Laptop Recommendations

[JacobAA]

Long story made short: my Acer Aspire from 2015 (Intel 5500u and 950m) just ain't holding up like it used to. I'm looking for an upgrade, but I can't find a laptop with the combination of parts I was looking for.  I don't do any video/photo editing, and the most intensive thing I probably do is some casual gaming after school and work. I don't need the power of the 9750h, so I opted for a 9300h. I also wanted the 1660ti as a decent graphics card; the 2060 usually goes past my budget of 1100$. 16GB of RAM is preferred. I spent a couple of days, and found that the 9300h only comes with the 1660ti and 8GB of RAM, or it has a 9750h and goes past my budget.  Is there a laptop with these specifications? Any help would be appreciated!

[5x5]

What about the Asus GA502 with a Ryzen 7 3750H, 1660 Ti and large battery? 

[genexis_x]

Where are you from? No preference on weight and battery life?

[JacobAA]

4 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Where are you from? No preference on weight and battery life?

California. No large preference on weight, and no preference on battery life. I won't be taking the laptop anyplace where an outlet would be inaccessible, so a short battery life wouldn't be a large issue. I will be keeping this in a backpack with a few textbooks, so the lighter the better, but it isn't a big priority for me either. I would just be walking along a college campus.

[JacobAA]

4 hours ago, 5x5 said:

What about the Asus GA502 with a Ryzen 7 3750H, 1660 Ti and large battery? 

When comparing the benchmarks I saw online, the Ryzen 7 3750H is outperformed by the 9300h in most tasks.  Because gaming is my main priority, and Intel already has an edge in gaming compared to Ryzen, I thought the Intel 9300h would've been a better fit for me.  Would the difference in performance be negligible?

[5x5]

26 minutes ago, JacobAA said:

When comparing the benchmarks I saw online, the Ryzen 7 3750H is outperformed by the 9300h in most tasks.  Because gaming is my main priority, and Intel already has an edge in gaming compared to Ryzen, I thought the Intel 9300h would've been a better fit for me.  Would the difference in performance be negligible?

The 3750H, given dual channel memory and no llpower and thermal limits (like on the Zephyrus) actually matches or beats the i5 so it will be fine. Especially since Intel cpus lost another 5% performance cause of the new security vulnerabilities that just keep being found. The stack goes. R7 3750H > 9300H > 3550H

[genexis_x]

10 hours ago, JacobAA said:

my budget of 1100$

Legion Y540

[JacobAA]

21 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Legion Y540

I was going to mention, I just found the Legion Y545 that fits my needs (thanks to their simple upgrade requests!). With their current promotion, I can get the laptop I wanted (144hz screen, Intel 9300h, 16GB of RAM, 256 m.2 boot drive, 1TB HD) with a RTX 2060 for 1235$. I'm tempted to spend the extra money for the 2060 (with the 1660ti, it would be 1135$ with the promotion). I see the Legion is your daily driver.  How would you say the keyboard, screen, and build quality hold up?  As a second question, do you think the upgrade to a 2060 is worth the 100 extra dollars? I plan on keeping this laptop for at least three to four years.

Edited August 21, 2019 by JacobAA

[genexis_x]

54 minutes ago, JacobAA said:

As a second question, do you think the upgrade to a 2060 is worth the 100 extra dollars?

If you have the budget then yes, otherwise 1660Ti would be good - performance difference isn't that significant

54 minutes ago, JacobAA said:

Legion Y545

worse cooling while not being much cheaper, would avoid

54 minutes ago, JacobAA said:

How would you say the keyboard, screen, and build quality hold up?

Keyboard and build quality are decent, Display quality depends on the panel you choose

 

Can stretch budget to around $1200? Fine with 17 inch?

[JacobAA]

1 hour ago, GeneXiS_X said:

If you have the budget then yes, otherwise 1660Ti would be good - performance difference isn't that significant

worse cooling while not being much cheaper, would avoid

Keyboard and build quality are decent, Display quality depends on the panel you choose

 

Can stretch budget to around $1200? Fine with 17 inch?

So, you'd recommend the Y540 over the Y545 due to thermal issues? I don't mind the screen size, but it doesn't make too much of a difference for me.  I sit fairly close, and I'm rarely put in a position where a 17 inch would be preferred. I'm still debating between the 1660ti or the 2060; ray tracing never was a large incentive.

[genexis_x]

57 minutes ago, JacobAA said:

So, you'd recommend the Y540 over the Y545 due to thermal issues?

Yes

 

So you're fine with $1200 budget?

[JacobAA]

8 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Yes

 

So you're fine with $1200 budget?

Yeah. After configuring the Y540, it comes out to 1135$. I chose the 144hz IPS panel. Does Lenovo have good 144hz panels for their laptops?

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, JacobAA said:

Does Lenovo have good 144hz panels for their laptops?

Yes, all with low response times and high sRGB

[JacobAA]

12 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Yes, all with low response times and high sRGB

I believe I found my next laptop.  Thank you!