In the market for a new laptop

[CrimsonFox]

I finally got a low end gaming laptop. The Acer Nitro 5 for 600
Nice little machine

Currently looking for a gaming monitor now. I am hoping to get one on amazon but I'm having difficulty finding one with all the things I want

[Edward64]

Wife said she wants a new laptop for Christmas. Currently using a Dell 2/4 core. Has 16GB RAM but horrible screen, is about 4 years old so hoping I can sell it for $300'ish on ebay.

She wants a MBP, newer models with a significant upgrade coming supposedly in Fall. This will be the first Apple computer we'll be getting.

[Edward64]

Dell is now selling their Alder Lake desktops. Still a little pricey and especially since they are bundling GPU cards with it. My guestimate is about $300-$400 more than pre-supply chain mess.

My desktop is a i7-6700 with 16GB & SSD, so about 6+ years old, still perfectly functional for the basic stuff but wanting to get a 12th gen CPU to play Stellaris (e.g. without the really bad late stage lags). Also have a 750ti and so time to get something else.

All indications are the 12th gen Alder Lake CPU has really good performance.

I think I'll wait for the Memorial Day or Jul 4 sale when it (hopefully) won't be quite as bad.

We did not get a MBP for wife last BF sale. It would have been about $2K. She didn't want to spend that money and we agreed to wait. I'm thinking the next Air 3 sometime this year as I still owe her a nice Christmas & Birthday present.

[sterlingice]

My current laptop is on its last legs (well, either the screen or the screen cable) and I've been shopping around a bit and stuff is just, well, expensive right now, as to be expected. Doesn't make it any less annoying, though.

SI

[CarterNMA]

I hadn't realized until the other day when my wife mentioned it that my laptop is now 5 years old. It's an AlienWare 17" and it still working beautifully. I then realized that if I don't act soon (now?) I won't be able to get a Windows 10 laptop. I'm always slow to adopt new Windows version because I'm not a paid beta tester or QC/QA specialist. And to me W11 looks like they are trying to drift towards a Mac-like interface and eff that noise.

While I like my AW I'm more interested in getting a gaming machine from a different company. Does anybody have a good experience they can share? Also, anybody have any experience with ASUS laptops? I have a lot of ASUS products in my self-built desktops and have been generally impressed with them.

[rjolley]

I've had Asus ROG laptops before and they've been solid machines. Can't go wrong with them.

I currently have a Lenovo Legion Y740. When I got it, it was the best deal for the specs by far due. Their prices tend to be lower than other comparable laptops because they have frequent deals. The current gen Legion laptops seem to be following in that tradition. It has run everything that I've wanted to play with no real issue.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I just bought a MSI GE76 Raider. My latest gaming laptop was almost 6 years old, so it was time for an upgrade. I’ve had it for a few weeks now and love it. Runs great, looks good. I got it from Hidevolution - reseller.

All of my previous gaming laptops had been Sager/Clevos and had always had good experiences with them.

I really wanted to get a Lenovo Legion, but the build I wanted had a 4+ month wait for it, so I went with the MSI.

[sterlingice]

I also previous had a Sager/Clevo but they have really cut back on their offerings, sadly. I just recently picked up a Lenovo Legion 7 slim from Best Buy, but also threw in more memory (keep in mind they're going to be 1x16 so they're not the fastest memory), a second HD, and a better network card (apparently they got a bad batch of stock ones, if reviews online are to be believed). I also loaded Win10 - I bought a license and downloaded the media from Microsoft's site. Like H_B said, the waits for a custom one online are like 2-4 months so I had to make a couple of minor sacrifices in what I wanted or wait a while.

That said, I also don't do much gaming - I'm looking more for a content creator box so the 3060 was more than enough for me. I haven't had a chance to really put it through its paces though, as the last month has been really busy at work so I'm still operating off my old laptop and gradually building out the new one.

SI

[Honolulu_Blue]

My previous three gaming laptops were all Sager/Clevos, but I agree they have seemed to have cut back lately, which led to the change to MSI. I, also, looked closely at Falcon NW for a custom-made laptop.

I did just see that there are Legion 7i Gen 6 Intel (16") with RTX 3080 currently in stock at Lenovo.com. Looks like a great machine. Not cheap, but super solid. If it had been available a few weeks back, I likely would have picked it up.

[CarterNMA]

Thank you, gentlemen!

Seems I have a bit of homework to do. I would have never considered a Lenovo had I not asked.

Now I have to go see what I can learn from Kodos' post about his son's laptop.

[Edward64]

Got a new Thinkpad X1 Yoga for my wife, shipping date is next week. She's been using an old 2 core/4 thread Latitude for a while now so time for an upgrade.

I'm looking at a used Thinkpad T14S Gen 2 (AMD) myself. There are some relatively good Thinkpad deals out there but you have to check daily. There are some Legion laptops for gaming but no experience with them. See below link for the Lenovo outlet store.

logaze - watching laptops on Lenovo outlet

FWIW, my strategy now is to stick with laptops. They keep their value better and easier to re-sell (every 2-3 years) on eBay than a desktop.

[Edward64]

I love how we can start charging laptops with USB-C Thunderbolt or USB4. Do away with all that proprietary power plugs.

[Edward64]

Excited. My new X1 Carbon Gen 10 is sched to arrive this Thu and it'll replace my old i7-6700 desktop (circa 2015).

It's not a gaming laptop but the current iGPU is better than my old desktop discrete 750Ti so I should be happy with the performance.

[Tyanzun]

My laptop is HP and has been working on it for almost 6 years. Nowadays, it reacts to overheating and dead pixels on the screen. Currently, I'm planning for the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 to accomplish my work.

[Ksyrup]

It seems like there's the potential for a decent deal on a laptop in the next 2 months. Anyone seen any pre-Black Friday deals or know which manufacturers may be more motivated than others to deeply discount? I'm not in the market but mine is 3 years old and I'd upgrade a bit early if I can get a great deal.

[Edward64]

Gaming or regular laptop? Budget (great deal is relative)?

I'm partial to Thinkpads (non-gaming). I check the below link which "scrapes" their outlet store into xls format for easy filtering & sorting for 1+ year old models. Many of them still have warranty.

logaze - watching laptops on Lenovo outlet

I've also bought used from eBay and it turned out to be a good experience. But good deals on eBay are the 3+ year old models.

If looking for a new laptop, then I'd say wait till closer to around BF and create alerts/monitor Hot Deals - Slickdeals.net

[Ksyrup]

Leisure/gaming - although I don't do too much heavy lifting as far as games go. I still like to have the ability to ramp it up for a game if something looks cool.

[sterlingice]

I got a laptop a few months ago and I'll second Edward on Lenovo. I can't speak to the Thinkpads, but I went with a Legion and I've been really impressed with the build quality for the cost. Heck, during the early days of the pandemic, we got my son a cheapy Lenovo Chromebook and that thing has held up better than a lot of laptops I've seen

I mean, at the end of the day, stuff is becoming so white box where most of it is made by Foxconn and the aesthetic design and build quality is all that's different, even in laptops.

That said, I haven't been out shopping the last few months - I bought this at the beginning of the year and both the supply chain and changes in crypto use with graphics cards have made some pretty substantial changes to the market.

SI

[Ksyrup]

I've got a Legion now and it's been solid.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Leisure/gaming - although I don't do too much heavy lifting as far as games go. I still like to have the ability to ramp it up for a game if something looks cool.

Something that I considered is a Thinkpad T14S Gen 3 with Ryzen 7 6850u. It has iGPU 680M which is currently the best iGPU you can buy with pretty decent CPU performance.

If I was in the market there is a pretty good deal now for $1,150 (see below link). The 32GB RAM will future proof for another 5+ years.

https://slickdeals.net/f/16091311-no...earchBarV2Algo

I'm more focused on "business" so I lean towards Thinkpads (can't beat the keyboards). If you are more "gaming" then go with the Legion.

[thesloppy]

I bought a laptop like 6 months ago & like everybody else here I heard great things about Lenovo/Thinkpads...but I bought a Gigabyte A5 X1 cuz it was on a very good sale, even in the middle of the GPU lean times. In fact I just looked it up & it is still going for $200 more than I paid for it. It's been great, but I pretty much treat it like a desktop.

[Edward64]

BTW, for Lenovo, if you have a Visa card, you can use link below

https://www.lenovo.com/us/members/en...isacardholders

More often than not, it gives better deals ($200+ off) than the regular site.

[rjolley]

I'll third the Lenovo Legion. Bought one just before the pandemic and with deals, I got a laptop that was better spec'd than anything else I could find for the cost.

Lenovo always has deals going on, so if you can wait a bit, it might be the best bang for the buck.

Also, I've been watching the Amazon Prime Days deals. There have been some interesting offers. And with the 40XX laptops due out, more deals for the 30XX laptops will be coming.

[Coffee Warlord]

I was so pleased with the Legion I got, I got a second one for my son.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I really wanted to get a Lenovo Legion, but when I was looking there were none available for months.

[Coffee Warlord]

Similar to laptop - I'm looking for a new windows tablet (good sized) for my dad. Any recommendations?

[Edward64]

Sorry, no experience with Windows tablets.

[Edward64]

Article is desktops but figure to put it here since there's not a dedicated desktop thread. I'd assume the laptop versions will also have a pretty good uplift.

Basically, if you are in the market for an intel desktop, you may want to consider waiting for the 13th gen sometime early next year. Performance increase is pretty good, especially in multi-threaded apps. Unfortunately, I don't need all that horsepower and can't justify it.

Core i5-13500 ES CPU Beats Core i5-12500 By Over 50 Percent In Early Multi-Threaded Benchmarks | Tom's Hardware

The Core i5-13500 poses to be one of the best CPUs, according to early benchmarks. A BiliBili content creator recently posted a video showcasing an engineering sample(opens in new tab) of Intel's upcoming mid-range Core i5-13500 Raptor Lake processor and what it can do in Cinebench R23 and CPU-Z. The performance characteristics of the new CPU are impressive, with the chip boasting a whopping 56% multi-threaded performance advantage over its Core i5-12400 Alder Lake predecessor, thanks to the inclusion of eight additional efficiency cores on the Raptor Lake chip.

We see this massive boost in core count clearly in Cinebench R23, where the chip in the Bilibili video hits a multi-threaded score of 19,891 points. It represents a whopping 56% performance improvement for the Core i5-13500 compared to the Core i5-12500, which scores 12,678 points in the same benchmark, according to Tech Notice(opens in new tab).

In CPU-Z's benchmark, the results are even more impressive, with the Core i5-13500 pulling out a score of 8,222 points in the multi-threaded benchmark, and is 61% faster than the official Core i5-12500 multi-threaded CPU-Z score of 5,108 points.

The single-threaded results aren't very imposing, with the Core i5-13500 pulling out a 9% lead over the Core i5-12500 in Cinebench R23, with a score of 1,901 vs. Tech Notice's score of 1,736 for the Core i5-12500. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a CPU-Z single-threaded result since the video's image quality was too blurry to make out any detail.

[Edward64]

Son got a new gaming desktop so he sold me his XPS 8940. Wife and I are primarily using laptops but he gave me a great deal (and desktop 1660 ti is better than my laptop's 780m).

There was an irritating noise coming from the CPU cooler. I can handle a steady hum but the noise was whiny (?) & fluctuated, and that bugged the heck out of me. Watched some YT and replaced the stock cooler with a Vetroo V5 for about $30. It also came with a thermal paste that I used.

Steady hum now while playing Civ 6.

[sovereignstar v2]

@Pass

Is it safe to assume you have a Microcenter by you then since you were linking to some laptops there previously? I could try parting out something local to you (option of having Microcenter build it) or go the pcpartpicker route using Amazon/Newegg.

[Passacaglia]

Yes, I'm pretty much halfway between the one in Chicago and the one in Westmont. Also, to answer your question from the other thread, I definitely don't need it before December. My goal is to have it before Civ 7 comes out in February, and if it's a little after, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I'm only looking now in case there are good Black Friday deals.

[sovereignstar v2]

Okay, I think some people would say it's dumb to get a RTX 4070 right before the 5000 series is released, but I think availability of the new cards is going to suck and there is no guarantee there will be any older stock around to get for cheap once they are out. That's unless you wanted to dive into the used market, which is going to have the potential to be dicey.

[Passacaglia]

That makes sense, especially if I can upgrade later

[sovereignstar v2]

Here is a start. I used the Chicago store. I'm at $1,350 before selecting a case. I chose a microATX motherboard to give you more size options when it comes to the case. We'd just want to make sure the GPU is going to fit (pcpartpicker can help with that).

https://www.microcenter.com/site/con...d-c7330110c432

Some notes:

CPU: You could upgrade to the AMD Ryzen 7600x3d. While it's a bit older, it's more gamer-focused. It's +70$
CPU Cooler: Both CPU's are only 65w, so you don't need a giant cooler. I'm partial to Noctua, but they are spendy. They don't have any Thermalright ones in stock - those are the best bang for buck right now
Video card: Could always spend more here if you really wanted to. RTX 4070 Ti would be the next bump up
Storage: NVMe SSD are the way to go here. Fast, cheap, and don't take up any space

You can get Windows 11 for free if you are willing . Microcenter might end up charging you something like $100 for it.

[sovereignstar v2]

My two go-to brands for cases are Fractal Design and Lian Li

[GrantDawg]

Looks good, but my only add would be either go with at least 2 to on the hard drive, or get a second 1tb. I just added a second 1tb drive, because my initial 1tb was just too small.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[sovereignstar v2]

Actually I'd be tempted to go with the 7600x3d as the motherboard will support it without any BIOS update. Without doing any research on the motherboard it might be tricky to do the BIOS update without an older CPU unless Microcenter did it for you

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Looks good, but my only add would be either go with at least 2 to on the hard drive, or get a second 1tb. I just added a second 1tb drive, because my initial 1tb was just too small.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

Yep, storage is pretty cheap so not a bad idea to go big

[GrantDawg]

Newer games have just gotten so big, and the operating system takes up so much space, 1tb just disappears fast.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[Passacaglia]

Thanks sov! Stupid questions:

if I've been looking at laptops that are AMD Ryzen 7 or 9, should I be looking at that instead of a 5? Or is it that a 5 for a desktop is better than for a laptop?

It looks like the cooler is out of stock, I'll look for a Noctua or something to replace it. There's probably no issues with compatibility for that right?

Is there any benefit to Windows 11? We'd probably rather stick with 10 if we could.

[Ksyrup]

I've still got one computer I've left on Windows 10 and recently, the messaging changed that they would stop supporting it soon. I don't know if they've officially announced anything but I noticed it was a different messsge.

[sovereignstar v2]

Yeah, you can't directly compare desktop and mobile CPUs and GPUs. They will have similar names, but the mobile stuff is nerfed/more efficient due to size/heat concerns. I picked parts to stay around that 1500 mark, but there are certainly upgrade possibilities.

The CPU I picked is only 65w so it's pretty efficient and doesn't need much of a cooler and shouldn't make a ton of noise. You can't go wrong with a Noctua, just don't buy one of the big dogs unless you decide you want a Ryzen 7/9 and start overclocking or something.

No harm in sticking with Windows 10. The nagging about upgrading gets kind of old and eventually MS will stop supporting it. You will still need to get a license unless you have the retail version that is transferrable. There are activation scripts out there that will grab legit digital licenses for either 10 or 11.

[Passacaglia]

Thanks for the help with the setup sov! I think I'm going to hold off for a bit. Like I said, I don't really need this until Civ comes out in February, and that gives me time to find a place to put it. I'd like to have a desktop again, but in a small house with so much kid crap, we're not really ready for it yet.

I might get a new laptop in the meantime, though, since this one seems like such a good deal.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...d)-mica-silver
HP Victus 16-r0073cl
Intel Core i7 13700HX (1.5GHz) Processor
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Graphics Card
32GB DDR5-4800 RAM
250 nits, Refresh Rate 144 Hz

In the BF thread, I was seeing love for Lenovo, specifically the Legion. I looked at their site, and here's the only BF deal that I see for one:

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/lapto...amd/82wm001jus
Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 AMD (16") with RTX™ 4060
AMD Ryzen™ 7 7745HX Processor (3.60 GHz up to 5.10 GHz)
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4060 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6
16 GB DDR5-5200MHz (SODIMM) - (2 x 8 GB)
16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, 100%sRGB, 300 nits, 165Hz, Narrow Bezel, Low Blue Ligh

The HP Victus is $770 ($690 if I get an open box), and the Lenovo is $970 after the Rakuten discount. So for $200 more, I'm getting the Lenovo brand that seems to be more recommended, 300 nits instead of 250, 165 Hz instead of 144, but also 16GB less RAM? Are those monitor details that big of a deal, or is RAM not that big of a deal? Or is there something else about Lenovo Legion that makes it better?

[Ramzavail]

I had never heard of the HP Victus before this, but at that price it doesn't look bad. I will say the Legion monitor is worth the $200 price difference but you are getting more RAM on the other machine....but RAM is easy to purchase and install yourself, if you wanted to upgrade to 32GB. Clearly, I am partial to Lenovo Legion.


FWIW, with the 15% cash back from Rakuten, I couldn't help myself from getting this.


Legion Pro 5i Gen 9 Intel (16") with RTX™ 4070
$1,499.99

Saving $920.00 (38%)
26176126994_LegionPro5iG9RGB_IMG_20231113031452.PNG
Part Number: 83DF00AQUS
Get it by Wed. Dec 04
Qty 1
Instant Savings
- $920.00
Hide Specs
System Specs: :
Processor : 14th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-14900HX Processor (E-cores up to 4.10 GHz P-cores up to 5.80 GHz)
Operating System : Windows 11 Home 64
Graphic Card : NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4070 Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6
Memory : 32 GB DDR5-5600MHz (SODIMM) - (2 x 16 GB)
Storage : 2 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 TLC (2 x 1 TB)
Display : 16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600), IPS, Anti-Glare, Non-Touch, HDR 400, 100%DCI-P3, 500 nits, 240Hz, Low Blue Light
Camera : 1080P FHD with Electronic Privacy Shutter and Microphone
Keyboard : 4zone RGB Backlit, Black - English (US)
WIFI : Wi-Fi 6E 2x2 AX & Bluetooth® 5.1 or above
Warranty : 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
Color : Onyx Grey
Operating System Language : EN:English

[henry296]

Also, looking for a new laptop for Civ7. Current laptop is a 5 year old HP. Has 12 GB of RAM, i5 and the Nvidia 1650, so between the min and recommended specs. Hard drive space should be fine as I still have 147 GB free. Besides Civ7, most work is office / web. Battery not a concern as I just keep it plugged in near the sofa. Hoping that whatever i get can last 5-6 years.

Curious about the cost trade-offs to upgrade everything by a generation for $300.

Option 1 (HP): 12th gen i7, 16 GB DDR4, GeForce 4050 for $800
Option 2 (Acer): 13th gen i7, 16 GB DDR5, GeForce 4060 for 1100.
Option 3 (MSI): 13th gen i5, 16 GB DDR4, GeForce 4050 for 700

[Edward64]

Any of the 3 will work. The Civ 7 requirements are

Civilization 7's system requirements are here and they look downright breezy, plus you'll only need 20 GB of storage space | PC Gamer

I can't speak to quality, heat management (fans can be annoying, high core temps can reduce CPU power etc.) of the 3 but generally, the newer the better. For future proofing, I suggest getting 32GB vs 16GB

[Edward64]

My 2 year old laptop started giving me an annoying fan "noise" even though my Windows performance setting was "Balanced". Fan noise is okay but mine wasn't a constant fan blowing noise (which I would expect) but more rough (? not sure how to describe it).

I've read enough to know the thermal paste put on laptop CPU are often lower quality and doesn't last long so went ahead and bought below. Essentially, the CPU heats up more/quicker as the paste wears off and therefore the fan kicks on more.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MZ45X9G...fed_asin_title

Watched some videos. Backed up my laptop, turn off bitlocker & password, took off the bottom cover, took off the cover covering the CPU, cleaned off the old paste with the supplied alcohol wipes, applied the new paste (just one drop in the middle), and put things back together.

Works great now. No fan noise during "Balanced" and constant fan blowing in "Best Performance".

TLDR: if your laptop fan noise is annoying you, give the above thermal paste a try. The $15 and 20 min of watching YT may/will save you a lot of aggravation

[Honolulu_Blue]

Last October I ended up buying a Lenovo Legion.

I love it! I have had several gaming laptops over the last 15 years or so and this is probably my favorite. Smooth, elegant, powerful. Would recommend.