Gaming Laptops worth it?

Jae-So

Jae-So

Jae-So

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So ofcourse there are a lot of laptop users here. Are they worth it when considering the price, heat and noise compromises?

I recently bout a mini rig on the MM to be used as a media server/ downstairs rig, but not performing as I hoped (agreed a return). This led me to consider the powerful gaming laptop I've always wanted but never had.

I currently have a main rig i5 750 + GTX 670 SLi. A laptop would be in addition to this rig, but I'm thinking I may as well get a powerful set up if I go for it, hopefully this keeps it relevant 5 years
down the line. Uses would be gaming on the couch, gaming connected to the 4K TV downstairs when I do some serious gaming, gaming at a mates house on occasion and maybe as a media server (connected to the NAS).

Some questions to help me out.

1) How long do gaming laptops last. I would hope for 5 years+ if I'm spending a bomb.
2) Who runs both a desktop and laptop, is it a worth it? I doubt I sell the desktop as it is useful to have.
3) MXM laptops worth it? If so any suggestions on laptops
4) General suggestions, was thinking the 980m version of the MSI GT72, seems to run quite cool/quiet. I love the look of the Aorus (SLi 970m)but man I bet they run hot (recipe for premature death).

I guess I am looking at whether it is worth buying a laptop if I'm mostly running it as second rig in the house. (I've tried streaming, it works, but I'm not 100^ happy with Steam/Nvidia implementations).

Funnily enough I could end up with a laptop more powerful than my main rig (until the main rig upgrade in a year or so).
 
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I'm in a similar position. I've been considering a gaming laptop for a while(although as a desktop replacement) but just can't come to a decision on whether it's worth it. I wish there was somewhere near me where I could compare some of the top end laptops. It's a complete gamble buying a gaming laptop online. I'm concerned about noise and heat and there's only so much you can gauge from watching video reviews/comparisons.

As a starting point I'd really like to know if the larger laptops like Asus, MSI, Alienware, etc have considerably better cooling and quieter fans than the more compact systems like Aorus, Gigabyte, Razer Blade. As i'd prefer a slim looking laptop but if it's going to sound like a hairdryer I'd sooner get something bigger or just stick with my desktop for gaming.
 
I recently bought a Clevo P150sm-a laptop so I could game when away from home. Bought it at auction for £735. It's got an Intel Quad Core i7 4710MQ 2.5GHz, 16GB Ram Memory, Nvidia GTX 970M 6GB Graphics, integrated Intel 4600 Graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, optical dvd drive, 1TB Hard Drive. Has played everything I've tried at 60 frames with a mix of high/ultra settings easily (Wolfenstein New Order, Mad Max, Just Cause 3, Star Wars Battlefront, etc). Temps at max fan are fine but the fan is loud, I always play with headphones so doesn't bother me but could be annoying for people in same room.

How long will a gaming laptop last? Depends on if you want to run the latest AAA titles at 60 fps on max settings? If your willing to drop some settings you could be fine for a few years.

Running both a desktop and laptop is worth it for me at this point in time, it's down to the individual to decide if it's worth it for them.

My laptop is MXM, so in theory I could upgrade my graphics card in the future but from the little research I've done on the subject laptop graphics cards are expensive and hard to come by in the UK, plus it's not as simple as swapping out, the motherboard has to be compatible which generally involves a bios flash of both graphics card and mobo.

The full fat 980 has been released in various laptops that provides the same level of performance as the original desktop graphics card. The laptop is expensive but should last a long time and would be a better buy than sli 970m as you don't have to worry about drivers.
 
I've been using 'low grade' gaming laptops for the past few years and recently upgraded to an Asus G751JT from my old Sony VAIO , which lasted a good five years or so before it really started to show its age.

The reason I tend to go for laptops over desktops is basically that I don't have the room for a big desktop system and I love the portability of having a laptop. My Asus beast is very similarly specced to Mariusz's one, with an i7-4720HQ, GTX970m, 16Gb of RAM, 256Gb SSD and a 1Tb HDD, and it plays everything I've thrown at it so far without any problems. I plan on keeping it for at least four years as I'm not too concerned about it getting too much out of date by then.

Before I went for the Asus I weighed up my options and looked at which Clevo-based custom systems, Gigabyte/Aorus and MSI laptops (amongst others) that were in my budget and basically just read an absolute ton of reviews to help me make a decision.

I decided on the Asus because all of the reviews remarked on how quiet and cool the system ran and how good its screen, keyboard and performance was. Coming from the VAIO, which did sound a bit like a hairdryer under load, the Asus is whisper-quiet all of the time, which is very impressive. I loved the look of the Aorus too, but have read reviews saying that it's very noisy.

In terms of upgradeability, you're actually best just to resign to the fact that if you're looking to buy a laptop, the specs it has when you buy it will be the specs that it will always have, as many of the components that are upgradable on desktops (such as CPU, Graphics Card, etc) are often soldered to the MoBo and are therefore non-upgradable.
 
clockwork.satan said:
I decided on the Asus because all of the reviews remarked on how quiet and cool the system ran and how good its screen, keyboard and performance was. Coming from the VAIO, which did sound a bit like a hairdryer under load, the Asus is whisper-quiet all of the time, which is very impressive. I loved the look of the Aorus too, but have read reviews saying that it's very noisy.
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That's really useful to hear from someone who actually owns one. Despite it looking quite large I do think the Asus series look really nice and well made. So if it really is that quiet and cool I'll take a look at what they've got. They seem to have bought out a few new models in the last couple of months. Main difference seems to be the G-Sync.
 
Yes Aorus can be a little noisy while gaming, but some tweaking can significantly decrease CPU temperatures (setting the performance to max 80% in power options and re-pasting with a better thermal compound). I haven't owned Asus gaming laptop but the reviews say they are the quietest ones.

Gaming laptop can be useful especially if you travel a lot and stay on different places for few days and then move to other place etc. If you don't really need it and don't have excessive money, I don't see a reason in buying it.
 
spengos said:
That's really useful to hear from someone who actually owns one. Despite it looking quite large I do think the Asus series look really nice and well made. So if it really is that quiet and cool I'll take a look at what they've got. They seem to have bought out a few new models in the last couple of months. Main difference seems to be the G-Sync.
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Yup, the G752 was just released (infuriatingly, I might add as I didn't know this when I bought my G751!) which adds G-Sync and Skylake CPU's to the mix and looks very different aesthetically speaking.
 
Whichever laptop you get if it doesn't have one add an ssd. I've added two msata ssd's to mine. Window boots up quicker, programs load faster, laptop feels snappier. They also have no moving parts so quieter than a traditional hard drive, they are cooler and use less power, ideal for a laptop.

Only thing I miss when I game on my laptop is the G-Sync screen my desktop has. The smaller HD screen is fine just wish it was an Asus Rog Swift squeezed in :D

What's your budget for the laptop?
 
Yeh I do travel a lot for work, but I tend to just take my tablet. Too busy on trips to do much gaming. The rig would mainly be for gaming on the couch so I don't have to be antisocial and away from the Mrs while she watches her shows. Perhaps not the best reason but would also use it when visiting mates or the occasional long trip abroad.

Budget? I was thinking £1,500. Want something fairly powerful but decently cool/quiet (I know, don't usually come together lol).

The main games would be the RTS type games, but I do want to be able to play AAA games. The AAA ones don't need to be at max settings in 5 years lol. I'd link to be able to play action adventure games (an example I play with my wife is The Lego games) /RTS at 4K res, when I connect to the big TV.

Oh when I talked about lasting for 5 years, I mainly meant durability. While I'd like the GPU to keep up decently well, I'm also concerned about build quality and the laptop not getting issues from heat.
 
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Ahem.

A gaming laptop can be very useful, especially if you travel somewhat, however they can also be very loud. So a larger one would be quieter due to the larger area for cooling.
 
Hahah that gif :D

Yeh that's why I was thinking about the MSI GT72. The Gigabyte and Aorus look very sleek but I'm thinking they have crazy noise/heat.
 
The Acer Predator G9 also looks pretty slick, but I wonder about the value of 4K at 17 inches.

Also the Asus G751, looks cooler/quieter than even the MSI. Pricey though
 
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For the last 5 years or so I used to get low end gaming laptops so I could game in the living room. I never got anything too high end because of the cost, noise and heat it would generate. My current laptop has an Nvidia 750M which is ok for basic games but I mainly use it to stream games from my desktop using steam. I've only ever tried it using a 1GB cabled connection but I'm really impressed by it. My desktop has a Nvidia 970 and I'm able to stream pretty much any game in 1080p at 60FPS and no noticeable input lag. Maybe it could be an option to pick up a cheap laptop with a decent screen. Although it won't help you if you if you want to game at a mates house.
 
Silent Bob said:
I mainly use it to stream games from my desktop using steam. I've only ever tried it using a 1GB cabled connection but I'm really impressed by it. My desktop has a Nvidia 970 and I'm able to stream pretty much any game in 1080p at 60FPS and no noticeable input lag
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I might think about doing that once my current laptop gets a bit long in the tooth. I need to somehow convince my other half of the benefits of having a gaming rig in the livingroom beneath the TV, though. Which could be difficult.
 
Yeh Ive use streaming before - Through Steam and also nVidia Gamestream. Not bad but not perfect.

I wonder whether a good option is to sell my current rig and get a micro ATX rig that I can lug around the house.
 
Yeh after quite a bit of thinking and umming and ah'ing about a gamer laptop on new smaller rig. I'm just going to stick with what I have and make streaming work. Can't justify paying nearly £2,000 for a rig.

Fingers crossed!

Sorry if this was a waste of time for you guys. The worst part about me is my indecisiveness :D
 
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Whether it's ATX or ITX it's still not portable like a laptop though. You'll have a screen, keyboard, mouse and cables to deal with and setup all the time. Sounds like living with that setup would get old quick.

I think you need to consider the reasons you need a laptop and most importantly what games you want to be playing. If you want to play the latest games for the next 5 years then you need to spend £2k on a top spec laptop and at this point you may as well replace your desktop and sell it on to make some of that £2k back while it's still worth something.

On the other hand if you're just a casual gamer or happy playing older titles or maybe mobas, mmos, then you could get something less powerful(much cheaper) and just accept the fact that it's at least a way for you to play *something* when out and about.
 
Ultimately whether a gaming laptop is worth it or not will depend on your current requirements. I bought one a while back as a companion to my main PC as we didn't have the room for two complete gaming PC's (playing co-op). Now though it mainly gets used as a encoding / transcoding machine as my wife isn't really interested in co-op PC gaming (I can thank the Xbone / PS4 for that).

If I was buy another one again I would probably get something more mid range (mine was "top end" when new). I remember spending hours tweaking the crap out of a M11X R1 (Pin mod on the CPU, Bios unlock & volt mod on the GPU) in an attempt to get it to run BF3. There was something satisfying about getting games running on hardware that they really shouldn't run on.
 
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