Need Help Deciding On a Gaming Laptop Purchase

[Audi0fix]

I'm in the market for a gaming laptop. I've spent a good bit of time searching and have come up with four models in particular. These four are in my price range, which I'm trying to keep around $1200. I'd like to get some thoughts on which is the better buy. Also, I may be plugging the laptop in to a docking station & 23 inch monitor at home. Any one have any information or experiences on how that might tax the system?

I'd like to get an idea of the better brand as far as reliability as well as any experiences anyone has had with the respective brand's technical/customer support.

Here's the lineup:
Cyberpower Fangbook
Lenovo y510p
MSI GE60
MSI GE60 Apache

The MSI GE60 Apache is brand new, and I haven't been able to find any good reviews on it. That makes me a bit wary.

 

[g-unit1111]

I wouldn't touch Cyberpower or iBUYPOWER with a 10 foot pole. Get the Lenovo you won't regret it.

 

[Dblkk]

I'd recommend the asus g750, as far as great all around construction cooling performance, ect. Yet in that price range you'd be looking at the gtx765m which isn't as good as the new 870m but is stil a great card.

 

[M0j0jojo]

why not build yourself gaming pc, with that budget you can get a highend one. http/pcpartpicker.com/p/3axIS

 

[Audi0fix]

That GT60 Dominator is an attractive purchase & I'm not opposed to spending an extra $100. The fact that there are no reviews on Amazon for that product is strange. Plus the line Computers with upgraded parts do require us to open the original factory seal" is a little strange. How am I to know if they consider this build "upgraded"?

The Lenovo was actually my first choice, but then I started reading about some of the issues that can be encountered with SLI. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Audi0fix]

No qualms on MSI quality? I know they make good hardware, but they haven't been in the end product game long. Anyone actually own one?

 

[Audi0fix]

Well I'm looking at Xotic's web site. I can custom build practically the same machine (GT60 Dominator) with a few tweaks for about the same price. And they exclusively state their warranty details. Plus they mention a student discount. If I can figure out how to apply it, that'd be handy. Any thoughts on gaming on a 15.6" screen? I've got a gaming desktop, but the motherboard crapped out. This laptop will be holding me over till I replace it. I wonder if the size will kill the immersion.

 

[Audi0fix]

Thanks for the info. I've got some good ammunition to make a decisions now.

 

[LizardProtection]

It has an i7-4700MQ, Nvidia GTX 870M graphics, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD (7200 RPM), and a 15.6" 1080p display.

It also has a custom backlit keyboard by Steelseries, Dynaudio premium sound with subwoofer, Killer Doubleshot networking, and multiple high res display support with a 1,2 DisplayPort, HDMI 1.4, and a VGA port.

It's going to give you the most for the price range.

Late answer but still, I am thinking of buying GT60 but there is a huge problem I have with it, it's freaking huge!

Do you have it? or can you give me a good review for it? Because from what I see the portability will be a huge problem with GT60 Dominator 424.

 

[Dblkk]

It has an i7-4700MQ, Nvidia GTX 870M graphics, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD (7200 RPM), and a 15.6" 1080p display.

It also has a custom backlit keyboard by Steelseries, Dynaudio premium sound with subwoofer, Killer Doubleshot networking, and multiple high res display support with a 1,2 DisplayPort, HDMI 1.4, and a VGA port.

It's going to give you the most for the price range.

Late answer but still, I am thinking of buying GT60 but there is a huge problem I have with it, it's freaking huge!

Do you have it? or can you give me a good review for it? Because from what I see the portability will be a huge problem with GT60 Dominator 424.

I cant help you out with the msi, but ive gone through asus g750 with 770m, returned and got Samsung ativ book 8, returned and got the apple MacBook pro retina, returned and just got lastnight the newer g750 with 860m.

I don't game much, I use laptop for video editing, 3d rendering, maya, autocad, sony vegas, programs like that. I needed a portable desktop, but im always on the go. I know you cant have both, but that's probably why I went through so many in the last month. But here is my take:

The original asus with 770m, I loved it and always love asus rog quality, its great. Performance wise it was everything I needed, but....weighed 10lbs which I wasn't used to, and large so not very portable at all. Battery was good but not what I wanted. But ultimately it just wasn't portable enough, which I thought the Samsung ativ book could be.

Samsung ativ book 8, quad core i7, amd 8870 graphics 2gb ddr5, 5lbs 8 hours battery at least. This thing was perfect. Light weight, 15", could game on medium settings no problem, high on some. It was great. But. it couldn't handle the heat of full cpu/gpu load on hours at a time. It would restart after thermal shutdown protection, id loose everything I had been working on. Otherwise it was awesome.

Then, MacBook pro. I had to get the top model in order to get the graphics card, so it was far more expensive than the rest. Very portable, but kind of felt like the Samsung yet not even as good as the Samsung. I had to bootcamp windows, and still...it just wasn't as easy as the Samsung, yet was just like the Samsung, yet for double the price. And final draw, heating was more of an issue at double the price with the mac vs the Samsung.

So took it back, got the new asus refresh with 860m, the 870m isn't out yet, and I really don't game so don't want to spend $2000 or more if I don't need to. The asus, except for easy throw under arm on in normal 15" backpack portable, is the only thing that gives me the performance and can keep the performance. It's huge, don't get me wrong, but its still portable. Its like tablet vs laptop. Yes laptop is easily portable, but tablet so much so more, yet just doesn't offer everything that the laptop does.

So, I love my asus, keyboard, cooling, 2 hhd drives (got 1tb Samsung evo in each bay), really solid construction with absolutely no flex in keyboard (which Samsung keyboard sucks but I was willing to overlook that), but asus just awesome. I haven't seen the msi so cant really give any personal experience with that, but as far as big bulky laptops, the msi looks smaller than the asus and the asus is just fine for portability, just need to spend $200 to get a backpack that fits it.

Hope that helps, best buy must hate me yet I spend $5k+ every year there after returns are taken into consideration.

If you have anything else I can help you out with just ask.

 

[LizardProtection]

If you have anything else I can help you out with just ask.

The thing is, GT60 is a very good laptop from whatever I've read, looks great and all but it's like a damn SAT book, so that's the only thing that keeps throwing me off.

Then I noticed the GE60 Apache version with 17" screen, 860m, was slim, light and all but then everyone says that one should keep away from MSI GE series because they are some kind of bottom line, what's the problem with GE series?

I know that usually thin notebooks will have this problem of overheating which will kill them quite fast after couple of months of prolonged gaming sessions.

I am in the same situation that OP is, I have about $1300 to get a good laptop that will play games, will be portable + will work in Sony Vegas and Photoshop ( I love editing, I just do it as a hobby but I do it a lot.)

I wanted to get y510p version with 750m SLI but the thing is, I don't want SLI because even though it's good in some games it has it's share of problems in others.

So, I'm still trying to decide on what to get. 870m sounds great and dominator also looks very good but I'm afraid it may be just too THICK. I'll be ordering online (xotic) so I don't want to mess up on it.

Can you tell me why exactly are MSI GE series not as good as others and can you suggest anything with similar specs as Apache per instance?

 

[Dblkk]

If you have anything else I can help you out with just ask.

The thing is, GT60 is a very good laptop from whatever I've read, looks great and all but it's like a damn SAT book, so that's the only thing that keeps throwing me off.

Then I noticed the GE60 Apache version with 17" screen, 860m, was slim, light and all but then everyone says that one should keep away from MSI GE series because they are some kind of bottom line, what's the problem with GE series?

I know that usually thin notebooks will have this problem of overheating which will kill them quite fast after couple of months of prolonged gaming sessions.

I am in the same situation that OP is, I have about $1300 to get a good laptop that will play games, will be portable + will work in Sony Vegas and Photoshop ( I love editing, I just do it as a hobby but I do it a lot.)

I wanted to get y510p version with 750m SLI but the thing is, I don't want SLI because even though it's good in some games it has it's share of problems in others.

So, I'm still trying to decide on what to get. 870m sounds great and dominator also looks very good but I'm afraid it may be just too THICK. I'll be ordering online (xotic) so I don't want to mess up on it.

Can you tell me why exactly are MSI GE series not as good as others and can you suggest anything with similar specs as Apache per instance?

Im not dissing the msi gt, it looks damn good. If best buy sold it I would've tried it as I can take it back no questions asked. As for the ge models. They use lower quality parts, everything from heavier bulkier case, to crappier keyboards, and as far as cooling goes I haven't read a review that was positive. And as for heating, it will years down the road end up costing you maybe a few months of use. But major thing is, when heat starts getting up there, the laptop throttles itself to cool it down before it fries everything. So even if the ge model had 4900 cpu and 880m graphics, 5 min in its going to throttle due to heat and you may as well be gaming on a i5 and 560m. If that makes sense at all?

Another thing with the lenevo. Its a great laptop budget wise. But battery sucks, its big/bulky/cheap construction. SLI should work in most games, but it also adds a lot of heat, and horrible fan noise. Not to mention just complete crap battery time, not gaming as you shouldn't game on battery anyway since power draw is to large for just a battery so laptop gimps itself, but battery as far as searching website (toms haha) writing emails or anything. Your talking hours, on a subpar keypad, ect.

Gaming laptops are really an investment. I've looked and I can get a 2 year old used asus rog laptop for maybe a few hundred under what mine was new. You can buy refurbished for maybe a hundred less, I can get a 760/765m instead of my 860m for $50 less. So they really hold their value. You can always upgrade ram and hhd/ssd, not so much cpu nor gpu, but I cant see myself (in 5 years my laptop (4700 or my 860m) not being able to handle at least medium) wanting to upgrade the cpu or gpu. My laptop will be so old, scratched to crap, battery crap. Why spend $500 on upgrading cpu/gpu when $1000 ish would but me a new one?

But I was, yes I guess saying asus rog is awesome, just saying that large laptops are still portable. Not carry under arm, or throw it in your pocket, but still portable. And good ones are of rock solid construction, and so what, but a good backpack that holds it, your cords and such. Just as portable as any other laptop, maybe the bag weighs 5 lbs more, oh wow.

 

[LizardProtection]

If you have anything else I can help you out with just ask.

The thing is, GT60 is a very good laptop from whatever I've read, looks great and all but it's like a damn SAT book, so that's the only thing that keeps throwing me off.

Then I noticed the GE60 Apache version with 17" screen, 860m, was slim, light and all but then everyone says that one should keep away from MSI GE series because they are some kind of bottom line, what's the problem with GE series?

I know that usually thin notebooks will have this problem of overheating which will kill them quite fast after couple of months of prolonged gaming sessions.

I am in the same situation that OP is, I have about $1300 to get a good laptop that will play games, will be portable + will work in Sony Vegas and Photoshop ( I love editing, I just do it as a hobby but I do it a lot.)

I wanted to get y510p version with 750m SLI but the thing is, I don't want SLI because even though it's good in some games it has it's share of problems in others.

So, I'm still trying to decide on what to get. 870m sounds great and dominator also looks very good but I'm afraid it may be just too THICK. I'll be ordering online (xotic) so I don't want to mess up on it.

Can you tell me why exactly are MSI GE series not as good as others and can you suggest anything with similar specs as Apache per instance?

Im not dissing the msi gt, it looks damn good. If best buy sold it I would've tried it as I can take it back no questions asked. As for the ge models. They use lower quality parts, everything from heavier bulkier case, to crappier keyboards, and as far as cooling goes I haven't read a review that was positive. And as for heating, it will years down the road end up costing you maybe a few months of use. But major thing is, when heat starts getting up there, the laptop throttles itself to cool it down before it fries everything. So even if the ge model had 4900 cpu and 880m graphics, 5 min in its going to throttle due to heat and you may as well be gaming on a i5 and 560m. If that makes sense at all?

Another thing with the lenevo. Its a great laptop budget wise. But battery sucks, its big/bulky/cheap construction. SLI should work in most games, but it also adds a lot of heat, and horrible fan noise. Not to mention just complete crap battery time, not gaming as you shouldn't game on battery anyway since power draw is to large for just a battery so laptop gimps itself, but battery as far as searching website (toms haha) writing emails or anything. Your talking hours, on a subpar keypad, ect.

Gaming laptops are really an investment. I've looked and I can get a 2 year old used asus rog laptop for maybe a few hundred under what mine was new. You can buy refurbished for maybe a hundred less, I can get a 760/765m instead of my 860m for $50 less. So they really hold their value. You can always upgrade ram and hhd/ssd, not so much cpu nor gpu, but I cant see myself (in 5 years my laptop (4700 or my 860m) not being able to handle at least medium) wanting to upgrade the cpu or gpu. My laptop will be so old, scratched to crap, battery crap. Why spend $500 on upgrading cpu/gpu when $1000 ish would but me a new one?

But I was, yes I guess saying asus rog is awesome, just saying that large laptops are still portable. Not carry under arm, or throw it in your pocket, but still portable. And good ones are of rock solid construction, and so what, but a good backpack that holds it, your cords and such. Just as portable as any other laptop, maybe the bag weighs 5 lbs more, oh wow.

Man ROG is way too heavy

I will probably go for dominator 424 but I'm still trying to get a better overview on the situation itself.

I haven't seen a review for it and I'll probably wait until the end of this month to see how well it handles temperatures and so on. I bet it's good though, because of its size I bet it has room inside for an air flow and therefor it's cooling should be able to handle pressure, nevertheless it'll hit 60 degrees Celsius mark but oh well, it's a laptop what can one expect right? Plus it is highly upgradable, SSDs, RAMs and so on.
I probably won't upgrade C/GPU anyways but since I'm ordering on XoticPC: I have an option to get i7-4800 instead of i7-4700, any ideas about difference between these two? I've heard during rendering 4800 is 10-15% better but I don't really do that as my job so might as well say "oh well" and get laptop for $100 cheaper right? (if you choose 4700 you get $$-109)

Also, I was thinking, isn't 15" screen a bit too small for 1080p resolution? Any ideas about it?

 

[Dblkk]

If you have anything else I can help you out with just ask.

The thing is, GT60 is a very good laptop from whatever I've read, looks great and all but it's like a damn SAT book, so that's the only thing that keeps throwing me off.

Then I noticed the GE60 Apache version with 17" screen, 860m, was slim, light and all but then everyone says that one should keep away from MSI GE series because they are some kind of bottom line, what's the problem with GE series?

I know that usually thin notebooks will have this problem of overheating which will kill them quite fast after couple of months of prolonged gaming sessions.

I am in the same situation that OP is, I have about $1300 to get a good laptop that will play games, will be portable + will work in Sony Vegas and Photoshop ( I love editing, I just do it as a hobby but I do it a lot.)

I wanted to get y510p version with 750m SLI but the thing is, I don't want SLI because even though it's good in some games it has it's share of problems in others.

So, I'm still trying to decide on what to get. 870m sounds great and dominator also looks very good but I'm afraid it may be just too THICK. I'll be ordering online (xotic) so I don't want to mess up on it.

Can you tell me why exactly are MSI GE series not as good as others and can you suggest anything with similar specs as Apache per instance?

Im not dissing the msi gt, it looks damn good. If best buy sold it I would've tried it as I can take it back no questions asked. As for the ge models. They use lower quality parts, everything from heavier bulkier case, to crappier keyboards, and as far as cooling goes I haven't read a review that was positive. And as for heating, it will years down the road end up costing you maybe a few months of use. But major thing is, when heat starts getting up there, the laptop throttles itself to cool it down before it fries everything. So even if the ge model had 4900 cpu and 880m graphics, 5 min in its going to throttle due to heat and you may as well be gaming on a i5 and 560m. If that makes sense at all?

Another thing with the lenevo. Its a great laptop budget wise. But battery sucks, its big/bulky/cheap construction. SLI should work in most games, but it also adds a lot of heat, and horrible fan noise. Not to mention just complete crap battery time, not gaming as you shouldn't game on battery anyway since power draw is to large for just a battery so laptop gimps itself, but battery as far as searching website (toms haha) writing emails or anything. Your talking hours, on a subpar keypad, ect.

Gaming laptops are really an investment. I've looked and I can get a 2 year old used asus rog laptop for maybe a few hundred under what mine was new. You can buy refurbished for maybe a hundred less, I can get a 760/765m instead of my 860m for $50 less. So they really hold their value. You can always upgrade ram and hhd/ssd, not so much cpu nor gpu, but I cant see myself (in 5 years my laptop (4700 or my 860m) not being able to handle at least medium) wanting to upgrade the cpu or gpu. My laptop will be so old, scratched to crap, battery crap. Why spend $500 on upgrading cpu/gpu when $1000 ish would but me a new one?

But I was, yes I guess saying asus rog is awesome, just saying that large laptops are still portable. Not carry under arm, or throw it in your pocket, but still portable. And good ones are of rock solid construction, and so what, but a good backpack that holds it, your cords and such. Just as portable as any other laptop, maybe the bag weighs 5 lbs more, oh wow.

Man ROG is way too heavy

I will probably go for dominator 424 but I'm still trying to get a better overview on the situation itself.

I haven't seen a review for it and I'll probably wait until the end of this month to see how well it handles temperatures and so on. I bet it's good though, because of its size I bet it has room inside for an air flow and therefor it's cooling should be able to handle pressure, nevertheless it'll hit 60 degrees Celsius mark but oh well, it's a laptop what can one expect right? Plus it is highly upgradable, SSDs, RAMs and so on.
I probably won't upgrade C/GPU anyways but since I'm ordering on XoticPC: I have an option to get i7-4800 instead of i7-4700, any ideas about difference between these two? I've heard during rendering 4800 is 10-15% better but I don't really do that as my job so might as well say "oh well" and get laptop for $100 cheaper right? (if you choose 4700 you get $$-109)

Also, I was thinking, isn't 15" screen a bit too small for 1080p resolution? Any ideas about it?

Well if you want size/weight to be down, then yes 15" the way to go, 1080p still looks great on it. But Now that im using a 17", oh its so much nicer than the 15". Its 'almost' as good and seems like im using my pc (with 23"). The 15", you know its a laptop.

The 4700-4800. I'd say at best 5% increase in performance. It's a really small upgrade. But honestly, my opinion, if it was me and had choice for $100, i'd spend that to get a larger compacity ssd. I got a 1tb 840 evo when I first started with laptops since most offer only single bay. But now that im back to asus with 2 bays available, I just picked up an 840 pro 512gb to use as my main os drive, and the evo for data. Since evo isn't rated longevity as good. I really wish the pro had a 1tb option, albeit I bet double the $500 price of the evo.

And as for heat, unless your doing nothing, you'll never see only 60 degrees. CPU under 100% load rendering a 20 min scene will get max cpu temp around 80's, gpu 60-70's, casing around 75 degrees. Not that it really matters, since my palm rests on the case that feels cool to the touch, keys and trackpad are fine, and the bottom sits on a laptop mat to allow the air to be sucked in from the bottom and not suffocate it using my pants.

But honestly i'd scratch any of those crap websites that take a stock asus or msi and 'customize it'. There are enough varients of particular models to find one that you want, and then not have the website tack on a couple hundred bucks.

 

[LizardProtection]

But honestly i'd scratch any of those crap websites that take a stock asus or msi and 'customize it'. There are enough varients of particular models to find one that you want, and then not have the website tack on a couple hundred bucks.

I can get GT60 Dominator 424 that costs $1300 on amazon and is assembled BY XoticPC for $1250 (same version) from XoticPC's website and then upgrade it manually, buying SSD here would cost hell of a less.

By the way, any ideas about this RAID? I've never had anything to do with it so I don't know what it is. Which one is better? 0,1,2? Why? (I swear it's a last question I'm already bothering you way too much I think )

 

[Dblkk]

But honestly i'd scratch any of those crap websites that take a stock asus or msi and 'customize it'. There are enough varients of particular models to find one that you want, and then not have the website tack on a couple hundred bucks.

I can get GT60 Dominator 424 that costs $1300 on amazon and is assembled BY XoticPC for $1250 (same version) from XoticPC's website and then upgrade it manually, buying SSD here would cost hell of a less.

By the way, any ideas about this RAID? I've never had anything to do with it so I don't know what it is. Which one is better? 0,1,2? Why? (I swear it's a last question I'm already bothering you way too much I think )

Well if its cheaper then by all means. Really weird though, but your gain.

As far as raid. Raid 0 kind of combines both drives into one drive, and almost doubles write speeds. But they have to be similar, like 840 pro 256gb x2, they cant be different sizes nor speeds or anything. Raid 1, same thing goes as far as needing to be identical, but it mirrors both drives. So whatever you write on drive 1 is copied to drive 2. But you have no access to disk space on drive 2. Its like a automatic backup, server systems use this type on a massive scale, that way if one drive fails, they swap it out with the other, and no downtime or data loss. For a laptop raid 1 makes no sense, just backup your hhd yourself onto external. But raid 0 is great for speed boost, I use it on desktop.

 

[Audi0fix]

Checkout the new MSI GS70 Stealth & GS60 Ghost. They've been making some noise in the Ultraportable Gaming market. Directly competing with the Razer Blade line up. And winning in terms of weight, size, & price.

 

[Dblkk]

Oh definitely, I just got done reading a brief expectations of the new stealth. With 870m and new raid 2.0. Theres no release day or price yet, but looks so nice, and its a slim 17" and light. I bet cooling is adequate, but with a slim chasis like that its always the Achilles heal. Just like the razer blade, which for that laptop, why the heck use a 3000 res screen, even with a good graphics card its still crippling, and you pu t it at 1080x1920 and then its not even full screen. what a rip if you ask me.

 

[LizardProtection]

Oh definitely, I just got done reading a brief expectations of the new stealth. With 870m and new raid 2.0. Theres no release day or price yet, but looks so nice, and its a slim 17" and light. I bet cooling is adequate, but with a slim chasis like that its always the Achilles heal. Just like the razer blade, which for that laptop, why the heck use a 3000 res screen, even with a good graphics card its still crippling, and you pu t it at 1080x1920 and then its not even full screen. what a rip if you ask me.

Will probably cost $2000+ No chance they let 870m and 17" slim and light laptop be less than that, but oh well...

 

[Dblkk]

Oh definitely, I just got done reading a brief expectations of the new stealth. With 870m and new raid 2.0. Theres no release day or price yet, but looks so nice, and its a slim 17" and light. I bet cooling is adequate, but with a slim chasis like that its always the Achilles heal. Just like the razer blade, which for that laptop, why the heck use a 3000 res screen, even with a good graphics card its still crippling, and you pu t it at 1080x1920 and then its not even full screen. what a rip if you ask me.

Will probably cost $2000+ No chance they let 870m and 17" slim and light laptop be less than that, but oh well...

I think it will go for around $1700. I know its slim, light, and seems like a great combo including the 870m. But $2000 or more puts it in the 880m category. I'm guessing 880m will go $2200 ish, so if the 870m goes for $2000 that would make the 880m go for $2500 or more. Which will then directly compete with alienware when they put 880m sli in a model and sell for around $3000. But time will tell. Either way, the new 800 series is pretty awesome. I'm really happy with my new g750 and the 860m is phenominal graphics wise. Havent tried with battery yet. As I don't game much, only had my laptop a day, and haven't had to leave the house. Great thing about the asus is battery is a latch style, so when im home battery sits on the desk and laptop stays plugged in the way, saving any type of wear on the battery. But I am very curious to see how the battery lasts with light tasks throughout the day with brief stints of medium.

Also, trying to find a backpack for this sucker has proven to be very expensive. I tried everything best buy had and one barely fit but so close it wasn't worth it. Searching online I found 3 backpacks for sure that work and are most common, yet $180-200. Then cleaning out the garage since we finally got some decent weather, I found a 5 yr old targus messanger style bag I had like 4 laptops ago, f'n asus fits perfect in there. Think I bought that bag for like $20 back in the day. Just crazy, so since I saved myself what would've been a great deal of $ on a bag, I went and bought titanfall lastnight. Picked it up around 9pm, finished installing and downloading around midnight. Played until 3am, slept til 7am (kids woke up), and have been playing it since. Its really addicting and great. I don't think it should be a $60 game as its really like half a game, but it sure is different/fast paced/and pretty sweet.