I'm looking to buy a medium-end gaming laptop.

fromansk6

Prominent
Jul 10, 2017
3
0
510
Hey folks.

Before you try to convince me to buy a desktop instead of a laptop, don't worry: I already have one. I'm just looking for a laptop to supplement my main PC because I'm moving around a lot.

I don't need a remarkably powerful machine. Most of the games I play are fairly old by today's standards. I mostly play strategy games (Europa Unversalis, Crusader Kings, Civilization), older RPGs (Elder Scrolls, Fallout), and EVE Online. None of these games require a particularly powerful machine. However, I'd like the best machine possible within my budget. Let's work out the details.

1. What is your budget?
This one's a little complicated. In the event that I'm paying the full price, I can't really do any more than $500. I've been looking at QVC's laptops, and I really would like to buy from there because they offer payment plans. If I can do a payment plan, I'm willing to go as high as $1200. Maybe more depending on the plan.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
The smaller the better. But I recognize that the really thin and small ones are very expensive, so this isn't terribly important. I would only ask that whatever you suggest is not incredibly bulky.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
I would love 1920x1080

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
This would basically act as my desktop on the go.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Battery life isn't terribly important because I'll almost certainly always have it plugged in. But let's say 1-2 hours.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Yes. I've already mentioned the games I plan on playing. Settings aren't really that important, but medium or better would be preferable. For games like Skyrim, I'd like to be able to mod it to look a bit nicer.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Nothing intense. I'm a college student so I'll be doing a lot of writing and web browsing.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
I have 3 TB on my desktop and I've never exceeded 1. So 1 would be great, but I'd wager 500GB would be fine.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
QVC is already linked. Amazon is an obvious preference. It should be noted that I am NOT opposed to buying used laptops from sites like eBay if that means saving even more money.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
I don't have a particular timeframe. As long as possible would be good.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I don't really need one.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I don't really have any preferences. My first gaming laptop was an Acer Aspire, and it served me very well for four years. I have fond memories of it, but I'm willing to try just about anything. Price is more important than brand.

13. What country do you live in?
Southeastern US.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
To put it into perspective, here's what I have on my desktop...


  • GTX 970
    i5 3.2 GHz
    8GB RAM
    Windows 10

Those specs more than meet my needs, and the games I play never have any framerate issues.

Thanks so much for your help. I think what I've provided should be sufficient, but let me know if you need any more information.

 

alceryes

Distinguished
Jun 11, 2004
29
0
18,610
Just a friendly note here.
You'll get way more responses if YOU actually do some shopping yourself and post links to laptops you are considering. Most (all?) of the people on this forum won't spend the time to do your shopping for you.