Laptop advice

[TACRfan]

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this.

 

Im wanting to get a new laptop as my current one is too big and heavy and won’t fit in my camera bag. Unfortunately I am a bit stuck when it comes to which one to pick. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations?

 

I have quite a picky criteria for it though. It has to be:

• 15.6” or smaller.
• As thin as possible.
• Good for gaming but doesn’t look ridiculous as it has to be suitable for work.

I have looked at several different laptops but they all have their various flaws.

• Razer blade 15 (I have heard quite a few horror stories with Razer products and their customer service, they are only rated 1 star out of 5 on trust pilot.)
• MSI GS65 (Looks good, good specs but quality isn’t great.)
• Surface book 2 (Seems to tick most of the boxes but is very expensive)
• Macbook (Expensive, not the best for games and I prefer windows 10 anyway)

Other laptops I have viewed are the Asus Zenbook Pro and Gigabyte Aero. I was considering just getting an IPad Pro with keyboard and pen but it would be able to play the games and the lack of SD card slot or USB port to get an adapter for was again another downside.

 

There are so many different devices out there and all seem to have their pros and cons. I would appreciate the advice.

[Wh0_Am_1]

Budget?

[TACRfan]

5 hours ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

Budget?

My budget is flexible and can be quite high so so I would say 3000 Dollars (2,500 pounds) because it will be a work PC.

[genexis_x]

Location? Usage? Preferred max weight in kg/lbs and min battery life in hours?

[TACRfan]

3 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Location? Usage? Preferred max weight in kg/lbs and min battery life in hours?

I could be using it anywhere from at a table/desk to off my lap, in the car etc.

 

Usage would mostly be work however I would like the ability to play AAA games on it, doesn’t have to be on ultra settings though.

 

For battery life I’m not too concerned by it for gaming as I would probably do that plugged in.

For work maybe 8 hours.

 

As for weight, as light as possible but I’m not really concerned because the majority of 15” laptops will be lighter than my current laptop.

[genexis_x]

1 minute ago, TACRfan said:

For work maybe 8 hours

Very hard to achieve in gaming/performance laptops

2 minutes ago, TACRfan said:

As for weight, as light as possible but I’m not really concerned because the majority of 15” laptops will be lighter than my current laptop.

Would it be better if you can give a range

 

You're buying in UK?

[Wh0_Am_1]

UK, £2,500, thin, light, battery life is not a concern, and (mostly) professional... How about the Asus ROG Zephrus GX501?

[TACRfan]

9 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Very hard to achieve in gaming/performance laptops

Would it be better if you can give a range

 

You're buying in UK?

For gaming I expect no more than 4 hours. Just doing light work such as paperwork on word etc. Interns of weight I don’t really know a preferred weight because as I say any 15 inch laptop is going to be leighter than my current 19” brick of a laptop.

 

and yes I am purchasing it in the UK.

4 hours ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

UK, £2,500, thin, light, battery life is not a concern, and (mostly) professional... How about the Asus ROG Zephrus GX501?

Thanks for that. That looks pretty good actually.

[Wh0_Am_1]

On 11/21/2018 at 3:56 PM, TACRfan said:

For gaming I expect no more than 4 hours. Just doing light work such as paperwork on word etc. Interns of weight I don’t really know a preferred weight because as I say any 15 inch laptop is going to be leighter than my current 19” brick of a laptop.

 

and yes I am purchasing it in the UK.

Thanks for that. That looks pretty good actually.

Your welcome, I hope that one works out well for your use case. Also, I almost forgot... Welcome to the LTT forums! P.S. for intensive workloads, the suggested laptop would probably have less than an hour of battery life, and about 2 hours of battery life surfing the web.

[genexis_x]

7 hours ago, TACRfan said:

For gaming I expect no more than 4 hours

No laptop can survive 4 hrs of gaming on battery, and doing medium/heavy load on battery kills the battery faster. Are you fine with 6-7 hrs in normal usage?

7 hours ago, TACRfan said:

I am purchasing it in the UK

Any links of online stores besides Amazon?

7 hours ago, TACRfan said:

That looks pretty good actually

That model has issues like cooling, awkward keyboard, short battery life (there are better competitors) and high price. Also Asus infamous QC+support

[Wh0_Am_1]

28 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

 

That model has issues like cooling, awkward keyboard, short battery life (there are better competitors) and high price. Also Asus infamous QC+support

Indeed there are other versions of that laptop with a better keyboard layout, with the mouse in a decent location, and the battery is basically for show and to keep the laptop from shutting down from location to location. But for the form factor, this laptop is as cool as it gets (3:42 on the video) or at least cool enough to game, (don't mine with this laptop or hit with synthetics) and that high price is due to the size. 

P.S. I do need to admit hitting 87C+ is not healthy for a PCB.

[TACRfan]

6 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

No laptop can survive 4 hrs of gaming on battery, and doing medium/heavy load on battery kills the battery faster. Are you fine with 6-7 hrs in normal usage?

Any links of online stores besides Amazon?

That model has issues like cooling, awkward keyboard, short battery life (there are better competitors) and high price. Also Asus infamous QC+support

Yeah 6 hours should be fine for normal usage. Any link will do because I will be buying it from a PC store our company uses and they can pretty much get anything. That bit about QC+support concerns me, that’s the thing that was holding me back from the Razer.

[genexis_x]

Actually you don't have to spend so much

 

Some thin and lights like Aero 15/15X and GS65 have good battery life but mediocre thermals, I've excluded them

 

Consider these, have to turn off LED lights:

AWm15 with 90Wh battery (no HDD)

Asus GL504GM

Dell G5 - low sRGB FHD IPS

 

All with 1060 GPU. Are you fine with 1050TI?

[TACRfan]

11 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Actually you don't have to spend so much

 

Some thin and lights like Aero 15/15X and GS65 have good battery life but mediocre thermals, I've excluded them

 

Consider these, have to turn off LED lights:

AWm15 with 90Wh battery (no HDD)

Asus GL504GM

Dell G5 - low sRGB FHD IPS

 

All with 1060 GPU. Are you fine with 1050TI?

To be honest a 1050TI is enough. It wouldn’t be my main gaming rig and I would expect to be playing AAA titles at Ultra on it.

[genexis_x]

20 minutes ago, TACRfan said:

1050TI is enough

Can consider HP Omen 15 dc without GSync and with 70Wh battery