Replacement budget friendly gaming laptop!

[RichardLongley]

Hey all,

 

New to the forums however I've been a long time watcher of LTT. I'm wondering what is the best budget friendly gaming laptop, for playing most modern games. Typically I play League of Legends and the occasional FPS! Aswell as doing light CAD work.

 

My previous setup was a RTX 2070, Ryzen 7 1700X with 32GB of Generic RAM and it seemed to do the trick for what I need! However unfortunately it got a bit drowned in the recent New Zealand flooding...

 

I'm ideally looking for something mobile to replace my setup as I don't exactly have any permanent living arrangements! 

 

I'd also like to know what the best practice is to attempt to clean and extract data from an M.2 drive..? 

 

I've attached a couple photos of the mess for everybody's curiosity! 

If anyone can recommend something that's $2500NZD/$2100CAD at the most, I'd really appreciate it. I just want something to keep me distracted from the current circumstances that'll last me a little while until I have somewhere a little more permanent haha. 

 

Cheers all,

Richard

[Bombastinator]

Wow!  Looks like you got flooded out and your desktop is full of muck! Suxor.  So budget gaming desktop replacement.  
I’m not good for specific models but I got a few ideas. 

Laptops have issues with heat dispersal which makes for low power levels.  I’m trying to make use of some of the parts from that old mud covered desktop to keep costs down.

if the thing wasn’t on when it got inundated at least some of it should still be usable.  Assuming you have access to 110v, What it seems you would want is a luggable case.  or is that too slow to pack up and you need a full on laptop? 
I found a company that makes lunchbox luggable cases with 1080p monitors on the sides. They don’t have any prices though which makes me wonder whether they’re still in business.

Another way to go is a small laptop that will do for now but still be useful as a laptop when you get situated and can build a real computer.  Something minimal and cheap, but very portable.  AMD does some iGP chips that might be useful here.  This wouldn’t be really possible without super resolution but the things game fine at 720p which you can blow up to 1080.

Edited February 21, 2023 by Bombastinator

[RichardLongley]

Yeah its a real mess that's for sure, unfortunately the mud is quite contaminated so I'm reluctant to collect it and clean it as it may pose a bit of a health risk haha. I really would just like a laptop as I have to live light for the next wee while and I can't really justify buying a monitor and accessories if I may not have the future space for it! 

 

I haven't been in the market for a laptop in a loooong time so I was hopeful someone may have some insight of a good daily driver that meet my needs.

 

Cheers for the response mate 

[Stormseeker9]

@RichardLongley

 

Kia ora my dude, so sorry to see this and hope you/family/friends are safe!

 

I don’t live in NZ  myself but had a gander on the internets.

 

top budget perhaps something like this $2550

 

slightly less $2250

 

around the $2000 mark

 

personal preference would be the top line and second choice the mid priced one. I took in consideration you may want to use it for a few years coming before you build a new pc. 
 

I can’t directly vouch for the product quality. Only owned HP & Apple laptops but all three from reputable brands so won’t be too worried

 

if you need any more help or if others have input for improvement, please let me know

 

 

 

 

[Bombastinator]

43 minutes ago, RichardLongley said:

Yeah its a real mess that's for sure, unfortunately the mud is quite contaminated so I'm reluctant to collect it and clean it as it may pose a bit of a health risk haha. I really would just like a laptop as I have to live light for the next wee while and I can't really justify buying a monitor and accessories if I may not have the future space for it! 

 

I haven't been in the market for a laptop in a loooong time so I was hopeful someone may have some insight of a good daily driver that meet my needs.

 

Cheers for the response mate 

So use of parts is out.  It’s a complete loss then.

[RichardLongley]

30 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

@RichardLongley

 

Kia ora my dude, so sorry to see this and hope you/family/friends are safe!

 

I don’t live in NZ  myself but had a gander on the internets.

 

top budget perhaps something like this $2550

 

slightly less $2250

 

around the $2000 mark

 

personal preference would be the top line and second choice the mid priced one. I took in consideration you may want to use it for a few years coming before you build a new pc. 
 

I can’t directly vouch for the product quality. Only owned HP & Apple laptops but all three from reputable brands so won’t be too worried

 

if you need any more help or if others have input for improvement, please let me know

 

 

 

 

That MSI laptop actually looks really promising in terms of future proofing myself! Thanks for the input and kind words mate

[RichardLongley]

6 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

So use of parts is out.  It’s a complete loss then.

Unfortunately I believe that to be the case, I may actually just send the M.2 off to a local facility for recovery.

[bezza...]

1 minute ago, RichardLongley said:

Unfortunately I believe that to be the case, I may actually just send the M.2 off to a local facility for recovery.

electronics are not damaged by water unless they are powered on. i would try to clean everything with soap and water and let it air dry (becarfull not to knock any components off) and try to power stuff on then. it could fix it. unless u have already tryed to power on in which case you may have fried your psu or some other components.

[Bombastinator]

1 minute ago, RichardLongley said:

Unfortunately I believe that to be the case, I may actually just send the M.2 off to a local facility for recovery.

Corrosion is alway s a big issue when there’s water around.  It’s lots slower if stuff is unpowered, but it’s a limited time thing.

[DreamCat04]

1 hour ago, Tomberry said:

electronics are not damaged by water unless they are powered on. i would try to clean everything with soap and water and let it air dry (becarfull not to knock any components off) and try to power stuff on then. it could fix it. unless u have already tryed to power on in which case you may have fried your psu or some other components.

der8auer actually managed to save one or two PCs from a flood in germany back in early 2022, so I'd try cleaning it. But if you want a gaming laptop and want a rather small, light one, there's the ROG Zephyrus. They've got lots of performance in quite a thin chassis

[Stormseeker9]

10 hours ago, RichardLongley said:

That MSI laptop actually looks really promising in terms of future proofing myself! Thanks for the input and kind words mate

Yeah when I saw it myself I was quite chuffed with the stats haha