Gaming laptop

I'm possibly going to be living abroad for a bit over a year, and was thinking this would be a good moment to get a good gaming laptop, mainly because of its mobility. I want it to be a good/great gaming machine, and also work as a workstation for programming.

I've been searching around for a bit, and found a very powerful one. The Asus ROG G750JY

It's one of the most powerful ones from what I can see. The variant I saw at my local retailer comes with 24 gigs of ram, a 980m gtx with 8 gigs of vram, 2 ssds @ 128 gigs and magnetic drive at 1 tera-byte (also some extra stuff: bluray drive, thunderbolt port). Anyway, it's obviouly more than capable, and it's also quite expensive. Basically, it would be almost a mobile version of the desktop I have.

And it would be great for the time I'll be away, but I'm starting to think what I'm going to do with it once I'm back. I guess it will be useful for other traveling situations, but honestly, I don't tend to travel that much. I guess what I'm doing with this thread, is trying to see if I'm just feeding my own hype into getting that laptop.

So, what do you guys think?

I have an Alienware M17x R4 and I love it. It's great for lounging around on and viewing that beautiful 17" screen. It's nice to play games in bed as well, and I even have it set up to where I can make HD videos while laying in bed on it. Really nice, convenience, luxury type thing.

I spend more time on my desktop nowadays but it's still nice to have. A good gaming laptop is a sexy purchase.

If you'll be away for just one year, I see no reason to buy something as expensive as that.
That laptop is simply an overkill. I mean... What do you need 8 gigs of VRAM for?
Oh I know, for ultra on Shadows of Mordor. And no other game! It's just...
I'd buy something cheaper that won't run everything maxed, but would be decent enough to get my any games fix which means something that can roll TW3 on medium settings.

If however your pockets are deep and you won't even notice the cash invested into this ROG, do buy it. More people buys this stuff, more pricedrops that hardware will get.

I find it odd that Nvidia would even make a mobile GPU with that much VRAM. More than half of that will likely never be used. I suppose it doesn't hurt though…

I recently bought a high end gaming laptop with specs very similar to that one, for instance, I have the gtx 980M with 8gb VRAM, except I don't have the 24 GB of normal ram, (that is ridiculously overkill in my humble opinion)

I highly recommend getting the Nvidia high end card for the laptop, I can attest that it has been awesome for gaming. I have been playing modern games and everything I have tried is as smooth as butter, no lag or stuttering, and playing at max settings, or near max settings in most games. I really think the 8gb vram helps, and the graphics are just beautiful, whether it be the Witcher 3, or Far Cry 3, or last years Tomb Raider, it just is a lot of fun to game on this kind of a powerful video card and machine.

And another thing I recently found out, is this video card already has full support for directx 12 baked into it, (they call it "Maxwell") so when I do upgrade to windows 10 eventually, I already have a video card that can take full advantage of the new technology and power of directx 12.

My philosophy is I think it is necessary to pay for and get a good machine, because I always say, you get what you pay for. My situation is that I only use my laptop as my primary computer, and so it is worth it to get a high end machine, as I don't have a desktop, nor will I buy one any more. (I don't like desktops any longer, I'm on the go a lot, out and about, and I love to take my computer with me a lot of the time. Portability and a small form factor are huge advantages for me) Your situation is obviously different, but I would still get the high end laptop, if I were you.

Oh, and also laptops have just gotten more and more powerful with the new tech these days. They used to be far outclassed by desktop gaming computers, but now they are getting much closer. The video cards are getting more powerful, and just about everything is being miniaturized, and new tech is making laptops ever closer to the desktop power. One day in the future, I think laptops will be on the exact same level as the desktops. The nvidia gtx 980M card is said to be 75% of the desktop potency counterpart video card.

I honestly see desktops as becoming dinosaurs in the future, but I'm biased in my opinion ...I just love the laptop computers these days. And they will just keep getting more powerful and better too, as the tech keeps improving.

I don't always agree with Joxer and he often makes very strong remarks, but I'm with him on this.

If you have tons of money and it won't hurt your pockets, then why not.

Otherwise, use some of it to fund a trip wherever you're going for the year. I'm sure there are tons of things to see and do.

Scuba diving costs a few hundred bucks. Renting a car and driving around will cost a few hundred bucks

Also, no idea where you are now, and where you are going or what you are going to do, but I'd say, buy a laptop that runs a few games you like, but spend more time doing and experiencing things you haven't tried before.

Buy it. You will love it. They are sleek, sexy and beautiful machines. Plus, high resolution screens with nice glossy finishes and good color make everything look great on them.

Just get yourself a wireless mouse to game with by your side, lay in bed and game away.

I love my gaming laptop and don't think I would go back to a Desk top. The one advantage alienware has over most is the upgradable video card down the road.

Though my next one I might lean towards a MSI gaming one.

Now if money is no object you could buy this:


MSI GT80 Titan 2QE SLI 263-HID6 18.4" (i7-5950HQ 2.9-3.7GHz / Dual SLI GTX 980M 16GB / 2048GB RAID SSD + 2TB SSD / 32GB RAM / BD-RE)

Price: CDN$ 9,162.94

• CPU: 5th Generation Intel® CoreTM i7-5950HQ Quad Core Processor, 2.9-3.7 GHz
• GPU: Dual nVIDIA® GeForceTM GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5 in SLI (16GB total vRAM)
• RAM: 32GB DDR3L 1600 MHz (4 x 8GB), Hard Drive: 2048GB "Super RAID 3" SSD (main) + 2TB SSD (storage)
• DISPLAY: 18.4" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Antiglare True Color, OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit (FREE upgrade to Windows 10)
• WARRANTY: 2 Year Warranty


But based on the price of the one you priced out I would say this is the one you would want"

MSI GT80 Titan SLI Gaming Notebook -18.4" FHD, Intel® Core™ i7, 24GB DDR3L, GeForce GTX 980M SLI, 1TB HDD, 256GB SSD, Dynaudio 2.1, CherryMX Switch, Backlit Keyboard, Windows 8.1 - GT80 2QE-033US
Item#: MQR-300793857 | Model#: GT80 2QE-033US
FREE UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 10 CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Be the first to write a review
Price: $4,19999

It has a bigger screen and I would trust MSI over Asus.

Fluent said:

A good gaming laptop is a sexy purchase.

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Is it? Gaming laptops look horribly nerdy to me and definetively will decrease my chances of having any sex whatsoever. When buying laptop for me or my gaming friends I try to stay away from them.

I heard that Skylakes integrated graphic card will be quite decent. Anyone know if it might be powerful enough to run games like europa universalis 4?

@danuts++
I have an ASUS ROG G750JH (2 years). Specs similar to the one you are looking at, only with a gtx 780 and an older CPU. Very happy with it, great performance. Efficient cooling (have been a problem with other laptops I've used for gaming).

I recommend it, but I would like to know why the freezing celt would choose MSI over Asus.

I use it when travelling, also if it's practical to not sit at my desk when playing. For instance when pretending to be social with the wife. I also sometimes use it like a desktop by connecting it to a KVM switch (actually providing a 3 monitor setup).

pibbur who is a citizen in the republic of gamers.

souha13 said:

... Gaming laptops look horribly nerdy...

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As if that is a bad thing.

pibbur who never has found inanimate objects to be sexy.

High-end gaming laptops are of course irresistible to the ladies, particularly if they have extra coloured lights on them.

I couldn't buy one, because I'd always think of what a crazy desktop box I could build for the same money.

I really like my Alienware 15, it's as powerful as a 17 inches laptop and the smaller form factor makes it a lot easier to carry it around. It feels like only a very small downgrade from a powerful desktop. I picked the 980M as an option. I'm very very satisfied so far. The only reason why I still use a desktop is that my IPS desktop screen is higher resolution and has much better contrast ratio and colors.

Also it has a matter screen, which to me is a must, as all these gaming laptops have ultra-glossy screens I can't bear. It also has a traditional, non-chiclets keyboard which is vanishingly rare.

Ripper said:

High-end gaming laptops are of course irresistible to the ladies, particularly if they have extra coloured lights on them.

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Everybody knows that men in their fifties are God's gift to young ladies. So I didn't need things like this back then. Now, after turning 60 that rule no longer applies, so now I definitely need some hi-performance, brightly lighted hardware (Yes, I know this can be interpreted in several ways, some of them naughty, but I choose to be geeky, here) for the purpose of….

…

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pibbur who no longer remembers what said purpose is.

Psst, a nice gaming laptop doesn't have to come all tricked out in terms of crazy paint jobs and lights on it. The one I got is in basic black, with no "bling" on it whatsoever. You wouldn't know it was for gaming from the way it looks until I told you.

Just make sure your laptop's keyboard lights up in the dark. Laser etched keys are amazing for gaming in the dark.

Well one brand that is extremely well built, well cooled (for longevity) great quality: price ratio, pro consumer is Clevo. It's a bit bigger than its competitors but you can easily add hard disks, batteries (no soldered bs), RAM etc within minutes.

We're probably >half way through the upgrade cycle and I'm sure something new and exciting will get announced within a couple of months that might make you regret a purchase today, but that's tech for you.

But if you need a machine now, l would suggest a look at the Clevo P771ZM. It has a desktop CPU if you like things like the Total Wars, Flight sims etc. This gives you more bang/buck than the laptop variants. The 771 also does not use hard soldered components like GPU/CPU so if something fails you can fix it rather than throw the whole thing away. You can customize it in a million ways. Finally it has full win 7 drivers if you don't like the practices Win 10 seems likely to introduce.

Clevo's are nice, but for the ultimate in gaming laptop luxury, buy an Alienware.

I bought a Clevo as well. Very happy with it. 1TB SSD, 1 TB optical, 16 GB ram, 980m. IPS screen. Very good at cooling. All for $2k USD.

I've had a top of the line Alienware before and the Clevo is superior in terms of value and quality. I will never touch another Alienware after my pitiful experience with them.

Toff said:

I bought a Clevo as well. Very happy with it. 1TB SSD, 1 TB optical, 16 GB ram, 980m. IPS screen. Very good at cooling. All for $2k USD.

I've had a top of the line Alienware before and the Clevo is superior in terms of value and quality. I will never touch another Alienware after my pitiful experience with them.

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Though I have never had a problem with my Alienware I don't think I would buy one again. A few people I know with have switched MSI's and Origin.