Need advise (Choose Laptop)

wolf_pack00007

Estimable
Dec 6, 2015
6
0
4,510
Hey guys since last many days I've been doing research on laptops, so I can buy best for myself. Now I've shortlisted these laptops within the range of my budget. So please advise me which one should I buy in terms of reliability, Software development and gaming,

And please tell me what's the advantages of having 6th generation over 4th generation systems.

Is it really worth having a GTX 960m 4Gb or 2Gb is also enough in portable machines

Thanks in advance.

1) MSI PE60 2QE (Price: $ 1252)

Specs: Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 2.7 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB), 8 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD, 15.6", Windows 10

2) Asus ROG G551JW (Price: $ 1465)

Specs: Intel Core i7-4720HQ, 2.6 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (4 GB), 12 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD, 15.6", Windows 8.1

3) Lenovo IdeaPad Y50-70 (Price: $ 1199)

Specs: Intel Core i7-4720HQ, 2.6 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (4 GB), 16 GB RAM, 8 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD, 15.6", Windows 8.1
 
Solution
Wolf,
I just bought a gaming laptop(a cyberpower). Big thing for me was, I wanted max upgrade-ability, I didn't need to worry about an external screen(anything more than 1080 requires a 980m for good peformance), and, lastly, I wanted a 17.3" display. I figured a 1080 display needed at least a 965m graphics setup for good performance. So that was my baseline for graphics. I also discovered that many of the new laptops have their graphics mounted on a removable and replaceable card. Keep that in mind, if you're comfortable pulling a laptop apart, then you can upgrade the graphics. Also keep in mind, you can swap storage options and ram too. The laptops you've selected all have their storage space full and the 2 with more than...
The main advantage that the 6th gen has over the 4th gen is the cooling requirement. They should run cooler and you should also get an improvement. I am not sure how big the improvement is. Also I think it also gives better battery life.

As for the gpu, there is no point in going for the 4 gigs of gddr5 vram unless the software can take advantage of it.
 

wolf_pack00007

Estimable
Dec 6, 2015
6
0
4,510


Thanks for your response, so what you suggest me among these above given laptops. what would be your 1st choice, 2nd choice and 3rd choice ?.
 

dudmont

Estimable
Feb 23, 2015
38
0
4,610
Wolf,
I just bought a gaming laptop(a cyberpower). Big thing for me was, I wanted max upgrade-ability, I didn't need to worry about an external screen(anything more than 1080 requires a 980m for good peformance), and, lastly, I wanted a 17.3" display. I figured a 1080 display needed at least a 965m graphics setup for good performance. So that was my baseline for graphics. I also discovered that many of the new laptops have their graphics mounted on a removable and replaceable card. Keep that in mind, if you're comfortable pulling a laptop apart, then you can upgrade the graphics. Also keep in mind, you can swap storage options and ram too. The laptops you've selected all have their storage space full and the 2 with more than 8gigs of ram have their ram slots full or 3/4 full.
Of your options, I would take the first. The other two are a push for me. Do you have a plan to re-install the OS? All of these systems will have bloatware and the Lenovo especially. Do some research on that issue, so as to be prepared.
 
Solution

wolf_pack00007

Estimable
Dec 6, 2015
6
0
4,510


Thanks man for your quite informative response. Yes actually my first priority is MSI but am confused it with ASUS as ASUS have Gtx 960m 4gb while MSI has it with 2gb plus MSI has skylake processor. And yes I'm not a pro sort of a gamer you can say am a moderate gamer I just want it for software development and games like FIFA 16, GTA 5 etc and I want it to play new coming games at least for next 2 years. So what you extract from all this ? :)
 

dudmont

Estimable
Feb 23, 2015
38
0
4,610
Pretty soon you'll be seeing games optimized for DX12. I think that will make your video ram less of an issue. If you're dealing with CPUs that aren't replaceable, then I would buy the newest. I bought a 4200m, it's an I5, but it's a replaceable chip. I bought it cause I can sell it, as like new, for more than the difference between it and the chip I want. I bought my laptop specifically to tear it apart. You're in a different spot. As the previous poster noted, it will run cooler, which will have a trickle down effect on everything. Your graphics will be able to run harder because the cpu is putting out less heat. The cpu will also draw less power, increasing battery life. The only negative on that system is the ram total, and that's a very easy swap. Literally like 5 minutes, once you have the ram. Advice on that is this: buy a good, high speed, 16gb kit(like 80 bucks online), and the turn around and sell the stuff that was in the system(perhaps 35-40bucks, depending on make and timings).