I know the threads come up often, extremely often in fact, and I tried to save myself some time by looking through the others posted. I was unable to find any that are relatively recent, the latest being March, so I decided to add on my own details and ask the whole question anew.
So, I am in the market for a laptop that I plan to play a few games on, plan to watch some anime and shit, the usual. But, my 18th is coming up and to help me with my hobbies and studies/interests my price range has gotten a significant bump, so now I can look at the far more... Appealing Laptops. Specifically in the $2000 to $2700 price range.
Uses:
-General Gaming, nothing too fancy. I like my games crisp and smoothly, but I'm no PC gaming fanatic.
-Heres the Big One: Graphics Design, and 3D Modelling. Not to mention some dabbling in coding and the like, but especially 3D Modelling.
-Game Creation: Unity 3D, Cryengine, etcetera, are making indie game development allot more feasible and easy. Im not really so much into the "Indie Game" side of things, but combined with my hobbies and interests, making something decent is what I'm aspiring to do over the span of a couple of years while I learn, slowly improving myself and teaching myself what I can from where I can.
Now, Specifics;
-Speed: Decent. Like I said, enough to play my games within reasonable bounds, and to do the work I need done. I can always leave it on for a few hours to render any really HQ model or something, but I do need something reasonably good.
-Mobility: I need to be able to take it places, so I do need a Laptop/Workstation, else I'd just make a desktop and be done. But Weight/Size doesn't bother me. I have another, heavily outdated but manageable light & small laptop that I can use where I don't need this one
-Screen: I know I said that Size doesn't bother me, but Screen Size/Quality is off definite importance. After All, I'm doing allot of technical and graphics work. At the very least a 1920 x 1080 resolution with a pretty decent size I can handle, but nothing smaller and preferably Bigger.
-RAM: 16GB. At Least. With the Modelling, which can take allot of resources, and even worse with the Game Construction, I'm definitely going to need allot of resources. If you think I don't, feel free to argue the point, but I with the price range I think it shouldn't be too much of an ask
-SSD/HDD: External Harddrives aren't that big of an issue, so I don't need too much HDD, or even that fast of one. If I save much on the computer, it'll mostly be Videos for portability and i'll have them saved some where else anyway so I won't take too much around. Same can be said of an SSD tbh, I don't need that much space. I keep my stuff pretty organised, and don't play any huge computer games, so I should manage pretty easily. Ideally I want an SSD for my few Games, and my "Works In Progress", and the HDD I can put anything I won't use often. pretty much everything.
-Battery Life: No Importance at all. Im not going to be one the move with this thing too much, and I'll never be working while on the move, so it doesn't affect me the slightest. Literally rip out the battery for all I care. Ive held on with a laptop with a broken battery for a few years, so for this it really doesn't affect me.
-Sound: I use headphones allot, but I do like nice sounds. Additionally, Fan sound doesn't bother me when I'm busy. If Im not working the laptop, merely playing a video or something, I would expect quiet, but when I'm actually doing something who really cares about the sound a fan makes?
-External Connections: I don't need too much, I doubt I'm gonna be connecting to 3 screens and all. Just the general at least, although a laptop in this price will usually bring better anyway. Oh, and WiFi, although thats always standard. but I do like my normal connections, something slim that doesn't even have the bare essentials won't do.
-ERM, I DID THINK OF SOMETHING. Ahhhn. Oh, Lifetime: Its going to be my main computer for at the very least (unless I get some lucky computer related job break) a good 5 years, but I'll keep it in great condition. I'll treat her with care, so just something that won't be considered a pile of junk by then is enough. That pretty much is everything else anyway
I know allot, or at least more than your average about computers in the softwares and that side of things, and I know my general Specs and all. But when it comes to actually buying of the things, I can't find anything. Or Usually, I find too much, and I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't buy computers so its almost like "pearls before swine" if you leave the decision up to me.
Oh, and I live in Australia, so something right at the top of the price range + shipping isn't feasible for me. And if I don't have to spend so much, I don't plan to. I may be getting it majorly as a gift, but I'm not the type to rob my Parents blind.
PS. From the March post I saw Here, Both the ASUS and MSI seemed like perfect options, within the price range easily, and I have always been a small fan of the MSI brand (although, they make finding what you want on their site a damn hassle. Apache, Battleship, and Dragon? Just gimme prices and specs fools! 0.o). And ASUS has always been reliable..
PSS. If I can get allot better (in terms of for my needs) for the same price, but there is a cheaper option that is the bare "essentials", include both. I wouldn't mind something nicer
So, I am in the market for a laptop that I plan to play a few games on, plan to watch some anime and shit, the usual. But, my 18th is coming up and to help me with my hobbies and studies/interests my price range has gotten a significant bump, so now I can look at the far more... Appealing Laptops. Specifically in the $2000 to $2700 price range.
Uses:
-General Gaming, nothing too fancy. I like my games crisp and smoothly, but I'm no PC gaming fanatic.
-Heres the Big One: Graphics Design, and 3D Modelling. Not to mention some dabbling in coding and the like, but especially 3D Modelling.
-Game Creation: Unity 3D, Cryengine, etcetera, are making indie game development allot more feasible and easy. Im not really so much into the "Indie Game" side of things, but combined with my hobbies and interests, making something decent is what I'm aspiring to do over the span of a couple of years while I learn, slowly improving myself and teaching myself what I can from where I can.
Now, Specifics;
-Speed: Decent. Like I said, enough to play my games within reasonable bounds, and to do the work I need done. I can always leave it on for a few hours to render any really HQ model or something, but I do need something reasonably good.
-Mobility: I need to be able to take it places, so I do need a Laptop/Workstation, else I'd just make a desktop and be done. But Weight/Size doesn't bother me. I have another, heavily outdated but manageable light & small laptop that I can use where I don't need this one
-Screen: I know I said that Size doesn't bother me, but Screen Size/Quality is off definite importance. After All, I'm doing allot of technical and graphics work. At the very least a 1920 x 1080 resolution with a pretty decent size I can handle, but nothing smaller and preferably Bigger.
-RAM: 16GB. At Least. With the Modelling, which can take allot of resources, and even worse with the Game Construction, I'm definitely going to need allot of resources. If you think I don't, feel free to argue the point, but I with the price range I think it shouldn't be too much of an ask
-SSD/HDD: External Harddrives aren't that big of an issue, so I don't need too much HDD, or even that fast of one. If I save much on the computer, it'll mostly be Videos for portability and i'll have them saved some where else anyway so I won't take too much around. Same can be said of an SSD tbh, I don't need that much space. I keep my stuff pretty organised, and don't play any huge computer games, so I should manage pretty easily. Ideally I want an SSD for my few Games, and my "Works In Progress", and the HDD I can put anything I won't use often. pretty much everything.
-Battery Life: No Importance at all. Im not going to be one the move with this thing too much, and I'll never be working while on the move, so it doesn't affect me the slightest. Literally rip out the battery for all I care. Ive held on with a laptop with a broken battery for a few years, so for this it really doesn't affect me.
-Sound: I use headphones allot, but I do like nice sounds. Additionally, Fan sound doesn't bother me when I'm busy. If Im not working the laptop, merely playing a video or something, I would expect quiet, but when I'm actually doing something who really cares about the sound a fan makes?
-External Connections: I don't need too much, I doubt I'm gonna be connecting to 3 screens and all. Just the general at least, although a laptop in this price will usually bring better anyway. Oh, and WiFi, although thats always standard. but I do like my normal connections, something slim that doesn't even have the bare essentials won't do.
-ERM, I DID THINK OF SOMETHING. Ahhhn. Oh, Lifetime: Its going to be my main computer for at the very least (unless I get some lucky computer related job break) a good 5 years, but I'll keep it in great condition. I'll treat her with care, so just something that won't be considered a pile of junk by then is enough. That pretty much is everything else anyway
I know allot, or at least more than your average about computers in the softwares and that side of things, and I know my general Specs and all. But when it comes to actually buying of the things, I can't find anything. Or Usually, I find too much, and I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't buy computers so its almost like "pearls before swine" if you leave the decision up to me.
Oh, and I live in Australia, so something right at the top of the price range + shipping isn't feasible for me. And if I don't have to spend so much, I don't plan to. I may be getting it majorly as a gift, but I'm not the type to rob my Parents blind.
PS. From the March post I saw Here, Both the ASUS and MSI seemed like perfect options, within the price range easily, and I have always been a small fan of the MSI brand (although, they make finding what you want on their site a damn hassle. Apache, Battleship, and Dragon? Just gimme prices and specs fools! 0.o). And ASUS has always been reliable..
PSS. If I can get allot better (in terms of for my needs) for the same price, but there is a cheaper option that is the bare "essentials", include both. I wouldn't mind something nicer