Considering New laptop

[random_soldier]

Hi I am in the market for a new laptop. Following is a template from laptop forums to help guide the selection process.

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Indefinite. That said, I am not shelling out $10,000+ nor am I paying an extra $1,000 for an extra 10 GB of storage or 1 GB of RAM.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?a. Ultraportable; 10" - 12" screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen Doesn't matter. Primarily for gaming and essentially a portable machine. Whichever offers the best performance is fine for a good price.

3) In which country will you buying this notebook?

USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:
b. Dislike:

None in particular. As long as it is good quality.

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

No.

6) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?

Gaming.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Desk. It's mostly a compromise for a gaming desktop as I am not settled enough to keep a huge gaming rig I can only move once very so often.

Will you be playing games on your notebook? (If so, please state which games or types of games?)

Yes. All kinds.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Doesn't matter. Not familiar with current quality but battery was not good for gaming last I checked and again it's a compromise for a gaming desktop.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebook you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Whichever guarantees I am getting what is advertised. Also to consider, I may have to move countries in a month or two if my contract isn't renewed, so I am not sure if I will have time to make any requests of the manufacturer if things go bad. Also problematic if warrantees and other post purchase services are completely limited to the USA (i.e. nothing outside).

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, etc.

Whichever is offered with the best performance.

12) What ports do you require on your laptop? (ex. MiniDisplayPort or HDMI? Displayport or USB-C w/ DP?)

Not sure. Any help with this one?

Screen Specifics

13) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer? See further below for explanations.

Doesn't matter. I just care about the performance. I doubt anyone is selling gaming laptops below 1080p and I don't care for 4K/8K.

14) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? See further below for explanations.

Matte preferred but not required.

Build Quality and Design

15) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

No.

Notebook Components

16) How much storage space do you need?

Doesn't matter. I doubt anyone is selling below 500 GB and I don't keep too much on my computer at once.

Timing, Warranty and Longevity

17) When do you consider purchasing this laptop?

Immediately.

18) How long do you expect to use this laptop?

If all goes well, about half a decade. I have managed to use my current gaming laptop for about 6 years (with some troubles...).

19) How long could you afford to do without your laptop if it were to fail?

Not long at all.

20) Would you be willing to pay significantly extra for on-site warranty, or would it be acceptable to you to have to ship the laptop to the vendor for repair with perhaps a week or more outage?

If possible, neither. But if I have to choose, the former.

Other: For experience, I'd say to err on the side of caution and consider me a novice. I have had gaming/multimedia laptops twice before. The first had poor quality thermal paste that degraded within two years. The second (current) had it's battery swell up which I had to personally remove by opening it (which I remember being easily removable by design in my first machine) and also it's CMOS battery dried up.

To be clear, I'm not debating whether or not these should be there. I'd simply prefer these and other lifetime limiting issues not be present. Again, not debating that there should not be any. As far as paste is concerned, I know from experience that the manufacturer can definitely provide high quality thermal paste. I'd simply appreciate not having to open up my machine in a market where modularity and right to repair is being limited and it is becoming easier to brick your machine if trying to attempt a repair that can be done but the manufacturer does not provide themselves.

Please let me know if there are any other details I can provide.

Thanks and regards.

[Avacado]

2 hours ago, random_soldier said:

Hi I am in the market for a new laptop. Following is a template from laptop forums to help guide the selection process.

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Indefinite. That said, I am not shelling out $10,000+ nor am I paying an extra $1,000 for an extra 10 GB of storage or 1 GB of RAM.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?a. Ultraportable; 10" - 12" screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen Doesn't matter. Primarily for gaming and essentially a portable machine. Whichever offers the best performance is fine for a good price.

3) In which country will you buying this notebook?

USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:
b. Dislike:

None in particular. As long as it is good quality.

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

No.

6) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?

Gaming.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Desk. It's mostly a compromise for a gaming desktop as I am not settled enough to keep a huge gaming rig I can only move once very so often.

Will you be playing games on your notebook? (If so, please state which games or types of games?)

Yes. All kinds.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Doesn't matter. Not familiar with current quality but battery was not good for gaming last I checked and again it's a compromise for a gaming desktop.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebook you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Whichever guarantees I am getting what is advertised. Also to consider, I may have to move countries in a month or two if my contract isn't renewed, so I am not sure if I will have time to make any requests of the manufacturer if things go bad. Also problematic if warrantees and other post purchase services are completely limited to the USA (i.e. nothing outside).

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, etc.

Whichever is offered with the best performance.

12) What ports do you require on your laptop? (ex. MiniDisplayPort or HDMI? Displayport or USB-C w/ DP?)

Not sure. Any help with this one?

Screen Specifics

13) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer? See further below for explanations.

Doesn't matter. I just care about the performance. I doubt anyone is selling gaming laptops below 1080p and I don't care for 4K/8K.

14) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? See further below for explanations.

Matte preferred but not required.

Build Quality and Design

15) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

No.

Notebook Components

16) How much storage space do you need?

Doesn't matter. I doubt anyone is selling below 500 GB and I don't keep too much on my computer at once.

Timing, Warranty and Longevity

17) When do you consider purchasing this laptop?

Immediately.

18) How long do you expect to use this laptop?

If all goes well, about half a decade. I have managed to use my current gaming laptop for about 6 years (with some troubles...).

19) How long could you afford to do without your laptop if it were to fail?

Not long at all.

20) Would you be willing to pay significantly extra for on-site warranty, or would it be acceptable to you to have to ship the laptop to the vendor for repair with perhaps a week or more outage?

If possible, neither. But if I have to choose, the former.

Other: For experience, I'd say to err on the side of caution and consider me a novice. I have had gaming/multimedia laptops twice before. The first had poor quality thermal paste that degraded within two years. The second (current) had it's battery swell up which I had to personally remove by opening it (which I remember being easily removable by design in my first machine) and also it's CMOS battery dried up.

To be clear, I'm not debating whether or not these should be there. I'd simply prefer these and other lifetime limiting issues not be present. Again, not debating that there should not be any. As far as paste is concerned, I know from experience that the manufacturer can definitely provide high quality thermal paste. I'd simply appreciate not having to open up my machine in a market where modularity and right to repair is being limited and it is becoming easier to brick your machine if trying to attempt a repair that can be done but the manufacturer does not provide themselves.

Please let me know if there are any other details I can provide.

Thanks and regards.

Welcome to EHW! I haven't owned a laptop in over a decade, so I wouldn't be much help here. There are a few on the forums that might be able to guide you better. @The Pook 

[The Pook]

wait another month or two for more RTX 4000 laptops with Intel 13th gen/"real" AMD 7000 series CPUs to fully launch.  cheapest currently is the MSI Bravo 15.6" with a rebadged last gen AMD CPU + 8GB of RAM + 4050 for $1000. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by The Pook
gen -> series

[random_soldier]

3 hours ago, The Pook said:

wait another month or two for more RTX 4000 laptops with Intel 13th gen/"real" AMD 7000 series CPUs to fully launch.  cheapest currently is the MSI Bravo 15.6" with a rebadged last gen AMD CPU + 8GB of RAM + 4050 for $1000. 

 

Thanks I will check back in about a month on this thread.

[bonami2]

Could check for the Asus Strix G15 Advantage Edition i own one.

 

Sometime it like 1500usd or less in the usa.

 

Either 1080p or 1440p option

The 6850m or 6800m perform about the same as a 3080 mobile it a desktop 6700xt with 140w+ power limit.

 

Can't help on newer 13th gen or 4000 serie laptop because canada get them ways after USA.

 

Battery life is impressing too had over 8h browsing.

 

[random_soldier]

Hi guys. I had another question in mind. Could you guys comment with regard to the battery swelling, CMOS battery and thermal paste?

 

Thanks.

[bonami2]

4 hours ago, random_soldier said:

Hi guys. I had another question in mind. Could you guys comment with regard to the battery swelling, CMOS battery and thermal paste?

 

Thanks.

Most laptop overheat and it part of their design these days. My 5900hx was pegged at 95c 24/7 running BOINC protein folding stuff for like 2 week without issue.

 

And for paste some like the g15 run liquid metal i don't think a respaste is really needed most of the time. Because it will throttle stock and will still throttle with new paste most of the time. You can reduce Power in the asus armoury crate software to the cpu or gpu each of their slider go to almost 0 to reduce heat.

 

CMOS i have no idea i know the strix can be bios modded and overclocked but it already run pretty hot so it mostly undervolting to increase performance.

 

[HeyItsChris]

This is the best laptop for the money with the absolute latest technology.  The 8-core 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS APU with RDNA2 AMD Radeon 680M Graphics built in the CPU, this time at like 3Ghz on the integrated GPU?!?  not to mention the NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB Graphics.  Sure just 8gb ram but I would upgrade it to 64gb ddr5-4800 for $200, bring the grand total to $1,299 + tax.

 

MSI Bravo 15 C7VF-009US Gaming Laptop AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS 3.20 GHz 15.6" Windows 11 Home 64-bit - Newegg.com

WWW.NEWEGG.COM

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Buy MSI - 15.6" 144 Hz IPS - AMD Ryzen 7 7000 Series 7735HS (3.20GHz) - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU - 8 GB DDR5 - 512 GB PCIe SSD - Windows 11 Home 64-bit -...

 

If you want power on a budget just scoop up a Dell G5 SE 5505 on ebay with the 4800H Ryzen 7 & AMD Radeon RX 5600M 6GB graphics and again I'd upgrade the RAM & Storage.  Shoot for 64 gigabytes bro.

 

Dell G5 15 5505 SE Gaming AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 8GB 512GB 15.6" FHD RX 5600M

EBAY.TO

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Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell G5 15 5505 SE Gaming AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 8GB 512GB 15.6" FHD RX 5600M at the best online prices at eBay! Free...

 

Good luck