Budget Gaming Laptop (1050ti vs 1050 + TB3)?

[Pesketron]

Hi all,

 

First time poster here. I'm looking for some advice on purchasing a budget gaming laptop for some not-so-demanding gaming titles. Currently I'm weighing up a couple of deals here in Canada between a Dell G3 and G5.

 

The G3 is on the Microsoft store for $750CDN and has a 1050Ti. It's an epic deal for the price and I am half-praying that it comes back in stock at that price. The online support people I have spoken to have provided a strong indication that it will so here's hoping.

 

The G5 is on Costco and has a 1050, but it also has TB3. All other specs are by-and-large the same. What I am wondering is: if the G3 does come back in stock and all else being equal, is paying an extra $100 for a slightly worse GPU (on the G5) worth it for gaining TB3 and then potential eGPU support in the future? In say 5/6 years time when the 1050 is struggling to keep its head above water with whatever games exist, rather than buying a whole new laptop I could pick up an eGPU and a used gfx card that would be a generation or 2 old (at that time) and would still be getting respectable performance gains even with the bottlenecking of TB3.

 

Does my reasoning make sense at all? From my reading in this forum I suspect most of you will say I should go for the G3 if it does come back in stock (or maybe another laptop altogether!) and then take advantage of something like GeForce Now which I imagine will be out of beta in 5/6 years time when I am imagining I would want to be upgrading. I had forgotten about that option before coming here to post!

 

If you have other laptop suggestions aside from Dell I am open to those although my budget is pretty tight, ideally below $1000CDN w/ tax. Is buying used at all worth it? I'm not very clued up about 5/6/7th gen Intel chips and about what particular specs to look for, not to mention that asking prices vary wildly so making a choice there would be pretty difficult I think. I'd much rather buy new if I can.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Fasauceome]

An eGPU is really expensive. They have pre packaged stuff for the 1050 ti that is kinda cheap, but obviously to get good gains you'll need more than that. How much better is the CPU on the G5?

[TH3R34P3R]

i still would say the 1050ti over the 1050 any day of the week. 

[SupaKomputa]

1050ti for the win. 20% higher performance. if you can afford eGPU, why not just have a 1060 or 1080 models in the first place.

[Guest]

1050ti definitely 

 

Faster, more vram and eGPU's are just so expensive

 

[Pesketron]

Thanks all, the specs of both laptops FYI:

 

Dell G3 (3579) - $750CDN

i5-8300H

8GB DDR4

1TB 'SSHD' (I assume a solid-state/HDD hybrid)

GTX 1050Ti 4GB

 

Dell G5 (5587) - $850CDN

i5-8300H

8GB DDR4

1TB SSHD

GTX 1050 4GB

 

So as you can see they are virtually identical aside from the gfx card. The G5 (and G7) have Thunderbolt 3 as standard regardless of the gfx card inside, whereas the G3 has Thunderbolt only with a 1060 Max Q. That said, the specs listed on the Microsoft webpage and the screenshots do show a USB Type-C port, but I doubt that this is Thunderbolt 3.

 

As it happens I might wind up going with the G5 anyway, unless the G3 comes back in stock, in which case I will whip it up straight away. Seems like the eGPU route is not worth pursuing. Thanks for the help all.

[Pesketron]

Just called my local store and they have stock of the G3, so the 1050Ti it shall be! Thanks again all for the advice.

[genexis_x]

G3 has mediocre cooling and downgraded build quality. Also low sRGB FHD IPS

 

Another alternative for budget TB3 gaming laptop is HP Omen 15 dc, comes with optional 144Hz or UHD panel. Smaller dimensions, lighter and has a larger 70Wh battery too