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Buying a new gaming laptop...

C

ChuckFx

Member
I was hesitant for a moment now but I am looking for a gaming laptop and of course I want the best $/performance ratio possible.

My choice pretty much stopped on Prostar P17x / P37x range. As of right now I am just waiting to see what kind of offerings will be available during Black Friday which is the best time to do such purchase.

I built many pcs in the past and I know the golden rule for GPUs, always buy the single most powerful card you can afford instead of a less powerful SLI config. Does it works with laptops as well? Since they are harder to mod I guess not really? Also, I understand that for a gaming laptop a crucial component is the CPU as they are limited compared to desktop versions.
I am looking at the option of going for a i7-4810MQ instead of the basic i7-4710MQ to gain some longevity and avoid too much bottleneck.

The GPU is much harder to choose. For 300$ difference I can go SLI 970M instead of single 980M. Is this a good choice for a longevity purpose?

My budget is 2k CAD, I plan on playing BF4- Hardline- Wow- SC2- Dragon Age Inq. I am willing to wait another 3 months for the best possible prices.

What do you guys think of the Prostar products? I don't see much reviews of them but they are ridiculously cheaper than MSI or Asus.
 
Never heard of Prostar before... must check into that... probably need one myself thanks to water damage!
 
I would look at MSI notebooks if you can get them in your area. They have a great selection, are built well, and perform great. If you get one of the GT60/70 line then you will have the backlit Steelseries keyboard which is one of the best notebook keyboards available. It may not seem like a big deal - but it is a huge upgrade over other company's keyboards.
 
MSI/Asus models are from 300 to 500$ more than comparable Prostar models, keyboard isn't worth that much to me. Does this mark up is worth it in terms of overall quality?
 
The quality of MSI notebooks is great - I am on my third as I upgrade every year and I am looking to get another. It holds up to my abuse and still looks great
 
TheGoat Eater said:
The quality of MSI notebooks is great - I am on my third as I upgrade every year and I am looking to get another. It holds up to my abuse and still looks great
Click to expand...

One thing about the MSI gamers that put me off a little is that it voids the warranty to open the bottom panel to add your own RAM/SSD. 🙁

That could be a deal-breaker for me....


...watching this thread carefully! 😎
 
Blue_Max said:
One thing about the MSI gamers that put me off a little is that it voids the warranty to open the bottom panel to add your own RAM/SSD. 🙁

That could be a deal-breaker for me....


...watching this thread carefully! 😎
Click to expand...

Great, thx for the info, that kinda removes MSI from the list, I will open it to add my own SSD, the prices for them are ridiculous when you have em built in.

I've checked alienware as well but the big no for me is that they still have the ''old'' 860m and 870m. Anyone has a clue when they will offer Broadwell?
 
No kidding! I considered Alienware for that enormous 18" model... but yeah, their video modules are a generation behind. Heck, they're still selling 7xx models!
 
tviceman said:
Lenovo Y50 is my recommendation.
Click to expand...

I was just about to check the reviews on that... It may be the older 860M video module, but for the same price as other gaming lappies, you get a stunning 4K display! Tempting... wish they had a 17" variant for myself.
 
For the moment I think it's way too expensive to purchase a laptop with a 860m compared to a 970m. They around nearly same price but the later is much more powerful/efficient. 15'' is out of question.
 
For the record, MSI has the best deal in town... the only 17" unit with a 970M (that I've found) for under $1500

860M models can be had for $1200, but the 970M is 75-90% faster!

Fan noise is a little louder than others, from what I can tell... but not terribly so.

The nearest competitor is $300 more. That's worth a touch more fan noise... 🙂

Anyone else come up with options?
 
Late to the thread but if I was buying a laptop I'd get a Sager, ASUS or MSI and I'd go through xoticpc for their great customer service. That is just me though. Sager would be my top choice because their build quality, particularly in the cooling performance, is suppose to be a notch above Asus and MSI.
 
I have the 1080p Y50. I'm MORE than happy with the performance. I can high or max all the details in pretty much every game except the Crysis ones. I paid right around 1100 with an i7-4700hq and 8gb ram.
 
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