Looking for a new laptop

[Nyanpasu]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking for a new laptop mainly for productivity, but also for some casual gaming on the side (AA titles mostly). Ideally i would like something socially acceptable to use in public, and also a working cooling system (HP has not been my friend the last couple of laptops i had). My budget is a max of $1000 CAD, but preferably looking for something around the $700 price point. 

 

(Ive looked around, and found some? of ones that may work (if a bit pricy), but i'm out of my element for laptops)

 

Dell Inspiron i7577-5241BLK-PUS 15.6-inch
Lenovo Legion Y520 80WK00FHUS 15.6-inch
MSI GL72M 7RDX-800 17.3-inch
Dell Inspiron 15 7000/G5 15
Asus TUF Gaming FX504GD

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you !

[hconverse02]

The first one (Dell Inspiron i7577-5241BLK-PUS) has the best specs, so if you are down to this list, get that over any of them, but like you said, the thermal solution is pretty bad, so if you were to just re-paste the cpu and gpu, you might drop 20C entirely.

[genexis_x]

5 hours ago, Nyanpasu said:

Dell Inspiron i7577-5241BLK-PUS 15.6-inch
Lenovo Legion Y520 80WK00FHUS 15.6-inch
Dell Inspiron 15 7000/G5 15

^^These are good, however they have outdated CPU (i5 7300HQ is not recommended, slower than KBL-R ULV). Still, where did you find these options?

 

With i5 8300H (faster than 7700HQ):

1. Lenovo Legion Y530

GTX 1050 4GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, low sRGB IPS

Slightly over budget

 

2. Acer Nitro 5

GTX 1050 4GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, low sRGB IPS

CPU cooling issue

A bit flashy

 

3. Dell G3 15

GTX 1050 4GB, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, low sRGB IPS

Mediocre cooling

 

4. HP Pavilion Gaming

GTX 1050 4GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, low sRGB IPS

Mediocre cooling

Slightly over budget

 

Repaste is highly recommended since most stock paste in laptops nowadays is crap. Don't forget to undervolt CPU+GPU.

[Nyanpasu]

The laptops were found after a casual google search.

 

for the Dell G3 15, how medicore is medicore? Otherwise, that is looking like my best bet out of the ones you recommended. Sadly, Canada tax adds quite a bit more expensive then i'd like. Is it worth the extra $290 to upgrade from the 7300 HQ to the 8300H and a 1tb hdd?

 

thank you for your help <3

[deferentlemur]

The 7300 HQ has 4 cores/4 threads and 6 MB cache, while the 8300H has 4 cores/8 threads and 8 MB cache. The real-world result is that the 8300H will feel more responsive. As far as if the cost is worth it, you will have to decide that for yourself. If you are doing scientific/mathematical/engineering work, you probably won't see much difference, as those applications gobble up enough resources to effectively negate the hyperthreading of the 8300H. In contrast, if you tend to have multiple browser tabs open while simultaneously working in Word while also having an Excel spreadsheet and several PDFs open (been there, done that), you will see a noticeable, but not epic, performance improvement and responsiveness when switching between apps.

 

As for having the 1TB hard drive, that is another personal choice. In my experience, I never considered additional storage as a selection factor when choosing a laptop, but after having laptops with and without it I appreciate not having to always carry an external hard drive with me. But that all depends on how much data (or Steam library) you intend to have.

 

GeneXiS_X is dead-on about the repaste and undervolt. I have repasted and undervolted multiple laptops (and self-built desktops, lol), and each time seen a significant improvement over the stock setup. This is only becoming more relevant with the trend toward thinner devices. While most devices are adequate out of the box, the roughly three hours invested in repasting and finding a stable undervolt will provide appreciable benefits in performance and fan speed/noise reduction, if you choose to do so.

[Nyanpasu]

Thank you very much!

 

I can definitely see myself with 3 programs and many tabs open so the extra threads and cache may be useful.

 

Ill definitely try undervolting the computer, but repasting i am a bit more hesistant in doing since laptop components and I don't have all that great a history together (last time i took my old one apart it died a slow and painful death by fan).

 

[genexis_x]

5 hours ago, Nyanpasu said:

Dell G3 15, how medicore is medicore?

Around 80C in both CPU+GPU (8300H+1050) in medium loads like gaming

5 hours ago, Nyanpasu said:

from the 7300 HQ to the 8300H

7300HQ is outdated. Even 8250U/8550U ULV is faster. 8300H has 4 more threads, 2MB more cache and 0.8GHz higher all core clock speed

4 hours ago, deferentlemur said:

GeneXiS_X is dead-on about the repaste and undervolt. I have repasted and undervolted multiple laptops (and self-built desktops, lol), and each time seen a significant improvement over the stock setup. This is only becoming more relevant with the trend toward thinner devices. While most devices are adequate out of the box, the roughly three hours invested in repasting and finding a stable undervolt will provide appreciable benefits in performance and fan speed/noise reduction, if you choose to do so.

Agree.