Looking to buy a laptop

[ResilientHunter]

I am looking to buy a laptop around the upcoming sales season and I started researching a month ago but I seem not to be able to find what I had in mind within my budget, hence I thought of coming here to ask for suggestions to look into

 

Budget: 500 to 750 USD (I don't live in the US but I have some1 who is coming from there and they can get it for me)

 

- Usage: Its main purpose would be for work (I work in the data science/engineering field) and I play games on the side, mostly Riot games and some AAA games occasionally.

 

- Musts:

* at least 16GB of RAM (prefer 32 GB)

* Can be used (moderate to heavy load) for long hours away from the plug (around 4 to 6 hours at least)

* at least 1080p screen

* a dedicated GPU (although I am not really up-to-date on integrated GPUs I believe my use case would need a dedicated one)

* A webcam

* an ethernet port

 

- Preferences:

* a touchscreen (this is a major one, almost a must but can live without it)

* a Numpad

* for it not to be flashy (minimal RGB if none), as it will be used in professional environments + don't like'm

* for the CPU to be an AMD one (I have bad experiences with Intel CPUs in laptops especially)

* being light is a plus but not necessary

* a 90+hz refresh rate (120 would be great) (not that high of a priority since I would probably use another screen with it)

 

Some inspiration in my current options I am looking at are based on the 'How to Buy a Laptop 2024' guide by ltt but they did not mention anything on touchscreens as far as I remember.

 

Another thing: the relative is coming around mid Nov so I don't know if I can catch the sales season or not so if u have any idea let me know pls

+ is it even worth getting it from the US or should I just get it from where I live (I live neither in the US nor Europe), but options may be a bit limited on what to get here

 

PS: this is my first post here so please if I am doing it wrong let me know :")

I have been following LTT for a while and I was aware of the forums for a long time but I never had anything to do with it but I wanted help with this so rlly appreciate your suggestions and advice.

 

[venomtail]

35 minutes ago, ResilientHunter said:

Budget: 500 to 750 USD

Very low for a laptop.

 

35 minutes ago, ResilientHunter said:

a dedicated GPU

With such a low budget, you might be able to find some old bricks on sale that have a GPU and a weak one at that, RTX3050~ tier.

 

I bought an Acer Swift 3 some 5 years ago. Mine's still adequate and new line still decent. Ryzen APU lets me play older games without stress but it's starting to struggle, like for example Zenless Zone Zero ran better on my S23+ than on my laptop, but things like Disco Elysium aren't a problem.

That being said, if I had to buy a new laptop, I would consider another Swift 3 first.

 

On sale should be at the top of your budget. The 700M APU should be good enough for eSports games and similar demand:

https://www.acer.com/us-en/laptops/swift/swift-go-14-amd and all other configurations https://www.acer.com/us-en/laptops/swift/

 

In terms of heavy bricks within your budget and a dedicated GPU, I have no recommendations because I refuse to lug around something like that. Those aren't laptops in my eyes.

 

Also Ryzen CPU and dedicated GPU combo will be hard to find, since NVIDIA usually gets paired up with Intel CPU's.

 

The 780M in that $899 8845HS model:

100W TDP suggests the CPU also is unlocked so should be closer to benchmark.

[ResilientHunter]

22 hours ago, venomtail said:

Very low for a laptop.

 

With such a low budget, you might be able to find some old bricks on sale that have a GPU and a weak one at that, RTX3050~ tier.

 

I bought an Acer Swift 3 some 5 years ago. Mine's still adequate and new line still decent. Ryzen APU lets me play older games without stress but it's starting to struggle, like for example Zenless Zone Zero ran better on my S23+ than on my laptop, but things like Disco Elysium aren't a problem.

That being said, if I had to buy a new laptop, I would consider another Swift 3 first.

 

On sale should be at the top of your budget. The 700M APU should be good enough for eSports games and similar demand:

https://www.acer.com/us-en/laptops/swift/swift-go-14-amd and all other configurations https://www.acer.com/us-en/laptops/swift/

 

In terms of heavy bricks within your budget and a dedicated GPU, I have no recommendations because I refuse to lug around something like that. Those aren't laptops in my eyes.

 

Also Ryzen CPU and dedicated GPU combo will be hard to find, since NVIDIA usually gets paired up with Intel CPU's.

 

The 780M in that $899 8845HS model:

100W TDP suggests the CPU also is unlocked so should be closer to benchmark.

Much appreciate your suggestion and I will look into the acer swift 3 and add it to my options.

Regarding the budget, I have seen a lot within the budget with dedicated gpus and given that I have moderate expectations so the 3050 tier is actually respectable for my need and budget, I have found some respectable options given the previous but the thing that I could not find was the touchscreen option.

And again thanks for the suggestion and I might start looking into APUs more, hopefully I can find something touch.