A Tale of Two Nearly Identical Laptops

[JHall91481]

Okay, without any preamble I'll just get to the point.  I am looking for a fairly inexpensive laptop to use while I am out on the road as a truck driver.   I don't care about RGB, not do I need to be able to max out all the settings.  I mostly just play WOW anyway. I don't want something super expensive that runs the risk of being damaged or stolen.

 

As such I think Best Buy has an acceptable option with the Acer Nitro5.  Older specs, but I think it fulfills my immediate needs especially if I drop in another 8gb ram chip.

 

But, there are two options.  A system wirh a GTX 1050 with a 1TB hard drive.

 

Or 

 

A system with a GTX 1050ti with a 250gb ssd.

 

The 1050ti seems like the slam dunk,  but 250gb is pretty small, and having to have external hard drives might be a bit of a hassle. What do you all think?

[Juniiii]

Just now, JHall91481 said:

Okay, without any preamble I'll just get to the point.  I am looking for a fairly inexpensive laptop to use while I am out on the road as a truck driver.   I don't care about RGB, not do I need to be able to max out all the settings.  I mostly just play WOW anyway. I don't want something super expensive that runs the risk of being damaged or stolen.

 

As such I think Best Buy has an acceptable option with the Acer Nitro5.  Older specs, but I think it fulfills my immediate needs especially if I drop in another 8gb ram chip.

 

But, there are two options.  A system wirh a GTX 1050 with a 1TB hard drive.

 

Or 

 

A system with a GTX 1050ti with a 250gb ssd's..

 

The 1050ti seems like the slam dunk,  but 250gb is pretty small, and having to have external hard drives might be a bit of a hassle. What do you all think?

 

1050tis on laptops absolutely suck and should be avoided at all costs

[Zando_]

Just now, Juniiii said:

 

1050tis on laptops absolutely suck and should be avoided at all costs

? IIRC they're pretty decent, and it's a much better alternative to the 1050 (I had a laptop with a 1050 2GB, barely managed playable fps at medium on most games). Would defo get the 1050 Ti one, replace the drive or if it has a second bay, add one later. 

[Eastman51]

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 5000

i5-7300HQ, 4GB 1050, shipped with 8GB (I dropped in 8 more), shipped with a 1TB HDD (I added a 500GB M.2 SSD). Does pretty well in everything but AAA (runs Shadow of the Tomb raider at 30fps, no matter how low the settings and/or resolution).

 

I'd just grab whichever you feel more comfortable with, you could always add/swap drives as needed.

4 minutes ago, Juniiii said:

1050tis on laptops absolutely suck and should be avoided at all costs

Wot? 
My laptop 1050 is pretty good. My friend's laptop 1050Ti is even better. What are you talking about?

[Mira Yurizaki]

55 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

My laptop 1050 is pretty good. My friend's laptop 1050Ti is even better. What are you talking about?

#frameratemaxqualitymasterrace always rears its ugly head

[Eastman51]

5 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

#frameratemaxqualitymasterrace always rears its ugly head

Fair enough. Like the elitists who tried to make me feel bad for getting a 2080 instead of a 2080Ti.

I'm not playing at 5k 120Hz, calm down.

[JHall91481]

4 hours ago, JHall91481 said:

Okay, without any preamble I'll just get to the point.  I am looking for a fairly inexpensive laptop to use while I am out on the road as a truck driver.   I don't care about RGB, not do I need to be able to max out all the settings.  I mostly just play WOW anyway. I don't want something super expensive that runs the risk of being damaged or stolen.

 

As such I think Best Buy has an acceptable option with the Acer Nitro5.  Older specs, but I think it fulfills my immediate needs especially if I drop in another 8gb ram chip.

 

But, there are two options.  A system wirh a GTX 1050 with a 1TB hard drive.

 

Or 

 

A system with a GTX 1050ti with a 250gb ssd.

 

The 1050ti seems like the slam dunk,  but 250gb is pretty small, and having to have external hard drives might be a bit of a hassle. What do you all think?

I want to thank everyone for their input.  It seems there still isn't a clear winner. 

4 hours ago, JHall91481 said:

Okay, without any preamble I'll just get to the point.  I am looking for a fairly inexpensive laptop to use while I am out on the road as a truck driver.   I don't care about RGB, not do I need to be able to max out all the settings.  I mostly just play WOW anyway. I don't want something super expensive that runs the risk of being damaged or stolen.

 

As such I think Best Buy has an acceptable option with the Acer Nitro5.  Older specs, but I think it fulfills my immediate needs especially if I drop in another 8gb ram chip.

 

But, there are two options.  A system wirh a GTX 1050 with a 1TB hard drive.

 

Or 

 

A system with a GTX 1050ti with a 250gb ssd's..

 

The 1050ti seems like the slam dunk,  but 250gb is pretty small, and having to have external hard drives might be a bit of a hassle. What do you all think?

 

[Taja]

I would get the 1050ti.

The ssd size wont matter that much if you manage your files and/or use an external HDD (which is pretty easy to do)

[markr54632]

If they are both nitro 5 I would get the 1050ti. It is incredibly easy to add a 2.5" drive if your sub model comes with the caddy and cable installed.

 

Adding an ssd to the hdd model is much harder.

[genexis_x]

14 hours ago, JHall91481 said:

Acer Nitro5

Need repaste+undervolt, keep that in mind

 

Open to other options?

[markr54632]

15 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Need repaste+undervolt, keep that in mind

 

Open to other options?

From someone who has had 2 nitro 5s the i5 1050-1050ti models have pretty good thermals.

 

The factory Acer paste is definitely not the limiting factor in any case.