Looking for a gaming laptop with a budget of around $1700?

A_ST0RMTROOP3R

Estimable
Mar 19, 2014
45
0
4,590
Looking for a gaming laptop with a budget of around $1700. I have been looking at XoticPC.com and the MSI GT70 Dominator. Any suggestions? I would really like a SSD also.
 
Solution
if it has the 880 then i would go with it for max graphics so long as it doesnt skimp on the other specs like ram speeds or i7 specs. most of the custom build lapops like i buypower and cyber power use msi boards anyway. mine has one and ive never had a problem with it

Bad_Kitty13

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
118
0
4,660
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/FANGBOOK_Evo_HX7-100_Gaming_Notebook

this one has a 870m (very powerful) gpu inside it and still leaves you enough room in the configurator to get a ssd with it. plus you can get a bunch of free goodies if you go through the configurator, just make sure they are selected before you hit purchace. you can also downgrade to a win 7 os if you like (i did). i have one with a 770 ssd i7 8gb ram 1tb hdd with the soundblaster card and 1080 matte ips screen and i love it. it is very good for mobile gaming and watching some blurays and it is brushed aluminum metal all the way around with a few hot keys like fancontroller and some you can program your self. for mobile gaming laptops i would go with this unless the msi has a 880 in it
 

matt798

Estimable
Mar 13, 2014
8
0
4,510
msi products have different voltages from factory specifications and its 10% performance increase its bundled software offers is well laughable in my opinion.
multiple graphical user interfaces only serve to cause issues for intel and amd stepping technology as well as the way windows will manage your system behind the game as any expert can tell u.
the i7 has a high price tag because it comes packed with so much performance and is good as is.
such can be said for the gpu, it needs no interruption to its normal functionality as set by nvidia
as for it running 3 displays well i would like to see that
 

Bad_Kitty13

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
118
0
4,660
@matt i cant speak for the 8xx series but my 770m can barely run 3 monitors @ 720p and med settings on tomb raider and bioshock infinite. i agree with you if op is considering for triple monitors they need a desktop
 

A_ST0RMTROOP3R

Estimable
Mar 19, 2014
45
0
4,590
So @matt798 are you saying MSI is no good? If so what would you recommend?

@BadKitty13 I have looked at the fangbook's and I liked what they offered. For some reason I just keep going back to MSI. And yes they offer the 880 gpu in the new MSI GT70 Dominator
 

Bad_Kitty13

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
118
0
4,660
if it has the 880 then i would go with it for max graphics so long as it doesnt skimp on the other specs like ram speeds or i7 specs. most of the custom build lapops like i buypower and cyber power use msi boards anyway. mine has one and ive never had a problem with it
 
Solution

matt798

Estimable
Mar 13, 2014
8
0
4,510
i have a msi board that overvolts my cpu on auto and the programs and drivers are junk. i seriously use no msi drivers and my video card is msi too.

performance is great now after only using Microsoft signed and amd drivers.

i will say i did not look at the prices and comparisons with the gaming laptops. even after a short look at the specs the price vs performance ratio is horrible and even worse on ones that scale up to 5k
so i guess its not a bad buy if u must go with a laptop for games even if you have issues at first with its software
since the gpu will come into high play while you are in game with dx11 you should try get one with crossfire/sli
as with building a pc more cash is best spent on the gpu over cpu
a i7 with hyper threading would last longer than the laptop itself
 

A_ST0RMTROOP3R

Estimable
Mar 19, 2014
45
0
4,590


You seem to know a little about MSI stuff but you still haven't suggested another option? I don't want to get something that i will have to worry about voltage??
 

matt798

Estimable
Mar 13, 2014
8
0
4,510
if i know little about msi then just buy it and never think about what its doing. might be lucky anyway

i dont know crap much about laptops but most people know almost nothing and get sold by marketing that is different from the real world

it overclocks it is my point and if thats not what your looking for a cpu of that level would last longer with no modifications and so would the whole laptop for that matter
a good overclock will allways be done best in the bios
 

Bad_Kitty13

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
118
0
4,660
even in custom laptops they lock the bios, you can unlock the bios but even then the most you can get out of a laptop processor is about an extra 200mhz. speedstep is different and its not msi software it is intel software. it also only needs a mobo that supports speedstep and its not like overclocking in the traditional sense. it is more like amd's turbo boost
 

Andreas Schmidt

Honorable
Feb 7, 2014
1
0
10,510


why not ? its same price
Intel® Core™ i7-4810MQ Mobile Processor 2.80 GHz 6M Smart Cache, Max Turbo Freq. 3.80 GHz [March Madness Mega Sale - Free upgrade from I7-4700MQ!]
 

A_ST0RMTROOP3R

Estimable
Mar 19, 2014
45
0
4,590


From you and matt's conversation I feel like the MSI will be fine. I keep looking at forums and most people that have MSI laptops seem to love them. The only complaint I hear is they can run a little hot. But that is to be expected from a laptop running such heavy hardware.
 

Bad_Kitty13

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
118
0
4,660
all highend laptops run hot, mine is like a heater but the design of most highend laptops vent the heat out of the sides and or back. so its not quite the same as a oem laptop blowing hot air from underneath. so long as its on a desk or table it is fine, just be aware whats around your vents it will boil drinks quite quickly :p
 

Bad_Kitty13

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
118
0
4,660


i didnt even notice that!! but for games the higher gpu would be better the 880m has around 15% better performance than a 780m and a decent spread over the 870m. i forget the actual specs but i think it was 20% better performance and your definately going to bottle neck on any generation of i7
 

A_ST0RMTROOP3R

Estimable
Mar 19, 2014
45
0
4,590


Haha yeah I could imagine. If you don't mind what do you think of this laptop?
MSI GT70 DominatorPro-890
 

Bad_Kitty13

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
118
0
4,660
the only thing its missing is a ssd

you could knock down to 8gb ram and a 4700mq this will save you 130 so you can add a ssd....EDIT: i did some configurating and with a 4700mq 880m ssd 1tb hdd no windows 7(dont know how ya feel about 8) and free AC4 it was 1938

i messed around with the cyberpower one and you can get a i7 4810mq 2.8ghz with a 880m a ssd 1 tb hdd (free keyboard and headset and free to play gaming bundle) for 1974

so if your going for a ssd in it i would go with the cyberpower for the extra 36 dollars but its really how much you want to spend and free goodies you want to get
 

A_ST0RMTROOP3R

Estimable
Mar 19, 2014
45
0
4,590


Do you have a link to the cyberpower one you are talking about? That sounds like a great deal!
 

matt798

Estimable
Mar 13, 2014
8
0
4,510
i just wanted to make it more clear.

intel, amd, and nvidia do more than enough testing with voltages. msi will modify these voltages to give as they say in marketing with top quality and stability.
in the real world as little voltage as possible while holding solid clock rate is top stability.
so it coming with more voltage to support the bundled msi overclocking software leaves you in a bit of a pickle if u don't understand it or use it.
with its cooling solution that is in use it should have a bit better temps.
i said maybe because hopefully you will get lucky and none of this software will be active out of box but if u had the very same laptop from i dont know lets say dell for a reference it would stand to last longer
 

A_ST0RMTROOP3R

Estimable
Mar 19, 2014
45
0
4,590
Sheesh....this is getting confusing...I get told Go one way then someone else says no don't buy from them they suck. I look at reviews and the asus g750 seems to be up there but then I look at say the MSI and that isn't a sure thing either. I don't know anymore.