Thin and light Gaming Laptop Recommendation

[Yuki-98]

Hi, looking for a laptop that will last me about 4-5 ish years. I'm graduating next year and looking to upgrade from my Acer VN7-591G. 

 

Priorities for me are battery life and weight. Want to be able to last at least 5-6 hours of WIFI connectivity with screen at around 1/2 brightness. 

For specs, looking for some i7 core (8th or 9th gen) and something around a 1060/2060 ish range for casual gaming since I have a desktop with a 1070ti. 144hz screen is a must. Expandability would be preferable but not necessary. Thunderbolt 3 also preferable. Definitely dont want it to look too dumb since I'm going to be using this out of college. 

 

I live in the US. Budget isn't an issue really, but don't want to spend money excessively. 

 

 

 

 

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, Yuki-98 said:

For specs, looking for some i7 core (8th or 9th gen) and something around a 1060/2060 ish range for casual gaming

you sure this is a "thin and light" you are looking for?

 

like ultrabooks usually max out at 1060 or 1050ti, and those cost a lot. 

[Yuki-98]

2 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

you sure this is a "thin and light" you are looking for?

 

like ultrabooks usually max out at 1060 or 1050ti, and those cost a lot. 

Reworded that as gaming laptop. 

[GoldenLag]

Just now, Yuki-98 said:

Reworded that as gaming laptop. 

i mean, if you have infinite money, there is allways the surface book 2 15 inch or the 15 inch dell XPS machines. 

 

 

@GeneXiS_X probably has some in mind. ive got no insight into gaming  laptops. 

[Yuki-98]

Yeah was considering the XPS. Surface book I'm a little apprehensive about since I've read it throttles hard. 

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, Yuki-98 said:

Yeah was considering the XPS. Surface book I'm a little apprehensive about since I've read it throttles hard. 

well its not as much as it throttles as it actually runs out of power on full combined load. 

 

i mean the surface book isnt all that great in many ways

[genexis_x]

43 minutes ago, Yuki-98 said:

last me about 4-5 ish years

In terms of performance or reliability?

45 minutes ago, Yuki-98 said:

screen at around 1/2 brightness

300 nits display has plenty brightness at ~25%

 

Preferred max weight in kg/lbs? Give an absolute max budget to make things easier

[Yuki-98]

4-5 years in terms of reliability. Dont expect it to last performance-wise.

 

Max weight would be 4-5 lb or so. Lets say $3k max budget. Fine with historical lows since I dont need it until september or so. 

[genexis_x]

1 minute ago, Yuki-98 said:

4-5 years in terms of reliability

No one can guarantee that in consumer grade laptops FYI

[Yuki-98]

As long as the battery lasts and i can watch youtube videos fine it should be good. Im used to dealing with most of the other crappy stuff (current laptop has a broken lcd, 1hr battery life max, heating issues, etc.). If needed I can just remotely use my desktop if the laptop ends up letting me down.

[R4BE]

Do you like the current asus zephyrus lineup?

 

The GU502 ticks most of the boxes. You have screen options of either 144 or 240hz, weights around 1.9kg, has reliable wifi card (intel), cfl-h i7/16g/2060, per-key backlit keyboard and 76wh battery for $1899. There is another model based on zen2 mobile cpu which costs around $1200 and weights 2.1kg if you're on tighter budget. 

 

Next up is gigabyte aero 15 classic. Starting at $1700ish for the i7 and 1660ti model with 144hz color accurate display along with full size individually lit keyboard with numpad. Great port selection, full size/usb 3 based sd card slot, 90wh battery and looks even more subtle compared to zephyrus and weights around same.

 

Lastly you've got the razer blade. or MSI gs65. notebookcheck has search page where you can select specs and sort by price/weight or ratings.

 

Hope that helps.

 

*edit* neither asus or gigabyte laptops i mentioned does not have tb3 I believe. however msi and razer models has.

 

Here's a great list of tb3 enabled laptops and 2060 laptops.

[genexis_x]

11 minutes ago, R4BE said:

GU502

Asus has very inconsistent QC and bad warranty support - needs to be lucky if you wish to get one of them

12 minutes ago, R4BE said:

gigabyte aero 15 classic

Bad cooling with potential QC issues too, only thing that stands out is the big battery. The new redesigned model might be good but need to wait for reviews

14 minutes ago, R4BE said:

90wh battery

94Wh

14 minutes ago, R4BE said:

razer blade

Bad QC, definitely want to avoid

14 minutes ago, R4BE said:

MSI gs65

Cooling not that great but still acceptable (RTX models only)

15 minutes ago, R4BE said:

notebookcheck has search page where you can select specs and sort by price/weight or ratings

This is not helping - what's the point of forum if you ask OP to do his/her own research?

3 hours ago, Yuki-98 said:

As long as the battery lasts and i can watch youtube videos fine it should be good

So you're fine with 3-4 hrs battery life?

[DarkDragon2K04]

9 hours ago, Yuki-98 said:

Hi, looking for a laptop that will last me about 4-5 ish years. I'm graduating next year and looking to upgrade from my Acer VN7-591G. 

 

Priorities for me are battery life and weight. Want to be able to last at least 5-6 hours of WIFI connectivity with screen at around 1/2 brightness. 

For specs, looking for some i7 core (8th or 9th gen) and something around a 1060/2060 ish range for casual gaming since I have a desktop with a 1070ti. 144hz screen is a must. Expandability would be preferable but not necessary. Thunderbolt 3 also preferable. Definitely dont want it to look too dumb since I'm going to be using this out of college. 

 

I live in the US. Budget isn't an issue really, but don't want to spend money excessively. 

 

 

 

 

Since budget isn't an issue you can check the latest line of razer blade 15s, their cooling issues have been reduced. The latest ROG zephyrus M and G are nice. Since you don't want anything that looks "dumb" I wouldn't recommend the aero 15 or the alienware lineup. You could wait for this year's xps 15 that will have a 1650

[Yuki-98]

7 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

So you're fine with 3-4 hrs battery life?

I'm used to taking apart laptops so if it drops too much I'm fine with purchasing a replacement battery

2 hours ago, DarkDragon2K04 said:

Since budget isn't an issue you can check the latest line of razer blade 15s, their cooling issues have been reduced. The latest ROG zephyrus M and G are nice. Since you don't want anything that looks "dumb" I wouldn't recommend the aero 15 or the alienware lineup. You could wait for this year's xps 15 that will have a 1650

Razer blade 15 was something I was considering, but afaik the prices dont justify the performance since the razer brand adds like and extra $300. But if nothing else noteworthy comes out soon I might get one anyway. QC doesnt matter too much since I was going to buy through the microsoft store and their warranty service seems on point.

[genexis_x]

16 hours ago, Yuki-98 said:

QC doesnt matter too much since I was going to buy through the microsoft store and their warranty service seems on point.

Why not other models with less chances of QC issues instead of worrying to get a model with high chances of QC issues

 

With at least RTX 2060 GPU and at least 5 hrs battery life:

Eluktronics Mech-15 G2 62Wh

Clevo P960RN/RF/RD, P960EN/EF/ED

Acer Predator Triton 500

MSI GS65 / P65 - RTX only