5

I have been looking to buy a gaming laptop from the past two months. I only found out now that nVidia GTX 1000 series laptops are much better than 900 series ones. I am new to gaming and want to buy my first ever gaming laptop. I need a laptop for sure, not a desktop for portability reasons. However for the most part I will use it in plugged mode, so battery life isn't a huge issue.

Coming to the main point, my budget is around $1500 and I want a 15-15.6 inch screen laptop only. And also the laptop that I will be taking will have a resolution not greater than FHD, so considering that, I think going with a GTX 1060 card is a better option as GTX 1070 or 1080 are only better than 1060 if I plan to play games at a higher resolution. So for FHD, GTX 1060 is more than enough(correct me if I am wrong, I am basing my priority over a 1060 laptop based on this fact/opinion). I'll also look favourably on any laptops that are likely to have deals available (considering the upcoming Black Friday). So which laptops do you suggest?

Thanks

Improve this question
4
  • 2
    What ELSE are you going to be doing on this laptop? Do you need a Large HDD for data storage? Getting ANY NAMEBRAND 1060 or 980 laptop will meet your gaming needs. So the things you need to consider are secondary features, things like Mechanical Keys? 8 or 16gb of ram? SSD for boot drive?
    – BigElittles
    Commented Oct 3, 2016 at 13:40
  • I will use the laptop for basic college work and maybe a little 3d rendering and stuff, but mostly it's for gaming. So you mean to say that a 1060 laptop is more than enough for all the games for the next 2 years? I want a FHD resolution laptop only, so gtx 1070 would probably be an overkill(correct me if I am wrong). Apart from gpu thing, I want the latest intel processor and a minimum 8GB RAM. No preference for SSD though.
    – posixKing
    Commented Oct 3, 2016 at 18:28
  • 3
    It depends, recently some laptop manufactures have stopped putting in "M" GPU's into laptops and are just shoving full desktop grade cards into them. So for example, my gtx970 GPU can push all tripple A titles on high/ultra settings in 1080. However, the gtx970m laptop grade GPU might have more thermal throttling so it might not perform equally.
    – BigElittles
    Commented Oct 3, 2016 at 18:35
  • Is the razer blade stealth + GPU dock an acceptable option?
    – Rubydesic
    Commented Nov 7, 2016 at 2:24

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
2

The MSI Apache Pro-024 is consistently one of the most highly rated laptops made in 2016. NewEgg lists this model at $1399 with a $50 rebate for a limited time only. Be aware that the 17" model, Apache Pro-023 is the same price, but it will be large and have less "portability" as you put it. I note that of all the laptops sold in the world today, NZKshatriya and I chose the same model as the very best you will find. That should tell you something. I personally would opt for the 17" version, but I'm not you and I won't have to lug it around.

As far as HD gaming performance is concerned, one reviewer stated that his unit blew through Fallout and Witcher 3 at full detail settings without so much as a hiccup. Witcher 3 as you surely know is one of the most graphically intensive games ever produced. This comes as no surprise from MSI and the GTX 10 series. The infinitely programmable steelseries backlit RGB keyboard is a bonus that I would not even expect at this price point, but you get it anyway. What more can I say!

Okay, I know what else: It has a 256GB solid-state Windows 10 system drive and another whole terabyte of magnetic drive storage. Are you kidding me? I've seen units going for $2500 that can't hold a candle to this rig.

Improve this answer
8
  • That sounds good. One more question. How about battery life?
    – posixKing
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 16:51
  • Not the best news on battery life. With such high-power components and lighted keyboard and phenomenal price tag, there has to be a downside, right? You can expect about 2.5 hours battery life under desktop use, but only about 60 minutes in gaming. In review, it was noted that the MSI used so much power in gaming that it drained the battery a bit even while plugged into the AC power. This unit has a 53 watt-hour battery and consumes about 22W at idle.
    – Brett Bergan
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 19:21
  • If you are willing to sacrifice the stellar build quality and pure gamer focus of the MSI, I did find a Dell Inspiron i7559-7512 with 15.6" 3849x2160 Touchscreen on Amazon for $1199. The battery is rated at 74 watt-hours, and idles better at 12W making a 5-hour battery life a realistic expectation for homework sessions and about two hours of gaming. The single color backlit keyboard looks somewhat cheap to me, but definitely an option well worth considering, especially if you like the idea of a 4K touchscreen. Note: the Dell, Alienware, and MSI scored within 4% of each in gaming performance.
    – Brett Bergan
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 19:32
  • PS: The 4K dell would be phenomenal for Autocad, SolidWorks, Maya or whatever 3D apps you plan on running, if you can handle the microscopic font sizes and inevitable scaling issues. Be aware that 4K on a 15.6" screen is 289 dpi. The Microsoft Windows standard is 96 dpi, so you'll be scaling at almost exactly 3:1 which Windows does not do very well. For metric system equivalency, were talking 11.4 pixels per mm.
    – Brett Bergan
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 20:03
  • The dell laptop that you are mentioning, does it come with the newer gtx 10 series cards? Also when I am talking about battery life, I am talking about general usage like word editing or internet browsing. I will use this for gaming/graphic editing on AC power for the most part, but I need it's portability for my college work like browsing, MS office work etc. So in that case(for general usage) how would the battery be?
    – posixKing
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 20:26
3

You might consider the Dell Alienware 15 Laptop for $1,349.99

It runs Windows 10 Home (64bit)

Intel i5 6300HQ - CPU

8GB ddr4 - RAM

GTX 1060 - GPU (I think its the same as the desktop 1060)

1TB 7200RPM - HDD

Improve this answer
0
1

Even though a simple search of sites such as newegg would show examples I will post a few systems with the card specified, and within the stated budget.

ASUS ROG STRIX 15.6" G-sync GL502VM-DB71 Intel Core i7-6700HQ, NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB, 16 GB Memory, 1 TB HDD, Windows 10 Gaming Laptop VR Ready @ US$1399.99

MSI 15.6" GE62VR Apache Pro-024 Intel Core i7 6700HQ (2.60 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 12 GB Memory 256 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop VR Ready On sale for US$1479.99 for next 15 hours

GIGABYTE 15.6" P55Wv6-PC3D Intel Core i7 6700HQ (2.60 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 16 GB Memory 256 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop @ US$1499.99

Improve this answer
4
  • Do you have any idea about their battery life?
    – posixKing
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 16:52
  • 1
    On the first page of the Asus ROG Strix details, it lists the max battery life as 5 hours. This is likely at idle, but is not stated. Gadget Review lists the GE62VR as 1hr 39min at full load, and 2hr 43min at idle. I am not able to find details on the Gigabyte's battery life.
    – NZKshatriya
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 17:37
  • I also have another douby. For these gaming laptops, will I get a decent battery life i case I use them for ordinary stuff like word editing or internet browsing etc?
    – posixKing
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 20:24
  • I think you need to edit these further questions into your main question, as comments are not intended for discussions.
    – NZKshatriya
    Commented Oct 18, 2016 at 23:09
0

What about a GTX 1070 laptop?

Sager NP8153:

Specs:

  • CPU: i7-6700HQ (much more powerful than Alienware)
  • RAM: 8GB DDR4 (same as Alienware)
  • Disk: 1TB (same as Alienware)
  • Wireless: 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth (same as Alienware)
  • GPU: GTX 1070 (much, much more powerful than Alienware)
  • Backlit keyboard (Alienware has none)
  • Gears of War 4 - free! (Alienware has none)
  • Monitor: 15.6" 1920x1080p IPS G-Sync (Alienware doesn't have G-Sync)

Conclusion

Never used a Sager laptop before, not associated with them, but looked up a couple of random yet reputable brands to come across this. It's better than Alienware, so buy it instead?

Improve this answer
0

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.