Laptop recommendation for game developer

[Sean221]

Hey, so I’m looking to buy a laptop for work. I'm currently using a surface 3 and a desktop but I want to condense it down to a plug and play type solution with one good laptop.

I’m a JavaScript game developer and I spend a fair bit of time coding on trains and going to meetings, having to show tech demos to clients etc.

 

I have a few requirements which are:

• Portable. I travel 3 hours a day I don’t want to be breaking my back
• Able to run 2 external monitors. Coding on anything else is poverty I’m not willing to experience.
• Powerful enough for reasonable gaming. I’m thinking 1060/1070 Max-Q type of power maybe? I’ve completely lost track of graphics cards since the 900 series.
• Look professional enough. Nothing that screams gamer at anyone looking at it.

I’m not really fussed about 144hz, 4k or extras like that 1080 60hz is fine with me. Storage size isn’t really an issue either, I’m barely using 60gb with everything I need.

 

I’ve looked at the Razer Blade 15 – 60hz 1080p display and the Dell XPS 15

 

My budget is no more than £1700. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

Also, just as a random question is it possible to turn off the laptop screen and just use the two external monitors?

[LogicWeasel]

1 hour ago, Sean221 said:

Also, just as a random question is it possible to turn off the laptop screen and just use the two external monitors?

As someone who's work computer is a Dell Latitude E7440 series, I can say that when I use the Dell dock at work (Dell-made long metallic connector port for docking) I keep the laptop shut and use 3 external monitors (2 DP, 1 VGA) without the laptop screen being active.  I would presume most modern laptops using a USB Type-C dock could do the same, but for the laptop display to stay off you may have more guarantees using a dock made by the same company like in my case (should do the same with an HP dock, Lenovo Thinkpad dock, etc).

 

As far as your main question, the Dell XPS 15 has been getting great reviews lately so I'd lean that direction, but I haven't used the newer XPS yet.

[genexis_x]

Preferred max weight and min battery life?

11 hours ago, Sean221 said:

Also, just as a random question is it possible to turn off the laptop screen and just use the two external monitors?

Yes

[Sean221]

2 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Preferred max weight and min battery life?

weight: needs to be portable. So not much heavier than the Razer Blade 15, Dell XPS 15. no idea what they weigh though.

 

Battery life: need something that lasts about 6-7 hours 

[genexis_x]

39 minutes ago, Sean221 said:

weight: needs to be portable. So not much heavier than the Razer Blade 15, Dell XPS 15. no idea what they weigh though.

Would it be better if you can provide a range in kg/pounds. Even a 0.2kg increase can open up to more options

 

For your budget it's kinda hard to find a decent thin and light laptop with 1060 GPU and good battery life

[Sean221]

1 hour ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Would it be better if you can provide a range in kg/pounds.

ok lets say under 6.5 pounds

[genexis_x]

21 minutes ago, Sean221 said:

ok lets say under 6.5 pounds

That's quite a lot. Anyway, I try to make everything stay under 5.5 pounds since you mentioned that you travel quite often (which means no 17 inch laptops)

 

Might look a bit gamery, need to turn off some lights:

AWm15 with 90Wh battery

HP Omen 15-dc0029na - battery life need some stretch due to Gsync

Asus GL504GM - battery life need some stretch

 

Thin and light with mediocre thermals:

Gigabyte Aero 15 7700HQ

Razer Blade 15 - bad QC+QA

 

Are you fine with 1050TI? Also, do you mind low sRGB display?