Gaming Laptop for my needs + budget

[Harith Aslam]

Hi guys.

Hope you're well.

I am looking to purchase a gaming laptop this winter, hopefully around the time of Christmas sales. The site i prefer is HIDevolution, but I am also open to other good websites that deliver internationally. I can invest roughly $2k and the laptop I am hoping to buy should be able to run all the current games at great frame rates at high/ultra and be future proof (run most future games at high/ultra at great frame rates).

Looking for suggestions, and am open to all brands. Quality, durability, battery life and performance are pretty important for me.

Thank you!

 

[Manish dha]

look at dell's alienware or razor or originpc
made for your budget (future proof )

 

[dasulman]

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268-clevo-p150sma-eta-march-p-6986.html?wconfigure=yes
that's a good place to start.

 

[NeCro92]

I'd suggest anything from MSI's gaming line (http/www.msi.com/product/nb/#?category=Gaming Series&category_no=271) or Alienware (http/www.alienware.com/Landings/laptops.aspx).

 

[Harith Aslam]

Hi guys, thanks for the responses. I'm just looking to figure out a series of specs I can work on that would fit my budget and all ($2k for shipping included). As of now I've shortlisted the GTX 970M and an i7 4th Gen as a must. Feedback on the choices would be appreciated. Also if you have experience about build quality of these laptops, please do not hesitate to inform

 

[Harith Aslam]

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268-clevo-p150sma-eta-march-p-6986.html?wconfigure=yes
that's a good place to start.

I've heard that Sager/Clevo's build quality is kinda cheap, similar to the cheap build plastic of the Samsung phones. Is that true?

 

[dasulman]

http/www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Schenker-W503-Clevo-P150SM-Notebook.92973.0.html
this is a full review of a similar model - the chassis used is the same - the difference is the chipset of the motherboard and the GPU used inside. They note that the case is structurely rigid and holds everything neatly together. Whilst it's not brushed alimunium, its far from cheap plastic.

 

[Harith Aslam]

Wow, I just looked up the Sager NP8268-S at xoticpc and was customising it around a bit. Turns out, with shipping included, I can upgrade it to a GTX 980M 8GB, put in some backlight and even add in a cooler/extra 4GB RAM to take it up to 12 while the price remains around ~$2k shipping included. Excellent price/performance.

@dasulman do you have any info on the core max load temps or such as i need t omake sure that's not a problem.

 

[dasulman]

again its in the full review I posted, however with the extra ram and the more powerful GPU, expect case temps at hottest to be around 45 degrees celsius. Which is still much cooler than most laptops. If you put the system through hell expect a bit of throttling, but not much.

 

[Harith Aslam]

^Cool, that seems pretty good then. I also see that I have the option to upgrade to an i7 4810MQ for $35 more. Is that worth the money? Also, there's a promotion which gives free ICD heatsink. So temps shouldn't be too high then.

 

[dasulman]

^Cool, that seems pretty good then. I also see that I have the option to upgrade to an i7 4810MQ for $35 more. Is that worth the money? Also, there's a promotion which gives free ICD heatsink. So temps shouldn't be too high then.

its slightly higher clocked than the lower model. If you do some editing work then it might be important to you, or just fr bragging rights. But when it comes to game framerates you won't see an increase. It takes 2x 880M in SLI to start a bottleneck with the 4710HQ. 2x 880M SLI = 180% of 880M (SLI utilisation isn't perfect) the 980M is around 20-30% better than the 880M. So you won't really need it.

 

[Harith Aslam]

Right. So the processor upgrade isn't going to be worth it. In the hierarchy you mentioned (where the 980M 8GB is about 20-30% better than 880M 8GB), where does the 970M 6GB fit in as compared to the two?

 

[dasulman]

about 10% better. the 980M is a huge step up.
Edit: after looking more closely at gaming FPS benchmarks, the improvement over the 880M from the 980M is around 30-40% average, reaching as high as 50% in some benchmarks.
gaming fps benchmarks found here: http/www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

 

[Harith Aslam]

Wow, great stuff!

Now I just need to finalise the specs of the laptop, and I hope you can help me do that. I've chosen the Sager NP8268-S and will hopefully be ordering from xoticpc.com

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268s-clevo-p150sma-eta-march-p-6987.html?wconfigure=yes

- Have checked the boxes for the free 32 GB pen drive and the Free T-shirt and all, but will not be taking any other Black November special deals.
- Standard 15.6" display
- No professional monitor calibration.
- Standard i7-4710 MQ
- Free IC Diamond Thermal Compound
- GTX 980M 8GB (UPGRADE)
- No Copper Cooling Upgrade
- No Video Adapter.
- No external mobile display
- 12GB DDR3 1600MHz [3x4GB] Dual Channel Memory (UPGRADE)
- No branding, no sketch, no custom paint.
- Stock drive configurations
- Stock optical drive
- No external drives or such
- Sager - Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 + Bluetooth 4.0 (SKU - WIFI93) (UPGRADE because I heard this is better than the standard ones
- No routers, no sound technology
- Was thinking of buying a bagpack
- Standard battery, no extra chargers etc.
- No headset, no keyboard
- Was thinking of buying the ASUS mouse but not added for now
- No coolers, no overclock.
- Windows 8.1 64-bit, but will I get drivers and support utility with that?
- Xoticpc Anti-theft added
- No xoticpc gaming gear.

Is the backlight option not visible because the colour can be determined by the software on the Sager?

Currently this build, along with discount and ESTIMATED shipping costs $1991. How does it look?

 

[Harith Aslam]

@dasulman what do you think about the selected specs?