Four to choose from

[aisle9]

My budget is a hard cap of $850, but I'd prefer to stay closer to $700. Needs to be Amazon--I have a bunch of credit there to use. Here are the four I'm looking at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0746P25QX/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2LX2VJUU6ZMUM&colid=2HOHWBY2T3V5B

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XFG7157/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I37CHR186WP859&colid=2HOHWBY2T3V5B&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XFGF7SN/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I1EY0UQFG11D9W&colid=2HOHWBY2T3V5B

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072QT88DG/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I72HZ29N3KRCW&colid=2HOHWBY2T3V5B

 

My use case is pretty simple: I need a laptop capable of holding me over for 4-5 years. It's got to have solid processing power (no dual-cores) and be capable of at least running something like Skyrim SE, Overwatch or GTA 5 at 1080p, high setttings (or medium for GTA 5), 60 fps. Battery life when not gaming needs to be 3-4 hours or more. An easily removable battery and ease of upgrading RAM, HDD, etc. would be much appreciated. 15.6" max, 14" ideally, can't have that "gamer" aesthetic as I'll be using it for work. The thinner and lighter the better, but I do understand that I'm at a price point where compromises have to be made. Just no Clevo phone books, please.

 

Think of it this way: what I'm really after is a Thinkpad with an i7 and a GTX 1050 Ti. Such a thing does not exist, and it seems like the laptops above are going to be my best bets at finding something like that within my price range. Which of those looks best, and are there any laptops I'm not considering?

[Shreyas1]

Spec wise, 3 is the best, the rest don’t have i7’s which you need. I really don’t know about battery life

[genexis_x]

MSI GL is mediocre so avoid
Dell 5577 has a poor TN display

MX150 in the Acer Swift 3 may not meet your gaming needs

Take a look at Asus Vivobook Pro, Lenovo Yoga 720 15 inch, Dell XPS 15

What's your budget? And why not Clevo?

[aisle9]

29 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

MSI GL is mediocre so avoid
Dell 5577 has a poor TN display

MX150 in the Acer Swift 3 may not meet your gaming needs

Take a look at Asus Vivobook Pro, Lenovo Yoga 720 15 inch, Dell XPS 15

What's your budget? And why not Clevo?

Budget has a hard cap of $850, ideally $700. I don't mind Clevo in general, but their build quality leaves something to be desired and I have long, long questioned the cooling solutions they use for high powered CPUs and GPUs.

 

I did stumble across this guy that I actually don't mind the "gamer" appearance of as much because it's understated, and I like the specs a lot. Any thoughts on this one? I think I can live with a quad core i5 just fine.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-Gaming-GeForce-VX5-591G-75RM/dp/B074Q54GSR/ref=sr_1_10?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1509207256&sr=1-10&keywords=XPS%2B15&th=1

 

And there's that ASUS you mentioned:

 

https://www.amazon.com/M580VD-EB54-VivoBook-i5-7300HQ-backlit-keyboard/dp/B072C7TNBZ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1509207101&sr=8-5&keywords=vivobook+pro

[genexis_x]

34 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Budget has a hard cap of $850, ideally $700. I don't mind Clevo in general, but their build quality leaves something to be desired and I have long, long questioned the cooling solutions they use for high powered CPUs and GPUs.

Their build quality and QC are actually quite good

35 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

I did stumble across this guy that I actually don't mind the "gamer" appearance of as much because it's understated, and I like the specs a lot. Any thoughts on this one? I think I can live with a quad core i5 just fine.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-Gaming-GeForce-VX5-591G-75RM/dp/B074Q54GSR/ref=sr_1_10?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1509207256&sr=1-10&keywords=XPS%2B15&th=1

Make sure it has an IPS display. It has a good cooling but a bit heavy IMO

[aisle9]

14 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

Their build quality and QC are actually quite good

Make sure it has an IPS display. It has a good cooling but a bit heavy IMO

I'd consider Clevo. They're hit and miss, but, I mean, aside from Lenovo who isn't? And even Lenovo's dropped the occasional stinker. Is there any model in particular that would make sense to look at at my price point?

[genexis_x]

44 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Is there any model in particular that would make sense to look at at my price point?

W650KK1. Fits your budget, not much gaming look, desktop CPU (even though it's the outdated Kaby Lake), looks like it has an easy removable battery

45 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

They're hit and miss

Agree

[aisle9]

20 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

W650KK1. Fits your budget, not much gaming look, desktop CPU (even though it's the outdated Kaby Lake), looks like it has an easy removable battery

Gah, I was afraid you'd say that. Something about that laptop just feels off to me, and I sincerely question its ability to keep components cool--especially a desktop CPU--if the 1050 Ti throttles right out of the box. Am I being too harsh?