Choosing a replacement laptop

[Ramabahara]

Hey guys! 

My home was burglarized recently and my old ASUS ROG GL552VW (i7-6700HQ, 32GB RAM, GTX 960M, 2TB HDD + 512GB SSD) is one of the things that are stolen. I need a new laptop and relatively fast, since I am using it for work. I'm a software developer, amateur photographer, and occasional gamer, so there are several things that are important:

 

• relatively big storage (at least 1 TB)
• a lot of memory for faster compiling and symbols storage (I will need 32 GB)
• fast processor — really helps with compiling and with some of the games I play
• GPU at least as good as 960M was

Games I play are War Thunder, Supreme Commander, and Space Station 13 — nothing with breathtaking graphics. 

 

Currently I have several options, please help me to choose one of them:

 

• ThinkPad E590 (20NB000YRT): 15.6", i7-8565U, 32GB RAM, Radeon RX550, SSD 512GB — will put me off ~1500$ + I will need to buy additional HDD which adds additional ~75$ (1575$ in total). It has the best keyboard and ergonomics from all the models I've looked at, but I'm not sure about Radeon RX550. Is it comparable in performance in games to my old 960M?
• ASUS G731GV-EV015 (90NR01P3-M04990): 17.3", i7-9750H, 8GB RAM, RTX 2060 mobile, 512 SSD costs 1800$ + 200$ for 32 GB upgrade + 75$ for hdd = 2075$. I had an ASUS before and it worked fine for me, so there is that.
• Lenovo Y540-17IRH (81Q40079RA): 17.3", i7-9750H, 32GB RAM, RTX 2060 mobile, 1TB SSD — will put me off ~2300$, but it is a 17". 15.6" with same stuff costs ~2200$
• ACER Predator Helios 300 PH315-52 (NH.Q54EU.047): 15.6", i7-9750H, 32GB RAM, RTX 2060 mobile, 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD costs 2300$. I know nothing about ACER and never used one. Is it any good?
• MSI GE63-8RF(GE63RGB8RF-275UA): 15.6", i7-8565U, 16GB RAM, GTX 1070 mobile, 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD costs ~2250$ + 200$ for 32GB upgrade = 2550$. Also it has an integrated SD card-reader which is useful for photography. 
• Lenovo Y740-15IRHg (81UH0068RA):  15.6", i7-9750H, 32GB RAM, RTX 2060 mobile, 1TB HDD + 512GB SSD — will put me off ~2550$, has worst keyboard of all the laptops I've looked at, but has quite solid casing, and I am not really careful with stuff, so it might help

 

Please help me choose between these. Maybe you have some thing to look out for? Or some previous experience with these? Also I will use WiFi as my main source of network connection, so it should work without any issues. 

 

Thanks in advance!

  

[Aaron_T]

I develop on my laptop from time to time, and I personally would stay away from any "U" series CPU in a mobile development workstation.

 

My laptop has an i7-9750H and I'm pretty happy with it's performance when I need to work on it. Of the options you've listed I'd say the ASUS G731 looks the best from a cost vs performance perspective. But a little lite on storage compared to either Lenovo.

[greenmax]

37 minutes ago, Ramabahara said:

ThinkPad E590

Buy that one

[weaselciuy]

I can speak for the Acer Helios 300, as a good machine. I`m focused on several Acer laptop forums & the issues these machines have seem random & more likely user caused than major manufacturing , persistent, issues. I myself still have an old 300 with a 1060, and it works  with no issues. 

 

I do believe howerver, 2k+ for a laptop is to overkill though, as performance per $ goes down hard, and desktop path starts to show a 50%+ performance increase or more, if followed.

 

Since you will fork so much money in this though, buy the latest stuff at least. Don`t throw 2k in obsolete parts.

And avoid HDDs.