My laptop is dead. It was it’s time. So I need a new one. Traditionally I’ve done my gaming on my desktop in my home office, but now it appears VR is just around the corner. Since play space in my office is very limited and I need a new laptop following thoughts have occured to me:
Buy yet another laptop with integrated graphics (Lenovo IdeaBook 510-$600). Get a desktop dedicated to VR at some point in a near future.
Buy an entry level gaming laptop ($900) I kind of like them for reasons other than their gaming capability, the red backlighting and styling. There’s been issues with running Oculus and Rift on these, but my belief is Windows is the future due to the low cost and clout of Microsoft. Buy a desktop at some point in the future when and if this turns out not to be adequate. Specifically I was looking at the Lenovo Y520 that comes in several configurations, I was looking at the cheapest unless I need to spend more on a particular part:
CPU: i5, i7
GPU: Radeon RX560, GeForce 1050, 1050Ti or 1060
Buy a high end, Oculus certified gaming laptop like the Y720 ($1300) and not worry about it.
The problem is Microsoft seems to be coy about what kind of configuration you actually need to run a game. As in decently, not with every single visual option turned down and at 10 frames a second. They even suggest Windows VR will work with integrated graphics.
I actually have a desktop PC in the living room dedicated to VR, though I’m not using it much these days (no free time, and if I use it late in the evening, I get all worked up and can’t sleep).
My problem with this setup is, if I don’t use it often, I have to wait for countless updated when I do want to use it. Not just Windows updates but also HTC Vive driver updates, Steam game updates, etc. But I tolerate it because I also wanted a full desktop computer for my home office, and a lightweight 2-in-1 for portable use. If I was willing to use a gaming PC for all my home office use & carry it around, I’d have gotten a VR certified laptop and used it for everything.
As for requirements, we know the Windows VR systems all have 1440x1440x2 displays. So the GPU requirement is whatever it takes to do ~90 fps at that resolution. It depends on the game/application and its settings. Microsoft’s minimum specs are probably for very simple VR applications, and HTC/Oculus specs assume fairly sophisticated games.
I’d go with the first option. High-end gaming on a laptop is going to be very expensive for what you get and will severely limit upgradeability.
On that VR desktop, go with an Nvidia GPU; Their latest generation has clever tech which decreases duplication of some steps in the graphics pipeline. I’d say at least a GTX 1060.
Typically, an i5 CPU is quite sufficient for gaming although I’m not sure if that’s still the case for VR gaming.
Option 1 is the only really viable one. You are aware that :
a. Gaming laptops are much more expensive than an equivalent desktop
b. They perpetually have problems with overheating. To really rock out on a modern, efficient gaming desktop, I’m pulling 200 watts at the wall with a platinum rated power supply, a GTX 1070, and a skylake CPU. So a very power efficient machine, and it’s still 200 watts. You cannot get this kind of performance without paying the power cost, and you can’t dissipate 200 watts inside an enclosure made of plastic that goes on your lap without some serious problems. (shrill fans, inadequate airflow, high temperatures, no battery life, etc)
Here’s the choice I’d make. I’d ditch the idea of a laptop at all. Instead, do work tasks - productivity - on a well put together office desktop, with lots of keyboard space and a nice mouse and huge monitor, etc. Do portable entertainment and email checking tasks on a tablet, which is optimized for this. Good ipads are now only $300…
I have a good office desktop for serious photoshop and whatnot (that’s mainly used by my sister since I can’t wait to get out of my home office after being there 8 hours a day.) I’m leaning towards the idea of eventually getting a living room desktop dedicated gaming machine to replace the living room Chromebox, because I won’t have to move my laptop into the living room every time I want to play.
For a portable entertainment / light word processing in the evening laptop I was thinking of Lenovo’s lowest priced “gaming laptop”, $700 with a Core I5 and RX-560 graphics just because I like the looks of it as opposed to their business machines, and it has a powerful audio system for Netflix, not that I can actually game with it. I’m guessing Windows VR will probably work with it to some degree though so I could use it as a stopgap until I build a desktop.