Need Some Quick Cyber Monday Week Laptop Advice - Your Expertise Requested

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WindForceOne

Junior Member
Dec 2, 2024
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After taking into consideration my budget ($1200 absolute max), I spent many, many hours researching the best laptops for my use. I then waited for Black Friday deals, Cyber Monday deals, etc.
I've identified what I feel are the two best buys based on countless reviews, comparisons and more. The laptop I am purchasing would be used about 65-75% for non gaming, with the remainder for
gaming, and gaming is important. Now I'm at a stage where I am wondering which of the two are my best options. They are only available for the next few days.

One laptop offers an AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS (which I realize is a mid performance CPU) 32mb of ram, and a GeForce RTX 4070 GPU.

One laptop offers a 14th Gen Intel Core i9 - 14900HX (an extremely fast processor, of course) 32mb of ram and a GeForce RTX 4060 GPU

These two laptops are absolutely the best values I could find within my budget. They are less than $100.00 different in price. My quandary is that I would normally always choose the better GPU, but, in this case, there is a great disparity between the CPU's. The Intel 4900HX is far more powerful than the mid level AMD CPU in the other pc. I've also seen tests that showed a very significant uptick in performance of the 4070 over the 4060. However, I've also, just today, seen laptop systems with 4070 and 4060 being only a handful of frame rates apart in testing. "If" that is to be believed, I would certainly go with the system that has the Intel 4900k.

Your thoughts, expertise, and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

John Clark

​

 
M

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
12,855
3,626
136
Welcome to the forums.

For gaming workloads, I wouldn't even consider the mobile 4060.
Sometimes mobile GPUs are power-limited, which explains some of the inconsistent performance you've read about. Other times there is thermal throttling.
At this price point most likely you'll be limited to 8GB VRAM, which could be seen as a problem.
Unless you know you need it, the high end Intel i9 CPU probably doesn't do a whole lot extra for you.

The following seems to be good for $1250 + tax?


Better yet, $900:

 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,774
524
126
Sorry if this is too late.

Intel has had troubles with the desktop 14900 series. It is not clear if the trouble extends to the laptop version but I'd avoid it just in case. If you end up with the 14900 maybe do some research on how to mitigate Intel's Raptor Lake issues to minimize your risk.

Regardless I would still vote for the 4070 over the 4060 even without the possible RL issues.

I once did an experiment where I bought a laptop with the best GPU and storage but the slowest CPU available in that model and I was never so happy.

I'm running a $750 Asus with a 7735HS and a RX7700S that I'm quite happy with.

Screenshot_20241203_132100.jpg
 
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WindForceOne

Junior Member
Dec 2, 2024
5
0
6
Thanks for the replies. While I never had any concerns about them before, I've been warned away from anything made by Asus, due to their quality control and especially their customer service and warranty shortcomings. I have three friends/acquaintances who were severely shortchanged by them, and ended up throwing away what should have been viable laptops, because there was no other option.
 
Seba

Seba

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2000
1,596
257
126
While mobile 4060 is quite similar with desktop 4060, mobile 4070 is heavily castrated compared with desktop 4070. Also both have 8GB VRAM. So the difference between mobile 4060 and mobile 4070 is less than it might appear at first glance. For 1920x1080 gaming, mobile 4060 is adequate. Those which scorn at 4060 forget about the budget.

Ryzen 7 7435HS is quite good for the price, but you should be aware that it lacks integrated graphics. So the dedicated graphics is always in use, even when not playing games. This leads to slightly higher total power draw when not gaming. For gaming you should always plug in the power adapter (don't plan to play games while on battery).

For a limited budget, look for 7435HS + 4060 combination. You should be able to get something with 1TB SSD (and not just 512GB) and maybe 16GB RAM (or have enough spare money to add 8GB of RAM right away). Also check that RAM and SSD are not soldered on the motherboard (so upgradeable) on the chosen model. Also some laptop models have a second (free) NVMe M.2 slot in which you can later add a second NVMe SSD.
 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,774
524
126
WindForceOne said:
Thanks for the replies. While I never had any concerns about them before, I've been warned away from anything made by Asus, due to their quality control and especially their customer service and warranty shortcomings. I have three friends/acquaintances who were severely shortchanged by them, and ended up throwing away what should have been viable laptops, because there was no other option.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I remember Asus as one of the better brands back in the day but it does look like they have had a fall from grace.
 
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WindForceOne

Junior Member
Dec 2, 2024
5
0
6
lakedude said:
Fair enough. I remember Asus as one of the better brands back in the day but it does look like they have had a fall from grace.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly. Their customer service appears to also have become terrible based on many reports.
 
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WindForceOne

Junior Member
Dec 2, 2024
5
0
6
Seba said:
While mobile 4060 is quite similar with desktop 4060, mobile 4070 is heavily castrated compared with desktop 4070. Also both have 8GB VRAM. So the difference between mobile 4060 and mobile 4070 is less than it might appear at first glance. For 1920x1080 gaming, mobile 4060 is adequate. Those which scorn at 4060 forget about the budget.

Ryzen 7 7435HS is quite good for the price, but you should be aware that it lacks integrated graphics. So the dedicated graphics is always in use, even when not playing games. This leads to slightly higher total power draw when not gaming. For gaming you should always plug in the power adapter (don't plan to play games while on battery).

For a limited budget, look for 7435HS + 4060 combination. You should be able to get something with 1TB SSD (and not just 512GB) and maybe 16GB RAM (or have enough spare money to add 8GB of RAM right away). Also check that RAM and SSD are not soldered on the motherboard (so upgradeable) on the chosen model. Also some laptop models have a second (free) NVMe M.2 slot in which you can later add a second NVMe SSD.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the insight on the mobile 4070 vs the mobile 4060. The information is extremely helpful.
 
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lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,774
524
126
WindForceOne said:
I have great trust in Lenovo.
Click to expand...
Worst laptop I ever had was a Lenovo. It was very inexpensive (under $300). I believe it was the low cost not the brand that was the issue. Just know they do put their name on some junk.

Cost has been a better indicator for longevity than brand.

Our cheaper Acer laptops lasted a while but they all died eventually. Swapped parts between 3 identical units to keep them going. Meanwhile our more expensive Acer Nitro has been rock solid for years.

Anyhow I'm sure that Lenovo at Slick Deals will be fine and it looks like a great deal. Hope you like it!
 
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