im looking into getting a new laptop that functions as both a work and gaming laptop. The two brands I’ve heard the most about are Asus ROG and MSi. Alienware is popular too, but a lot of people have told me they are overrated.
With a budget of $1200-1500, does anyone have any suggestions on a great all-around gaming laptop? Are there any disctinct feature about Asus or MSi (and Alienware I suppose) that they specialize in or are known for that are worth noting and investigating?
if there are other brands worth investigating as well, what would those be?
I bought my last gaming laptop about 4/5 years ago and recently switched to full-on desktop. I highly recommend a desktop if you are even a little bit considering this route, given the life-span and fairly limited ways you can modify a gaming laptop. But understand that sometimes portability is essential.
My last gaming laptop was from MSi. And after a quick look, they still seem to be good for their price point. For me it was great for about 2/3 years, and even though it was still running well at that time, I just found I couldn't modify it anyway to keep up. Another problem was that it was fairly heavy with a huge power block. Portable, but not ideal.
The problem with alienware is that they were first to establish in the gaming laptop market so predominantly still sell their brandname, and therefore, are usually overpriced - even if decent systems.
Msi/Asus are also introducing a range of portable gaming mini-pc's. Seems like a neat middle ground - but again, will depend on your needs.
I bought my last gaming laptop about 4/5 years ago and recently switched to full-on desktop. I highly recommend a desktop if you are even a little bit considering this route, given the life-span and fairly limited ways you can modify a gaming laptop. But understand that sometimes portability is essential.
My last gaming laptop was from MSi. And after a quick look, they still seem to be good for their price point. For me it was great for about 2/3 years, and even though it was still running well at that time, I just found I couldn't modify it anyway to keep up. Another problem was that it was fairly heavy with a huge power block. Portable, but not ideal.
The problem with alienware is that they were first to establish in the gaming laptop market so predominantly still sell their brandname, and therefore, are usually overpriced - even if decent systems.
Msi/Asus are also introducing a range of portable gaming mini-pc's. Seems like a neat middle ground - but again, will depend on your needs.
I really want a desktop, but portability is too essential for me now. I was under the impression that MSi was one of the more upgradeable laptop choices, along with Alienware.
Also, do you think that 6 GB of video ram will be good for a few years? I don’t care about max detail ultra graphics, so as long as it looks good and runs at a solid frame rate I’m happy.
ive had a MacBook Pro forever, but I’m a statistician and need Windows for my stats software. And since gaming laptops usually have awesome specs, I wanted to kill two birds with one stone.
If you are looking for a well rounded laptop, Acer also have good stuff available. I got Acer Aspire V Nitro, 2 years ago, and it been super useful both professionally and game-wise.
i would suggest you also consider Dell as an option. they have a wide variety of good laptops.
as for the graphics card: what games do you want to play? 6 gb vram is plenty. that would definitely not be a bottle neck. vram is not what makes a graphics card good or bad. there are 3gb cards that outperform 6gb cards (on 1080p of course. for UHD (WQHD/4K) gaming you'd benefit from a lot of vram, but that's not common in laptops)
I would highly recommend a Sager. Sager is a company that basically mods CLEVO laptops for gaming. I've purchased three from them over the years and have never been disappointed. You can get the same specs that an alienware has for far less money and the build quality is also better (I have two friends that have purchased Alienwares in the past so I have a comparison point).
They're not too well known but they're sold by xoticpc and other gaming websites.
Cool. My next concern is the screen. I have Retina display now, and I’m afraid anything short of 4K would feel like a downgrade. I’m content with 1080p gaming, but other apps may benefit from a higher res screen. Would it be worth the extra cost for a higher res screen?
You won't find a Retina quality screen on any Windows laptop, even high-spec gaming ones.
I use Alienware laptops and have done for many years, both as gaming machines and CAD workhorses. The performance and build quality (they're made by Dell nowadays) are easily the best you'll find in a Windows gaming laptop.
"You won't find a Retina quality screen on any Windows laptop, even high-spec gaming ones."
That's simply not true. Almost all respectable gaming laptop brands offer top-tier options for their display. Whether that's a 4K IPS with DCI-P3 certification and Pantone calibration out of the factory or a 3K 120Hz G-sync display. There are a myriad of amazing options. Alienware even offers an OLED option which is just ridiculous. NotebookCheck does very thorough reviews of all kinds of laptops, including the different display options etc.
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im looking into getting a new laptop that functions as both a work and gaming laptop. The two brands I’ve heard the most about are Asus ROG and MSi. Alienware is popular too, but a lot of people have told me they are overrated.
With a budget of $1200-1500, does anyone have any suggestions on a great all-around gaming laptop? Are there any disctinct feature about Asus or MSi (and Alienware I suppose) that they specialize in or are known for that are worth noting and investigating?
if there are other brands worth investigating as well, what would those be?
thanks in advance!
Go for Dell 7k series, it is greatly cooled and the performance and build quality is great.
I bought my last gaming laptop about 4/5 years ago and recently switched to full-on desktop. I highly recommend a desktop if you are even a little bit considering this route, given the life-span and fairly limited ways you can modify a gaming laptop. But understand that sometimes portability is essential.
My last gaming laptop was from MSi. And after a quick look, they still seem to be good for their price point. For me it was great for about 2/3 years, and even though it was still running well at that time, I just found I couldn't modify it anyway to keep up. Another problem was that it was fairly heavy with a huge power block. Portable, but not ideal.
The problem with alienware is that they were first to establish in the gaming laptop market so predominantly still sell their brandname, and therefore, are usually overpriced - even if decent systems.
Msi/Asus are also introducing a range of portable gaming mini-pc's. Seems like a neat middle ground - but again, will depend on your needs.
I recently bought an acer predator helios 300 and am very satisfied.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc6ODCqepb8
If you are looking for a well rounded laptop, Acer also have good stuff available.
I got Acer Aspire V Nitro, 2 years ago, and it been super useful both professionally and game-wise.
My next one will for sure be a desktop
"What have you got there,
PinocchioMalygos?"i would suggest you also consider Dell as an option. they have a wide variety of good laptops.
as for the graphics card: what games do you want to play? 6 gb vram is plenty. that would definitely not be a bottle neck. vram is not what makes a graphics card good or bad. there are 3gb cards that outperform 6gb cards (on 1080p of course. for UHD (WQHD/4K) gaming you'd benefit from a lot of vram, but that's not common in laptops)
I would highly recommend a Sager. Sager is a company that basically mods CLEVO laptops for gaming. I've purchased three from them over the years and have never been disappointed. You can get the same specs that an alienware has for far less money and the build quality is also better (I have two friends that have purchased Alienwares in the past so I have a comparison point).
They're not too well known but they're sold by xoticpc and other gaming websites.
Cool. My next concern is the screen. I have Retina display now, and I’m afraid anything short of 4K would feel like a downgrade. I’m content with 1080p gaming, but other apps may benefit from a higher res screen. Would it be worth the extra cost for a higher res screen?
You won't find a Retina quality screen on any Windows laptop, even high-spec gaming ones.
I use Alienware laptops and have done for many years, both as gaming machines and CAD workhorses. The performance and build quality (they're made by Dell nowadays) are easily the best you'll find in a Windows gaming laptop.
"You won't find a Retina quality screen on any Windows laptop, even high-spec gaming ones."
That's simply not true. Almost all respectable gaming laptop brands offer top-tier options for their display. Whether that's a 4K IPS with DCI-P3 certification and Pantone calibration out of the factory or a 3K 120Hz G-sync display. There are a myriad of amazing options. Alienware even offers an OLED option which is just ridiculous. NotebookCheck does very thorough reviews of all kinds of laptops, including the different display options etc.