX and battery life, compared to the default Steam Deck experience.

19

I just purchased a 512GB Steam Deck for $356 total. It’s the LCD original screen, but I don’t mind.

Bought directly from Valve. I hope it has a warranty of sorts. It’s new, not refurbished.

20

Nice, I hope you enjoy it!

Any games you’re looking forward to playing?

Nevermind, lol, I was going to mention Video Games You've Played Recently, but I see now that you’re the founder of that thread too :slight_smile: