College Laptop, Wondering if the HP x360 Envy 15 is a good deal

[Lastraw]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Oh neat and it is just the omen from then but a configurable version that normally takes a little premium due to that but ends up cheaper for some reason. Don't forget it has 8gb ram by default so you put it at 16gb if needed.

Well, I was getting to checkout and realized the fatal flaw of that configurable option.  It wouldn't be able to ship until 6/29 since it isn't a pre-built which is waaaaaay too late for me.  Looks like I am going with the non-configurable version here with the 512GB SSD, and will probably purchase an external HDD too.  How much does 512 hinder gaming since most AAA games these days use at least 30-50 GB of storage, I imagine once you get 2-3 games on there it is pretty much full.  I doubt you can run games of an external HDD, but I don't know anything about that.  

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, Lastraw said:

Well, I was getting to checkout and realized the fatal flaw of that configurable option.  It wouldn't be able to ship until 6/29 since it isn't a pre-built which is waaaaaay too late for me.  Looks like I am going with the non-configurable version here with the 512GB SSD, and will probably purchase an external HDD too.  How much does 512 hinder gaming since most AAA games these days use at least 30-50 GB of storage, I imagine once you get 2-3 games on there it is pretty much full.  I doubt you can run games of an external HDD, but I don't know anything about that.  

Oh you can totally run games from a external hdd or even better external ssd. Steam has allowed that for ages and other game clients work too. Just don't expect ms store games, epic games store games or blizard games to work/act nicely with it.

 

As for storage I used to have a 500gb drive for games and well I only played 3-4 games at a time but managed to easily fit gw2, monster hunter world, overwatch, space engineers, stellaris, fortnite, hades, beatsaber, half life alyx and a handfull of smaller indie games on there. Of course a single install of cod and half the drive is gone because that is their tactic to make you play the game more.

[Lastraw]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Oh you can totally run games from a external hdd or even better external ssd. Steam has allowed that for ages and other game clients work too. Just don't expect ms store games, epic games store games or blizard games to work/act nicely with it.

 

As for storage I used to have a 500gb drive for games and well I only played 3-4 games at a time but managed to easily fit gw2, monster hunter world, overwatch, space engineers, stellaris, fortnite, hades, beatsaber, half life alyx and a handfull of smaller indie games on there. Of course a single install of cod and half the drive is gone because that is their tactic to make you play the game more.

That's amazing!  So, boom, getting this https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/omen-laptop-15-en1097nr HP Omen 15 laptop, and then adding on a 1TB external HDD from amazon for 50 bucks!  My preliminary search got me to this https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HDTB410XK3AA-Canvio-Portable-External/dp/B079D359S6/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=1TB+external+HDD&qid=1621425397&refinements=p_36%3A1253504011&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-5.  You sound like you know a very good, fast, and reputable HDD supplier, what is your recommendation for that?  I am worried about the speed of this one, since it just says "Fast transfers" and doesn't list an actual tested transfer speed.  

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Lastraw said:

That's amazing!  So, boom, getting this https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/omen-laptop-15-en1097nr HP Omen 15 laptop, and then adding on a 1TB external HDD from amazon for 50 bucks!  My preliminary search got me to this https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-HDTB410XK3AA-Canvio-Portable-External/dp/B079D359S6/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=1TB+external+HDD&qid=1621425397&refinements=p_36%3A1253504011&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-5.  You sound like you know a very good, fast, and reputable HDD supplier, what is your recommendation for that?  I am worried about the speed of this one, since it just says "Fast transfers" and doesn't list an actual tested transfer speed.  

I make my own external hdds from cases I get from aliexpress :p. Often I just dump a ssd in there because well the prices are really close anyways.

 

The toshiba is a 5400rpm drive which is typical for external drives. It is on the slower side but finding anything faster is rare.

[Lastraw]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I make my own external hdds from cases I get from aliexpress :p. Often I just dump a ssd in there because well the prices are really close anyways.

 

The toshiba is a 5400rpm drive which is typical for external drives. It is on the slower side but finding anything faster is rare.

5400 RPM standard for external drives, so anything around that is acceptable and will work for my needs (is what I understand from your comment).  I will purchase that toshiba one then.  Thank you for all your help and recommendations for the past 24 hours.  I'm really glad I put in the time to research this and post on a forum to get help with it.  You made the experience much easier and helped out a lot!