I want to buy my nephew a gaming laptop, what do you recommend?

[thecomputerguy]

I hate questions like this because I get asked them once every 6 months and I just cant keep up on the gaming scene anymore. This question leads to countless other questions that I have to research to even give a suitable response after which I've put in 30-60 minutes to recommend someone else's product.

Most clients assume my answer will be Oh XYZ just buy XQW it's awesome and it's only $600!

So ...

"I want to by my nephew a gaming laptop, what do you reccomend?"

** Not me a client ...

My answer to her was ...

Personally, gaming and laptop are two words that don't really go together, what is your budget?

Her response ...

I don't know but my grand daughter told me a buy an Alienware.

 

[mraikes]

I hear Acer has a nice one.

Who would buy this acer

 

[GTP]

The rare times I've sold a "gaming laptop" I've gone with something from MSI.
Nice build quality, price and performance.

 

[Colin]

sold quite a few of MSI laptops, only one had come back with a bad GPU and MSI replaced it no questions asked. for the price point I would go MSI over Alienware. But now with them putting full 1060 - 1080 GPUs in laptops the game could change once again.

Hate it when people want a "Gaming Laptop" but are told that the Intel HD Graphics will be good enough for them, most time I ask my clients to do some research on what Laptop they would like when gaming so they can see the price point before I give them the sticker shock. Then give them the comparable items I can grab.

With Synnex I can usually get close to retail on most MSI products so its a win win for me!

 

[Digital Micro]

I agree with MSI. There's a reason all the custom builders use them.

 

[sapphirescales]

Hate it when people want a "Gaming Laptop" but are told that the Intel HD Graphics will be good enough for them

It depends on the kind of games they want to play. A lot of games will play just fine on integrated Intel graphics (3000, 4000, etc.). When you have dedicated graphics on a laptop, the laptop typically only lasts a year or two before it has graphics problems. And gaming laptops are big, heavy, and belch out more heat than a space heater. If there's any way to avoid buying a gaming laptop, I always recommend going that route. The parts are expensive, the quality is horrible, they typically only last 1-2 years, and they're not a very good "laptop" at all.

 

[lowbudgetlaptops]

http://www.cnet.com/news/acer-predator-21x-massive-5000-dollar-plus-gaming-laptop-because-why-not/

 

[GTP]

The parts are expensive, the quality is horrible, they typically only last 1-2 years, and they're not a very good "laptop" at all.

This is why I sell MSi, they are good quality, are reasonable quiet and last many years without problems.

 

[sapphirescales]

This is why I sell MSi, they are good quality, are reasonable quiet and last many years without problems.

Sorry but I've seen tons of almost brand new gaming laptops of ALL brands fail for exactly the same reason. The GPU's are too powerful and don't have adequate cooling. MSI doesn't make GPU's. Just yesterday I got an MSI gaming laptop in. 14 months old and the GPU died. The kid was full of money so he had me build him a custom system and just gave me the MSI. I sold it for parts on eBay for $700 less than 5 hours after listing it. I'm not saying there's no money in gaming laptops (on the contrary, there's a lot of money), but I personally would never buy one.

 

[mr m]

Personally, gaming and laptop are two words that don't really go together, what is your budget?

I agree. I'd tell them to go the desktop route.

It's like turning your RAM 2500 Hemi into a dragster or hauling firewood in your Beetle. Sure, it can be done but why bother when there are more eloquent solutions?

 

[GTP]

With respect, I can only quote from experience. I've never had an MSI "gaming laptop" back that has had anything more than a cracked screen. Different in many situations.

 

[cypress]

I cringe when I hear gaming laptop, because most of them are complete garbage and over priced. If they really want to game they need to be on a desktop. If they are just playing Minecraft then it's a different story.

 

[fencepost]

Even for Minecraft you may want a graphics card, and if not then the minimum is the HD 4000 graphics - anything older would just be a bad joke, and even with the 4000 you're going to need Optifine and possibly to fiddle with graphics settings, and you're not going to be doing a lot of PVP on servers. For casual dinking around in MC, the 4000 is adequate, particularly for single-player.

 

[fincoder]

But now with them putting full 1060 - 1080 GPUs in laptops the game could change once again.

The mobile version of the GTX 1060-1080 is also called GTX 1060-1080. nVidia have dropped the 'M' from the mobile GPU model names for the new ones just to trick consumers So most new gaming laptops are using the mobile 1060/1070/1080. However there is at least one model that is using the desktop GTX 1080 and desktop i7-6700K!
https://www.pccasegear.com/products/36501/resistance-vr-fury-gtx-1080-17-3in-ips-gaming-notebook

 

[Cody Shepherd]

Depending on the budget, I recommend the 14" Razer Blade. I got mine a little over 2 years ago and it still runs beautifully. Razer also has great customer support.

 

[loaner]

Digital Storm has good gaming laptops. i'm looking at ordering a desktop rig. i'm tired of building them unless i'm getting paid to do it.

 

[Cody Shepherd]

Digital Storm has good gaming laptops. i'm looking at ordering a desktop rig. i'm tired of building them unless i'm getting paid to do it.

I can't say I share your sentiment. I absolutely love building new PCs, all the latest hardware is exciting to work with. I hope to never grow tired of it!