Best Gaming Laptop Under $700?

[Pendragon]

11 hours ago, sqzit said:

I hate all windows laptops with the exception of the older thinkpads, elitebooks, surface devices, and razer blades

the razer wut. ._. aight. i c. 

[sqzit]

19 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

the razer wut. ._. aight. i c. 

Is that not what they are called? The 14inch laptops by razer... they have a decent keyboard and trackpad, aluminum body, and a fantastic screen (no idea why it is so hard to find a laptop with a glossy screen, I farrrrrr prefer gloss to matte).

[Pendragon]

Just now, sqzit said:

Is that not what they are called? The 14inch laptops by razer... they have a decent keyboard and trackpad, aluminum body, and a fantastic screen (no idea why it is so hard to find a laptop with a glossy screen, I farrrrrr prefer gloss to matte).

Yea I know, just means you like superficial things. There are a host of problems with the Razer Blades beyond their looks, but that's what most people stop at. 

[sqzit]

Just now, Pendragon said:

Yea I know, just means you like superficial things. There are a host of problems with the Razer Blades beyond their looks, but that's what most people stop at. 

Well built is not the same thing as superficial. For me, the hardware inside a laptop isn't worth much, because id never play a game on a laptop. The purpose of a laptop for me is to have to most comfortable experience possible for typing and navigating the OS, as those are the two most important things I do on a laptop. A dedicated GPU and an i7 will make no difference in this regard. However, things like a metal wrist rest, responsive trackpad, high resolution glossy display, and a zero flex keyboard are the kind of things that DO matter to me about a laptop. 

[Pendragon]

7 minutes ago, sqzit said:

snip

Why not buy a Mac. If that's what you're looking for. Seems like that's what your looking for. If the specs don't matter. Those things are important to me as well, but there are laptops out there with those requirements. I'm a exclusive laptop users on both OSX and Windows (I bring 3 laptops around). 

 

Razer Blade is not "well built". Built with premium material is not the same "well built". It has a host of QC issues with dead trackpads, keys, screen flicker and so many other issues. If you get one that works fine, it'll serve great as a $2000 dollar office notebook with 6 hour battery life. But at that point, you might as well get something like the T460s. 

[sqzit]

1 minute ago, Pendragon said:

Why not buy a Mac. If that's what you're looking for. Seems like that's what your looking for. If the specs don't matter. Those things are important to me as well, but there are laptops out there with those requirements. I'm a exclusive laptop users on both OSX and Windows (I bring 3 laptops around). 

 

Razer Blade is not "well built". Built with premium material is not the same "well built". It has a host of QC issues with dead trackpads, keys, screen flicker and so many other issues. If you get one that works fine, it'll serve great as a $2000 dollar office notebook. But at that point, you might as well get something like the T460s. 

It just so happens that I do have a mac (a fully spec'd apple refurbished 15" late 2013 model) . I also have a Lenovo E560 running linux, and a windows desktop workstation. I personally wouldn't buy a razer blade because I don't think I could give up the mac trackpad gestures, and also id never use the gpu in it, but I do have a cousin who bought one two years ago and really likes it. I know that he hasn't had any issues with it, but I've never looked into reviews myself as I wasn't interested in buying one so I wasn't aware of any QC issues. Ive used it a decent amount though and apart from the keyboard (still prefer lenovo's) it was the best windows laptop I've ever used. 

[sqzit]

10 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

Those things are important to me as well, but there are laptops out there with those requirements. 

Im genuinely curious to other options that have quality keyboard, trackpad, screen, ect. Im always looking for new devices that hit the mark. If you've used any, can you let me know so I can try them out?

[Pendragon]

36 minutes ago, sqzit said:

Im genuinely curious to other options that have quality keyboard, trackpad, screen, ect. Im always looking for new devices that hit the mark. If you've used any, can you let me know so I can try them out?

I really like this gen's thinkpads. They finally gave it back the usual bloody buttons compared to the old school T420 ones. The T450 or T440 series I really disliked because it was missing the usual thinkpad buttons. Trackpoint is amazing but still need a trackpad.

 

In terms of Window's trackpad nothing beats a Macbook (i have a 2012 first gen retina that I still use cause bless the trackpad), but things that come close are XPS15, any new Thinkpads, Zbooks, (not dell precisions rip in piece), Clevo P series. 

 

I currently own a T560 for work, a MBP 2012 Retina for work, and had an XPS15 and a Clevo P650RG in recent times, both of which are sold because I'm looking to get into Pascal. If you're looking for "the Windows Experience" and comfortable with a trackpoint, T460s is where it's at. I prefer trackpoint for mobile use and the T460s is gorgeous. The 1440p glossy screen is where I would personally say the sweet spot is. I prefer 2.5k or 3k display (fuck 4k, hate scaling), so I use 0 scaling on my 1800p MBP, and 0 scaling on my 1620p T560 glossy. 1080 is not enough for productivity these days. The MBP 1800p display is a bit straining on the eyes, and I can tell the T560's 1620p is alot easier for me to use for longer sessions. I haven't had a Zbook for myself but from my 1 day usage of those they're pretty comparable to Thinkpads. Dell Precision's bloody trackpads are still not glass nor smooth so fuck that. Their E7470 line is one of the better line ups.

 

tl;dr

XPS15

E7470

T460s

T560 (bigger screen)

Clevo P series 

Macbooks

^ Laptops I would use myself

[sqzit]

1 minute ago, Pendragon said:

 

tl;dr

XPS15

E7470

T460s

T560 (bigger screen)

Clevo P series 

Macbooks

^ Laptops I would use myself

I forgot about the XPS15, actually decently enjoyed those. Not a huge fan of the clevo P series, mostly due to the keyboard. Totally agree with your statements on the recent thinkpads. I wanted to try out the HP spectre x360 because it seemed pretty solid in store, and the trackpad was really big for  such a small device which I also liked. I can't speak for the new spectre though, because I've never even seen it in person.  

 

Also agree with your thoughts on scaling. Forgot about that, but that was my biggest gripe with the razer blade. Windows does not do scaling well at all. And a 4k screen makes zero sense on a laptop anyway.  

[wbs]

I think the smart thing would be to wait till Black Friday sale and buy at that time, then I can get a nice ass laptop for cheap.