Laptop for Half-Life: Alyx

Soldato
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I have an MSI GS-63VR which has been great but the 1060 card is going to struggle with anything above minimum settings on HL:Alyx and after waiting so long for a new HL game I want to experience it in VR properly. 8)

I'd love a 2080 card but only if it's not much more than a 2070. My budget is going to be around £2k.

Razors look nice, I'd have another MSI as this one has been great overall (other than the worst speakers I've ever experienced). Asus also look pretty decent too but would be great to hear about other options I've probably missed and opinions too.
 
Associate
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I have an MSI GS-63VR which has been great but the 1060 card is going to struggle with anything above minimum settings on HL:Alyx and after waiting so long for a new HL game I want to experience it in VR properly. 8)

I'd love a 2080 card but only if it's not much more than a 2070. My budget is going to be around £2k.

Razors look nice, I'd have another MSI as this one has been great overall (other than the worst speakers I've ever experienced). Asus also look pretty decent too but would be great to hear about other options I've probably missed and opinions too.

Razers looks nice, performance is a different matter.

MSI, nope. See the link in my sig for why.

Asus, £ to performance for VR isn't in your budget.

~£2,200 will get you a bespoke built laptop with an I7-9700K desktop CPU, RTX 2080, 16GB, 144Hz display, 500GB NVMe SSD that will give you an amazing VR experience.
 
Soldato
OP
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25 Sep 2003
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Where can I look to build a bespoke laptop? Sounds interesting! I could stretch a bit for an Asus if it's worth it?

I guess I'm looking for:

15" / 17"
16/32GB RAM
2070/2080 (not max-q)
Fast Wifi (ideally not Killer Wifi, I always seem to have issues with Killer)
1TB SSD + 1TB HDD (poss 512GB SSD / 1TB HDD)
 
Associate
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A quick web search seems to suggest that an eGPU will work through the thunderbolt port. Maybe get an enclosure and desktop GPU?
 
Associate
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Interesting. A lot worse? If maybe 10% worse but 25% cheaper than a replacement laptop upgrade then maybe worth it. I'm pulling numbers out of thin air, I have no idea
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
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Location
Manchester
Update:
I ended up buying a mint, hardly used second hand Razer 2019 (Early) with 2070 Max-Q for about £1300 around June. Great machine, runs really well for development and games.

Downsides are speakers and keyboard. The keyboard isn't that bad but not as nice as the MSI Steel series plus weird layout so not ideal for dev work but fine.

Materials and fit/finish are top notch.

Stuck a 2tb Samsung SSD in and replaced the thermal paste for Grizzly, sorted!
 
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