Advice for buying a Laptop

I’ll preface this by saying that I’ve made this exact post on r/suggestalaptop on Reddit but haven’t got much traction so I thought I’d give it a go here.

I don’t live on the USA but I can see your suggestion and try and find a similar offer in European markets.

Also, I’m not going for a full blown desktop because I’m not living in my country of origin and “tomorrow” I might have to pack everything and leave. A laptop much better suits my needs than a tower+peripherals.

  • Total budget
    ~1700$

  • Do you prefer a 2 in 1 form factor, good battery life or best specifications for the money? Pick or include any that apply.
    Best specs for the money

  • How important is weight and thinness to you?
    Won’t move around it much, only inside the house.

  • Which OS do you require? Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux.
    Windows

  • Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A.

    17.3" would be best for the increased real-estate but if better specs are on a 15.6" I wouldn’t be against it.

  • Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run.

    Mainly gaming. Wouldn’t be averse to some photo editing but all in the hobby side.

  • If you’re gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want? -

    FF XIV (the mmorpg, for clarity) >60 FPS would be nice
    CyberPunk 2077 wouldn’t say no to. I guess a general future-proofing would be in mind.

  • Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?

    Ideally a mechanical keyboard but I know those are reserved to really expensive and high end machines. Guess something that doesn’t feel mushy and yes, something that doesn’t warp (build quality) just by looking at it sideways.

  • Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.

    Overheating and loudness is a concern. I know they go hand in hand in laptops. Something that does cooling really well would be ideal and doesn’t peel off my fingertips when typing.

Thanks for all the help~
Ultra

Amazon europe is pretty trash but I found this.

I have a GS63VR with a 6GB 1060 in it. I got it for 700, and aside from it just being troublsome because used and I demand for it to run linux… its great actually. I can stream with it and everything. I believe the 1660 is supposed to be better than the 1060, but I an’t find anything with a 1660 in it. But, the form factor is good, stays cooler than you would expect because it can take air in from all sides, and at least on mine the screen runs at a full 120Hz. This one is listed with a 144hz screen and a 1650, but the GPU is 4GB which I would consider the modern minimum for vram.

Good luck!

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My stock answer for laptops tends to be ThinkPad but as you want to game on the machine maybe something from the Lenovo Legion line up.

Legion and original gaming laphops hawe prowen themselves problematic to me. I tend to recommend against them.

@SEP can concurr

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I’ve found pretty decent laptop deals for price to performance coming from boutique sellers selling custom built Clevo units. Not sure which ones are located/ship to European countries though. I want to say Xotic was the one I’m remembering for Europe that wasn’t too bad in terms of pricing, but could be wrong

Thank you all for your replies and help.

At your pricepoint you could look into a Razer Blade 15.
Yes, you pay a bit of Razer Tax, but not a whole lot and it’s probably the best build Gaming Notebook out there.
To be honest, Keyboard and Trackpad are going to be your main Problems. Most Gaming Notebooks assume you’ll be using mouse and keyboard to game on them, so those tend to be skimped on in favor of a better gpu or screen.

Other than that, i’d agree with the Lenovo Legion line if Bang for the Buck is the ultimate goal.

Edit: A link for something i’d be looking at:

“Only” 60Hz, but well matched hardware. 1060 6G, 60Hz Screen, good i7, proper build quality and top-notch keyboard. Not flashy in terms of specs, but solid and well rounded.

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The keyboard does worries me, in so far, it has a good tactile experience and doesn’t really overheat. Mouse-wise I will probably be picking up a external mouse.

I’m going to be honest with you here… Stay away from Asus. Their repairability is terrible and they make a lot of poor design choices that deter people from modifying them or repairing them in any way. Razer laptops have a similarity to MacBooks in that they are premium but also coincide a few (not quite as many) manufacturing defects… and their customer service is awful (alongside Asus).

I’m with others in recommending a ThinkPad, but the Legion line seems really low quality in comparison to something like an X1 Extreme. Lenovo is the best when it comes to warranties though so keep that in mind.

So many people are going to hate me for this, and that’s okay, but I’m going to have to recommend Alienware. Why? Because 5 years down the road if something fails you’ll be able to repair it and, if it’s still in warranty, Dell will honor it unlike half the other options out there. Not only that, but if it isn’t in warranty, you may even be able to buy the part you need directly from Dell.

Alienware laptops have solid keyboards, great screens, and superb build quality (especially as of late). They also have large and highly reliable batteries (talking about these laptops is making me want to replace my EVGA SC17 right now). They are a bit pricier but they are well worth it

If I were in your shoes I’d get the Alienware M17. It’s portable for a gaming laptop, has great cooling for how thin it is, and honestly I don’t see a reason to get the Area 51M because there’s no way that thing will fit in a bag or a backpack

They are having a 12% sale right now which is really nice too

If you’re ever so inclined, Linux has solid support for Alienware devices and there’s even a project on GitHub that allows you to control all of the lighting

They are flashy, and that deters a lot of people, but functionally it will last you a long time

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Like always, I suggest getting whatever the Wirecutter recommends.

Personally though, I would buy an XPS13, a Razer Core X eGPU enclosure, and a 5700XT or 2060S. Gets you a really portable laptop that you can plug-in at home to game.

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Yeah why can’t we just have decent frickin’ support for anything it seems.
Lenovo is pretty lame imo

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I have found on my country a kind of boutique shop that does personalized laptop assemblies with Clevo and TongFang enclosures.

Wouldn’t any of you have some kind of feedback on the reliability of these ?

Thanks

I have had the absolute worst luck with clevo. Well not really clevo specifically but their lack of support structure.

You’re at the will of the distributor on those laptops.

Going to through in my hat on this. Currently running a 17 with a 1080 max q super solid. Keyboard and track pad are great when I use them.

Do recommend getting a mechanical keyboard for your desk will be better than any laptop keyboard.

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My problem with Clevo is their frames are often (not always) cheaply made. Sure, the specs are nice and they are often quite modular (and generally cheaper), but the build quality isn’t all too fantastic

Definitely. I didn’t realize how bad laptop keyboards truly were until I got my first mechanical keyboard. Though I’d recommend brown switches over the reds I have right now…

The keyboard on mine (p960ed) is pretty shit, but not the worst I’ve seen. The frame is ok. I dont have any complaints there.

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I wouldn’t imagine Clevo would have much incentive to design one with a better keyboard. They are a relatively small brand after all

I won’t deny the price to performance you get from one though

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-51-793K
It had unlimited Linux installed on this laptop, it had taken over all the ssd memory for Linux, so I decided to uninstall it and install Windows (I could have both Linux and Windows together but ssd memory was important to me).
Windows comes up in 7 seconds, which doesn’t even have a leg.
Multi-touch operations on the touchpad screen didn’t work, which I later found to be activated in the BIOS of the system and corrected.
The chassis is solid and the design is great, the red light of the keyboard can only be switched on or off, and its bright state switches off after 30 seconds of not using the keypad to turn on the key again.

The quality of the keyboard is good too, as is the touchpad.
The speakers are under the laptop and I must say they are great, both in volume and quality.
The body is plastic but very nice and sturdy.
It stains a lot on the body because it is glossy and shiny.
In heavy play, the top of the keyboard becomes hot (which is not too scary) because the cooling system works very well.
The battery also works (up to 5 hours) for movie viewing and web browsing.
The screen is also 15.6 inches. I am happy with this laptop because of my field of study and my job and it is also suitable for home use, but first of all you have to decide according to your needs

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