Which Laptop to buy

[He is lost again]

My son is going to get him a new laptop to play 7 days to die with me any suggestions?

[Boidster]

There are so many parameters that go into an answer to that question, I can't make a recommendation that I know is right for you, BUT...

 

I recently did some research for a new gaming laptop that meets my needs and budget and ended up with an Acer Predator Helios 300. So far, it has performed very well. I think the bang-for-buck quotient with it is pretty decent IMO. Has an Intel CPU, though, which is not the current hotness.

[SylenThunder]

Understand that by getting a laptop instead of a desktop, you're going to take a huge hit on performance.  Even top-end hardware will be lessened.  An i7-9900 in a desktop is 63% faster than an i7-9900 in a laptop.

[Tantalus11]

11 hours ago, He is lost again said:

My son is going to get him a new laptop to play 7 days to die with me any suggestions?

Greetings,

 

i bought a new laptop for gaming aboout 1.5 years ago, Dell G5 15 5587, i7 CPU, dedicated NVIDIA GPU, and i can play at medium to high setting without issues. So something in the range should be ok, from the hardware side. 

 

Regards

Tantalus

[Boidster]

9 hours ago, SylenThunder said:

An i7-9900 in a desktop is 63% faster than an i7-9900 in a laptop.

i7-9900? I'd like to see one of those. But even a 10th gen i7-10700 is only 12% faster than its mobile counterpart the i7-10750H.

 

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-10700-vs-Intel-Core-i7-10750H/4077vsm1053158

 

It's a hit, but "huge"? 63% faster? Citation needed.

[Vampirenostra]

2 hours ago, Boidster said:

i7-9900? I'd like to see one of those. But even a 10th gen i7-10700 is only 12% faster than its mobile counterpart the i7-10750H.

 

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-10700-vs-Intel-Core-i7-10750H/4077vsm1053158

 

It's a hit, but "huge"? 63% faster? Citation needed.

Partially agree on that statement as laptops with hot stones tend to throttle alot. That is where you can get up to 60%+ losses in the long run. Just make your laptop work under heavy load for like 15 minutes, then when temps go to 100C it will start dropping frequency and viola, you can only use like 30-40% of the perfect i9-9900... Situation should be a bit better with gaming oriented 17" laptops like the mentioned above Predator Helios, or if it bares one of recent AMD stones which tend to be cooler due to their design, also have to admit that you do not need that 32-core monster to play games as most of them do not use more than 4 cores of yours and single threaded performance is way more valuable. I would stick to something more "moderate" like and i5-10XXX or a Ryzen 5 5XXX with something like 4 physical cores, that would also lower down the average TDP of the stone. For GPU could just recommend grab something with 2070-2080 non MAXQ variations as there are no 30XX series for the laptops so far. And in general - yes would prefer a desktop over a laptop for gamin, just put it in a convenient small factor case with enough fans or a watterblock and let it heat the room on cold winter nights)))

[He is lost again]

I have an Alienware 17 R4 and I haven't found a game yet that I can't play. I was looking at one machine that has a base CPU speed at about 2.+ GHZ but a Turbo speed of about 5.+ GHZ. I don't remember the exact numbers. When you look at the CPU requirement for a game are they talking about the base CPU speed or the Turbo speed?

[SylenThunder]

6 hours ago, Boidster said:

i7-9900? I'd like to see one of those. But even a 10th gen i7-10700 is only 12% faster than its mobile counterpart the i7-10750H.

 

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-10700-vs-Intel-Core-i7-10750H/4077vsm1053158

 

It's a hit, but "huge"? 63% faster? Citation needed.

hehee  I always forget it's i9's for their top tier now.  They were real-world tests, and not the raw benchmarks. Usually the difference is only 20-30%, and if you count raw numbers, the i9-9000 series only has a deviation of about 16%. Once you take it out of the lab though, things are a lot different.  I'll have to find the site that ran the tests again. Notebook Reviews, or something like that.

 

5 minutes ago, He is lost again said:

I have an Alienware 17 R4 and I haven't found a game yet that I can't play. I was looking at one machine that has a base CPU speed at about 2.+ GHZ but a Turbo speed of about 5.+ GHZ. I don't remember the exact numbers. When you look at the CPU requirement for a game are they talking about the base CPU speed or the Turbo speed?

It's always based on core clock speed. For a laptop I wouldn't recommend anything below 3.4GHz for the base core speed because once it heats up, that speed multiplier will be reduced. Turbo clock speeds are only going to be active for a few seconds when the system is under a heavy load. Then they will drop down to normal.  Most of Intel's lineup with laptop chips are limited to only achieving full turbo on a single core, while the rest of the cores are throttled down. 3rd Gen AMD is going a lot better in the laptop playfield, but you don't find a lot of them with good GPU matchups for gaming.

[AlphaOmega]

Depends on your budget and your performance expectations. Be as specific as possible so we can help you more. Something like "My budget is $2000 but I'd really like to stay under $1500 if at all possible. I'll be playing Game1, Game2, and Game3, and I'd like to be able to play those on High or Ultra settings with 60+ FPS. I'd also like to be able to play AAA titles on high/ultra settings for the next X years. I prefer 17" models but a 15" would be ok. I really want a display that is at least 144hz, and at least have 16gb ram and 512gb ssd."

 

Just change these wishes to your own goals and I can definitely point you to a great deal. I'd tell you about the deal I got but nobody would believe me and it's not available anymore, it would just make people jealous if I talked about it here. lol.

[Vampirenostra]

for like 2+k you can go with a custom build with all stuff you need

[Boidster]

17 hours ago, SylenThunder said:

It's always based on core clock speed. For a laptop I wouldn't recommend anything below 3.4GHz for the base core speed because once it heats up, that speed multiplier will be reduced.

I think you and @Vampirenostra have made a great point about heat-related throttling. I think that is a system concern, not so much a CPU concern, but it is a fair point since the mobile CPUs are, by definition, going to be in laptops which are less efficient at heat dissipation. I retract my [citation needed]. I guess I would say, though, that with reasonable consideration of the OPs requirements and expectations, a laptop doesn't need to equate to a "huge" hit on performance. There is a premium to pay, of course, for the portability. Dollar-for-dollar, a custom-built will always outperform a laptop, unless like AlphaOmega up there you find some amazing deal that will make all of us envious.

[AlphaOmega]

2 hours ago, Boidster said:

unless like AlphaOmega up there you find some amazing deal that will make all of us envious.

 

Dell G7 17-7700

i9-10885H

RTX 2070 Super

32GB 2933mhz RAM

17.3" 300hz display

1TB ssd

Windows 10

 

$1542.60 +tax

 

 

Sorry, I just couldn't keep it a secret any longer. :D

[pApA^LeGBa]

As said before: If you can, go desktop. I gamed on laptops for a long time. Going back to desktop was the best decision ever. It´s cheaper for the same performance or the performance is better for the same price. Also upgrades are possible in the future. Saves you a ton in the long run. 

[Liesel Weppen]

On 10/15/2020 at 9:02 PM, Vampirenostra said:

 Just make your laptop work under heavy load for like 15 minutes, then when temps go to 100C it will start dropping frequency and viola, you can only use like 30-40% of the perfect i9-9900...

Can confirm. Having a Lenovo T490 (i7-8565U) for business and if i start compiling something, it starts with 4,2Ghz on all cores but drops to ~2,4Ghz within 3 minutes, remainig at barely 50% of the initial performance. And while it does that, i wouldn't call it "silent"...

A dedicated powerfull gpu as another heatsource nearby, will not make it better.

 

And even if userbenchmark says my desktop ryzen 2700x is only 27% faster, in practice, my 2700x is at least tripple as fast as the mobile cpu.

[Vampirenostra]

11 minutes ago, Liesel Weppen said:

Can confirm. Having a Lenovo T490 (i7-8565U) for business and if i start compiling something, it starts with 4,2Ghz on all cores but drops to ~2,4Ghz within 3 minutes, remainig at barely 50% of the initial performance. And while it does that, i wouldn't call it "silent"...

A dedicated powerfull gpu as another heatsource nearby, will not make it better.

 

And even if userbenchmark says my desktop ryzen 2700x is only 27% faster, in practice, my 2700x is at least tripple as fast as the mobile cpu.

Same for me with my MacBook Pro, instant boost to 4,xxx Ghz, but when I building my projects it starts to thowup and throttle to 2,4-2,8 Ghz with temps at 100-101C... What a shame for i7-8xxx... I even thought of disassembling my Mac and replacing cooling with an external watterblock)))

[Mastermind]

If the "Portable" requirement isn't about gaming, I'd take a look at the cost of buying a gaming desktop + a basic laptop. I wouldn't be surprised you could get both for roughly the same price of a gaming laptop alone, depending where you aim on the performance scale.

[He is lost again]

I am good on Desktop for myself. I have been upgrading my desktops since 1985. My son wants to be able to play 7 Days to Die and his current laptop won’t. I would get him an Alienware but he want’s touch screen. The cost doesn’t matter. I was going to get him a Razer but their top of the line base CPU rate is 2.3 GHZ. So, he needs a 15”, 4k touch screen, CPU and GPU that will let him play 7 Days to die recommended. I found out that my Alienware 17 R4 laptop is running the i7 7820HK CPU has a base speed of 2.9GHz but I can’t find any current Laptops that carry this CPU.

[Jugginator]

I would stay away from Alienware and tbh you'll do a lot better with a laptop that has a Ryzen in it; they run stronger while using less electric (i.e. less heat) than Intel and cost less.

[SylenThunder]

Just now, Jugginator said:

I would stay away from Alienware and tbh you'll do a lot better with a laptop that has a Ryzen in it; they run stronger while using less electric (i.e. less heat) than Intel and cost less.

Agreed. Alienware is just an overpriced HP laptop.  You can often find an HP direct equivalent for about a third of the price, and any other brand equivalent for almost half.  Since HP purchased Alienware, it has been absolute trash. Even their full desktop builds have extraordinarily underwhelming internals. Like PSU's that barely put out enough juice to start up the machine, much less support actual gaming.

 

I've had good luck with Acer systems, though I'll mostly likely be sticking to Asus in the future.

[Jugginator]

Just now, SylenThunder said:

Agreed. Alienware is just an overpriced HP laptop.  You can often find an HP direct equivalent for about a third of the price, and any other brand equivalent for almost half.  Since HP purchased Alienware, it has been absolute trash. Even their full desktop builds have extraordinarily underwhelming internals. Like PSU's that barely put out enough juice to start up the machine, much less support actual gaming.

 

I've had good luck with Acer systems, though I'll mostly likely be sticking to Asus in the future.

Yeah, Alienware is literally a brand name + cool cases. I built a computer for a friend a few years ago because he was about to buy an Alienware, I built it for 700~ when the Alienware was like 1600~ and I put an actual PSU in there that wasn't created on the side of a road in a sweatshop or something that had a brand name "power supply" lol.

 

Acer, Asus are both really good. HP is, too, my HP Pavilion is a "never gonna die" survivor, just their cases tend to fall apart.

[AtomicUs5000]

On 10/19/2020 at 12:42 PM, Mastermind said:

If the "Portable" requirement isn't about gaming, I'd take a look at the cost of buying a gaming desktop + a basic laptop. I wouldn't be surprised you could get both for roughly the same price of a gaming laptop alone, depending where you aim on the performance scale.

I second this suggestion.

[He is lost again]

Update: I purchased a extra 8GB of Ram and a SSD drive and installed them on his Laptop. Guess what, it is playing 7 Days to die with no problems. Thanks for all the comments.

[Zize55]

I recommend Lenovo laptop, very good and high quality laptop

[SylenThunder]

On 11/5/2020 at 9:39 AM, Zize55 said:

I recommend Lenovo laptop, very good and high quality laptop

For business sure. For gaming it's @%$#. The only reason they are still in business is enterprise leasing.

[Star69]

I love Asus gaming laptops. Huge reason is they vent out the back of the laptop not the bottom nowadays. My first gaming laptop vented through the bottom. I didn’t have a cooler just a laptop desk and while gaming one night I fried the videocard due to heat. I looked at Asus and the whole back edge is one huge vent with a nice fan. I play while laying back in a recliner. In the winter, both my cats lay on my legs because they love the heat blown on them while I game.