Need a New Laptop, any suggestions?

[WittleBunnBun 149]

Right now, I am using a MSI gaming laptop

Spoiler

Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz, 2601 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    16,0 GB
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
Its main memory is a solid state and it has a secondary hard drive 

 

It is on the way out, crashing, battery dying, pixels breaking, the "a" key stops working when I have to type my long papers, its about 3 years old 

 

I dont want to invest 2 grand again into a laptop, but I want one that will run smoothly. I want to stay away from MSI, but what brands have good laptops? 

 

I am thinking maybe an Acer, but I am not sure. All I would be using this laptop for is Wurm, some other lightweight gaming, and then maybe some video editing and Word. 

 

Any suggestions? 

[elentari 2,660]

3 years is quite short for a gaming laptop , lifetime wise. Assuming you've been constantly using it I get the feeling temperature issues might have reduced its lifespan.

As a recommendation, I've had good experiences with Acer and Dell laptops.

 

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/dell-g5-15-gaming-laptop/spd/g-series-15-5587-laptop

 

The main issue with laptops is not just your yearly dust cleaning (although I'd recommend at least once every 6 months) but changing the thermal paste yearly. My old dell laptop lasted 9 years (and I mostly played Wurm on it)  just by dusting it and making sure it had good thermal conductibility.

 

2 grand tho...seems a lot for a laptop to be honest. I invested less than 1000$ on this one: PC Gaming Diaxxa Light Intel i5 9400F 2.9GHz SSD 960GB 16GB DDR4 RX 580 OC 8GB diaxxa_lightgaming_i59400FRX580. https://www.cel.ro/calculatoare-desktop/pc-gaming-diaxxa-light-intel-i5-9400f-2-9ghz-ssd-960gb-16gb-ddr4-rx-580-oc-8gb-pMCAxNTMnNw-l/ Converted it would be 741 $. Not saying you can't find better offers, just pointing out it might be ideal to order from outside of the US.

 

You'd be better off ordering it from abroad, like Eastern Europe where PCs and parts are cheaper and of the same quality.

 

[WittleBunnBun 149]

3 minutes ago, elentari said:

3 years is quite short for a gaming laptop

Its actually a lot longer than most of my laptops tbh. I am very rough and constantly moving them. I have a special backpack that is super padded for them, but yeah. They just dont last long with me. I feel like I am on it though from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep (when im not working) and so I get a lot of usage out of it. 

 

5 minutes ago, elentari said:

I get the feeling temperature issues might have reduced its lifespan.

This has been a lot of my issues in the past. This MSI has turbo fans so it stays cold when they are on, but it takes a lot of engery and if they are not on, it heats up pretty quickly. I should really re paste, but I dont trust myself to do so. My older brother has done it for me in the past, but hes across the ocean from me now xD 

 

6 minutes ago, elentari said:

PC Gaming Diaxxa Light Intel i5 9400F 2.9GHz SSD 960GB 16GB DDR4 RX 580 OC 8GB diaxxa_lightgaming_i59400FRX580.

Imma take a look at this. Thank you ! and Yeah, I live in Germany so wouldn't be purchasing from America either way. 

Thank you for the great input!!! This is really helpful 😊🐰

[TheTrickster 2,279]

I have an Acer.  Not high end, a Spin (2 in 1).

I have no real issues with performance.  It isn't spectacular but I didn't pay for spectacular.

It does have a mechanic issue, though.  The "drag" on the hinges causes unequal flex between the outer shell and framing around the screen, and the little moulded lugs are not strong enough to hold it together at the bottom corners.  The result is that the inside half stays rigid but the shell flexes when opening and closing - which has caused cracking near the hinges, which weakens it further and accelerates the whole process.  Both sides have split, one of them in two places.  Currently it is "mended" with CA glue and crossed fingers.

 

[Bakhita 515]

This is a good reminder for me. I have an MSI gaming laptop and it’s started running really hot. I didn’t know you could get the paste replaced (you can put what I know about computer mechanics on a pinhead). I’ll have to see if mine is still under warranty and get that taken in. 
 

For me, the MSI has been the best running laptop I’ve had. I have a friend who swears by ASUS, but I had one of those just before my MSI and within a month or so of owning it, it was overheating. So I traded it in for the MSI. I mostly play on my gaming desktop now, but am currently recuperating from surgery, so I have to ride the couch, which means the MSI is seeing more action! 

[Skatyna 431]

I would say MSI GF75 Thin 95D is the best laptop you can get for about a grand and works very smooth, but you want to stay away from MSI lol. other than that is DELL, but they are a fair bit more xpensive compared to MSI for the same spec. regardless the laptop you get, you need to tune them in, especially for wurm. I mean under-clocking GPU mainly, as while running wurm they always go into overclock when in stock config producing tons of heat.  I have my laptop set up and configured, works very smooth, running wurm on max settings, but capped 60fps (whats the point to have more in wurm). i can run up to 4 wurm clients, way more if others are tuned down and neither GPU nor CPU temperatures exceed 70 degrees Celsius. said that, i use a cooling pad if i run several wurm instances tho. Either way, i personally would never ever get myself an Acer lol. had it, returned it within a week, thanks but never again

[WittleBunnBun 149]

6 hours ago, TheTrickster said:

Currently it is "mended" with CA glue and crossed fingers.

This makes me have less faith in Acer tbh 😅 😂

 

 

5 hours ago, Bakhita said:

For me, the MSI has been the best running laptop I’ve had

Yes, I would have to agree. The only thing I dislike is the speakers on mine are sooooo silent -- my phone has louder speakers. Also, the screen is darker and not as crisp as I would like to have it. 

 

1 hour ago, Skatyna said:

I would say MSI GF75 Thin 95D is the best laptop you can get for about a grand and works very smooth, but you want to stay away from MSI lol.

Y'all getting me talked back into MSI xD 

Wow, after looking at that model, I am seriously thinking of getting that one. Really great specs and soooo much thinner than my big chunky MSI

[Bakhita 515]

28 minutes ago, WittleBunnBun said:

Yes, I would have to agree. The only thing I dislike is the speakers on mine are sooooo silent -- my phone has louder speakers. Also, the screen is darker and not as crisp as I would like to have it. 

100% agree with both of these things, Bunn. 

[Pandalet 1,848]

Personally, I quite like Lenovo laptops, but you have to pay double extra for decent graphics.  They do last basically forever, though (or at least, mine do).

[Finnn 3,298]

Does it have to be a laptop, do you travel or take it out with you often?

If it's only to move between desk/couch... you'll get "a bit more" performance for your buck buying a pc instead and it's much easier to maintain/repair/upgrade

[WittleBunnBun 149]

31 minutes ago, Finnn said:

Does it have to be a laptop, do you travel or take it out with you often?

If it's only to move between desk/couch... you'll get "a bit more" performance for your buck buying a pc instead and it's much easier to maintain/repair/upgrade

I wish it were only desk to couch. 
 

no, I commute across country every few days and need my laptop for remote school, etc so a PC ( tho I would love to just use a pc cuz I 100% agree ) would not work in my situation. 

[WittleBunnBun 149]

43 minutes ago, Pandalet said:

Personally, I quite like Lenovo laptops, but you have to pay double extra for decent graphics.  They do last basically forever, though (or at least, mine do).

I like the last forever deal but double extra up front won’t work, sadly. 
 

ty for the recommendation tho! I’ll keep it in mind  

[Skatyna 431]

On 6/22/2020 at 7:29 PM, WittleBunnBun said:

Wow, after looking at that model, I am seriously thinking of getting that one. Really great specs and soooo much thinner than my big chunky MSI

 

If you do, however, make sure to go for 120Hz screen option. Stay away the basic one, can get 144Hz one too, but that will be more expensive. But the 120Hz one gives very nice and crisp view. As regarding the speakers, they are not great, but wouldn't say they are very bad on that model. Mediocre. I do have small 30 quid worth bluetooth speakers connected to it at home, but if i need to watch a movie or something on the laptop speakers it also isnt too bad. 

[WittleBunnBun 149]

18 hours ago, Skatyna said:

 

If you do, however, make sure to go for 120Hz screen option. Stay away the basic one, can get 144Hz one too, but that will be more expensive. But the 120Hz one gives very nice and crisp view. As regarding the speakers, they are not great, but wouldn't say they are very bad on that model. Mediocre. I do have small 30 quid worth bluetooth speakers connected to it at home, but if i need to watch a movie or something on the laptop speakers it also isnt too bad. 

Thanks for the suggestion! I am still looking at the market. I really want to do an exhaustive search. 
 

 

I am currently looking at the MacBook Pro 13 with the 4 thunderbolt ports with the better i5 processor. I would still have a PC at home but the MacBook is offering better durability and performance for my job field. But I am worried how it would handle wurm. 

[Ecrir 887]

Have you looked at any of the laptops with a Ryzen 4000 cpu? Those cpus are incredible bang for your buck. For example a Dell G5 15 SE or Lenovo Legion 5?

[Alpengeist 86]

Agree with Ecrir. The Dell G5 15 laptop has been outstanding for us in terms of reliability and ability to run demanding stuff with complete ease. Wurm, Rust, whatever, and multiple tasks without slow down. For the money, we're super happy with this one.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Alpengeist
It's a G5 15

[Hammer 44]

I've spent a lot of time looking at laptop offers over the years. I was a die-hard Dell computer owner for many years because all the Dell computers we had purchased ran for a very long time without major issues (one desktop lasted more than 10 years). But when you buy a Dell you're paying for the name more than anything. Most computer parts nowadays all come from China. MSI is a very China-based brand. When I lived in China I was always seeing deals on Taobao (Chinese Amazon) for MSI computers. One of my friends bought one for gaming and it held up pretty well, but yes, the fans were large and robust, and created a lot of heat. 

 

More power = more heat from the processor. You won't need much power for playing Wurm or other occasional things. I recommend you get an i5 microprocessor at the least. You could get a more powerful computer and run it on power saver, then switch it up to performance mode when you need to run heavier programs. 

 

I started buying from a company called CyberPowerPC. They let you configure parts to certain computers, and then you can get exactly what you want. They also have some gaming laptops to choose from, if you don't want to be bothered with looking at all the parts. Some of them should fall within your budget.

 

I've had my Cyberpower desktop for around 7 years and it still runs like a champ. When I ordered it I actually compared it part-by-part to the closest machine available from Dell to compare price, and the Dell computer was almost exactly double the Cyberpower price. As a nice bonus, the Cyberpower computer has cool lights and looks more interesting. You might want to check them out. 

 

I have a friend that uses iBUYPOWER, and I checked their deals a few times. They are similar with Cyberpower but I think their stuff has a little higher cost and needlessly more expensive parts. I'm using a CyberpowerPC laptop right now, with no regrets. Hope you find what you're looking for.

 

https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

 

[WittleBunnBun 149]

On 6/27/2020 at 4:27 PM, Ecrir said:

Have you looked at any of the laptops with a Ryzen 4000 cpu? Those cpus are incredible bang for your buck. For example a Dell G5 15 SE or Lenovo Legion 5?

 

On 6/27/2020 at 8:49 PM, Alpengeist said:

Agree with Ecrir. The Dell G5 15 laptop has been outstanding for us in terms of reliability and ability to run demanding stuff with complete ease. Wurm, Rust, whatever, and multiple tasks without slow down. For the money, we're super happy with this one.

 

 

 

This is a great recommendation, thank you. I will definitely check these out. 

 

 

On 6/28/2020 at 5:05 AM, Hammer said:

I'm using a CyberpowerPC laptop right now, with no regrets.

Interesting, I haven't heard of them before. I am wondering if they ship to europe. Then again, I am more looking to pick up a laptop in person due to not trusting online deliveries right now because of corona. None of my packages seem to ever come on time anymore. 

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

On 6/22/2020 at 2:29 PM, WittleBunnBun said:

The only thing I dislike is the speakers on mine are sooooo silent -- my phone has louder speakers.

 

might see if this helps:

Here’s How to Increase Your Laptop Speaker Volume

1. Open your Control Panel
2. Select “Sound” under Hardware and Sound
3. Select your speakers, then click Properties
4. Select the Enhancements tab
5. Check Loudness Equalization
6. Click Apply

If your laptop doesn't offer a Enhancements/Loudness Equalization tab, click the link above for alternative options. If you get a headache everytime you try to look for Control Panel, and need the easy-peasy version, this youtube video should help make it easier.

 

 

If that is not enough,  see this youtube video for ways to boost the sound volume using a freeware software named Equalizer APO. it does a lot of fancy stuff that music oriented people appreciate, but it also has a way to just make your laptop sound much much louder.

 

 

 

 

[Alpengeist 86]

I wish I had seen something like this before I paid the new prices XD  (looks like an open-box special on the G5): https://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-G5-15-5587-i7-8750H-16GB-RAM-1TB-HDD-15-6-FHD/324213027371?hash=item4b7c9a322b:g:lXoAAOSw5RRe-Sn5

 

Anyway, good luck on getting a new rig!!