Laptop for Gaming/Productivity

[HunterSVK]

Hey guys!

 

I need some advice with laptops. I'm leaving for college this summer and i need laptop that can handle gaming. (battlefield, overwatch) And graphic design work in blender, zbrush, substance, photoshop and so on. The productivity side is more important, cuz i want to learn and progress not game and fail school.

Here are some laptops i found. I'm happy with the specs, its mostly about brand, thermals and those things.

Here they are:

NOTEBOOKS

Site from my country with all of them in one place.
Acer Predator Helios 300 Obsidian Black Aluminium

ASUS ROG STRIX GL502VM-FY165T Myst Black Aluminium

ASUS ROG STRIX GL503VM-FY014T Black Metal

ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR Edition GL503VM-ED032T Black Metal

 

I have tried to look them up on US sites but i failed so im sorry they are in foreign language but you can understand specs whatever the language.

Helios 300 is in the middle with price, same specs but its larger so maybe temps are better? But its also more bulky. And LTT has a video saying its the best "cheapo" gaming laptop.

GL502VM is cheapest, slim but im not sure with temps.

GL503VM Is most expensive. But imo it looks best and they say it has the best screen and i need good colours for my work.

GL503VM SCAR Its cheaper, 120Hz, but im not sure with the colors, but only 128Gb SSD with 5400rpm HDD. I like this the least.

 

So, i want to hear your thougts on this, which one would you choose if you need ntb for 3-5 years, good colors, rendering power and gaming in free time? If you have other suggestions for ntb list them bellow.

Thank you in advance!

 

[genexis_x]

Budget and requirements? Avoid Asus GL series, mediocre cooling and build quality. Overpriced stuff

[HunterSVK]

@ZM Fong Budget 1000-1500€ and requirements same as those ntbs. But if you can get better things for that price...

[Shanhara]

I have the gl502vm and it works really well. The gtx 1060 is highly underestimated by most people. Two of my other friends also have a helios. I'd personally suggest asus over acer and the 502vm over the helios, but i might just be biased. What i will say though is that the 502vm is exactly the same as a 502vs (which linus loved) and the only difference would be that the 502vm has a 60hz panel and a gtx 1060 instead of a 1070. 

[HunterSVK]

@Shanhara Thanks for reply! I'll take it into consideration. And GL502vs was never and option cuz its not available in my country...

 

[Shanhara]

5 minutes ago, HunterSVK said:

@Shanhara Thanks for reply! I'll take it into consideration. And GL502vs was never and option cuz its not available in my country...

 

I mentioned 502vs because it is a much more popular and much more reviewed product and you could compare.

I forgot to mention the temps so, here goes. when i ran a synthetic test using aida64 for the cpu only, there was no throttling whatsoever with temps between 70-80 and clock speeds around 3500mhz. But there is throttling when i stress both the cpu and the gpu, the highest being around 50% but i don't think that affects real usage becuase my games are running fine with ac origins at 1080p very high preset giving me 60fps and the same with farcry4. my 502vm has an i7-7700k not a 6th gen, just so you know. If you can wait, i can get you more details about the helios on monday

[HunterSVK]

@Shanhara That would be awesome! Thanks. I have plenty of time. I'm not at the "finding" stage. I need to find the right one with good price,then i need a job in summer so i could afford it and i'll be buying it maybe in august. I just want to have a clear idea.

[genexis_x]

Wow there are many misinformation going on here.

 

Linus video on GL-VS is absolutely pointless as he doesn't know how to review a laptop properly. Only trust reviews with in depth analysis like Notebookcheck, Ultrabookreview and Laptopmedia. Under load the cooling system is very loud and surface temps are very hot. You can see from Notebookcheck's review, the fans are running nearly at full speed even while gaming. This shows that the cooling system is reaching its limits. In CPU+GPU load the cooling system dies, throttling occurs. Laptops with good cooling solution can handle this kind of load even though it's unrealistic. GL-VM is slightly better but still mediocre. GL502VM NEVER had 7700k, only 7700HQ. Why buy a laptop that has issues and overpriced when you can get a better laptop with the same/lower price?

 

Also, brand means almost nothing in laptops, every brand has good and bad models, buy by model not brand.

 

Could you provide me some links of online stores in your country?

[HunterSVK]

@ZM Fong You have a good points. Well, I'll be buying from that www.alza.sk site, because i can get it with discound from there. (almost no tax (DPH in my langugage)). Alza is like amazon in my country.

[genexis_x]

Lenovo Y720 - a bit heavy

Dell 7577 (Max-Q) / Dell Vostro 7570 - a bit heavy

Lenovo Y520 (Max-Q) - outdated cooling design but still handles heat fine

Acer Helios 300 - outdated cooling design but still handles heat fine

Acer Aspire 7 - be aware of Acer infamous thermal paste issues and Aspire line QC concerns

 

All have OK/good build quality and cooling. Keep in mind that all options above have entry level IPS panel. If you need a good display, you may want the HP Omen 15 with 1060 Max-Q, though from what I heard they are not reliable. Asus GL503/703VM could be an option if you willing to do repaste and undervolting.

 

If you're doing serious design work and want max reliability, you may want a workstation laptop, though they are not cheap.

Edited March 1, 2018 by ZM Fong

[xSPIN]

1460 usd roughly 1200 euro (without taxes) in US

 

https://www.alza.sk/EN/asus-rog-strix-gl703vm-gc050t-black-metal-d5151172.htm?o=1

(here you go)

 

https://www.alza.sk/EN/asus-rog-strix-scar-edition-gl503vs-ei012t-black-aluminum-d5253773.htm?o=1

(thats what I am looking to buy in US)

 

My friends has GL502vs, its working perfectly for him.