Spec me a gaming laptop please

[beachBOYken]

Hi

I’m interested in getting myself a gaming laptop, I also own both the PS5 and Xbox series X. I’m thinking of a gaming laptop for games like Manor Lords, Football Manager, Age of Empires, City Skylines and such, mostly strategy type games which are generally better on desktop pc/laptops with keyboard/mouse.

I’ve not owned a laptop In a long time so I’m really not in the know of what kind of budget and spec I need to be able to play the games like I mentioned.

Don’t want anything too fancy just something that is easily capable for the type of games mentioned.

I guess a budget of £1000, as want something that will cover me for the next few years or more and if I do play anything more intensive.

This one took my interest, seems a decent spec and reasonable price, but please advise if there is better around my budget.

MSI Cyborg 15 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 15.6" 144Hz, Intel i7-12650H Gaming Laptop

Order MSI Cyborg 15 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 15.6" 144Hz, Intel i7-12650H Gaming Laptop now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Thanks

 

[beachBOYken]

Aren't those cyborgs the ones with the 45w RTX4060 which pretty much renders them very limited for gaming compared to the competition (close to 2060) plus very short battery life so they don't even tick the productivity / Nvidia Studio functionality unless plugged in.

For that budget the ASUS TUF or Lenovo Legion guarantee a full wattage GPU, well at least typically do, so 120-140w+ plus decent battery and cooling.

Saying that for £899 and with the types of games you're playing the graphics would be fine.

This would be my pick if ocuk bought and with your budget as a hard ceiling.

ASUS TUF GAMING A15 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 15.6" 144Hz, AMD Ryzen R7-7735HS Gaming Laptop

Order ASUS TUF GAMING A15 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 15.6" 144Hz, AMD Ryzen R7-7735HS Gaming Laptop now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Thanks, yeah did see them as well, just not got a clue what’s good and what’s not. Been so long since I owned a laptop.

 

[beachBOYken]

Do you want the laptop for portability or are you just using for gaming at home as if that’s the case a desktop would be better, for context a 4060 laptop gpu isn’t much faster than a desktop GTX1080 from 8 years ago.

At home, but I’ve not got the space for a desktop unfortunately.

Though I guess if there was a compact designed desktop tower I could hook that up to my lg cx oled? And I could then get rid of my Xbox altogether.

 

[beachBOYken]

A GTX1080 is missing a significant number of features that the RTX4060 has.

In terms of raw gaming power, desktop versions are notably quicker than laptop gaming variants (especially depending on wattage).

However, the low wattage laptop RTX (4050/60/70) cards at the 40-70w range are primarily targeted at Nvidia Studio features & productivity rather than just gaming, making the most of laptop flexibility.



You'd have to go a long way to replace your Series X, especially at 4k gaming. It just works and you can spend significant money on a gaming rig to give the same silent 4k output to a TV.

Despite lagging behind desktop counterparts on a GPU vs GPU basis, laptops do still give a good gaming solution.

Want high end then the premium GeForce Now Subscription is a great way to link your xBox and steam library with 4k RTX4080 anywhere from mobile phone to laptop, tablet and TV.

I think that originally linked Asus TUF is a good bet for me, did consider some others with the RTX 4070, but it's one of those things where your budget can spiral for the sake of it. (so much choice ,lol) I can't see myself playing heavy graphically FPS type games on it as I have my consoles for that stuff.

As long as it's fine for games like Manor Lords and other city builders, similar type games I think I should just get what you linked.

I do wonder about City Skylines 2 though but I read thats a struggle even on high end machines due to poor optimisation.

If I did stretch my budget is the below a decent spec?

ASUS TUF GAMING A17 NVIDIA RTX 4070, 16GB, 17.3" 144Hz, AMD Ryzen R9-7940HS Gaming Laptop

Order ASUS TUF GAMING A17 NVIDIA RTX 4070, 16GB, 17.3" 144Hz, AMD Ryzen R9-7940HS Gaming Laptop now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[beachBOYken]

It's one of those where you can keep upping the budget.......

However, with a gaming laptop regardless of spec there is a great leveller that most reviews/reviewers really don't deep dive into, or for channels that seem obviously sponsored by certain brands just dodge completely. The moment you run off battery, performance drops considerably as the GPU runs in lower wattage mode. On some poorly optimised gaming laptops this renders games unplayable at all but the potato'est of graphic settings. Plus battery life drains super quickly on most laptops when gaming on discrete GPU.

I have to say, the new Meteor Lake laptops with the integrated intel Arc can play some games better and longer on battery than much higher spec RTX equipped gaming laptops (when unplugged) as there seems to be less of a performance hit. Again reviews not highlighting this. Example being, my Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro 14 has had some pretty meh reviews on YT, mainly due to benchmarks lagging behind counterparts (it is/was clearly CPU throttled) but it runs silently, has an amazing screen and chassis/keyboard, has ample power and battery life in real word use is genuinely significantly better than the competition. I tried an HP Specter X360 14 (Ultra 7) as everyone has been raving about them. Yes build quality is awesome but battery life is 30% less than my Book4 and unplugged I see no difference in productivity task performance. Gaming on integated Arc is the same on both and GeForce now for anything more demanding.

It's why I like GeForce Now (which runs cities skylines 2 perfectly). I tend to play RTS/Sim games plus X4 Foundations.

That TUF 17 isn't a bad option. You could also consider the ROG Strix which has a better screen, chassis etc and the pretty decent HX i7 processor, albeit with an RTX4060:

ASUS ROG Strix G16 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 16.0" WUXGA 165Hz, Intel i7-13650HX Gaming Laptop

Order ASUS ROG Strix G16 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 16.0" WUXGA 165Hz, Intel i7-13650HX Gaming Laptop now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

I might see what kind of price I can get on the Lenovo slim first, I'm just wondering how much of a real world difference I would notice from a RTX4060 and RTX4070.

By the way I will generally have the laptop plugged in all the time when gaming.

 

[beachBOYken]

The other elephant in the room is fan noise gaming when plugged in and in performance mode. Appreciating everyone has a different tolerance threshold to this and whilst the YT reviews all seem to show the DB meter and ranges, I find what is considered normal range to be really annoying.

If you are buying direct from Lenovo, do consider the wider reviews and warnings/caveats including in the ocuk thread. I would only buy a laptop and especially gaming laptop when in stock for immediate delivery and direct from a trusted online shop or even the high street stores that give you the 30 days easy returns. Over the years, I have had too many genuine issues warranting a return on gaming laptops.

If gaming plugged in then consider the Acer Predator Helios Neo laptops too since battery life isn't a focus for them but performance is. Some real bargains on those at the moment and I think they still have the redemption offer giving a free gaming mouse and 3 year warranty.

Indeed, that's why I would rather order from OCUK with the better service all round.

To be honest Im considering the Asus TUF for £999 on this site, Im pretty sure the games I want to play shouldn't be an issue on that one. Will have a think.

 

[beachBOYken]

At that price you won't be disappointed. The rtx4060 will often outperform or parallel the rtx4070 in a lot of machines. It's only when they have the full power rtx4070 does it pull ahead afew percent.

I just hope the CPU is ok, I also wonder if I can add storage to it, as i'm not sure how long 512gb will last me, if I can add one of them m.2 SSDs drives then great.

 

[beachBOYken]

Pretty much 99.9% sure it has a spare M.2 slot. You can defo upgrade memory etc yourself.

This laptop model version specifically has great reviews consistently everywhere.

You either spend less to get less or a different cheaper brand/sale offer or you spend notably more to get more. It's seemingly the c£1k unicorn halo reference model for gaming at present. This £1k price bracket is much harder to identify the Ultrabook of choice for example than a gaming laptop.

ASUS TUF GAMING A15 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 15.6" 144Hz, AMD Ryzen R7-7735HS Gaming Laptop

Order ASUS TUF GAMING A15 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 15.6" 144Hz, AMD Ryzen R7-7735HS Gaming Laptop now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Ir will likely be this one but that ROG Strix you linked above for an extra £400 looks tempting as well, lol

Just unsure if its worth the extra £400, better CPU and chassis you say and better screen, oh and 1tb storage!

Decisions.

ASUS ROG Strix G16 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 16.0" WUXGA 165Hz, Intel i7-13650HX Gaming Laptop

Order ASUS ROG Strix G16 NVIDIA RTX 4060, 16GB, 16.0" WUXGA 165Hz, Intel i7-13650HX Gaming Laptop now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[beachBOYken]

Got the Rog Strix above in the end, will update my thoughts on it once it’s arrived.

 

[beachBOYken]

I hadn't wanted to influence your final decision too much in the end hence not replying sooner but it is the one I would have made with that budget option.

I like the chassis and keyboard on the Strix, plus as you get the Thunderbolt 4 and USB PD 100w charging options. Means you can happily power from the INIU 140w 27000mha power bank when out about (often on sale from Amazon at £37-£44 if you check the hotukdeals threads)

I have a couple of those and it makes a huge difference.

Well if it’s ****, I can blame you

Thanks for all your help.

 

[beachBOYken]

@beachBOYken had it arrived yet?

Yeah, not done much though, just updating it so far. Got to get used to it as Im a MAC user mostly, so nit used to all the different settings layouts.