I'm looking for an energy efficient basic gaming laptop for under $800.

[Mark_276]

I'm in the process of adding a 200 watt solar system to my campervan for online work during extended travel. I'll need to be online at least 5 hours each day in the morning. I like to spend evenings on my computer for a few hours as well, but it's not a necessity.

I've been told by some people that I could build a PC that would be more efficient than a laptop, so that is something I would consider if the efficiency was considerably higher. But for reasons of convenience and versatility I would ideally like to get a laptop. I want to have Windows 10 and my only real requirement is that I want to be able to play games like GTA V at regular settings. So I'm looking at something with a 960M or equivalent. Are these laptops from MSI and Asus with 960Ms power hogs or do they sip power fairly? I see 120w charging cables which is kind of a lot. I'm not exactly sure how that all works with actually drinking power from a deep cycle battery through an inverter though. It's hard for me to know how to judge what will be an energy efficient laptop and what won't, because the information on it from laptop to laptop is limited.

Does anyone know of an energy efficient laptop in my price range? And what things can I look for to tell how efficient a laptop will be? Does "Energy Star" really mean anything significant or did the brand get in good with the Energy Star people? Or does it really just come down to the wattage of the power brick that the laptop uses?

Thanks.

 

[jsmithepa]

There is no such thing as energy efficient laptop or desktop for that matter. See how much heat gaming rigs generate? Heat=wasted energy.

 

[Mark_276]

There is no such thing as energy efficient laptop or desktop for that matter. See how much heat gaming rigs generate? Heat=wasted energy.

While that may be true, it's not that relevant to the question at hand. Clearly I'm looking for something "energy efficient" in relation to the laptops available for me to buy in my price range. Some laptops are going to be more efficient than others obviously and it's still a fact that I'm going to be running the laptop I choose off of my solar system. Simply I'm looking to get the best one to suit my wants and needs, be it efficient in engineering terms or not.

 

[jaguarskx]

If you are looking for a power efficient laptop to play games then you need to make certain concessions in performance. Because all laptops with a quad core i5-6300HQ and GTX 960m and a 1080p screen will more or less use about the same amount of power.

You are basically looking for a 7th generation dual core i5-7200u and you need to limit the GPU to a nVidia 940mx or at best a GTX 950m, if you are looking to reduce power consumption.