Need help deciding on a laptop

[thattduck]

Hi, this is my first thread on this forum!
As the title states I need some help deciding on a laptop to get.
I'm looking in the 750-850$ price range, with an i7 (possibly i5?) and a GTX 960m card.

The laptop I want wont be gaming that crazy on it, it's a laptop after all.

The thing I'm having trouble deciding on is SSD and processor speed, I'll post some links and explanations.

This ASUS k501 has 128gb SSD, which is a plus, but the CPU is an i7-6500U 2.5GHz. With 2gb video memory.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234023

Compared to something like this, DELL Inspiron i7559-2512BLK with an i7-6700HQ 2.6GHz. But it has only 8gb SSD, which I'm pretty sure it's just used for opening most used programs quickly as opposed to actually storing data on it. However, this does have 4gb video memory, but I'm fairly certain this only matters if you're trying to run a few monitors at once.

I was also looking at y700's with i7's too but for the price I think I will probably go with the inspiron or the k501.

Any help guys? Like I said, I know this isn't going to be used for heavy gaming, mostly school and light gaming but I hope I can at least run games like Skyrim and DS3 on decent resolution with decent frame rates.

Thank you in advance!


EDIT: Is upgrading SSD later an option? I don't really want an external drive too much and I'm pretty sure it's hard to upgrade internal SSD on a laptop.

 

[velo3100]

The best laptop for gaming at newegg at the price that you have listed is this one: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154380

 

[thattduck]

The best laptop for gaming at newegg at the price that you have listed is this one: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154380

Thank you for the response, I have seen this and have seen reviews and the build quality seems to be a little sub-par, also the battery life is not very good either. Any other recommendations?

 

[velo3100]

My best advice is to get a laptop with a good cpu as skyrim and dark souls 3 favour it. The 960m is considered to be the minimum for gaming at decent settings. Also what version of Skyrim are we talking about, the original or special as there is a difference in the specs needed?

 

[GreyCatz]

Hi, this is my first thread on this forum!
As the title states I need some help deciding on a laptop to get.
I'm looking in the 750-850$ price range, with an i7 (possibly i5?) and a GTX 960m card.

The laptop I want wont be gaming that crazy on it, it's a laptop after all.

The thing I'm having trouble deciding on is SSD and processor speed, I'll post some links and explanations.

This ASUS k501 has 128gb SSD, which is a plus, but the CPU is an i7-6500U 2.5GHz. With 2gb video memory.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234023

Compared to something like this, DELL Inspiron i7559-2512BLK with an i7-6700HQ 2.6GHz. But it has only 8gb SSD, which I'm pretty sure it's just used for opening most used programs quickly as opposed to actually storing data on it. However, this does have 4gb video memory, but I'm fairly certain this only matters if you're trying to run a few monitors at once.

I was also looking at y700's with i7's too but for the price I think I will probably go with the inspiron or the k501.

Any help guys? Like I said, I know this isn't going to be used for heavy gaming, mostly school and light gaming but I hope I can at least run games like Skyrim and DS3 on decent resolution with decent frame rates.

Thank you in advance!


EDIT: Is upgrading SSD later an option? I don't really want an external drive too much and I'm pretty sure it's hard to upgrade internal SSD on a laptop.

Here's a Lenovo from BestBuy priced at $850 (you may already have seen this):
http/www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960m-1tb-hdd-128gb-solid-state-drive-black/5623597.p?skuId=5623597&ref=199&loc=TnL5HPStwNw&acampID=1&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-M1jp9BMOkdqfBpzjYGXUWQ&ref=199&loc=TnL5HPStwNw&acampID=1&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-hi4seebTzVV5r6FrGeI8Ug&ref=199&loc=TnL5HPStwNw&acampID=1&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-.CIvY2u4jQMHQNbCJBH7EQ

Personally, I would prefer 16GBs of RAM considering that more and more games these days recommend 16BGs, e.g. Obduction and Planet Coaster. But it does have a 4GB GTX 960M GPU and a dual-HDD setup, and given your gaming preferences you should be perfectly safe (and mostly you can still ignore the 16GB recommendation).

The MSI is a very nice machine, but it falls a bit short on GPU power. It might run Skyrim with a 2GB GTX 960M - on Steam, Skyrim says 3GBs (GTX 780) or 4GBs (R9), so I guess it's open for debate.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[thattduck]

Hi, this is my first thread on this forum!
As the title states I need some help deciding on a laptop to get.
I'm looking in the 750-850$ price range, with an i7 (possibly i5?) and a GTX 960m card.

The laptop I want wont be gaming that crazy on it, it's a laptop after all.

The thing I'm having trouble deciding on is SSD and processor speed, I'll post some links and explanations.

This ASUS k501 has 128gb SSD, which is a plus, but the CPU is an i7-6500U 2.5GHz. With 2gb video memory.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234023

Compared to something like this, DELL Inspiron i7559-2512BLK with an i7-6700HQ 2.6GHz. But it has only 8gb SSD, which I'm pretty sure it's just used for opening most used programs quickly as opposed to actually storing data on it. However, this does have 4gb video memory, but I'm fairly certain this only matters if you're trying to run a few monitors at once.

I was also looking at y700's with i7's too but for the price I think I will probably go with the inspiron or the k501.

Any help guys? Like I said, I know this isn't going to be used for heavy gaming, mostly school and light gaming but I hope I can at least run games like Skyrim and DS3 on decent resolution with decent frame rates.

Thank you in advance!


EDIT: Is upgrading SSD later an option? I don't really want an external drive too much and I'm pretty sure it's hard to upgrade internal SSD on a laptop.

Here's a Lenovo from BestBuy priced at $850 (you may already have seen this):
http/www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960m-1tb-hdd-128gb-solid-state-drive-black/5623597.p?skuId=5623597&ref=199&loc=TnL5HPStwNw&acampID=1&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-M1jp9BMOkdqfBpzjYGXUWQ&ref=199&loc=TnL5HPStwNw&acampID=1&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-hi4seebTzVV5r6FrGeI8Ug&ref=199&loc=TnL5HPStwNw&acampID=1&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-.CIvY2u4jQMHQNbCJBH7EQ

Personally, I would prefer 16GBs of RAM considering that more and more games these days recommend 16BGs, e.g. Obduction and Planet Coaster. But it does have a 4GB GTX 960M GPU and a dual-HDD setup, and given your gaming preferences you should be perfectly safe (and mostly you can still ignore the 16GB recommendation).

The MSI is a very nice machine, but it falls a bit short on GPU power. It might run Skyrim with a 2GB GTX 960M - on Steam, Skyrim says 3GBs (GTX 780) or 4GBs (R9), so I guess it's open for debate.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

Do you think I would be better off with the asus with the slightly slower processor (with 2 cores) and the SSD, or the Dell with the slightly faster processor and only 8gb ssd?

 

[thattduck]

My best advice is to get a laptop with a good cpu as skyrim and dark souls 3 favour it. The 960m is considered to be the minimum for gaming at decent settings. Also what version of Skyrim are we talking about, the original or special as there is a difference in the specs needed?

Well the special would be really cool, but it is a laptop so my expectations aren't too too high. I just want the best I can have, I know laptop processors are still not too great but will the ASUS with 2 core processor and 128gb SSD and 2gb video memory be better than the Dell with the 4 cores, 8gb SSD and 4gb video memory? I am not limited to these two laptops but the conceptual answer to this question could help me out. Other options I have been looking at are y700's.

 

[GreyCatz]

Well, the ASUS on NewEgg is no longer available, which leaves you with 3 capable laptops all priced at $850. Unless you have some bad experience with Lenovos, I'd recommend the Lenovo Y700 with 2 separate hard disks. The Dell is a strong rival, but if you can choose between a dual-HDD setup and a hybrid drive, I see no reason to settle for 8GBs of SSD. Despite its 12GBs of RAM, the MSI still comes out short on GPU power.

 

[velo3100]

For dark souls 3 a quad core cpu is a must. For the original skyrim a dual core cpu is ok as long as the gpu is good. If you are playing the special edition then I would recommend a quad core cpu.