EPTNever owned a 13inch laptop, can't decide if I'd hate it or not.
edit: seems I'll have to wait till like April...man to xps 13 or not...
Help on Laptops for Gaming - Page 2
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teamamerica
United States958 Posts
Never owned a 13inch laptop, can't decide if I'd hate it or not. edit: seems I'll have to wait till like April...man to xps 13 or not... | ||
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Kupon3ss
時の回廊10066 Posts
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Sovano
United States1503 Posts
On January 14 2015 08:17 Thalandros wrote: Hell, you can soon get one with Cherry MX switches. Yeah MSI's GT80 Titan will have mechanical keys, but it's way too expensive for most people and way too bulky. | ||
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HewTheTitan
Canada331 Posts
My school is going to buy me a $2k laptop on a grant. I know nothing about laptops though. What are the considerations? It will be for programming and gaming, and hopefully for programming games when I'm a bit better at coding. It has to last me through school, so longevity/durability is important. I think overclocking wouldn't make sense. If people even overclock laptops. No idea. I'm a desktop guy :o | ||
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Kupon3ss
時の回廊10066 Posts
Presumably it will be used to a certain degree for gaming so you'll probably be looking for models with at least a 860m but probably a 970m Then you probably want to consider the weight class there are a few that are "ultrabook" form factors (<2 kg, 13-14 inches, actually useable as an on the go laptop) or the standard "media center" types (~2.5 kg, 15.6 inches), these tend to be your average gaming notebooks, they are movable but not particularly portable but have less heat problems and generally better specs and the "desktop replacement" types (3kg, 17inch+) which are huge things that you'll basically not lug around but are more powerful and good items to have on your desk. Figuring those out will probably get us a better idea of what you're looking for | ||
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HewTheTitan
Canada331 Posts
It needs to be portable enough that I'll bring it around to school to work at the library. I think 13-15.6 inches is fine, but I hate cramped laptop keyboards. For any gaming I'd plug in a separate kb, mouse and screen at home. I doubt I'd use it for any gaming outside the house except for LANs. I would really prefer windows 7 if possible... I'm looking at these two at the moment, but I have no idea if they're what I'm looking for or not yet. w. gaming dock I think the dock one is overpriced, but the idea of it is interesting. normal gaming laptop from some list I found | ||
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ahswtini
Northern Ireland22212 Posts
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
An 860m is Maxwell and has 640 cores at ~1020mhz base. It's basically an underclocked 750ti. 960 and 980 are the same tech (so core count, mhz are directly comparable) and have 1024 and 2048 cores at around 1200-1550mhz depending on the card you buy and if you OC or not, but you can always hit the upper end of that if you want to. A 960 with a little OCing would be about 2 - 2.5x faster than 860m, and a 980 about 4-5x faster, i think. It's still very usable for gaming but it's not really midrange from a wider point of view (desktop performance). And that standard isn't standing still either. For hard hitting games like DA:I and Far Cry 4 it's a bit concerning; a weaker GPU than the ps4, when that console is only targeting 1080p@30fps on med-high settings? | ||
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HewTheTitan
Canada331 Posts
 On my current, very old desktop I can manage 30-60 in battles on bottomed out settings and that means I can't see widow mine craters :p | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
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wptlzkwjd
Canada1240 Posts
On February 25 2015 13:24 HewTheTitan wrote: I think I want at least 16GB of ram to run some VMs, multicore and some sort of SSD. I think I want an IPS screen, which I think just means it doesn't discolor from angles? 1080p is fine, 60fps is fine, nonmechanical keyboard is fine but fullsize would really be nice. Do they come with that w/o being massive? I don't care about num pad. It needs to be portable enough that I'll bring it around to school to work at the library. I think 13-15.6 inches is fine, but I hate cramped laptop keyboards. For any gaming I'd plug in a separate kb, mouse and screen at home. I doubt I'd use it for any gaming outside the house except for LANs. I would really prefer windows 7 if possible... I'm looking at these two at the moment, but I have no idea if they're what I'm looking for or not yet. w. gaming dock I think the dock one is overpriced, but the idea of it is interesting. normal gaming laptop from some list I found Get the GS60 but with the 970M inside instead of the 870M. It's a huge upgrade for almost the same price. | ||
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HewTheTitan
Canada331 Posts
It seems like nobody who knows about computers is into the gaming dock thing. That makes me a bit sad, but I guess later models of it will be better for the cash. | ||
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wptlzkwjd
Canada1240 Posts
On February 26 2015 13:55 HewTheTitan wrote: Okay. It seems like nobody who knows about computers is into the gaming dock thing. That makes me a bit sad, but I guess later models of it will be better for the cash. Actually I've thought about that and the whole GS30 docking scheme is really good for what my situation is. I have a really small desk so fitting a notebook with a monitor is impossible. I'm currently using a 15.6 inch notebook and playing CSGO is pretty hard sometimes because of the screen size. I could buy a desktop computer but it's a lot nicer to just have one system and this is where the GS30 would be perfect. I heard the GS30 is really loud though even on it's own while doing normal tasks. The other downside is the stupid logo that MSi puts on their notebooks that says Gaming G Series which I consider unprofessional especially if you have to bring it to lectures or labs. I loved their old logo which was just MSi in italics. | ||
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HewTheTitan
Canada331 Posts
Also... if I'm using this for programming, I'm going to be using it a ton. The 17 inch option might make sense in that case. I'm not sure. A good screen + keyboard combo might be worth the extra weight and size. I wouldn't use it in class anyway, it would be for libraries and coffee shops mostly... That combo also lets me get a gtx 980m, which seems pretty beastly. Thoughts? I heard the GS30 is really loud There are youtube videos where you can listen to it, it does get quite loud, but people also say that you can decrease the fan setting slightly and make a huge difference. The other downside is the stupid logo that MSi puts on their notebooks Yeah, that and the LEDs everywhere you can't turn off. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
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Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
On February 26 2015 17:10 wptlzkwjd wrote: Actually I've thought about that and the whole GS30 docking scheme is really good for what my situation is. I have a really small desk so fitting a notebook with a monitor is impossible. I'm currently using a 15.6 inch notebook and playing CSGO is pretty hard sometimes because of the screen size. I could buy a desktop computer but it's a lot nicer to just have one system and this is where the GS30 would be perfect. I heard the GS30 is really loud though even on it's own while doing normal tasks. The other downside is the stupid logo that MSi puts on their notebooks that says Gaming G Series which I consider unprofessional especially if you have to bring it to lectures or labs. I loved their old logo which was just MSi in italics. Would that dock really help in a situation like yours? I thought this dock here is used by buying a desktop graphics card and installing it in there, so you then need a monitor on your desk to use that graphics card. This means the overall setup isn't any smaller than having a compact desktop PC, and probably isn't any cheaper. It has basically the same issue as the Thunderbolt connected external cases for PCI-E stuff you can use on Apple's laptops, where the external case ends up strangely expensive for what you get. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
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HewTheTitan
Canada331 Posts
Would that dock really help in a situation like yours? I thought this dock here is used by buying a desktop graphics card and installing it in there, so you then need a monitor on your desk to use that graphics card. This means the overall setup isn't any smaller than having a compact desktop PC, and probably isn't any cheaper. It has basically the same issue as the Thunderbolt connected external cases for PCI-E stuff you can use on Apple's laptops, where the external case ends up strangely expensive for what you get. My idea would be to have the weaker mobile laptop for working away from home, and then when I come home and want to play games I have a beast of a computer. It also means that if I need extra power for my programming, I have access to it at one location. It would go where my current desktop setup is, replacing my desktop with the hub. | ||
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Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
On February 27 2015 09:25 HewTheTitan wrote: My idea would be to have the weaker mobile laptop for working away from home, and then when I come home and want to play games I have a beast of a computer. It also means that if I need extra power for my programming, I have access to it at one location. It would go where my current desktop setup is, replacing my desktop with the hub. The dock gives you zero extra power for your programming. The only thing it does is, it allows you to use a normal graphics card. You will still be using the CPU and RAM etc. that's in the laptop. You also have to buy that graphics card for the dock yourself. The way you buy this package, the dock comes without a graphics card. | ||
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wptlzkwjd
Canada1240 Posts
On February 27 2015 03:13 Ropid wrote: Would that dock really help in a situation like yours? I thought this dock here is used by buying a desktop graphics card and installing it in there, so you then need a monitor on your desk to use that graphics card. This means the overall setup isn't any smaller than having a compact desktop PC, and probably isn't any cheaper. It has basically the same issue as the Thunderbolt connected external cases for PCI-E stuff you can use on Apple's laptops, where the external case ends up strangely expensive for what you get. It is the same as having compact mini PC with a monitor yes, but it's nice to have just one system instead of two. It's definitely costlier yes which is why I'm sticking to my GS60 lol. I could also just buy a larger desk and a monitor which would still be cheaper but just putting it out there that if I had the money, the GS30 would definitely be very convenient in my situation. | ||
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