Best Portable Gaming Laptop for the Money

[markhannelly]

Hi There Guys,

                       I need your help on an upcoming purchase. I'm planning to get a new laptop to play games on for travel. I seem to be out of the house more often nowadays and I need something both powerful enough to do some 1080p video editing and play GTA Online, Cities Skylines and Metal Gear Solid Online. I've looked around at a few systems, I want something portable that I can take with me on flights and general travel, so I'm looking in the 12-14 inch size range, anything more is just too big to be practical for my use, as at home I'll have my gaming desktop.

 

Whats made my shortlist so far:

 

All Prices Here Are Quoted From The Websites Listed in Canadian Dollars

 

The New Razer Blade 512GB

http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/store/razer-blade

$2999CAD

Pros

-Great Form Factor, Well Made with a nice size and weight

-Powerful, with a GTX 970m and a Quad Core Skylake

-Looks, which are awesome, Love the Backlit Keyboard

Cons

-Price, which is a lot...

------------

Alienware 13

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/alienware-13-r2/pd.aspx#overrides=nae132_f_h4e:8~640SSD

$2799CAD

Pros

-Looks cool, like the Alienware styling and the Backlit Keys

-Cheaper

-512GB Drive has a 128GB M.2 SSD as additional storage for the price, which is useful

Cons

-Slower, Only a Dual Core Processor and a 960m by comparison to the Razer,

-Thick Chassis, not as thin as the Razer

-While cheaper, not a lot cheaper at this config, and compromises are being made for not a lot of savings

-----------

Microsoft Surface Book (okay not really a gaming laptop by any means, but very portable and at least has dedicated graphics)

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msca/en_CA/pdp/Surface-Book/productID.326660400

$3499CAD

Pros

- Great Design, really thin and light, two in one design very versatile, especially on flights or trains

- Awesome Battery Life

- Has an nVidia Dedicated Graphics Card Option

- It's a tablet and a Laptop, leading to less bulk when travelling as one device can be used for everything

Cons

- Very Very Expensive, like even more expensive than the Razer

- A lot less Powerful, from what I gather a Dual Core processor and nVidia Chip is similar to a 940m in power

- As far as I know there is no fan in the dock, don't know if the nVidia chip thermal throttles or not, but could be an issue

- The battery in the tablet part doesn't last very long if not docked in the keyboard, it's really a laptop first, tablet second

- Money is being spent realistically on design of a thin in light, instead of performance. Could hurt in games

 

Any thoughts guys? Feel free to correct me on anything I missed or got wrong, basically all my impressions from checking the web. If you have any suggestions for other machines in the same sort of category please let me know, I'm sure there is more out there I haven't heard of yet. I'll be flying to the U.S at some point in June so if there is any system that is particularly cheaper in the U.S than it is in Canada let me know if I should be buying it there instead. Thanks for the help guys

 

-Mark

[micko12400]

love the blade my friend has one and i always burrow it at collage to do CAD work on honestly the nicest laptop i have seen and used and the performance is outstanding 

 

cant wait to get mine!

[don_svetlio]

The Blade has horrible heat issues - because the cooling hasn't been updated since 2013, the Blade thermalthrottles a LOT. The original cooling solution was designed to handle a 35W CPU + 75W GPU for a total of 110W whereas the current specs are a 47W CPU + 100W GPU for a total of 147W. That's 37W more than the cooling in the Blade was designed to dissipate and as a result, the fan noise is absurdly high and the temps are bad - 90*C+ usually. Definitely not fun to use when it leaves a toasty hotspot on the desk it was on.

Razer's quality control is also quite poor - a lot, and i mean a LOT of users on the Notebookreview forums have received defective models and gone through 3-4 RMAs before finally getting a working one.

As a recommendation, I'd say:

MSI GS60 Ghost Pro - same specs as the Blade, half the price and better cooling/noise.
Gigabyte Aorus Slim - more powerful than the Blade, cheaper, better cooling
A similar Sager notebook. - cheaper, more durable, better cooling

[Guest]

I thought they reworked the cooling system for the 2016 version of the blade.

[don_svetlio]

1 hour ago, Pendragon said:

I thought they reworked the cooling system for the 2016 version of the blade.

They didn't change it the last 2 times, why would they now? People still buy it blindly and then regret their decision

[Guest]

Razer mentioned they did something with the thermals. Not sure if its just software tweaks or not.

[markhannelly]

Has anyone seen or had any experience with the Aorus X3 Plus V5?

http://www.aorus.com/Product/Features/X3%20Plus%20v5

 

Looks pretty cool but trying to find information on where to buy and price. Seems to do well in the reviews

[markhannelly]

As a cheaper option a friend told me of the Lenovo Y700, price is pretty awesome (starting at $700 on the U.S Store), but the use of plastic throughout doesn't scream quality, and I would have to wonder about that Radeon, doesn't seem as powerful as the others. Otherwise looks not too bad for the money

 

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/y700-14-inch/

 

 

[don_svetlio]

19 minutes ago, markhannelly said:

As a cheaper option a friend told me of the Lenovo Y700, price is pretty awesome (starting at $700 on the U.S Store), but the use of plastic throughout doesn't scream quality, and I would have to wonder about that Radeon, doesn't seem as powerful as the others. Otherwise looks not too bad for the money

 

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/y700-14-inch/

 

 

Y700 is the only laptop in that price segment to be made fully of aluminium - no idea what plastic you are talking about - the only plastic there is the is the screen frame. There is also a 960M/6700HQ model. The FX8800P and R9 M380 are about 5-8% slower than the Nvidia version though I'd recommend the i7 model

[don_svetlio]

27 minutes ago, markhannelly said:

Has anyone seen or had any experience with the Aorus X3 Plus V5?

http://www.aorus.com/Product/Features/X3%20Plus%20v5

 

Looks pretty cool but trying to find information on where to buy and price. Seems to do well in the reviews

@KemoKa

[don_svetlio]

33 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Razer mentioned they did something with the thermals. Not sure if its just software tweaks or not.

They "re-engineered" the fans and heatpipes - 2 things which are set in stone as industry standards. Good to know Razer is bullshiting people again. All they need is BETTER AND BIGGER HEATSINKS gosh darn it