Author Topic: High speed Laptops at under 1200?  (Read 5192 times)

CW2 (Ret) O'Neill

  • 153A Rotary Wing Aviator
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  • Posts: 850
High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« on: November 23, 2017, 10:56:38 AM »
I know jack shoot about computers or computer performance, I'll be honest. But I've learned a little bit in my 3 years of PC gaming and 2 years of Arma with you guys on the world's worst advertised "gaming laptop" (don't ever buy Lenovo, kids). Right now, I'm looking for a minimum i7 4700 up, 12 gigs of ram, gtx 970m and 1TB HDD at under 900, but honestly I'm willing to buy in more if it's really worth it's weight in visuals and performance. (I plan on playing other games than Arma as well, I know it's not optimized so super high tech doesn't make a difference there, but it will in Fallout, Witcher, or Metal Gear)

If anyone has any suggestions on where to shop, I'd love some helpful input.
K. O'NEILL
CW2, USA
Retired


CPT L. McCoy

  • 11A Infantry Officer
  • Combat Element
  • Posts: 2528
Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2017, 11:36:48 AM »
Here's a list of gaming laptops from newegg.  A lot of them are on sale right now and are less than $1000. 

You'll definitely want something with an i7.  Also, 16GB of ram will have you covered for all games.  You could get one with an SSD in it and that will help with loading and other things that take longer on a HDD, but are generally more expensive for less space. 

You could also find a laptop with 8GB of ram that has expandable ram slots and just buy an extra 8GB (or 2x 4GB chips) and that may end up saving you some money, but may not be worth the effort of a couple hundred bucks.

https://www.newegg.com/Gaming-Laptops/SubCategory/ID-3365?Tid=167748
« Last Edit: November 23, 2017, 11:39:57 AM by PFC L. McCoy »
L. MCCOY
CPT, USA
Commanding Officer, Co A\1-506 Infantry


1LT (Ret) Burke

  • 11A Infantry Officer
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  • Posts: 2446
Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2017, 01:26:52 PM »
I bought a refurbished Asus RoG laptop from NewEgg a couple of years back and that's still my primary gaming laptop.  The CPU was the weakest part but it was considerably cheaper than the non-refurb version.  The warranty is the same.
B. BURKE
1LT, IN
Retired


J Allen

  • Posts: 105
Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2017, 01:28:42 PM »
Its about freakin time you upgraded that thing haha

CPT Bowman

  • 15A Aviation Officer
  • Aviation Element
  • Posts: 565
Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2017, 02:10:46 AM »
If it is at all possible, avoid a laptop or any sort of pre-built machine. You can build a PC very easily in an hour or two depending on how well you follow instructions. With a desk top that you build, any upgrades you might want or problems you might face are much easier to diagnose and solve without much down time depending on what the problem or upgrade is. Manufacturers of gaming computers simply can't afford to put in the level of capability that you get by building yourself for the same or near equal cost.

Step one is deciding how much space you have. There are three main sizes in the PC building library. ATX, being "standard" and fairly large. Micro ATX, what I would consider a "normal" sized PC in most cases. Mini ITX, which are small.

I personally run a Micro ATX build as I don't need a ton of PCI-E slots and only run a single graphics card. Most people with ATX builds have an over-sized and mostly empty case with the exception of the few who actually utilize the size ATX offers.

Mini ITX is likely going to continue gaining in popularity. My next build will very likely be a Mini ITX build because you can build an incredibly powerful PC into a case only slightly larger than your standard gaming console.

For a first time build, I'd grab a Micro ATX board. I am partial to intel. Their 8th gen stuff is fantastic, for a 1200 dollar build you should be able to afford an 8600k. That's going to be plenty for any game you wish to run.

Graphics card is important in many games, arma doesn't really utilize it as much as others so you could save some money there if you would like. I'd run a GTX 1060 for solid 1080p performance. Anything higher resolution and I would start looking at the 1070 or 1070TI.

Those two parts are the big expenses. You can save a considerable amount elsewhere if you shop wisely, and considering that cyber Monday is coming up you'll have the opportunity soon.

Don't go spending a ton of money on a case unless you have to and can afford to do so without cutting corners elsewhere. I like the simplicity and sleek looks of Fractal design, they have plenty of affordable offerings, second to them, I'd say CoolerMaster is one to look into. IMO, many other cases either lack ventilation, or cost more than I find reasonable. I like a quiet computer and don't run any lights nor do I have a see through panel. My build looks great when I pull the panel off, but I don't like hearing fans run. Fractal makes a very quiet case.

Motherboard would need to be a Z370 for the 8th gen intel. If you go 6th or 7th gen which are great and save some money, grab a Z270 as it will work with either generation and are still readily available.

Ram needs to be at least 8 gigs, preferably 16, at no less than 2400Mhz. Stick with a big brand and you'll be fine.

Power supply needs to be an EVGA for the sake of simplicity and reliability. Get at least a semi-modular with 650watt output. Trust me on the semi modular part. Otherwise you'll have a shit ton of cables that you have to stuff somewhere. There are many other brands but EVGA is known for great customer support, and if a power supply fries your build they'll more likely than not replace those parts fried if their PSU caused it.

At this point you're left with a CPU cooler and your storage. Any old 1TB HDD will do you fine for starters toss in an SSD no smaller than 120 gigs to store your OS on, and keep games on a separate drive.

CPU cooler can be a Coolermaster hyper 212 evo or a Cryorig H7. Both are great for the cost and keep your CPU nice and cool.

If you can't do a build for travel reasons or some other limitation, I understand, but if you could make it work it would change your gaming experience for the better without a doubt. I was on a laptop for a long time before making the switch and unless I was traveling constantly for work or something similar I could not imagine going back.
A. BOWMAN
CPT, AV
Reserve Platoon, 1-506 Infantry


CW2 (Ret) O'Neill

  • 153A Rotary Wing Aviator
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Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #5 on: November 24, 2017, 04:40:59 AM »
I'd honestly much rather build a PC, but I'm waiting til I'm back stateside. My current job has me moving from one tac site to the next on a monthly basis and I wanted a laptop to be mobile for that time. Once I'm stateside and stuck in a single spot to train, I'll build my desktop and probably sink a much larger paycheck into it. That's why I want to upgrade but I'm definitely not paying $2500 for some gtx 1080, 32 gigs of ram monster laptop.
K. O'NEILL
CW2, USA
Retired


J Allen

  • Posts: 105
Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2017, 06:00:16 PM »
In all honesty, just try searching around on Newegg, amazon or whatever relator site you fancy. Some black friday deals might still be going on so now would be the time to buy something. You could get a real beast of a labtop for a great price if you look around a little on those sites.

CW2 (Ret) O'Neill

  • 153A Rotary Wing Aviator
  • Retired
  • Posts: 850
Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2017, 03:21:16 AM »
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=2WC-000N-00068

My new laptop. Should get to me about 1-2 weeks from now since I had to ship it to my parents and then they'll send it to me, else I would've been charged $55 for shipment to Korea and couldn't get a warranty deal outside the US.

I settled on a 1060 and 128 SSD over the 1050 TI and 256 SSD because I feel the 1060 is worth the extra $60 in terms of performance and 128GB should be more than enough to manage OS and other software while the 1TB HDD internal plus another TB HDD external that I own should be able to handle games and mods.

I'm honestly excited. I've actually never once played Arma at above standard anything settings with the only exception being textures at High. Everything else has been standard to disabled entirely and I've never seen over 24 FPS online or 34 FPS offline.

Can't wait to get back into the unit under my favourite platoon, Havoc 3! Also going to download Fallout 4, Witcher 3 and Skyrim so I can enjoy those titles again. Not expecting to play ultra, I still don't think it has nearly juice enough for that, but it'll be nice to play even at mid-high settings steadily.
K. O'NEILL
CW2, USA
Retired


1LT Eluri

  • 11A Infantry Officer
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Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2017, 07:17:27 AM »
That was not a bad choice. You can play most stuff on ultra with that.
R. ELURI
1LT, IN
Reserve Platoon, 1-506 Infantry


J Allen

  • Posts: 105
Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2017, 04:55:01 PM »
Very nice, especially for a labtop. You are gonna love it. The transition from potato to a real machine is always a special moment.

SPC (Ret) Shell

  • 11B Infantryman
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Re: High speed Laptops at under 1200?
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2017, 11:45:59 AM »
Nice purchase, I have one thats coming up on 2 years old : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232863
Still runs most things on ultra, you'll be happy with it!
J. SHELL
SPC, USA
Retired