Gaming laptop with some preferences, doable on the this budget?

ShadowHearth

I would like to get a gaming laptop and use it in bedroom and connect it in my "gaming room" to my usual pc setup too. My current PC is old.. 2500k 8gb ram, 1060. So laptop will be more powerful.

Right now budget is 1300eu, if it's not enough and there is really good option for more I would go to 1500eu. Or am I asking too much?

Very important: has to be not loud and least noisy option as I will be using it in bed, while misses sleeping. Good thing is, I don't really play high demanding games. Factorio, Stellaris, Surviving Mars, Warcraft 3 reforged etc. So I don't think I will put too much of load on laptop

What spec I would want:

Intel cpu preferably
16gb ram
512 SSD only and no HDD.
1660ti or 2060
120-144hz refresh rate would be nice.

I am lost after looking at so many brands. Another issue that I am not sure which retailer to buy from. Laptops are iffy things and I would prefer to buy it from someone with good customer support.

So far options:

Dell G 15 series? There is one with perfect configuration for me for around 1600eu. I remember in old days of you contact them directly, and could get a better deal. Maybe even Black Friday deals might drop the price?

How omen? The spec I want is a bit out of budget. But from looking at reviews it's a decent option.

cherryghost

You want the best 144hz/120hz screen too or would you hook that up externally?

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

You want the best 144hz/120hz screen too or would you hook that up externally?

In my nerd cave I have a ultrawide 3440x1440 monitor. So I will hook it to that. In bedroom, I would play on laptop itself, thought I have an option to hook it up to my 4k TV. I am not expecting to play 4k, but it's a good Sony 4k tv that I am using for Xbox one x right now.
I know that I sound like a person from that meme " clients expectations vs clients budget", so I want to be realistic, I don't expect fantastic screen, but something decent and not completely terrible would be nice. From what I read so far, screens got really better on laptops.

have a look at these search results

https://www.box.co.uk/laptops/sort/1/refine/46567~199498$46567~200191$47295~148175

I'm not sure of the huge value of a high refresh screen (even though they are more common and less expensive now) unless you want to play relatively undemanding esports titles.

If you are running 1080p high settings or above, not going to be getting really high fps on a 1660ti or 2060 on intensive games.

this seems good value imo

https://www.box.co.uk/HP-OMEN-15-dc1001na_2501400.html

even tho it's a 4-core i5 that will match the card fairly well imo.

ShadowHearth

That Asus looks like a good bargain, it got even lower in price now. Just reviews and opinions on it are very mixed. I know AMD really good as desktop CPUs right now, but that R7 is beaten by even i5 9300h. On the other hand it is a lot cheaper.
Some people report issues with integrated gpu vs 1660ti too.
Saying all this, it's still very tempting for only 929 pounds...

That HP omen is just a bit out dated spec, would like to get something a bit fresher to last longer.

Thank you for suggestions!

Is that website good? I see it recommended here a lot.

cherryghost

I have this Asus laptop currently (GA502), and I previously had a recent Omen too.
Asus:
- 120hz screen is basically pointless, its a 6 bit screen. There's a lot of ghosting on it. It's grand for strategy or slow moving games, for COD/BF etc forget about it.
- The 1660ti is a max-q version. The actual performance is between a 1060/1070 desktop (closer to 1060). So 60fps perf high settings is good for most games. Tune down to get 120fps to utilize screen.
- The battery is mega good for a gaming laptop. I get about 8 hours usage, and about 2:30 gaming
- The adapter is small for 180W brick. Which is a plus for me for mobility
- The m2 drives work in x2 instead of x4 (theres also a spare m2 slot), but honestly I didnt really notice slowdown on m2 drives. It's still lightning fast
- The new Asus software is terrible for fan/thermal control. The bottom grills are actually intentionally blocked to segregate the Asus lineup which is stupid. I removed it. Thermals are better, I use custom fan controls on their software panel. It's much better now but out of the box its miserable enough.
- It's super light!
- The screen is overclockable, the CPU is underclockable with some custom tweaking.
- The AMD CPU seems just fine but yeah compare it to an i5. The Ryzen 7 mobiles are just quad cores.
- I've had no integrated/dedicated GPU issues on latest AMD drivers
- Backlit keyboard is basically on or off

I've also used the 2019 HP Omen for a while (not the same model, but same chassis and screen; 8300H and GTX 1060):
- The 144hz screen is the best laptop screen I've ever used. It's amazing. Minimal ghosting, super response time, great colours
- Thermals and noise is good
- Chassis is heavy, so laptop is heavy enough
- Battery is poor (5 hours max, about 1 hrs 30 gaming max)
- It's very 'gamery' looking, which I personally dislike
- The GTX 1060 was grand for most of the stuff I played, the 8300H is not far off the 9300H and blitzed most games.
- Backlit keyboard is customizeable
- HP Omen software is good

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

I have this Asus laptop currently (GA502), and I previously had a recent Omen too.
Asus:
- 120hz screen is basically pointless, its a 6 bit screen. There's a lot of ghosting on it. It's grand for strategy or slow moving games, for COD/BF etc forget about it.
- The 1660ti is a max-q version. The actual performance is between a 1060/1070 desktop (closer to 1060). So 60fps perf high settings is good for most games. Tune down to get 120fps to utilize screen.
- The battery is mega good for a gaming laptop. I get about 8 hours usage, and about 2:30 gaming
- The adapter is small for 180W brick. Which is a plus for me for mobility
- The m2 drives work in x2 instead of x4 (theres also a spare m2 slot), but honestly I didnt really notice slowdown on m2 drives. It's still lightning fast
- The new Asus software is terrible for fan/thermal control. The bottom grills are actually intentionally blocked to segregate the Asus lineup which is stupid. I removed it. Thermals are better, I use custom fan controls on their software panel. It's much better now but out of the box its miserable enough.
- It's super light!
- The screen is overclockable, the CPU is underclockable with some custom tweaking.
- The AMD CPU seems just fine but yeah compare it to an i5. The Ryzen 7 mobiles are just quad cores.
- I've had no integrated/dedicated GPU issues on latest AMD drivers
- Backlit keyboard is basically on or off

I've also used the 2019 HP Omen for a while (not the same model, but same chassis and screen; 8300H and GTX 1060):
- The 144hz screen is the best laptop screen I've ever used. It's amazing. Minimal ghosting, super response time, great colours
- Thermals and noise is good
- Chassis is heavy, so laptop is heavy enough
- Battery is poor (5 hours max, about 1 hrs 30 gaming max)
- It's very 'gamery' looking, which I personally dislike
- The GTX 1060 was grand for most of the stuff I played, the 8300H is not far off the 9300H and blitzed most games.
- Backlit keyboard is customizeable
- HP Omen software is good

Thank you for this. I could not have asked more info about these two laptops.
You confirmed my worries with Asus and even if that deal looks sexy, I won't bother with it. Not worth it.

HP omen so far is a clear winner as brand in this budget frame.
I know it's a stab in the dark, but any ideas on new Dell G5? Looks like not a bad all arounder, but does suffers from thermal issues.

As I said the 8300h is fine. Not worth another 200 sterling for six core i7 imo as it won't add to much.

If you had a 2070 or 2080 Nvidia card I would say six core i7 for sure.

Also the thermals will be better with the i5 and a 2060 Vs having an i7 in there

ShadowHearth

Okay, I am going for 1500eu budget and I think I'll stick to HP as it looks like best choice in this mid/low tier laptops, just need to see which one, I presume it's about 1250£ mark.

Worth sticking and waiting out for Black Friday? In my experience it's usually only bull**** that they can't shift on normal day that goes on sale.

Is that Box website decent place to buy from? Anywhere else to have a look?

ShadowHearth

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-acer-predator-helios-300-fhd-144hz-3ms-ips-i5-9300h-16gb-512gb-nvme-rtx-2060-6gb-win10

Thoughts? Looks like it's nice spec and presume same panel as HP?
A lot of people praising this laptop.

ShadowHearth

ShadowHearth wrote: »

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-acer-predator-helios-300-fhd-144hz-3ms-ips-i5-9300h-16gb-512gb-nvme-rtx-2060-6gb-win10

Thoughts? Looks like it's nice spec and presume same panel as HP?
A lot of people praising this laptop.

box seems to offer the best value for gaming laptops tbh

that Acer is nice but not worth £300 over the HP for pretty much the exact same spec surely?

ShadowHearth

glasso wrote: »

box seems to offer the best value for gaming laptops tbh

that Acer is nice but not worth £300 over the HP for pretty much the exact same spec surely?

I know, you are a voice of reason, but...

That HP is old chassis, which were not that great.
16gb ram vs 8gb
256ssd vs 512gb I really, really don't care about HDD. I even planning to take out my 512gb SSD from desktop and put it in to laptop.

Might go through HP range and see what fits in to 1250ish pounds bracket.

cherryghost

For the extra 300 I wouldnt personally get the Acer Predator. Wait a week for Black Friday sales?

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

For the extra 300 I wouldnt personally get the Acer Predator. Wait a week for Black Friday sales?

One way or another, I have transferred funds to my CC yesterday and it's not in yet, so I can't buy anything right now. Hopefully it will be transferred later today.

I was thinking of waiting for Black Friday too, but in my experience, it's really just **** they can't off load normally on these sales.

By the way, when PC world/Curries stopped being "crap" ( completely ), when it comes to gaming laptops? On their website they have most latest models and prices actually not far off or same compared to UK websites. I am still at work, but when I have a chance I will go and check it better.

I understand your reasoning about that HP, lads. And I have to admit, you are talking sense.
It's just that I don't buy things like that often and I would prefer to spend a bit more and get latest stuff to last it a bit longer. It will be my first proper gaming laptop. I only have old Alienware 14, that I got from brother in law. And it was already old when I got it. i5 8gb ram 860m...
Saving 300eu won't make much difference for me now to get best bang for the money, but spending that 300eu will be better in a long term.
Spec wise that laptop is very good, but the biggest issue I see is old chassis. It's a killer for me. Specially after finding out that new chassis is a lot better at thermal management.

black friday and the following cyber monday is a bit of tosh alright but you never know - could be lucky and get maybe a 2070 / 2070 max-q and 6 or 9 core cpu laptop for the upper end of your budget of 1500

I'd wait to see just in case if anything comes up over the next 2 weeks.

the laptop rated well in this review

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Aorus-15-i7-8750H-RTX-2070-Laptop-Review.414967.0.html

is £1450

https://www.box.co.uk/AORUS-15-X9-7UK0250W-Aorus-15-X9-7UK0250W_2488337.html

full RTX 2070 card also it seems.

ShadowHearth

That laptop is sweet, but out of my budget.

Funds finally transfered. So I am kind of ready. It's one day, so maybe wait until tomorrow?

I went in town in hope to see if any of laptops on display just to see them on flesh.

Sow Dell G7 15inch ( which weird as even their own website does not have it, or pcworld is professional as always... ) And was impressed. Very clean and simple, does not even look like a machine with i7 and 2060. Price was 1500eu too, but ofc none in stock... Keyboard was meh though.

HP omen older model with 2 hinges. Crap spec, but laptop is nice enough. Screen was nice too.

Predator Helios 300 was there too. Really liked it. Looks sleek and feels really good. It was in Harveys, so obviously overpriced. But at least I sow it in flesh

Sow a few Asus laptops and honestly... Didn't really liked them.

Was wondering what's your opinion on Lenova legion stuff? Looked okayish.

cherryghost

The Legion high refresh screens are good, the cooling seems good on them too. Personal preference on design with the coolers sticking out the back, but imo doesnt really scream gaming and I quite like the look of the asthetics

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

The Legion high refresh screens are good, the cooling seems good on them too. Personal preference on design with the coolers sticking out the back, but imo doesnt really scream gaming and I quite like the look of the asthetics

Am I wrong to say that Predator, omen and legion using pretty much same panel?

cherryghost

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Am I wrong to say that Predator, omen and legion using pretty much same panel?

They're not the same for sure. I've used Legion and Omen, Omen screen is superior, followed by Legion. Haven't used the Predator and I've only used the sub-par 120hz Zephyrus model (they have better screens in more expensive options.

You could consider PCSpecialist laptops since you look dead set on those hexacore CPUs :P. 1250 all in for an i7, 144hz screen, 1660ti (minus operating system). 84 eur off all i7/i9 builds at the moment. Custom laptops have come a long way in recent times. Chassis are more in line with reliable brands, thin and light, and still easily accessible for upgrading.

Very similar price for an RTX 2060 build too (albeit larger chassis).

Bear in mind the 1660ti laptop and RTX 2060 laptop variants, they are very similary bench'd, I really doubt you'd get good performance of Ray Tracing on laptop RTX 2060 without sacrificing 60fps though

BTW I didnt recommend thisg for starting from 1100 in 1660ti because the 120hz screen colour accuracy specs don't look great (it looks VERY similar to the Zephyrus accuracy measurement so it may be the very same panel). If you want to sacrifice screen quality for 150 euro though then go for it

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

They're not the same for sure. I've used Legion and Omen, Omen screen is superior, followed by Legion. Haven't used the Predator and I've only used the sub-par 120hz Zephyrus model (they have better screens in more expensive options.

You could consider PCSpecialist laptops since you look dead set on those hexacore CPUs :P. 1250 all in for an i7, 144hz screen, 1660ti (minus operating system). 84 eur off all i7/i9 builds at the moment. Custom laptops have come a long way in recent times. Chassis are more in line with reliable brands, thin and light, and still easily accessible for upgrading.

Very similar price for an RTX 2060 build too (albeit larger chassis).

Bear in mind the 1660ti laptop and RTX 2060 laptop variants, they are very similary bench'd, I really doubt you'd get good performance of Ray Tracing on laptop RTX 2060 without sacrificing 60fps though

BTW I didnt recommend thisg for starting from 1100 in 1660ti because the 120hz screen colour accuracy specs don't look great (it looks VERY similar to the Zephyrus accuracy measurement so it may be the very same panel). If you want to sacrifice screen quality for 150 euro though then go for it

As always, thank you!

I just skip all those 120hz panels. As you said and what I read so far, it's crap.

I did not knew I have budget for custom made! So I went to that link and played around. I managed to build this for 1470eu

i7 9750h ( yes, yes )
16gb ram 2666hz
1tb SSD Samsung
2060
144hz screen
Better thermal paste
No windows ( i will just scum it with pre reg version, water mark does not bother me )

That's just perfect spec I wanted. Just question if it's good chassis? I am itching to push the trigger.

cherryghost

ShadowHearth wrote: »

As always, thank you!

I just skip all those 120hz panels. As you said and what I read so far, it's crap.

I did not knew I have budget for custom made! So I went to that link and played around. I managed to build this for 1470eu

i7 9750h ( yes, yes )
16gb ram 2666hz
1tb SSD Samsung
2060
144hz screen
Better thermal paste
No windows ( i will just scum it with pre reg version, water mark does not bother me )

That's just perfect spec I wanted. Just question if it's good chassis? I am itching to push the trigger.

Which model version is it?

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

Which model version is it?

Proteus VII

Can't find anything on it online though... So how thermals and fans are handled is a mystery.

cherryghost

Not sure on that, it's a Quanta based chassis and there's not much online (or in their forums), and the thinner one is Tongfeng (more well known). Might be worth installing your own m2 or sata SSD to save money though?

The thinner Recoil got excellent reviews on Kitguru based on thermals and raw performance, the battery aint super though if that is a concern.

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

Not sure on that, it's a Quanta based chassis and there's not much online (or in their forums), and the thinner one is Tongfeng (more well known). Might be worth installing your own m2 or sata SSD to save money though?

The thinner Recoil got excellent reviews on Kitguru based on thermals and raw performance, the battery aint super though if that is a concern.

The cost right now is grand. Was there option on going M2 instead? Would those be cheaper? I could always put 500gb SSD from my desktop as an extra.

Same as you I can't find anything on it. It's so new, the paint hasn't even dried of it. I might just order it tonight after I pick up misses from work. A lot of people are very happy with their products and customer support. So worth taking a risk.

Battery life is not important at all, it will be on life support 99% of the time anyway.

Edit: okay, I see M2 options. Now I am a bit out of loop with those. I see AData ones are same speed as normal ssds I know. So any benefit in it? And is AData as brand Any decent?
I see there are Samsung ones with 3200 speed and read speeds. But in my budget I could only get 512gb one in there. Would those speeds transfer in real life and be noticable? Is it worth it? Or is it more of a ePenis thing? As o said, o am a bit out of loop with M2s.

ShadowHearth

Okay, F it all. I placed order on that Proteus VII just now. They had offer off 80 quid off for i7 based systems too.

So what I got in the end for 1502eu all included:

i7 9750h
16gb 2666 ram
1tb AData pro ( the higher speed one )
2060
144hz 1080p screen
Killer upgraded wifi
No windows

Upgraded warranty a bit
Dead pixel guarantee
3 day priority build

I went for faster build, because I am on holidays, so might be able to get this bad boy before I need to get back to work. Here's hoping...

Last nail in coffin for me was, when I played Surviving Mars just now and my 1k colony started to freeze up on Xbox one x. As much as I love my Xbox on x, and that it has these strategy/economy games, it is hardware and updates are limited for games like this.
Irony is, that the first game I will buy on steam to play on that laptop will be Rimworld and then I will install Factorio ( reason why I wanted better cpu ) ofc. :pac:

ShadowHearth

Well, it arrived just now. Will open that sicker up and start installing Windows and driver's. Will report how the thing is, of anyone interested.

cherryghost

Yep, I am more interested in thermals etc on it under load too. Is the power brick a large 180W one or a small one?

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

Yep, I am more interested in thermals etc on it under load too. Is the power brick a large 180W one or a small one?

It's 180W one.

First of all. I am impressed with their packaging, massive box, inside another box with actual laptop, all wrapped in that air pillow thing.
Second laptop itself is very very nice. Metal lid, LEDs around.
I chose no windows, but they had install on it already. So just needed to configure it. No issues with drivers. All straight forward.

I am not sure on temperatures and what is normal with laptops. Control centre is very basic. I can't set fan speed manual, just 4 settings for laptop: power saving, text mode, gaming and high performance.

While I was setting it up, fans were always on. After going to control centre I sow temps. Now it was while I still downloading and installing stuff.
It was very low gpu, but cpu temps were at 60ish. Then I put on power saver mode and it went to 41. So it looks like of you have it in those high performance or gaming mode, temperatures are around 49 idle. If in power saver, it's in 41. Don't know of good or bad.

Now I had very little time so far to play around with it. Installed 3dmark on both. New laptop and my desktop with 2500k 8gb ram and 1060. To make a comparison.

Used normal Time spy benchmark.

Gaming mode:

Score 5835

Performance mode:

Score 6089

Temperatures: in first two parts of test both gpu and CPU temps were around 72 degrees
In third part, which was pure cpu test, temps were around 95 degrees.
CPU and GPU memory clock speeds in first two parts were very stable around 4.2ghz for CPU. In CPU part it was spiking to 3.4ghz

My desktop:

Score 4010

Haven't played anything on it yet.

cherryghost

95 is a bit uncomfortable to me, I have same issue with my Ryzen laptop but of course it is inherent to these types of high end CPUs, I use other software to limit clock boost times to reduce temps (I also repasted my CPU and GPU...)

You could also check bios for 'wattage' settings if it is available. Tuning the CPU down 5 watts can make the world of difference (and still have high perf boost clocks). This was an option on my Omen laptop (not my current Asus though) and it was really good for thermal improvements.

ShadowHearth

cherryghost wrote: »

95 is a bit uncomfortable to me, I have same issue with my Ryzen laptop but of course it is inherent to these types of high end CPUs, I use other software to limit clock boost times to reduce temps (I also repasted my CPU and GPU...)

You could also check bios for 'wattage' settings if it is available. Tuning the CPU down 5 watts can make the world of difference (and still have high perf boost clocks). This was an option on my Omen laptop (not my current Asus though) and it was really good for thermal improvements.

You mean undervolting or something? Or just cut the wattage plainly.

I managed to play some They are billions. In gaming mode. 144fps and all jazz and looks like temps never got above 72.

What software you use to reduce clock speeds?

ShadowHearth

ShadowHearth wrote: »

You mean undervolting or something? Or just cut the wattage plainly.

I managed to play some They are billions. In gaming mode. 144fps and all jazz and looks like temps never got above 72.

What software you use to reduce clock speeds?

download and install intel extreme tuning utility

ShadowHearth

Okay, so I had very little time with it, but I did download Intel extreme and I have to say, it's a very lovely software.
So, undervolted CPU. By 0.110. not sure how much more I can push it, but it did not crashed.

So played a good bit of Factorio and They are Billions. Factorio is CPU heavy and my base right now is not small at all.
On gaming mode, temps were 70ish go lower here and there or go up to 78 here and there. Haven't done benchmarks as I was doing it in bed while misses snoring.
Now it's noisy while gaming, but I don't know how noisy compared to other stuff as it's first proper gaming laptop. It was not noisy enough to wake misses up, so happy out.
The cooling vents under the laptop look very smart, but I think there is a bit of a flaw, as fans are not blocked at all, it's just pure mesh, but the way laptop stands, it only pushed out hot air through very small gaps, from under the laptop, it's weird. I'll be able to take a few pics if anyone interested.
Will be working all weekend, so not much I can do on laptop until Monday.