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Need help buying a gaming laptop. What features matter to you?

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I'm going to assume it's a default feature on gaming laptops, but make sure it has a back lit keyboard. I'm not even a core PC gamer and I still ensure I buy my laptops with this feature.

Now if only my company werent cheap fucks where the corporate laptop we get never has that feature.
 
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JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
That's weird. I have it in mine, set to windowed and fullscreen modeW
When I responded to your post, I somehow thought you were talking about my laptop. I now realize you are talking about your Lenovo.

I am curious, how do you set your laptop into dGPU only mode? I wonder if that will change anything for my laptop.

I am looking all over the net for laptops with GSync and it's apparently a rare feature. It makes so little sense when a 240 Hz panel would benefit the most from it.

Makes no goddamn sense, it's not like its a feature that would cost anything to implement on a laptop.
 
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Thedtrain

Member
When I responded to your post, I somehow thought you were talking about my laptop. I now realize you are talking about your Lenovo.

I am curious, how do you set your laptop into dGPU only mode? I wonder if that will change anything for my laptop.

I am looking all over the net for laptops with GSync and it's apparently a rare feature. It makes so little sense when a 240 Hz panel would benefit the most from it.

Makes no goddamn sense, it's not like its a feature that would cost anything to implement on a laptop.
Haha I hear you

For me I need to disable “hybrid mode” in Lenovo vantage in order to enable gsync. Maybe there’s a similar manufacturer specific app like that for you?
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Haha I hear you

For me I need to disable “hybrid mode” in Lenovo vantage in order to enable gsync. Maybe there’s a similar manufacturer specific app like that for you?
No such option exists for me. Looks like my laptop will be returned. Apparently right now just isn't the time for one.
 

supernova8

Banned
I never understood gaming laptops. It's like... Maybe only you'd get one if you were traveling all the time and never settled at your house?

But if you have a steady place why not just use a desktop?

I never use gaming handhelds anymore either in my adult life, heck my switch is always docked. If I'm away from home I'm too busy to play games anyway.
Well the other thing is that desktops take up a lot of space. You usually have a big tower (or at least something way beefier than a laptop) and then mouse and keyboard and a (probably large) monitor set in place. It's not very mobile and can end up taking up space that you might want to have freed up (to do something else or just simply make the room look more inviting).

I still have my old Macbook Air and while I have a borderline OK-ish gaming PC (very generous interpretation of "OK", it's a ryzen 3400g, 32gb RAM, GTX 1650 but hey it does what I need it to do since I'm not playing the latest games at 4K), I still like to sit at our breakfast bar in the kitchen/lounge with my laptop for light browsing etc. rather than being huddled up in the corner of our (rather dark) "office" room. I can also take it and sit outside on the balcony - clearly a no-go for a desktop.

Plus I work remotely so having an all-round performant laptop would allow me to travel and work (and maybe do some gaming here and there). I suppose the age-old compromise is that you're sort of stuck with that laptop spec (besides maybe upgrading memory/storage) so you want to be buying something better than you need right now so that it'll last, but that's always been the case since laptops are mostly using custom built parts.
 
Well the other thing is that desktops take up a lot of space. You usually have a big tower (or at least something way beefier than a laptop) and then mouse and keyboard and a (probably large) monitor set in place. It's not very mobile and can end up taking up space that you might want to have freed up (to do something else or just simply make the room look more inviting).

I still have my old Macbook Air and while I have a borderline OK-ish gaming PC (very generous interpretation of "OK", it's a ryzen 3400g, 32gb RAM, GTX 1650 but hey it does what I need it to do since I'm not playing the latest games at 4K), I still like to sit at our breakfast bar in the kitchen/lounge with my laptop for light browsing etc. rather than being huddled up in the corner of our (rather dark) "office" room. I can also take it and sit outside on the balcony - clearly a no-go for a desktop.

Plus I work remotely so having an all-round performant laptop would allow me to travel and work (and maybe do some gaming here and there). I suppose the age-old compromise is that you're sort of stuck with that laptop spec (besides maybe upgrading memory/storage) so you want to be buying something better than you need right now so that it'll last, but that's always been the case since laptops are mostly using custom built parts.
Wife won't let you have 1 room for a man cave?

I've got a game room, my PC is hooked up to a tv and nothing ever moves. We have a laptop for work/email/finances but it's not intended for gaming.
 

supernova8

Banned
Wife won't let you have 1 room for a man cave?

I've got a game room, my PC is hooked up to a tv and nothing ever moves. We have a laptop for work/email/finances but it's not intended for gaming.
Heh not married (yet, counting down the days to my eternal imprisonment lol).

We live in an expensive city so our apartment only has a bedroom, a lounge/dining area and one spare room. We both work from home so that spare room is our de facto office.

Once we (eventually) buy our own place, I'll definitely want a plot of land with space to build a proper man cave. I'm thinking running water, fully solar powered, the whole nine yards. It's funny I've been binge watching people building sheds for weeks. I think I'm obsessed.
 
Heh not married (yet, counting down the days to my eternal imprisonment lol).

We live in an expensive city so our apartment only has a bedroom, a lounge/dining area and one spare room. We both work from home so that spare room is our de facto office.

Once we (eventually) buy our own place, I'll definitely want a plot of land with space to build a proper man cave. I'm thinking running water, fully solar powered, the whole nine yards. It's funny I've been binge watching people building sheds for weeks. I think I'm obsessed.
I wish you the best of luck. We are stuck in an apartment for a few months, after selling the old house.
 
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How often do you game on-the-go? Many gaming laptops are heavy which sacrifice portability, so in most cases they are not worth it. And you also have a desktop...

and you are asking for advice AFTER you've bought one?? are you trying to flex or something? LOL

sounds like you just want positive comments to justify your purchase.
 

wipeout364

Member
If you are using this for portability I would suggest getting something that also supports usb C charging. The power bricks are often big and if you actually just need it at work for word processing going on the web USB C chargers are so much lighter to carry around they won’t support heavy GPU tasks though.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
How often do you game on-the-go? Many gaming laptops are heavy which sacrifice portability, so in most cases they are not worth it. And you also have a desktop...

and you are asking for advice AFTER you've bought one?? are you trying to flex or something? LOL

sounds like you just want positive comments to justify your purchase.
The price was good it was on a flash sale and only had 2 available. So I took a chance. It ended up being the wrong laptop for me. As of right now it is being returned.

If I wanted to flex I'd post pics of my dic.....I mean desktop. :p
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Haha I hear you

For me I need to disable “hybrid mode” in Lenovo vantage in order to enable gsync. Maybe there’s a similar manufacturer specific app like that for you?
Congratulations. You sold me on Lenovo and I found one that doesn't quite have the GPU power of the AORUS, but it does have excellent features in every other area that I felt it was good enough. It also has The screen specs look killer and I realized that a good screen is every bit as important as every other feature.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-L...ndows-11-Home-Storm-Gray-82RG0005US/197908523
 
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STARSBarry

Gold Member
I would have bought a Zephyrus.

There good, I bought my mum one for her to teach on, but they prioritise mobility. So your GPU is limited in Watts and cooling, it also lacks a MUX switch which I was hoping they would resolve with the more recent models, they didn't.

However depending on if slim form factor is a priority or not you can get much more bang for around the same buck with a larger chassis with better cooling and bigger power brick. Well outside of the Zephurus Duo... that things got a great cooling solution but is super pricy and still watt limited.
 
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JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
There good, I bought my mum one for her to teach on, but they prioritise mobility. So your GPU is limited in Watts and cooling, it also lacks a MUX switch which I was hoping they would resolve with the more recent models, they didn't.

However depending on if slim form factor is a priority or not you can get much more bang for around the same buck with a larger chassis with better cooling and bigger power brick. Well outside of the Zephurus Duo... that things got a great cooling solution but is super pricy and still watt limited.
Was this aimed at me?
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Was this aimed at me?
Ah no just about the zerphrus as I... technically own one although I don't use it often, lovely little machines in terms of look and build quality, but if its going to primarily be stuck on a desk most of the time, not the best use of your cash there.
 
The shit-talking about the mobile 3060 is strong in this thread. I bought a Gigabyte K5 KC laptop last year, with a rtx3060 and it outperforms my gtx 1070 I had in my desktop pc by more than you'd expect.
Most of these casuals don't know the first thing about TDP and thermals in the laptop space so it's expected
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
The shit-talking about the mobile 3060 is strong in this thread. I bought a Gigabyte K5 KC laptop last year, with a rtx3060 and it outperforms my gtx 1070 I had in my desktop pc by more than you'd expect.
The laptop GPU version of the 3060 also comes with a 256-bit bus compared to 192 on desktop. That surprised me.
 
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