Gaming Laptop around $1200-$1500 USD

[AeonicX7]

My Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop that I bought in September of last year has decided to brick itself for inexplicable reasons. Acer has already repaired it once and is being incredibly difficult to work with, so I'm looking to just replace the thing and swear off ever buying Acer again. 

I've been looking at laptops in the 1200-1500 USD price range including the MSI GL75, the Razer Blade 15, the HP OMEN 15t-ek000*, and the ASUS TUF Gaming A15 but none particularly stick out to me and reviews are sparce, so it's hard to get a sense of what will be reliable and powerful for day-to-day usage.
*The model I was looking at was configured with the i7-10750H, GTX 1660Ti, 16GB (2x8) DDR4, 15.6" 144Hz

Here are some specs that I'm looking for:
- i7 9750H or comparable (I'm not as familiar with RYZEN mobile processors, especially the 3000 series)

- GTX 1660Ti or RTX 2060

- 16GB DDR4 (2666MHz is fine, dual channel mandatory)

- 120Hz or 144Hz display

- 15.6" display (though 17.3" is certainly fine)

- 256+ GB NVME or M.2 boot drive (I have a 500GB SATA SSD that I put in my Predator unit myself that works just fine, so I'm not too worried about the size of the storage drive(s)

- RELIABILITY - I want something that will work for a few years without needing babying or to be sent in for repairs. 

Here are some games I expect to play on my laptop, plus additional tasks I'd like to be able to run. (~60 FPS on High settings or greater FPS on medium/low)
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider

- Borderlands 3

- Jedi Fallen Order

- light SolidWorks usage from time to time

If anyone has any suggestions or insight from owning one or more systems in this field, I'd greatly appreciate it!

[daveholland86]

I bagged every spec but one in the Asus GL531GU, it has an i5-9300h in it.  For those games I am able to run full ultra, badass and epic at 60 fps.  Now I have my system undervolted to hit 4.0 ghz all core all the time and 1660ti is undervolted to hit 1700 core all the time.  Total package is $999.00.

If you must have the higher processor, the MSI GS66 is a really nice package and you can get that around $1500 with a 2060.
MSI reliability?  I have a GE60 from 2012 that runs 24/7 as a plex server the past 5 years and it's just fine.  They make a solid product.    

[AeonicX7]

Update: I ended up going with the MSI GL65 Leopard 10SEK-022. The price was right in my sweetspot and had all the features I wanted. This machine can run hot, but I almost always use a cooling pad with my laptop and might undervolt it slightly in the future. The touchpad having physical buttons for clicking is slightly disappointing, but all things considered that is hardly the end of the world. 

[daveholland86]

Yes the MSI ones I have used run hot, once you undervolt they run perfect after that.  It also seems that this is one of the MSI models that still accommodates a 2.5".  That was a major draw back for me.  I was looking at my Strix G and the GF65 but the MSI only had two NVMe ports and no 2.5" support.  I have 4 different 2.5" drives including SSDs that I like to use.  

Overall I think you will be happy with your purchase and that price is good for a 2060.  The i5-9300h is no slouch either.  I was apprehensive at first for it not being an i7.  It has worked just fine for me and I do nothing as heavy workload to support 12 threads, 8 threads works just fine for me. 

[daveholland86]

While only a couple degrees, what it isnt telling is the difference in fan speed.  Standard ramped up and stayed up.  Undervolted would ramp up but then slow back down.  Its also a 12 year old CPU.  The undervolt thermal performance is much better from the i5 9300h.