Solved! Best setup for light gaming? Thermal and battery.

[jeremiem]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking for a laptop for a little while now. I'm playing some light games like Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire, Divinity Original Sin 2, Civilization 6, Fallout 4, Skyrim, ...

My current Dell XPS 15 9550 with its i5 6300HQ and GTX 960M served me well but the battery keeps dying after one hour. I could play of all of those games, but I did suffer several thermal issues after long hours.

I'm undecided on which type of laptop I should go for:
a. I like the designs of the Matebook X Pro, Surface Laptop 3, Dell XPS 13 2 in 1, hell I'm even thinking about the Surface Pro 7. I mind a good display, keyboard and trackpad, I believe a laptop is not only about the internals
b. I don't know if I should go for a GTX 1650, MX250 or even rely on the 10th Gen Intel Iris Plus iGPU in order to go for the most battery efficient, thermal efficient setup, whilst being able to play at 60 fps 1080p ~medium settings.
c. Not sure whether I should go for i5 or i7, or even 8gb or 16gb of ram, if it would help me at all for those games
d. I can see myself wanting to run Baldur's gate 3, the unannounced Diablo 4, or even the new Elder's Scrolls, but seeing the partnership between Bethesda and Stadia, I guess I could always try the latter.

By the way I'm in Europe, so the latest Razer Stealth for example is not an option unfortunately.

I would much appreciate any recommendations / help on the topic! Thanks a lot in advance

 

[Tobi_Katon]

I have hp dw0009ne series laptop, the specs are
Core i7-8565u
16gb ram
Nvidia MX250 4GB ddr5
512GB SSD

The display is 1080p 60hz but it looks crisp and viewing angles are good, and body and keyboard feel great, made with aluminium, gives you a premium feel.

General usage is extremely fast and performance is pretty good in AAA heavy titles. Just make sure the laptop you buy has a dedicated gpu , and its 2019 you must have 16gb ram, and make sure it has large capacity ssd, and yes cpu wise an i7 will make you more futureproof. I suggest you look at HP envy 17t laptop, specs are similar to mine but can vary and preferably buy it from hp store near your place.

 

[jeremiem]

Thanks Tobi! Anybody has example FPS of the games I mentioned with a MX250 (4gb or 2gb). I can't find any benchmark on those on the web.

Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire
Divinity Original sin 2
Disco Elysium
Civilization 6
Skyrim
Fallout 4

Thanks!

 

[Tobi_Katon]

Thanks Tobi! Anybody has example FPS of the games I mentioned with a MX250 (4gb or 2gb). I can't find any benchmark on those on the web.

Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire
Divinity Original sin 2
Disco Elysium
Civilization 6
Skyrim
Fallout 4

Thanks!

Unfortunately i dont have benchmarks for the games you mentioned, but to be on the safer side i would recommend you get GTX 1650 as it will make you more futureproof, some laptops have GTX 1650 maxq edition which makes the laptop silent and less hot while gaming and i guess thats what you want. MX250 will let you play at 1080p but you wont reach 60fps it will be around 35-45fps on average so to hit 60fps at 1080p you will need something like GTX 1650.

 

[michael.stenlund]

My ten-second advice is: For light gaming: 16Gb sys mem, for VR and beyond 32Gb or more. 32 is minimum for HD VR worlds, but in 16Gb you can run almost anything.