Laptop for Gaming and Photo Editing

[Teched Out]

Hi all.

 

Any suggestions on a laptop which would be good for both gaming and photo editing?

There's way too many bloody laptops on the market, whilst I'm wading through them, I thought it might be worth asking here in case anyone knows of something off the top of their head.

 

These are my must haves:

• 8 core CPU (don't mind AMD or Intel)
• 32GB RAM (or the ability for user to increase RAM) (for anyone unfamiliar with complex photo work, 16GB is not enough)
• At least 100% SRGB display
• 3060 or greater
• 14" or 15"
• Minimum 1 USB Type A USB
• Not be an absolute tank
• Good battery life (whatever that means in this category...)

I would like good speakers but this is not going to be a deal breaker for me. I have decent headphones which I can use when necessary.

Internal SD reader would be nice to have but also not a deal breaker.

I don't care about super high refresh rate displays on laptops, 120/144/165hz is fine.

1080p is fine for resolution. 1440p might be nice but I absolutely don't want 4K.

I'm willing to pay what's necessary but I don't want to go over the top.

 

I currently have a Blade 14 2017. I like size and build of this laptop but Blades have gotten quite expensive. That said, another one isn't completely out of the question.

 

The Alienware X15 was looking nice until I saw the horrendous port situation (WTF?). The M15 could be an alternative there but I'll have to find out what the display is like.

[TheEducatedIdiot]

Do you need a 3.5 jack for those headphones? Bluetooth?

 

 I've spent a few months looking for something effectively similar 

 

Upcoming macbooks look good,  as does the toughbook fz55, then the more obviously found contenders from ASUS, and Dell etc.

[Teched Out]

13 hours ago, TheEducatedIdiot said:

Do you need a 3.5 jack for those headphones? Bluetooth?

 

 I've spent a few months looking for something effectively similar 

 

Upcoming macbooks look good,  as does the toughbook fz55, then the more obviously found contenders from ASUS, and Dell etc.

3.5mm is a must but I assumed anything which checks the other boxes will also have 3.5mm.

 

For me, it has to be Windows.

[Teched Out]

The MSI Z16, which LTT just put up a video for, looks quite good. It'll be pricey, though.

 

14 hours ago, Betterthanever said:

Hi, Have you considered Clevo based laptops? Nowadays these Clevo resellers provide wide spectrum of choice and for a fair price you have a chance to get something worthwhile. Would you like me to reccomend you a reseller?

I hadn't, yet.

[Qyygle]

19 hours ago, Teched Out said:

The MSI Z16, which LTT just put up a video for, looks quite good. It'll be pricey, though.

 

I hadn't, yet.

Eluktronics makes a Mag or Max-15 or something like that. Bob of all Trades has done a few reviews on their machines, they're pretty much Clevo or Tongfang chassis.

HID or some of the other resellers may also offer the same thing. It won't match the razer or alienware in build, but it'll come close

[Dylan94]

Hey! Have you looked at the asus m16 or g15? I am also looking to buy a new pc and those would be cool... Or the legion lineup from lenovo! Otherwise if you like the 14 inch I was thinking to buy the g14, but the only thing is that the max ram supported is 24 and 8 are already soldered on... From msi you have also the prestige 15 that could be interesting if I'm not mistaken... 

[Qyygle]

6 hours ago, Betterthanever said:

Why would you say that it won't match the razer or alienware build?

I think the PC50 or PC 70 series are quite solid. Plus you get an alluminium chassis.

The general consensus (at least from my interpretation) was that the magnesium chassis on these was a bit less stiff than razer's current lineup? Alienware basically only has the build quality left to it's namesake. If you enjoy overheating and QC issues, maybe consider them I guess. 

Honestly, the build is more nitpick. I don't think anyone would really care picking these things up. It's not like you're using them to lay brick or something. Reviewers are constantly harping on it it seems, but it's mostly up to the end user on what good build quality should be.

I'm not familiar with the PCXX series is that the generic Clevo model number for the chassis? I think the MAG/MAX are based on an Intel design magnesium alloy chassis

[Qyygle]

5 hours ago, Betterthanever said:

I am not too sure about the materials which Clevo uses to produce the laptops from so I can't tell or confirm if the metal is magnesium alloy chassis but as we dig into it do you have any experience with this materials overheating more than the other? Please elaborate on this. It's quite interesting for me as i have never encountered such a sophisticated opinion before whatsoever and haven't looked into the material which various manufacturers use. For me aluminium is more than OK, as long us the battery cover of the chassis is plastic and enables ventilation at the same time stopping the laptop from overheating.

The one Clevo model I had in the past was a mixed plastic/aluminum build. 

Current models I assume are using a similar mix, very close to what MSI does as well. It's pretty much an internal plastic chassis, with metal outer panels. Only on the more expensive models do they go to full aluminum unibody.

 

Magnesium alloy is the same material as used in the Microsoft Surface lineup. Lenovo and HP have also use it on their higher end lines. It's a bit stiffer and less thermally conductive than aluminum, but otherwise very similar, since it's just aluminum with a few other materials mixed in. The type of material is not a great factor on the overheating of the laptop, unless you're talking directly about what's used in the heatsink design. It may have some impact on the overall temperature of the frame, but overheating is dependent on the internal components and heatsink/fan layout.

In a normal laptop, having a metal body isn't an issue for the battery. Most components are internally mounted by plastic brackets and rarely fully contact the metal. The chassis is also never used as a heatsink, you'll often see manufacturers make efforts specifically to isolate the heatsinks from the chassis for comfort reasons:

This is a razer blade, with the bottom cover removed. You can see there's actually insulating tape over a large portion of the bottom panel near the hotter components, and standoffs right over the heatsinks themselves to keep them from being in full contact with the metal bottom. (also note the battery is mounted in using plastic clips which then screw into the frame) 

[Lukas Murdych]

On 9/19/2021 at 6:58 AM, Teched Out said:

Hi all.

 

Any suggestions on a laptop which would be good for both gaming and photo editing?

There's way too many bloody laptops on the market, whilst I'm wading through them, I thought it might be worth asking here in case anyone knows of something off the top of their head.

 

These are my must haves:

• 8 core CPU (don't mind AMD or Intel)
• 32GB RAM (or the ability for user to increase RAM) (for anyone unfamiliar with complex photo work, 16GB is not enough)
• At least 100% SRGB display
• 3060 or greater
• 14" or 15"
• Minimum 1 USB Type A USB
• Not be an absolute tank
• Good battery life (whatever that means in this category...)

I would like good speakers but this is not going to be a deal breaker for me. I have decent headphones which I can use when necessary.

Internal SD reader would be nice to have but also not a deal breaker.

I don't care about super high refresh rate displays on laptops, 120/144/165hz is fine.

1080p is fine for resolution. 1440p might be nice but I absolutely don't want 4K.

I'm willing to pay what's necessary but I don't want to go over the top.

 

I currently have a Blade 14 2017. I like size and build of this laptop but Blades have gotten quite expensive. That said, another one isn't completely out of the question.

 

The Alienware X15 was looking nice until I saw the horrendous port situation (WTF?). The M15 could be an alternative there but I'll have to find out what the display is like.

What’s your budget? The Lenovo legion 5 pro is excellent, has a 16x10 screen in QHD, a 3070, and 16 gb of user upgradeable ram. It’s screen is also more than 500 nits bright, which is probably good for editing.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-Legion-5-Pro-16-Gaming-Laptop-AMD-Ryzen-7-16GB-RAM-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-3070-512GB-SSD-Windows-10-Home-Gray-82JQ008NUS/231609645

[Teched Out]

I ended up going with the Lenovo Legion 7i. I was able to get a decent discount on it.

I went with the i7 11800H, RTX 3070 & 16GB RAM model. A 64GB RAM kit is on the way (Kingston Fury Impact 3200MHz).

 

I really thought my next laptop would have an AMD chip however, after some research, it seems that the Adobe suit still favours Intel by a decent margin.
For most people, the AMD chips are probably the better buy as they seem to have the lead in power efficiency. 
I'm currently under-volting and stress testing to see if I can make up some ground in the battery life department. Currently running -.075mv offset which seems to be stable.

 

The MSI X16 really did look quite appealing however, I knew the Legion 7's larger size would give better thermals resulting in better performance (and fan noisel). 

I was also able to get the Legion 7i with a 3070 for less than what a Z16 with a 3060 costs. The Z16's glossy screen was also a big mark against it, once I realised that.

 

Between the Alienware M15 and the 7i, it really came down to the display resolution. M15 doesn't offer 16:10 and the 1440p option would have been more expensive than the 7i.

The M15 otherwise looks like a pretty solid laptop (I still can't make sense of the X15's IO, though...).

 

Some initial thoughts on the 7i.

• It's much quieter and cooler than my Blade. This is no surprise, though, given the size difference.
• The display looks fantastic but I am yet to do any image with on it. Much better than the Blade's display.
• Battery life is definitely going to be lower than my old Blade with its well-used battery. I will update on this.
• I was a bit concerned about the down firing speakers however they are pretty decent. They are as good (or better) as I need laptop speakers to be.
• Keyboard feels good. I'm not sure if it's better or worse than the Blade's. They are different.
• The power brick is bloody huge. I'll probably look at getting something smaller to have as an option, even if it's lower wattage. I will rarely have both the CPU and GPU pinned at 100.

The only thing I really wish was different about this laptop is, I would like a Type-A port on the left or right side.

I know enthusiasts are all about Type-C however, in the real world, Type-A is still far and away the dominant connector. When I need to connect a Type-A device, it would be nice to not have to reach over the laptop.

 

In a similar vein but less significantly, I think the Blade's positioning of the power port on the side, rear corner with a right angle power connector is the only way power ports/cables should be done.

I never have to worry about pushing my Blade up against a wall or worry about bending cables coming out of the rear. This is something I will have to be mindful of with the 7i.

[Teched Out]

On 9/22/2021 at 10:29 AM, Dylan94 said:

Otherwise if you like the 14 inch I was thinking to buy the g14

I used to think 14" was, the best screen size for a laptop. However, it has been a hinderance for content creation.
A couple of years ago, I thought 15.6" laptops were ridiculous. Now I have one.

 

That said, with how bezels have shrunken, ~15.6" would probably now be my preferred size. There are now 15.6" laptops the same size as my Blade 14, with it's chunky bezels.