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Probably Need New Laptop Soon


XRay
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What laptop would you guys recommend? I am thinking of a price between $1,000 to $1,500, preferably on the lower side. I want it to have a backlit keyboard. I also want it to be good enough to at least play Skyrim with mods on medium or high graphics setting, and maybe City Skylines and Total War too if possible.

The only brand I do not want is Lenovo, but other than that, I do not care too much about brands.

My primary laptop's power button stopped working, so I might need to get a new one and transfer my data over. I have a backup laptop my dad bought me years ago, but the operating system is in Chinese. I can surf the Internet just fine, but doing anything else on the laptop is a pain in the ass since it takes me a long time to read and comprehend the characters.

Edited by XRay
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39 minutes ago, XRay said:

The only brand I do not want is Lenovo, but other than that, I do not care too much about brands. 

Oh wow, so I'm not the only one who had a bad experience with this one. I got a Lenovo in spring to replace my old laptop because the old one just wasn't powerful enough to do what I needed it to anymore, and it slowed down a lot (and also crashed several times). The Lenovo I got malfunctioned TWO WEEKS after I got it. Thankfully, I was able to return it to Best Buy and trade it for the OMEN I've been using since. I even got $100 back because the OMEN was cheaper!

Before this I had a couple Dell laptops. That's a brand I don't recommend either, I consistently had issues with them. The first one completely failed only a year after I got it and it turned out that this issue wasn't uncommon in that particular model. Dell's desktops are great, but their laptops suck. Dunno why.

All I can say is, just research different brands and their specifications. Look at the processing power, graphics card, memory, all that stuff. That's what I had to do. Helps to look at reviews too. Just a sidenote though, gaming laptops will be more expensive. So figure out whether you want one for gaming or for business/school/whatever or even both. Know if you want things like a touchscreen or not. I wanted a touchscreen originally, but that ups the price, and I didn't want to pay that much at the time.

Edited by Anacybele
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23 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Oh wow, so I'm not the only one who had a bad experience with this one. I got a Lenovo in spring to replace my old laptop because the old one just wasn't powerful enough to do what I needed it to anymore, and it slowed down a lot (and also crashed several times). The Lenovo I got malfunctioned TWO WEEKS after I got it. Thankfully, I was able to return it to Best Buy and trade it for the OMEN I've been using since. I even got $100 back because the OMEN was cheaper!

Before this I had a couple Dell laptops. That's a brand I don't recommend either, I consistently had issues with them. The first one completely failed only a year after I got it and it turned out that this issue wasn't uncommon in that particular model. Dell's desktops are great, but their laptops suck. Dunno why.

All I can say is, just research different brands and their specifications. Look at the processing power, graphics card, memory, all that stuff. That's what I had to do. Helps to look at reviews too. Just a sidenote though, gaming laptops will be more expensive. So figure out whether you want one for gaming or for business/school/whatever or even both. Know if you want things like a touchscreen or not. I wanted a touchscreen originally, but that ups the price, and I didn't want to pay that much at the time.

I am thinking of an i5 (not sure what the AMD equivalent is) and preferably 16 GB of RAM. I am more flexible on the graphics card since Skyrim is pretty old so I only need a mid range graphics card at best. I think I might need 1TB hard drive for Skyrim, although I think I can manage just fine with 500 GB since I have a back up external hard drive.

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I got a question: Since you're planning to get a Switch (not sure if you've gotten one already; if so, congrats), why mull over wanting to play Skyrim on the PC when you can play that on the Switch? Ditto for The Witcher 3, if you're into that

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34 minutes ago, Karimlan said:

I got a question: Since you're planning to get a Switch (not sure if you've gotten one already; if so, congrats), why mull over wanting to play Skyrim on the PC when you can play that on the Switch? Ditto for The Witcher 3, if you're into that

I will have to delay getting the Switch further.

I want Skyrim for the PC since I get access to titillating mods.

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7 hours ago, XRay said:

I am thinking of an i5 (not sure what the AMD equivalent is) and preferably 16 GB of RAM. I am more flexible on the graphics card since Skyrim is pretty old so I only need a mid range graphics card at best. I think I might need 1TB hard drive for Skyrim, although I think I can manage just fine with 500 GB since I have a back up external hard drive.

That's probably fine then. I'm no expert though, you'd be best off asking someone at a Best Buy or other place that has computer knowledge if you really want to be certain.

I had to get something powerful because I wanted to play Planet Coaster, which has crazy requirements. >_<

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If all you want to do is play Skyrim on medium, you are way over budget. Frankly, at that spending point you should be looking for an RTX 2070 on sale price. However, since I assume that's overkill for what you asked for my advice would be to stay under $800. Make sure you have at least four cores, at least i5, don't buy off of ebay/amazon etc.

Edited by Xander
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1 hour ago, Xander said:

If all you want to do is play Skyrim on medium, you are way over budget. Frankly, at that spending point you should be looking for an RTX 2070 on sale price. However, since I assume that's overkill for what you asked for my advice would be to stay under $800. Make sure you have at least four cores, at least i5, don't buy off of ebay/amazon etc.

I see. I am a bit hesitant going under $1,000 since the CPU, RAM, or storage might not be enough, but I will check them out.

1 hour ago, Captain Karnage said:

TBH, I think you would be better off just getting a PC, yeet that laptop across the yard, that PC will last you a much longer time and can be upgraded fairly easily. 

I do not need my PC to be lightweight, but I do need it to be portable since I like to move it around a lot, especially when I travel.

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19 minutes ago, Zihark11 said:

if your gonna spend up to 1500 you should just build a PC unless you really need a Laptop for some reason.

I like the portability of laptops when I travel. I travel pretty light, so I do not mind a carrying around a laptop. I do not need it to be light weight since I usually leave it at home or a hotel and just use my phone for when I am out and about, but I like the ability to access my computer no matter where I go at the end of the day.

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1 minute ago, XRay said:

I like the portability of laptops when I travel. I travel pretty light, so I do not mind a carrying around a laptop. I do not need it to be light weight since I usually leave it at home or a hotel and just use my phone for when I am out and about, but I like the ability to access my computer no matter where I go at the end of the day.

Ah ok fair enough. i would reccommend Lenovo but it seems youve had bad experiences with them. I work with Lenovo laptops and pcs everyday and i can say they are reliable machines. My government (Canada, BC) is provided all with Lenovo from Ram to tinies. You obviously would want to get the latest model availble for the best experience. T590s, T490s are the newest models fo i5 processors. obviously you can get higher versions if you want for say your gaming needs etc. 

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I recommend neither Dell or Lenovo.  I've worked with both, and they have issues.  I can tell you the horror stories if you're interested.

If you're looking to game and have a $1,500 budget, I suggest building your own gaming PC, then using the extra money to buy a Chromebook for on-the-go (but not a Samsung, the screens break if you look at them wrong).

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4 hours ago, XRay said:

I see. I am a bit hesitant going under $1,000 since the CPU, RAM, or storage might not be enough, but I will check them out.

I do not need my PC to be lightweight, but I do need it to be portable since I like to move it around a lot, especially when I travel.

My dell "gaming" laptop from five years ago was purchased at the time for $800 and it had a 960M, i5, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD. Imagine what you could get today for that price. Hell, those stats check off all of your boxes in the OP, and that computer today (the last time I checked) goes for $600 new.

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2 hours ago, eclipse said:

I recommend neither Dell or Lenovo.  I've worked with both, and they have issues.  I can tell you the horror stories if you're interested.

If you're looking to game and have a $1,500 budget, I suggest building your own gaming PC, then using the extra money to buy a Chromebook for on-the-go (but not a Samsung, the screens break if you look at them wrong).

Yeah, but I cannot play Skyrim on a Chromebook. But I think it is a good idea to get a cheaper laptop and get a Chromebook too.

39 minutes ago, Xander said:

My dell "gaming" laptop from five years ago was purchased at the time for $800 and it had a 960M, i5, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD. Imagine what you could get today for that price. Hell, those stats check off all of your boxes in the OP, and that computer today (the last time I checked) goes for $600 new.

8 GB RAM feels a bit small and I think I need at least 500 GB storage. My primary laptop already used up 250 GB worth of space, so I think the minimum I will need is 500 GB once I factor in Skyrim and mods. I think you have a point though and I should probably aim for $1,000 or less, although I am tempted to spend a bit more to play more modern games.

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Just now, XRay said:

Yeah, but I cannot play Skyrim on a Chromebook. But I think it is a good idea to get a cheaper laptop and get a Chromebook too.

8 GB RAM feels a bit small and I think I need at least 500 GB storage. My primary laptop already used up 250 GB worth of space, so I think the minimum I will need is 500 GB once I factor in Skyrim and mods. I think you have a point though and I should probably aim for $1,000 or less, although I am tempted to spend a bit more to play more modern games.

You will be wasting your own money if you spend $1500 on a laptop without future proofing in mind. As a different example to prove my point, an alienware 17 from 2017 goes for ~800 open box right now and comes with an i7-67/7700, GTX 1070 (this thing came out 2 years ago and will still be able to play games 5 years from now, not to mention it is a model that works with the graphics amplifier, which can further extend its life) 1 TB HDD + 128 SSD Hybrid drive. I understand you probably don't want an old alienware (though you may want the newer ones, they are in your price range and the lunar light machines don't even scream gaming computer, so you don't have to be ashamed to be seen in public with it), however at your price range with your specifications and the assumption that you are not worried about future gaming titles etc. I would recommend you buy one of the previous generation dell XPS machines (make sure it comes with a GPU). You should be able to find one with all of the specs you desire for a fair price, though since it is previous generation, you will not be able to purchase from their site without getting charged much more than it is worth at this point in time.

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8 minutes ago, XRay said:

Yeah, but I cannot play Skyrim on a Chromebook. But I think it is a good idea to get a cheaper laptop and get a Chromebook too.

I think you missed the "build a proper gaming PC" portion.

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1 minute ago, eclipse said:

I think you missed the "build a proper gaming PC" portion.

A desktop PC is not portable though. I like to be able to take my PC with me when I travel.

3 minutes ago, Xander said:

You will be wasting your own money if you spend $1500 on a laptop without future proofing in mind. As a different example to prove my point, an alienware 17 from 2017 goes for ~800 open box right now and comes with an i7-67/7700, GTX 1070 (this thing came out 2 years ago and will still be able to play games 5 years from now, not to mention it is a model that works with the graphics amplifier, which can further extend its life) 1 TB HDD + 128 SSD Hybrid drive. I understand you probably don't want an old alienware (though you may want the newer ones, they are in your price range and the lunar light machines don't even scream gaming computer, so you don't have to be ashamed to be seen in public with it), however at your price range with your specifications and the assumption that you are not worried about future gaming titles etc. I would recommend you buy one of the previous generation dell XPS machines (make sure it comes with a GPU). You should be able to find one with all of the specs you desire for a fair price, though since it is previous generation, you will not be able to purchase from their site without getting charged much more than it is worth at this point in time.

Cool, I think I will check Alienware out then.

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3 minutes ago, XRay said:

A desktop PC is not portable though. I like to be able to take my PC with me when I travel.

You hack out something like Skyrim while you travel?

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11 minutes ago, eclipse said:

You hack out something like Skyrim while you travel?

I would like to. I have not brought my laptop with me for the past few years when I traveled since it is old and kind of fragile, but when I was in high school through college, I frequently brought my laptop with me when I traveled so I could watch anime, play games (mostly Runescape and Roblox), and more comfortably use Facebook.

32 minutes ago, Xander said:

As a different example to prove my point, an alienware 17 from 2017 goes for ~800 open box right now and comes with an i7-67/7700, GTX 1070 (this thing came out 2 years ago and will still be able to play games 5 years from now, not to mention it is a model that works with the graphics amplifier, which can further extend its life) 1 TB HDD + 128 SSD Hybrid drive.

Where do you go to find one that costs $800? The lowest price I can find is like around $1,000. I am checking out Amazon and Newegg for refurbished ones since I do not think there is a huge difference between brand new and patched up.

This HP Omen Pro seems like a pretty good deal on Newegg. It has Quadro instead of GeForce so I am not sure if that is a decent graphics card since I am not too familiar with the Quadro line.

Edited by XRay
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12 minutes ago, XRay said:

I would like to. I have not brought my laptop with me for the past few years when I traveled since it is old and kind of fragile, but when I was in high school through college, I frequently brought my laptop with me when I traveled so I could watch anime, play games (mostly Runescape and Roblox), and more comfortably use Facebook.

Where do you go to find one that costs $800? The lowest price I can find is like around $1,000. I am checking out Amazon and Newegg for refurbished ones since I do not think there is a huge difference between brand new and patched up.

This HP Omen Pro seems like a pretty good deal on Newegg. It has Quadro instead of GeForce so I am not sure if that is a decent graphics card since I am not too familiar with the Quadro line.

I will help you out here. However, you need to be honest with me, as well as yourself. How much are you willing to spend? No price range, an exact amount. What minimum specs do you want? 

Edited by Xander
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1 minute ago, Xander said:

I will help you out here. However, you need to be honest with me, as well as yourself. How much are you willing to spend?

Up to $1,500, but I probably want to aim for something between around $1,000 and $1,300, but I do not mind spending less either as long as it got 16 GB RAM, 500 GB storage, and can play Skyrim with mods on medium to high graphics setting.

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