laptop to play

[gamer573gamer]

Hello, I would like to buy a laptop to play Skyrim, I am thinking of an RTX 3050 WITH 4GB of vram, I have a list of approximately 100 mods, would this graph work for me or what would you recommend?

[traison]

Consider these things:

1. CPU speed when its throttling, because it will.
2. Getting a smaller GPU to favor battery life and temperatures.
3. Getting a cooling pad. Essential if you plan to actually have it in your lap or some other soft surface (pillow, blanket).
4. Is VRAM dedicated or shared. If shared, consider a minimum of 24 GiB system ram.
5. Is the screen glossy, or a weird aspect ratio and/or resolution?

Heat is your biggest enemy. Minimum price is ~1000€ if you want it to last more than 3 years.

 

Edit: and just to avoid issues, remember that there's about as many opinions on this as there is people on the internet. I'm just as wrong as the next person that posts in this thread. It is your job to know what you want to do with your machine, and buy accordingly. Typically what I do is ignore the budget and pick out the most silly machine possible. 4 GPU's in a laptop? Sign me up. Once I have that, I cut down on it; I mean do I really need 4 GPU's for Skyrim? No. This is one way to easily see what you're missing out on, and whether that stuff really matters.

Edited July 10, 2023 by traison

[Firecracker7272]

Heat is the killer, I have a small fan for my laptop lol. Then I also made a laptop stand out of cardboard, those two helped a lot with the heat. 

[Aylis]

Don't forget to regularly clean the system. A laptop easily collects dust inside and then you will have issues with throttling and overheating.

 

Also don't forget that the producer use downgraded GPU in a laptop to conserve energy and prevent overheating (so don't start below 1000€).  

[gamer573gamer]

1 hour ago, Aylis said:

Don't forget to regularly clean the system. A laptop easily collects dust inside and then you will have issues with throttling and overheating.

 

Also don't forget that the producer use downgraded GPU in a laptop to conserve energy and prevent overheating (so don't start below 1000€).  

Do you have any reference that you recommend?

[gamer573gamer]

7 hours ago, traison said:

Consider these things:

1. CPU speed when its throttling, because it will.
2. Getting a smaller GPU to favor battery life and temperatures.
3. Getting a cooling pad. Essential if you plan to actually have it in your lap or some other soft surface (pillow, blanket).
4. Is VRAM dedicated or shared. If shared, consider a minimum of 24 GiB system ram.
5. Is the screen glossy, or a weird aspect ratio and/or resolution?

Heat is your biggest enemy. Minimum price is ~1000€ if you want it to last more than 3 years.

 

Edit: and just to avoid issues, remember that there's about as many opinions on this as there is people on the internet. I'm just as wrong as the next person that posts in this thread. It is your job to know what you want to do with your machine, and buy accordingly. Typically what I do is ignore the budget and pick out the most silly machine possible. 4 GPU's in a laptop? Sign me up. Once I have that, I cut down on it; I mean do I really need 4 GPU's for Skyrim? No. This is one way to easily see what you're missing out on, and whether that stuff really matters.

Do you have any reference that you recommend?

[traison]

4 hours ago, gamer573gamer said:

Do you have any reference that you recommend?

 

Not really. I have never bought a gaming laptop. My comments are based on experience repairing them and reading news articles over the past 30 years.

 

Lenovo probably doesn't make gaming machines, so I'd consider starting with Asus, as they might. Asus laptops used to be cheaper yet good quality, but they came bundled with insane amounts of bloatware preinstalled. If that's still the case, Asus would be a decent choice as long as you can reinstall or at the very least clean the system before use.

 

Edit: It seems where I usually shop, I can't really find a laptop. It seems to be very Intel cpu dominated and I don't really see any reason to pay 200-1000€ extra for an equivalent cpu that you can get from amd. Ram amount seems to be split down the middle as well, 1000€ machines come with 16 GiB which is borderline minimum, especially since there's no telling if the gpu has shared memory or not; and 2000€ machines come with 32 GiB which is ok I guess especially (again) because of shared memory. Also it seems most have >60Hz monitors and considering what gaming has been the past 20 years I'd say that's still a bad idea. Most games are made for consoles, and especially older titles (but new ones too) are strictly designed for 30 fps (again because of consoles). Skyrimäs physics for instance will go absolutely nuts above 60 fps (60hz). There's tricks to get around it sure, but you may have to do more fiddling with games than you expected to, if you shop for a panel with >60hz.

 

Consider avoiding Win10/11 Home versions. On a gaming machine you may want access to all the adjustment knobs and may not want to deal with silly things like gpedit.msc missing on Home versions. Again, there's ways around this, sure, but that would require more fiddling than you may expect.

 

Consider sticking to nVidia graphics.

 

Asus looks like the way to go still.

 

Edit again: I suppose you could post links to machines you're considering, and I'll point out the things I think are problems, then you decide if you want to risk it and/or live with it.

Edited July 10, 2023 by traison

[gamer573gamer]

4 hours ago, traison said:

 

Not really. I have never bought a gaming laptop. My comments are based on experience repairing them and reading news articles over the past 30 years.

 

Lenovo probably doesn't make gaming machines, so I'd consider starting with Asus, as they might. Asus laptops used to be cheaper yet good quality, but they came bundled with insane amounts of bloatware preinstalled. If that's still the case, Asus would be a decent choice as long as you can reinstall or at the very least clean the system before use.

 

Edit: It seems where I usually shop, I can't really find a laptop. It seems to be very Intel cpu dominated and I don't really see any reason to pay 200-1000€ extra for an equivalent cpu that you can get from amd. Ram amount seems to be split down the middle as well, 1000€ machines come with 16 GiB which is borderline minimum, especially since there's no telling if the gpu has shared memory or not; and 2000€ machines come with 32 GiB which is ok I guess especially (again) because of shared memory. Also it seems most have >60Hz monitors and considering what gaming has been the past 20 years I'd say that's still a bad idea. Most games are made for consoles, and especially older titles (but new ones too) are strictly designed for 30 fps (again because of consoles). Skyrimäs physics for instance will go absolutely nuts above 60 fps (60hz). There's tricks to get around it sure, but you may have to do more fiddling with games than you expected to, if you shop for a panel with >60hz.

 

Consider avoiding Win10/11 Home versions. On a gaming machine you may want access to all the adjustment knobs and may not want to deal with silly things like gpedit.msc missing on Home versions. Again, there's ways around this, sure, but that would require more fiddling than you may expect.

 

Consider sticking to nVidia graphics.

 

Asus looks like the way to go still.

 

Edit again: I suppose you could post links to machines you're considering, and I'll point out the things I think are problems, then you decide if you want to risk it and/or live with it.

It would be great if you leave me those links, so I can take them as a reference, the truth is that the decision of a laptop to play is somewhat confusing

[ttts1]

I had a game laptop once.  Heat manage was always the big issue.  After about 2 or 2.5 years the heat finally killed the GPU because I hadn't done enough at times to keep the system cool. 

 

It's easy to say "just this once" I don't want to bother too much with cooling today and before you know it you've got a problem. 

 

Personally, I will only have a gaming laptop again if there really isn't another option.  Desktop computers can be built cheaper, easier to maintain yourself, and handle the heat created by a gaming system far, far better.  But I also understand that may not always be an option. 

[traison]

2 hours ago, gamer573gamer said:

a laptop to play is somewhat confusing

 

That is because as far as I know it has never worked. It has never been a good idea. They always overheat and they always have 5 minute battery life. So what ends up happening is either what ttts1 said: a fried laptop; or it turns into a desktop computer beacuse its always connected to the outlet and there's a laptop-sized active cooling unit underneath it.

 

Also the shop I use is non-english.

 

Edit: I could potentially throw you some model names tomorrow depending on what I get up to. I got time off, so if weather permits...

Edited July 10, 2023 by traison

[gamer573gamer]

1 hour ago, traison said:

 

That is because as far as I know it has never worked. It has never been a good idea. They always overheat and they always have 5 minute battery life. So what ends up happening is either what ttts1 said: a fried laptop; or it turns into a desktop computer beacuse its always connected to the outlet and there's a laptop-sized active cooling unit underneath it.

 

Also the shop I use is non-english.

 

Edit: I could potentially throw you some model names tomorrow depending on what I get up to. I got time off, so if weather permits...

Yeah that would be nice, although a desktop oc is definitely not an option, references would be nice so I can look them up here

[traison]

Right so I would go Asus, based on whats available where I usually shop. That obviously comes with the caveat that if they still bundle bloatware to keep the price down, you'll have to clean that yourself before use - be it an OS reinstall or manual cleaning.

 

Asus 15,6" TUF Gaming F15 FX507ZU4
1,600€
Intel i7
4050 RTX 6G
16 DDR4
512 GiB

 

Asus 15,6" TUF Gaming A15 FA507RM
1,600€
Ryzen 7
3060 RTX 6G
16 DDR4
512 GiB

 

Asus 15,6" TUF Gaming A15 FA507NV
1,700€
Ryzen 7
4060 RTX 8G
16 DDR4
1 TiB

 

1. Practically none of the consumer-grade laptops seemed to have Win 10/11 Pro, so Home it will have to be. Consider if that's going to be an issue or not. I'm still allergic to Home versions since Windows XP, but YMMV.
2. Screen size is something to consider here. Is a tiny 15" monitor enough? I personally wouldn't go under 21" anymore, but that's not practical on a laptop.
3. There will be all kinds of claims of "anti-glare" screens (every manufacturer has their own terminology for this) but expect it to be reflective regardless. Look up reviews on this specific topic if its a concern for you - are you going to game outdoors, in a room with a window or bright light etc.
4. Viewing angle is still an issue these days. Again, going to need reviews for this.
5. The panels are advertized as being IPS, in reality these are most likely VA panels. Real IPS panels start at about 1,500€. This is not a scam by Asus, everyone is doing it and the reasoning is that the technology is practically identical. Professionals will still have to get the real ones. Real ones are usually no good for gaming because of slow g2g refresh rates.
6. Since we're dealing with (A)IPS panels, you may want to look into ghosting and whether or not its an issue with the laptop you want. Also, backlight bleeding could be worth looking up, but this is an issue that can vary greatly from panel to panel and it's more of a crapshoot if you get lucky or not.
7. Windows is going to eat up 100 GiB, and a modded Skyrim will hit 150 GiB easily. This leaves you with about 50% remaining disk space on the 512 GiB models. External harddrives may be the only practical option if you need something more reasonable, such as 4 TiB, consider whether or not that is a problem.
8. They all have 16 GiB of ram. A common misconception is that if say Chrome (browser) uses 15 GiB it's "bloatware" and "bad". The truth is that ideally you'd want all your ram almost full at all times when you're working with your computer. When that ram is full and none of it can be freed up however, that's when you have an issue. That said, I have 32 GiB and would say 24 GiB is the minimum for a gaming machine these days, but that does not apply to Skyrim as it's a 10(+) year old game. Skyrim will use more than 16 GiB when it CAN, but it doesn't NEED it. The difference between CAN and NEED is a potential performance drop depending on how you mod it.
9. Make sure that 16 GiB of ram is not shared with the GPU. If it is, 16 GiB is going to run out and you'll have to upgrade the dimms yourself to 2x16 or find a more expensive computer.
10. You want to look over the performance tests on the 3060 RTX and 4060 RTX cards. On the desktop side the entire 4000 series is a bit of a scam as usually you can find a better card from the previous (3000) series for 400€ less. However, if you plan to do ENB and high-res textures you will be locked into the FA507NV machine simply because it has 8 gigs on the gpu - in this case it's also just a ~100€ upgrade.
11. Expect to be plugged in to a socket while gaming. No gamging laptop will survive an hour of gaming. All of these models have 90 Wh batteries, meaning 90W output for one hour. The entire system while idle may be below that but when gaming I would expect the GPU alone to do 100W, ie. there went your 1 hour.
12. Prepare to have to deal with heat issues, regardless of which machine you go with in the end.

[Bluegunk]

Are you in the UK? I can send you a link to a company that does good kit.

[gamer573gamer]

9 hours ago, traison said:

Right so I would go Asus, based on whats available where I usually shop. That obviously comes with the caveat that if they still bundle bloatware to keep the price down, you'll have to clean that yourself before use - be it an OS reinstall or manual cleaning.

 

Asus 15,6" TUF Gaming F15 FX507ZU4
1,600€
Intel i7
4050 RTX 6G
16 DDR4
512 GiB

 

Asus 15,6" TUF Gaming A15 FA507RM
1,600€
Ryzen 7
3060 RTX 6G
16 DDR4
512 GiB

 

Asus 15,6" TUF Gaming A15 FA507NV
1,700€
Ryzen 7
4060 RTX 8G
16 DDR4
1 TiB

 

1. Practically none of the consumer-grade laptops seemed to have Win 10/11 Pro, so Home it will have to be. Consider if that's going to be an issue or not. I'm still allergic to Home versions since Windows XP, but YMMV.
2. Screen size is something to consider here. Is a tiny 15" monitor enough? I personally wouldn't go under 21" anymore, but that's not practical on a laptop.
3. There will be all kinds of claims of "anti-glare" screens (every manufacturer has their own terminology for this) but expect it to be reflective regardless. Look up reviews on this specific topic if its a concern for you - are you going to game outdoors, in a room with a window or bright light etc.
4. Viewing angle is still an issue these days. Again, going to need reviews for this.
5. The panels are advertized as being IPS, in reality these are most likely VA panels. Real IPS panels start at about 1,500€. This is not a scam by Asus, everyone is doing it and the reasoning is that the technology is practically identical. Professionals will still have to get the real ones. Real ones are usually no good for gaming because of slow g2g refresh rates.
6. Since we're dealing with (A)IPS panels, you may want to look into ghosting and whether or not its an issue with the laptop you want. Also, backlight bleeding could be worth looking up, but this is an issue that can vary greatly from panel to panel and it's more of a crapshoot if you get lucky or not.
7. Windows is going to eat up 100 GiB, and a modded Skyrim will hit 150 GiB easily. This leaves you with about 50% remaining disk space on the 512 GiB models. External harddrives may be the only practical option if you need something more reasonable, such as 4 TiB, consider whether or not that is a problem.
8. They all have 16 GiB of ram. A common misconception is that if say Chrome (browser) uses 15 GiB it's "bloatware" and "bad". The truth is that ideally you'd want all your ram almost full at all times when you're working with your computer. When that ram is full and none of it can be freed up however, that's when you have an issue. That said, I have 32 GiB and would say 24 GiB is the minimum for a gaming machine these days, but that does not apply to Skyrim as it's a 10(+) year old game. Skyrim will use more than 16 GiB when it CAN, but it doesn't NEED it. The difference between CAN and NEED is a potential performance drop depending on how you mod it.
9. Make sure that 16 GiB of ram is not shared with the GPU. If it is, 16 GiB is going to run out and you'll have to upgrade the dimms yourself to 2x16 or find a more expensive computer.
10. You want to look over the performance tests on the 3060 RTX and 4060 RTX cards. On the desktop side the entire 4000 series is a bit of a scam as usually you can find a better card from the previous (3000) series for 400€ less. However, if you plan to do ENB and high-res textures you will be locked into the FA507NV machine simply because it has 8 gigs on the gpu - in this case it's also just a ~100€ upgrade.
11. Expect to be plugged in to a socket while gaming. No gamging laptop will survive an hour of gaming. All of these models have 90 Wh batteries, meaning 90W output for one hour. The entire system while idle may be below that but when gaming I would expect the GPU alone to do 100W, ie. there went your 1 hour.
12. Prepare to have to deal with heat issues, regardless of which machine you go with in the end.

Thank you, without a doubt this is valuable to me, the truth is that for those prices a desktop PC is cheaper for me, but my problem is portability, which forces me 100% to a laptop.

Now I don't know what to do, I didn't think it was as far as a laptop these days

[gamer573gamer]

3 hours ago, Bluegunk said:

Are you in the UK? I can send you a link to a company that does good kit.

no, I'm in Latin America

[traison]

2 hours ago, gamer573gamer said:

Now I don't know what to do, I didn't think it was as far as a laptop these days

 

There's laptops for 399€ as well but those do not tend to last more than 3 years tops. Also, gaming on something like that is a bit optimistic. Skyrim may run, it's old enough to run on a CPU graphics chip these days, but you definitely won't be using ENB and you definitely won't be at 60 fps.

[ttts1]

I strongly suggest looking through Tom's Hardware for information on components like GPU and CPU performance test: 

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/topics/laptops

 

They also usually highlight good deals when sales are going on somewhere like Amazon, Newegg, or other sites.

 

14 hours ago, gamer573gamer said:

Thank you, without a doubt this is valuable to me, the truth is that for those prices a desktop PC is cheaper for me, but my problem is portability, which forces me 100% to a laptop.

Now I don't know what to do, I didn't think it was as far as a laptop these days

 

I haven't looked at prices in a few years but generally laptops are going to be more expensive than desktops, sometimes far more expensive.   Companies are going to make you pay for that portability. 

 

I know what you mean that sometimes you just have to have something portable, which is tough. 

 

I would look for a good GPU and RAM.  You can get an external drive for more storage.  Personally I think they get people to overpay for more disk space on laptops, but again...I haven't looked at prices in a few years. 

 

Traison has given some really good advice and I agree with their comments as someone who has had a gaming laptop in the not too distant past (2017). 

 

Edit: You mentioned being in Latin America.  If you are in a place with high temperatures and no air conditioning, then you really need to think about air flow to keep the heat down on the laptop.  The ambient air temperatures will play a part in keeping the computer cool while gaming, because that GPU is going to really generate some heat when playing games.  You'll want to play somewhere with some air flow from a fan or something. 

Edited July 12, 2023 by ttts1

[traison]

One could save some money, or at the very least spread the cost out over a long period of time by buying a laptop that can be upgraded. Many laptops these days are completely sealed, or require you to open them from the top (keyboard first) to get to the upgradeable components. If you can still get one that is accessed from the bottom, and one that has removable covers for the hdd and the ram you can in theory get anything in regards to those 2 and then upgrade to 2x16 and 4TiB later on. Get Skyrim going now, upgrade when/if needed later. Gives you options.