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I'm split between a couple of gaming laptops from various manufacturers. It will mainly be used for college but I do want to have the ability to game on the side so battery life and noise will also be very important. I also need some help with GPU selection since the RTX 3070 seems to be the sweet spot for thin-and-light gaming notebooks but with the performance so dependent upon wattage, I'm not sure if the performance upgrade of a 3070 is worth the price increase over 3060 SKUs. I am aware of supple issues and price inflation but I'm only considering these devices at or around MSRP even if I have to wait. Considerations: Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-Legion-5-Pro-16-Gaming-Laptop-AMD-Ryzen-7-16GB-RAM-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-3070-512GB-SSD-Windows-10-Home-Gray-82JQ008NUS/231609645) - The Walmart variant seems to be the only one with any stock but it appears to be the best bang for the buck config at MSRP - I am concerned about battery life since many reviews have pointed to it as the main downside - No Windows Hello but I can live with that at this price Acer Triton 500 SE (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-predator-triton-500-se-16-2560x1600-165hz-laptop-intel-11th-gen-i7-geforce-rtx-3060-16gb-ddr4-512gb-ssd/6463843.p?skuId=6463843) - Similar to the Legion 5 Pro but with a spec downgrade - HUGE 99.9 Whr battery but for some reason (maybe bc of the Intel chip), the battery life is significantly worse than the G15 which has a smaller battery but more powerful specs - There is a 3070 variant but the $500 price increase doesn't seem to justify it - Plus the other SKUs aren't even available yet ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 RTX 3060 SKU: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-g15-15-6-qhd-laptop-amd-ryzen-9-16gb-memory-nvidiageforcertx3060-512gb-solid-state-drive-eclipse-gray/6451627.p?skuId=6451627 RTX 3070 SKU: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-15-6-qhd-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-9-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070-1tb-ssd-eclipse-grey-eclipse-grey/6448848.p?skuId=6448848 - Great specs and brilliant battery life as many reviews have pointed out (8-11 hours for office work) - Display isn't as good compared to the "budget options", it doesn't even hit 400 nits - I can't decide between the 3060 and 3070 versions - The 3060 variant is much cheaper ($1500 vs $1850) but I don't know about the performance uplift since everyone only compared the 3070 and 3080 when the wattage thing became known - It doesn't have an integrated webcam but the whole package is too good to ignore - On Asus's website, it lists a gaming mouse, headset, and external FHD camera as included although I don't know if they're included with Best Buy's since it depends on the retailer but free stuff (especially the webcam and headset) is always nice Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-16-wqxga-165hz-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i9-16gb-memory-nvidia-rtx3060-1tb-ssd-off-black/6464203.p?acampID=0&cmp=RMX&loc=Hatch&ref=198&skuId=6464203) - Basically the same as the G15 with a significantly improved screen, better keyboard, and internal webcam - Only the 3060 variant is available in the US for now - The 3060 version costs as much as the G15 with a 3070 and doesn't have the free goodies - The screen is much larger as replaces the large chin on the G15 and gets MUCH brighter at 500 nits plus a taller aspect ratio which would be useful - It has the same battery size as the G15 at 90Whrs but has 20-30% less battery life bc of the Intel CPU (M16 owners, if it's not that significant please let me know, the screen is just SO good) - The CPU can be undervolted but IDK if that'll have a significant enough effect on battery life to make up for Intel's inefficiency compared to AMD - At this price point I would like a 3070 so I might wait for that if it ever comes Or am I completely going the wrong way here and go for professional notebooks/ultrabooks like the Dell XPS, Lenovo ThinkPad, or even the M1 MacBook Air? I've never had any experience with Apple products so I don't know how much storage I'll need and the lack of upgradeability makes me really uncomfortable but I'm not so far into the Windows ecosystem that I can't switch. Plus, Apple has a $200 student discount and free airpods which will make the M1 one of the cheaper options. It seems that Apple has big plans for their own silicon and the next generation will probably be announced in a few months (M1X or M2) and those chips will be a significantly upgrade over M1 which has basically been a public beta test. The XPS is the closest windows competitor with some of the best trackpads, keyboards, and screens in an ultrabook.

Hi, I want to buy one of these, but cant really choose. Any ideas? https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-9i-14-2-in-1-14-touch-screen-laptop-intel-evo-platform-core-i7-16gb-memory-512gb-ssd-mica/6426709.p?skuId=6426709 https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/xps-13-9310-2-in-1-laptop/x29310cto220h

Hey. I am joining college next month and I need a laptop. My old one suffered water damage and well, it died. Here is a usage checklist: 1. Thin and Light Laptop with good battery life as a priority (since I would be required to carry my laptop for classes, assignments) 2. I am engaged in UI/UX design, content creation and branding as a hobby and I use the Adobe Suite extensively. (Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, After Effects) I want a good experience with the Adobe Suite. 3. College would involve programming, MATLAB and AutoCAD, for the answer-writer's knowledge. 4. I would be playing Rocket League, CS:GO and FIFA "casually" on the laptop with my mates. I just want them playable. 5. USB-C, USB 3.0 ports and a 3.5 mm audio jack would be a necessity. I live in India and my budget is 90,000 Indian Rupees (approx. 1225 USD). My preferred online retailers are Flipkart (www.flipkart.com) and Amazon India (www.amazon.in) Please help me find a good laptop for my needs. Thank you.

I'm looking for best sounding thin and light laptop (Windows). Are there any thin and light laptops comparable to or better than Apple Macbook Air, sound wise. I see very few reviews actually comparing the sound on the laptops. So I'm not sure which one to pick. I just need thin and light laptop which sound better than Apple Laptops or have similar quality. If there are multiple options, I'd like to compare display and battery life, but sound is priority. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I am having a very tough decision about which laptop to get. I attached a screen grab of the MSI GS63VR (last years model with the i7-6700HQ) priced at $1,350 from iBuyPower. Which has pretty much everything I would want in my laptop components wise. Or should I just spend $500 more and get the New Razer Blade. Which doesn't have all the components of the MSI but has better build quality, and has better thermals. And as Linus has made abundantly clear is his favorite laptop. I am just torn and need some feedback/help in the matter. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hello, I want to buy a laptop which I can bring to school. It needs to have a good screen, be built well (metal if possible), and have decent specs which can actually run some games. I am willing to buy it used on Craigslist or eBay. I am Canadian so hoping the price will be under 800 USD (1000CAD). Thanks for suggestions!

Hey everyone. Here's my criteria for a laptop for school, hopefully you guys can help me find it. Must be on Best Buy's website since I'm going to finance it. Budget is around $1399 max. Battery life is a high priority. 6 hours or more of video/writing. Must be thin and light with 2 in 1 functionality. I'll be using Windows Ink a lot for note taking so that's a must have. Could be detachable like a Surface. Must be less than 15.6" 1080p minimum i5-i7 preferably. Doesn't have to be quad core. Not looking to do gaming other than basic indie games. 8gb RAM minimum 128gb SSD is doable however 256gb would be nice. Build quality is also a high priority. The keyboard has to be something I'll enjoy typing on and doing school work with. (Surface laptops are pretty much the standard in build quality I'd like. Not sure if there's others as good.) I/O doesn't really matter since I'd use a bluetooth mouse if necessary. The weight and size is a high priority. I'm coming from a thick and heavy laptop and I want this to be something I'll barely notice when it's in my bag. Thanks guys!

Hey Everyone I'm looking for a thin and lightish gaming,work,programming laptop . this laptop must have thunderbolt 3 support ,i7700hq,16gb ram ,preferably 1060 (something like MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro-230 but with 1tb instead or cheaper,or like MSI GS63 STEALTH PRO-016 but with 1060). the bugged i have is somewhere form 1500-1800$ . Edit: Should I buy the smart-guard 2 year laptop ... Plan ,or it's not so critical ,I just don't have any experience with Amazon and online shopping.Thx in advance. Update: i think i will go with MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro-230,its light and small and has 1060+tb3+nvme ssd,but its only 256 gb,i really hoped that the gigabyte areo will ship to my location but no luck.awh well. And the last update: I think I will open a new discussion,cuz I researched the egpu and tb3 ,and even with a 1080 ,you will get 5-10 fps boost ,I don't think it worth the money yet so I will try to find another laptop with no tb3.

Hey Everyone I'm looking for a thin and lightish gaming,work,programming laptop . this laptop must have i7700hq,16gb ram ,preferably 1060/1070,and a nvme ssd (Don't need tb3 support). the bugged i have is somewhere form 1500-1800$ . Edit: The only games that I will play is probably pubg ,bf1,csgo, overwatch.

I need a cheap, thin and light laptop that I can carry to class that can run basic programs in python and mathematica. I have a gaming laptop but it's too heavy to lug everyday to class.

Total budget and country of purchase: UK, up to £400, ideally 250-350, willing to go second-hand/ refurbished. Do you prefer a 2 in 1 form factor, good battery life or best specifications for the money? Would ideally like an edge to edge display and decent battery life (>5 hours) How important is weight and thinness to you? Weight is very important, less than 1.5kg please Which OS do you require? Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux. Realistically has to be windows, but I may partition and add an Ubuntu partition. Happy to install windows myself if you know a way to get it cheaper Do you have a preferred screen size? As per weight - probably has to be smaller, 13" Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. would ideally like to do Adobe lightroom, but understand this my not be feasible - I have a higher powered desktop for gaming. I would use it mostly for web browsing, emails, coding - In python - for data analysis, no machine learning however. I have a high-powered desktop I can use for any really demanding tasks. Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad) Touch screen ideally - but not a deal breaker. If RAM or Storage is low then I am happy to upgrade it myself - if it is easy to do so. Thank you in advance.

Hi, i just need an advice. I have ASUS Zenbook 14 430UN that i bought July last year. It kinda worked supposedly good enough for my college needs but it dissapoints me in a lot of things like: - I would prefer longer battery runtime than just 4-5 hours in Best Battery mode - The brightness in outdoor is dissapointing - The inconsistent fingerprint reader - It's difficult to play games without thinking the laptop would stutter because of the horrible thermal management in this laptop - The dongle life is no problem for me but since i can't found micro HDMI to HDMI dongle, the USB-C to HDMI is ok yet makes constant sound notification which is bothering me Based on that quite a lot of complaints, i would like to change my laptop to Dell XPS 15 9570 (i7-8750H, FHD, 512 GB SSD). But since i live in Indonesia, is it worth it to buy 2000$ laptop (In Indonesia the price bumps up so much especially for XPS 15 lineup) than my 1150$ current laptop? And everytime i need to but anything, i need my parent's consent. So i'm puzzled if i really need the XPS or not. And thanks for anyone who read this and can give me some advice about my problem. :)

So I am looking to replace the laptop I got in 2013 (Macbook Pro) I no longer need OSX and if I do that laptop is more than capable of doing what I'd need in OSX. What I am looking for is its replacement as my daily travel laptop. Also in the short term it will be my main computer as I am temporarily moving overseas and taking my PC with me is going to be way too complicated. Besides gaming while I'm living over seas this wont see much gaming use unless I'm traveling for work so if I just need to plan on an eGPU case for my existing 2017 that's fine. I would also like it to be VR capable in the end as I would like to take my rift with me when I move. I have been looking at the following Razer Blade Advanced (2060 or the 2070 Max-Q) MSI GS65 (2060 or the 2070 Max-Q) I also considered the Asus Zephyrus GX531 but they keyboard position and track pad do not seem the best for something I intend to use while traveling. I am open to suggestions and reviews of other laptops but my main considerations for a new laptop are Portable (This will live in a currier bad or rolling laptop bag) 15" ish screen (the overall laptop width cant really be bigger than 15 inches to fit my bag) VR capable (with eGPU if thats the only option to fit other needs) 16GB RAM Will last me a while. $2500 is what I'm setting as a goal since it's about what the macbook its replacing cost in 2013

Hi, I am wanting to buy a gaming laptop in the range of GB£800 (US$1000). My only requirements are that it's a 60Hz 1080p screen and it's thin-and-light. Could you please point me in the direction of the best laptop in this price range that meets those 2? A good battery life would of course be a top priority, and anything else goes. Thank you!

EDIT: I have gone with the Lenovo X1 Carbon. Lenovo's outlet had an amazing deal on a $2,000 spec for $1,200 brand new. Thanks for your help! Every time I look for this answer, people keep recommending larger format laptops and I cannot seem to find a review that has helped me figure out what computer is right for my specific use case and hardware desires. I've also read through some of the stickies on this forum, not can't get a clear guide to what I should get. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give! Size & Portability: I want a 13-14" inch laptop. Portability is key here. Power & Use: In addition to basic every day tasks, I will use this laptop for some graphic design, so it'll need to handle the following programs (in order from most to least critical): Illustrator, In-Design, Photoshop, After Effects/Premiere. I have a desktop for heavy loads, so this is more for when I am with a client and they want to tweak something or see an alternative layout, or if I need to do some basic work on a plane, or when I want to work at a coffee shop for the day. I am pretty set on having at least 16gb of RAM (dual channel, please), as I often have a lot of instances of chrome open while also running Illustrator and Photoshop simultaneously. As for the processor and GPU combo, this where I get lost. I have no idea what processor is really right for my use case. I feel like a dedicated GPU will help with some of my workloads, but I honestly cannot tell if something like intel or AMD's integrated solutions would actually be enough. Keyboard & Touchpad: Touchpad feel is REALLY important to me. The last laptop I had was a Mac, and I've never used another computer that felt so good to use. But I refuse to buy a Mac now. So instead, I want the most fluid, accurate pad possible on a Windows platform. And the buttons shouldn't shake, wobble, or otherwise be a nuisance to use. For the keyboard, my biggest concern is that I do NOT want mushy keys or a flexible chassis. I'd rather not have a number pad, and back-lighting is a plus. Screen: 1080p is fine (don't need 4k at this size). However, it absolutely needs to be bright and color accurate. I prefer a matte finish, thin bezels, and 144hz if possible, but those are not critical. FutureProofing I like to buy nice and buy once. I am not interested in budget items that will last me two years and then fall apart. I want to buy hardware that will last me several years without falling apart or getting bogged down by future applications. Battery: I cannot stand laptops that die after a couple hours. It doesn't have to go all day, but it needs to get me through most of it. Budget: Rather not spend more than $1,600. Doesn't mean I want to spend that much, but am willing to if that's what it takes.

Need a thin and light for college. Prefer amd. 512ssd, 8gb ddr4. Currently considering vivobook s14 (ryzen 5 4500U). I would like if it could manage light gaming.

MSI Prestige 14 A10SC I know there’s been a bunch of reviews out there but this is my first ever review and I won’t be following the curve with this one. I’ll be coming at this with a techie/tinkerer point of view, not settling for what it is but what I have made it at the end of a few simple and cheap mods. Mostly cooling, some software but we’ll get into that later. **Update** Sep 20 2020 Had to add an anecdotal note to this review about my RMA experience with MSI. It sucks. So less than a month of ownership with this laptop and I'm having to RMA it for presumably a motherboard issue. Press the laptop power button, light comes on, screen stays dark, fans don't spin up, 5 sec later light goes out. Plugged in, unplugged, cleared CMOS etc etc etc tried all the normal user things and no joy. This is the moment when the suck showed up, started the RMA process with tech support. They were very quick to reply with the RMA form address. Same day filled out and submitted the form, instructed to wait up to 2 days for an email response with the number and shipping info. Waited 3 business days, nothing. Resubmitted the the form, waited 3 more business days, still nothing. Contacted customer support and currently have an email directly to the RMA handler, 3 more days... nothing. I am very fortunate to have a desktop and my work is good with me getting things done remotely but currently I would be looking at 9 days of lost work and the laptop hasn't even left my house for repairs yet. It's getting very close to the go out buy another laptop to cover the lost time I should be progressing. This is obviously just a one off experience but it felt like I should be open about this lack of contact from MSI. I expect when you buy a $2000+ niche market laptop you should receive customer service to match. Basic Specs I7-10710U 6-cores, 12-Threads @ 1.10GHz base & 4.70GHz boost 16GB LPDDR4-2133 Soldered NVIDIA GTX 1650 Max-Q 4GB 512GB SATA M.2 drive Wifi 6 and Blutooth v5.1 14.0” UHD 3840x2160 “IPS-Level” display 52Whr Battery 3-Cell Lithium-Polymer Jumping right into the specs they are pretty overkill for your standard ultrabook form factor. The i7 is fantastic for bursty loads and single or multithreaded applications just fly along. Yes, it’s not an i9 or Ryzen 7 with a dozen cores but it’s an ultrabook not an inch thick desktop replacement and MSI has balanced this part extremely well with my needs. The integrated graphics are more than enough for 4k streaming and keeping the more power hungry gpu dormant. Speaking of the gpu, usually you would find integrated graphics on any laptop this size, and only if you are lucky would you find a low power MX series chip. Having the GTX1650, even the lower wattage Max-Q edition, was a welcome change in this form factor and led me to believe this machine has some gaming chops if I can keep thermals in check. Apart from the graphics chip every other spec is cookie cutter to just about every other ultrabook in this price range. XPS13, HP X360, even all previous gen Razer Blade Stealths are/were lacking a gpu for mid level gaming but have i7s in 4 and 6 cores, 16GB of RAM, M.2 SSDs, wifi, bluetooth all the same. Ports and Looks Now that the specs are out of the way the outside walkaround of the laptop is a welcome surprise compared to the competition in this form factor. On the right, 2x USB2.0 type-A, and a combo Headphone Mic jack. On the left a pair of USB-C Thunderbolt3 ports, battery indicator LEDs and a microSD card slot. I am so disappointed with the inclusion of USB2.0 on a 10th Gen Intel laptop. Looking into the CPU it is possible MSI ran out of PCIe lanes with 8 for the GPUs, 4 for the M.2 and 4 for the thunderbolt3 ports which were clearly the focus during development. I haven’t completely embraced dongle and bluetooth life yet but mice and game controllers don’t need super fast USB so I will forgive MSI for these ports. Some people will tell you the MicroSD card slot should be a full size one, I disagree. With dongle life being forced upon thin and light laptop users anyway, you normally find a much better full sized SDcard reader on the dongles you are using so just use that instead of doubling up ports. Build quality is subjectively excellent with some flex in the monitor and base but I have never found myself in a situation where I twist my laptop, screen wobble is well controlled and the machining looks great with the polished accents and clean lines. On top of the laptop you’ll find a, in my opinion, very large MSI dragon. Not the best look for those going into an office with people who only see a “gaming” logo in a sea of Dell and Lenovos. I fixed this with some carbon fibre pattern vinyl I found on Amazon. The metal milled trim made cutting the vinyl to size super easy, just press out all the bubbles and work your way around the edge before carefully running an exacto blade around the outside. It’s half the price of D-Brand and I have meters of the stuff left for other projects. Bottom of the laptop is mostly vents and very nice thick feet to keep the laptop off the desk even while closed. The monitor hinge lifts the base of the laptop slightly allowing more airflow and I will have to wait to see how long those silicon pads last while opening and closing the laptop. Inside Couple of Phillip head screws, including a "factory sealed" one and we’re inside the laptop to see the layout and immediately start to see some of the extremely tight design work needed to shrink the hardware to this form factor. Starting at the top you have the excellent display hinge, the fin stack and nice long heatpipes integrated to both the cpu and gpu heat-plates, a good sized fan for how thin this laptop is, GPU power delivery and memory in the middle, soldered RAM in the mid right, right speaker, 52 Whr battery, SATA SSD in an NVME slot, replaceable Wifi card and left speaker. Immediately I noticed some odd choices with down firing speakers which could easily have been turned around to face the user. Most annoying was definitely the top spec model with a SATA M.2 SSD in an NVME capable slot?! MSI shame on you! This laptop is being advertised as a “prestige laptop” and they decided to put slower storage into a fast interface, I don’t know if this was Canadian market specific as most reviews I found were with NVME in that slot so buyer beware if you were planning on utilizing the higher throughput of NVME. The soldered RAM is unfortunate and only 2133MHz as well but based on how tightly packed this board is already I can understand the choice, still would have liked to see 3600MHz chips to compensate for the fact you can’t replace it. Not that it makes much of a performance difference but higher binned chips give me more peace of mind than whatever low spec bin these would have been pulled from. Performance My priorities for laptops are based on what I use the most, so a great screen is a must, a decent keyboard/trackpad, decent gpu to do some light gaming. The rest of the laptop is not as important as the performance in the other parts are so small it’s not practical to prioritize a ~5% performance difference. MSI has found a gem of a screen in the UHD model. Very bright, as bright as my Samsung S9 at full blast. Contrast is not AMOLED good but it’s very close, inky black scenes look great and the extra contrast you get from the higher brightness makes the perceived darkness that much better. Colours are accurate and the laptop comes with a calibration page for this specific monitor. 60Hz is great for what I tend to need out of a laptop and sacrificing the brightness, resolution and colour accuracy for higher frame rates would only make sense if I was making money from or extremely focussed on competitive gaming. The resolution is insane for this screen size, there really is no reason for this many pixels for this small a screen. I would have been happy with less resolution if it didn’t mean sacrificing colour accuracy, contrast and brightness but so far Dell is the only manufacturer I’ve seen making a laptop with equally good low and high resolution options. The keyboard takes a bit of getting used to with the extra space between the short travel keys. Responsiveness is great coming from my other keyboards like the Logitech K380,400 and 830 models. I prefer slim keys with medium travel and the Prestige keyboard is just right for quick messages and even some longer more purposeful documents and emails. I don’t think I would sit down and write a 500 page novel on it but typing this review proves to me I can still touch type long documents without pecking at the keys like I do on most laptops. This is most likely due to the lack of key wobble and my preference for small keyboards. Speakers on this laptop are pitiful and weak, there is very little reasoning to why these sound so cheap and lifeless while the screen begs you to watch movies on it other than savage cost cutting. Overall the speakers do the job for youtube and podcasts but movies with any bass just don't live up to even the cheapest laptops I’ve used. Don’t even try to enjoy music on them. I was lucky to have a decent set of headphones which brings up a strange software quirk I haven’t run into before, when you plug in your headphones the Realtek driver doesn’t allow you to have a separate volume for the headphone jack, whatever volume your speakers were on becomes the volume for the headphones. With speakers this bad needing to be pushed to 40%+ for decent volume, if you don’t remember to turn the speakers down first, you plug in your headphones and blast your face off as the headphone amp is excellent and powerful. In its stock form this laptop’s single fan and microscopic fin stack can keep up with the processor and integrated graphics chip on its own during light use and media consumption, and is not horribly loud at full speed when you load up the CPU heavily. It will be audible at times but it’s a pleasant woosh rather than the whine you find on some ultrabooks. This story changes when you load up the GPU and CPU where temperatures climb quickly and the cooling just can’t keep up without throttling the processor down. I challenge anyone to show me a situation where this is the “in use” case for programs. Everything I have tried across games, photo editing, video editing, CAD, nothing fully loads and holds the CPU and GPU at 100% unless I am rendering/exporting. Typically if I am rendering I won’t be sitting watching the progress bar so output timing being 60sec faster than the competition isn’t as important to me as the other aspects of the laptop. Modding I started modding with cooling upgrades, most important was repasting the CPU and GPU with some Noctua thermal paste I had from a previous system build. At the time of writing I have started to find more articles about Conductonaught losing performance after a year or two in some laptops so I didn’t want to go that route for the few extra degrees of cooling I would get. Next on the list was new thermal pads for every RAM chip and power delivery component on the board. This also included removing the label from the SSD and adding a thermal pad to it instead. I don’t expect to really need it on the drive but more thermal mass is never a bad thing. While the heatsink was off, adding thermal pads to the bottom of the fan housing also allows extra cooling from the topside of the laptop, foam isolation pads were removed from the fin stack and replaced with more thermal pads creating a very laminar flow of air which should reduce air noise from the cooling. My last hardware upgrade had nothing to do with cooling but general improvements in sound quality from the mediocre speakers. Next up was removing the speakers on both sides and adding thermal pads underneath for better bracing and isolation from the chassis. This actually increased the volume output and a bit of the sound quality at higher volumes. Software tweaks were unnecessary but welcome for temps and general snappiness of the system. Undervolted the CPU by 100mV, I can probably get a bit more to 150mV but this works for right now until I tinker with it some more. Windows DeBloater script from GitHub is also very welcome to remove all the junk microsoft thinks you want but will never use. Next up was limiting the MaxFPS in NVIDIA Control Panel to 65fps to save on GPU load and give back some cooling headroom to the CPU while gaming. Also in the control panel is texture filtering, ambient occlusion to Performance, and power management to maximum performance. All these settings don’t seem to change image quality at all to my eyes, and even more true on such a small display that anti aliasing doesn’t need to be over 2-4x to have super smooth lines. The usual power settings in windows were also done; “turn off HDD” to 0min, “Wireless adapter power saving” to max performance and “PCIe link state power management” to off. These settings don’t make much difference other than a very slight snappier feeling when waking the laptop from sleep. Performance after the mods is night and day to what it was before, temps are now in the mid high 60s under max load even while gaming. Fan is super quiet and I have yet to hear it max out anymore. Speakers sound a bit better, still not good enough to be impressed enough to recommend them for movies but a step in the right direction. Gaming I’m betting this to be a divisive section for some readers. To preface my opinions, these are all after the cooling and software mods. I play games first and foremost for entertainment, not online competition to win so I don’t often end up playing things like Fortnight, CSGo, Dota etc. My games of choice are mostly the Borderlands series, Monster Hunter World, Horizon Zero Dawn, Forza Horizon series, Detroit Become Human style games etc with some Rocket League and local multiplayer indie games. The vast majority are very pretty games which are more than good enough at 50-60fps and rely on great looking screens for cinematic gameplay. That being said, everything I have thrown at this laptop has been achingly gorgeous and runs at Medium to High 1080p 60fps without any problems. No stuttering frames, loading levels is quick, literally everything I could want from such a portable laptop. With such a great display even having to turn down the graphics or resolution doesn’t make games any less impressive. I have had more compliments on how games look on this screen than I have ever heard from friends with high refresh rate gaming laptops with comparably low brightness and contrast. This is definitely one of the most eye catching gaming capable laptops on the market. Conclusion Pros: Screen is absolutely stunning, accurate and bright After modding temps are well controlled Fan is quiet even at load Great gaming performance for a thin and light Cons: Speakers are junk, drivers need some quality of life improvements Have to mod to get back performance which should be there from the factory SATA M.2 SSD in a premium laptop is shameful Price if you don’t use the dedicated GPU

I currently am running an HP Omen 15 ax-256nr (7700HQ, upgraded 16GB RAM, GTX 1050 2GB, 500GB Samsung 970 Evo, 2TB Seagate Firecuda, 15.6in 1080p 60Hz display, 54Wh battery). I wanted to upgrade to a new thin and light with a 10th gen CPU. I am currently deciding between the MSI GS66 and Razer Blade 15 Advanced. I was just wondering if the Razer's build quality justifies its extra price. Also, with the GS66, is it worth it to get the 10875H and RTX 2070 S Max-Q over the 10875H and RTX 2060? Does the 2070sMQ perform exceptionally higher than the 2060? I just like that the GS66 has a 99.9Wh battery over the Blade's 80Wh, the GS66 has 2 M.2 slots over the Blade's 1, and that the GS66 has 32GB of RAM if you get the 2070sMQ model over the Blade's 16GB. Any other recommendations would be great.

Hi All Long time no post. Figured this would be the right forum for this. I'm currently looking for a laptop with a very specific set of criteria. I will replace my R53600X/32GB/RTX2060 Workstation with this in compination with an appropriate dockingstation. It needs to be able to drive a 5k screen (over TB3 ofc) without lagging so no Intel iGPUs pls, but no mega high end power shlurpers either. 6c12t should be adequate, I still want to have quite good battery life out of it as I will be using it for university. It needs to be fairly thin and light. I will not game on this machine as I have a separate gaming PC. Budget: unlimited. Plot twist: If I find a perfect enough laptop, I am am willing to look into a eGPU box and have that run my 5k screen. That way I could live with a iGPU. In short: Powerful but not overly powerhungry (I know it's a tradeoff), thin and light, TB3 and ~15inch. Absolute must haves: Thunderbolt 3 40GBit/s ~15 inch screen True CH ISO layout available (you mostly won't know if it has this until you bought it sadly, so can't really list this as a searchable criteria) Big Battery Intel 10th Gen or Ryzen 4000 series Better than Intel integrated graphics Should haves: 2-in-1 functionality with pen input option dedicated NumPad (BIG BONUS POINTS) why did we get away from NumPads? (HP has this) WiFi 6 (802.11ax) USB Type A port (Yes it IS possible Dell and Apple!) Fingerprint Reader Nice to haves: Accurate colors screen good trackpad 4G Modem I don't care at all about: Keyboard feel (for me only layout is important) 4k screens (can be 1080p no problem, 1440p would be ideal) High refresh rate screens Speakers Design Webcam SD card readers So far I've searched the sites of Dell and HP, Lenovo only a little. The new Dell XPS 15s look interesting but have some downfalls. I sincerely hope Dell will release a 2-in-1 version of the new XPSs. HPs x360s look interesting bc they have a NumPad and are always 2-in-1 capable.

So, I've looked around the forums for laptop recommendations and I almost feel like I'm repeating what I've read for asking this question, but I'm going to do it anyway. I am looking to buy a laptop sometime soon (August-November) time period, and I was looking for some recommendations. I have been looking at a few laptops that have been recently released or been announced, like the new Zenbook Pro 15, but as soon as I found out it STARTS at 2,300 that was an immediate no. And the LG gram was looking pretty good but it seems a little lacking in power. So here is a list that I would like to see in a laptop. Also, I do not need to get a "Gaming Laptop". -Price around 1000$ can go up to 1500$ and mabey a small amount more -something with a more powerful CPU i7700 and up, I don't mind a last gen CPU but would prefer the newer 8th gen. also don't mind AMD but I figured that it would be harder to find a laptop with an AMD CPU in it. -A dedicated GPU or integrated graphics that are a little beefier, to make this clear I do not plan on gaming on this laptop, this is strictly for CAD and Solidworks tasks or GPU acceleration in video editing. -Battery should last all day, 4,5,6 hours of use, more is awesome though. -8gb of ram at the least, would be perfect at 12gb, 16gb, is more than enough, in addition, if it is expandable any amount is fine with me. -I don't really mind the keyboard or trackpad, RGB and backlighting is not needed -15inch would be awesome 1080p 60hz is also good, color accuracy doesn't really matter to me, should have decent speakers as well though. -Ports are really dependent on what the internals are, 1 Thunderbolt 3 is needed if graphics are subpar, 1 USB type A is appreciated, Ethernet and HDMI are cool to have but not needed. -bezels are not a huge problem but definitely, don't want the huge matte black plastic bezels that come on some laptops, thin-ness is appreciated for a more clean business look that doesn't attract attention, I would prefer a lighter laptop due to the fact that it will be in my backpack and less weight is always awesome. so, I believe that I've covered every base, this will be used for video/photo editing which I can do on my laptop with an i3-6100u in it so thermals should be decent, also Solidworks and CAD are things that will be done often so a dedicated GPU would be appreciated, or Thunderbolt 3 for an external solution. thank you for all replies to this thread in advance.

Okay so I’ve been looking for a laptop for a few days now. I’m going into a programming course in September and the school has given some minimum specs for a “portable computing device”. The two things that really matter is the price (under $1400 Canadian rupee's) and the ram (16 GB). I’d also like to keep it pretty portable so I’m thinking something in the thin and light area. I’d also like to be able to play light games such as rocket league smoothly. And if if there’s any more room for nit picking I’d like it to look clean and feel sturdy. I really thought this would be easy but it’s really turning out to be quite a pain so I thought I’d get some more help on this. I really thought I’d found my answer on new egg but then realized it was in USD and in fact way out of my range. I’ll keep looking of course! Just wanted to add some more cores to help solve this problem. Thanks.

I'm looking for a gaming laptop atm and have narrowed it down to the Msi GS63 and GS65. imo the GS65 has a sleeker look, but otherwise the increase in cores and refresh rate don't mean much to my games like far cry 5, which won't go above 100fps avg on ultra 1080p. Other than specs, for those who have the respective laptops, how's the build quality and typing experience? https://www.amazon.ca/MSI-GS63VR-7RG-038CA-Notebook-i7-7700HQ/dp/B072QM9FQF https://www.amazon.ca/MSI-GS65-8RF-074CA-Stealth-Thin/dp/B07BLD3PGW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1530678735&sr=1-2&keywords=GS65+Stealth+THIN

Hey everyone! Thanks I'm advance for the help! So i am in the army and want a gaming laptop, i have budgeted no more than $3300. Used to be a huge fan of Pc stuff but i sold it all to have the money to move. Im looking for something easily portable, with a gtx 1080, a high refresh rate screen and decently quiet fan volume. I dont care about battery life as long as it is thin. No smaller that a 15 inch screen Hope yall can help me out! Would love yall bunches! Thank you.?

On their most recent podcast episode, H3 Podcast #56 at 49:23, they talk about how Hila has a new MacBook that cost like $3,500. Ethan said he is considering a new one because his gaming laptop is too heavy, trackpad sucks, etc. Post Malone actually tries to dissuade him for a minute. In a previous podcast, sorry I couldn't find the clip, he said he was looking for recommendations for a competitor for that MacBook. They were considering reviewing the two laptops in a video. Maybe LTT could do a collab? Linus, could you please tweet him or make a video saying that he doesn't need to buy a MacBook and you could recommend him something better at a similar price?

Hi Guys, I'm looking for the best value thin and light gaming laptop. I don't have a specific config in mind, but I have an idea on how different configs would perform on games. I will be using all the built-in components of the laptop (screen, keyboard, speakers, mic) and the only peripheral I'll be using is a Logitech M337 Mouse. These are what I'm looking at right now. 1.) http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/xps-15/spd/xps-15-9560-laptop/fncwxb1645sv2 At $1,079 ($250 off + 10% off voucher), this is looking to be a great value for me. I always loved the XPS lineup, and the 9560 is no exception. The great build quality and the 97whr battery is what I love the most about this laptop. The GTX 1050 onboard don't seem a lot to me, but for this price, I'm not complaining. 2.) https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Blade-Smallest-i7-8750H-GeForce/dp/B07D37VBVC/ At $1,899, you're not getting a lot for your money in terms of specs. 1060 Max-Q, 60hz screen, and 256gb storage only. I couldn't config it to a higher spec, since it would totally blow away its value proposition. The reason I'm still considering this, is well, it's Razer. I've never seen this laptop in person yet, but I'm expecting it to have the best keyboard, and the best build quality among thin and light gaming laptops. 3.) https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GS65-Stealth-THIN-050-i7-8750H/dp/B07BNXN12Q/ At $2,099, I love this laptop. Great design, and great value. Build quality is okay, but not a dealbreaker. What we're getting here is a full-fledged 1060, 144hz screen, 512gb NVME, and dual channel memory out of the box. This is a gaming ready laptop the moment you unbox it. The 512gb storage is a big plus for me, cause I know I'll be scratching a lot on a 256gb. 4.) https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-Aero-15X-v8-BK4-i7-8750H/dp/B07BSXCCHK/ At $2,299, it's a fair premium over the GS65. We're basically getting the same specs here, but with a beefier battery and a 1070 Max-Q over a 1060. I'm a bit worried about the Max-Q design here, since some games might actually prefer the higher core and memory speeds of the 1060 over more CUDA cores of the 1070 Max-Q. Also, I would have preferred it to be dual channel, but I guess it's a plus for some people to have it on single stick for upgradeability. Design wise, it's a good design, better build quality than the GS65, but I just prefer the overall look of the GS65. Still worth a consideration. Basically, I want a coffee shop laptop that can do triple A's at home and solid frames on LAN parties. Hope you guys can help me on this. Your opinions, or different laptop suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!