Need advice on reliable gaming laptop brands (UPDATED).....

[GSkid]

I'm looking to possibly upgrade (not for sure) in the next 3-6 months in response to Train Sim World coming out. I'm sure it will run decently on my current laptop (specs in my sig), but it will be 2 years old in December. I'd like to have a fresh set of hardware to christen the new sim with.

My budget is most likely going to be $1000-$2000. I'm looking at a quad-core i7-6700HQ (especially for video editing in 4K) as my most likely CPU choice (although I could see myself possibly waiting for the 7th-gen Kaby Lake processors to hit gaming rigs first).

On the GPU side.... Although most of the gaming laptops in that price range are based on the GTX 960M, 965M and 970M, there are a few based on the new GTX 1060 w/6GB. Not only would the 1060 be the most powerful option (especially for 4K gaming), but it's based on the new lower power Pascal-based architecture. And from a heat perspective in a laptop, lower power means lower heat in general.

I also want a 17-inch display.

On the cheap-end I can get a 1060-based laptop for around $1500. But that depends on which brand I get and config.

Here is the latest results charts from laptop magazine...





I'm leaning towards MSI...although CyberPowerPC is certainly in the running for value. Although of course I've heard some bad things about CyberPowerPC. Not sure if it's true or simply a very vocal minority. If it was that bad, the company would likely be out of business by now. Who knows!?! I'm also looking into possibly getting one from Avadirect. They seem like a quality maker.

All my laptops are HP, but a look at HP's Omen line of laptops comes up short. Their top GPU in them is a GTX 965M. Same with Alienware's laptops. I want more!

I'm a mobile gamer, so don't bring the value of a desktop computer into this discussion please.

Any experience or advice you've heard would be appreciated.

[NYWhiskey]

I'm not a laptop guy, I do all of my gaming on my desktop. I do have an Acer Aspire V3-772G-9653 17in. with a GTX 760M in it and it does handle games like a champ.

This is my mobile computer. It is constantly being carried, thrown in the car, banged around, and I never had any problems with it. It's a solid machine and having a black brushed metal look it is sweet looking also.

I'd go with Acer again.

[buzz456]

I just bought a MSI Apache and other than all the bloatware that I am working on eliminating I really like it. More info in a few days as we are camping and I'm working on migrating TS to the laptop. The one I got was with the new 1060 and it runs the game very well. More details to follow.

[NStrains]

My HP is pretty decent. I think even though the processing power is a little on the low side (task manager has shown it working as fast as 2.74GHz) it works pretty darn good. The only thing I think that gives me a little trouble sometimes was not getting the 8GB of RAM. It would've been right around $700 with the 8GB of RAM but I paid like $650 I think.
i5 6200U 2.3/2.4GHz
1TB hard drive
6GB RAM
Nvidia 940M 2GB
Windows 10 64-bit
1920x1080UHD display

[GSkid]

I just bought a MSI Apache and other than all the bloatware that I am working on eliminating I really like it. More info in a few days as we are camping and I'm working on migrating TS to the laptop. The one I got was with the new 1060 and it runs the game very well. More details to follow.

I forgot about the bloatware. People warned about it in the MSI reviews. Frustrating, but I'll deal with removing it if the laptop is a good deal.

Yes.. do tell us the frame rates in TS2016 or TS2017 and which consist, route and settings you used so we can compare it to our current laptops. It would give me a window into the level of improvement I'd be in for with a 1060.


To NStrains....

Just some advice for you....

While you might be happy with the 940M, Nvidia's gaming GPUs are the 50, 60, 70 and 80 designations. My 850M averages about twice the frame rate than your 940M does in most games. So if you can afford it, next time spend the little extra cash for one with at least a 50 designation.

It was leaked just recently that there is a GTX 1050 on the way for desktop, so I'm sure the mobile version won't be far behind.

It does bother me a little that Nvidia dropped the "M" for Mobile designation from their mobile GPUs. But I think the rational was because the mobile chips are almost at the exact same performance.

Linus Tech Tips recently pit two founder's edition GTX 1080 desktop chip cards in SLI on a test bench against two GTX 1080 mobile chip cards in SLI inside a laptop. The results? They tested with 5 games and I averaged the frame rates across all the games and the desktop cards in SLI averaged 143fps, while the mobile cards in SLI averaged 141.6fps.... or 142fps if rounded up. That's only a 1fps difference between the desktop and mobile versions of their GPUs. That's incredible!!!



So I can understand better now why they dropped the "M" designation from the mobile chips. Getting a laptop no longer has the stigma of limiting your performance in gaming. Who would have thought this would ever happen, let alone this soon? Simply amazing!

And a correction....

I was incorrect on my earlier HP statement about the Omen topping out with the GTX 965M. I just now found a GTX 1060-based HP Omen for $1600 that apparently I missed. And for only $150 more I can upgrade it to the GTX 1070 w/8GB of GDDR5 memory!! So if I do decide to get a new laptop, HP seems to be back in the running for sure. And if I do, I'll definitely opt for the 1070 upgrade! And it also includes a built-in 17-inch 4K resolution display! Wow!

My main concern with the HP Omen with a GTX 1070 is..... are they able to cool it properly in the Omen's slim plastic laptop case?!?! The MSI and other gaming laptops might have bigger cases, better cooling and easier access to swap drives and such out of the case. It's a tough call. Hopefully the HP engineers did their homework on the Omen and that it will stay cool enough with a 1070 in it. I might have to seriously consider the extended warranty on that.

[Ericmopar]

I don't own a laptop, but based on what others have been posting online and my own experience with newer gaming hardware, I'd go for a GTX 1060 in a laptop.
My reasons are battery life and heat, plus the fact that the GTX 1060s are slightly faster than a GTX 780.
I just put a GTX 1070 in my gaming rig tonight, and it's only running at 25 - 28% when I'm running TS 2016.
If you get anything better than a GTX 1060, make sure you have a fast CPU to feed it. My setup is running good with a i5 3570k OC to 4.1ghz, but anything less and it's bottlenecking my 1070.
I'd say a 4 core Skylake CPU running at 4ghz turbo should to do it with the GTX 1070 mobile.

This looked interesting.
http://www.laptopmag.com/gaming-laptops

[GSkid]

I don't own a laptop, but based on what others have been posting online and my own experience with newer gaming hardware, I'd go for a GTX 1060 in a laptop.
My reasons are battery life and heat, plus the fact that the GTX 1060s are slightly faster than a GTX 780.
I just put a GTX 1070 in my gaming rig tonight, and it's only running at 25 - 28% when I'm running TS 2016.
If you get anything better than a GTX 1060, make sure you have a fast CPU to feed it. My setup is running good with a i5 3570k OC to 4.1ghz, but anything less and it's bottlenecking my 1070.
I'd say a 4 core Skylake CPU running at 4ghz turbo should to do it with the GTX 1070 mobile.

This looked interesting.
http://www.laptopmag.com/gaming-laptops

I could care less about battery life. I usually only go on battery power if I bring my computer across a room to show somebody something real quick....or if I need to jump on a wifi hotspot for a short bit and don't want to bother with a power cord. I certainly never game on battery power.

As for bottlenecking a 1070 and needing at least a 4.1GHz CPU to avoid it? The only CPU in a laptop I found real quick that will meet that spec was the quad-core i7-6700K that has a 4.0GHz base/4.2GHz turbo and 4.62GHz OC air cooled/4.77GHz OC water cooled. To get that with a 1070 and configed the way I want, it will cost about $2600. I'd have to think long and hard about spending that much. I'm open to the idea though.

And heat? That's what a warranty is for. It gives the laptop maker an incentive to design them to cool so they don't die off due to heat and cost them money for the resulting repair. While most gaming laptops use i7 chips that have a 45W TDP......the i7-6700K has a 91W TDP. So proper cooling is a must.

[buzz456]

Tell me what and where you would like me to run a FR test and I'll be happy to set it up and run it for you and report back on the results.

[GSkid]

Tell me what and where you would like me to run a FR test and I'll be happy to set it up and run it for you and report back on the results.

Okay.... I'll give you 2 locations to test. One that is moderate on the GPU, the other is my go to frame rate killer location.

Test parameter settings: 1920X1080 resolution : Full Screen : Dynamic Lighting-ON : Dynamic Clouds-OFF : FXAA+1x2 SSAA : Anisotropic x8 : All sliders to MAX : Procedural Flora-OFF : Adaptive Bloom-OFF : Depth of Field-ON : Headlight Flares-OFF

Consist: "SD40-2 Mixed Freight" (4 UP SD40-2s on the front, 2 at the rear)

Weather: Summer-Clear-11AM

Donner Pass: Quick Drive - Truckee Yard to Roseville yard.

Stevens Pass: Quick Drive : Eastbound-Delta Yard to Wenatchee 122 mi (the frame rate killer)

Simply report the framerate in cab when it loads up and then the frame rate in the outside view #1. Don't move the camera in either case and allow 10-15 seconds for all objects to load and the framerate to stabilize before taking a fps reading.

And if you feel up to it, I'd be curious as to doing the same tests again, only with it simply changed to FXAA+3x3 SSAA to really stress the system and see the resulting frame rates.


I do have some questions for you as well.....

#1: What model number CPU does it have?
#2: Does it seem to run really hot under gaming load and are the fans really cranked up and loud?
#3: What size monitor and res is it?
#4: Do you know what wattage rating the power supply is? (should be listed somewhere on the power brick)

Thanks!

[peterhayes]

GSkid
Gigabyte make some mean gaming laptops, they always score highly in the tests. http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/main.aspx?s=46
Regards
pH

[ex-railwayman]

I'm looking to possibly upgrade (not for sure) in the next 3-6 months in response to Train Sim World coming out. I'm sure it will run decently on my current laptop (specs in my sig), but it will be 2 years old in December. I'd like to have a fresh set of hardware to christen the new sim with.
My budget is most likely going to be $1000-$2000. I'm looking at a quad-core i7-6700HQ (especially for video editing in 4K) as my most likely CPU choice (although I could see myself possibly waiting for the 7th-gen Kaby Lake processors to hit gaming rigs first).

Are you building this yourself, or, looking to purchase one off the shelf, at a reliable electronics store, you haven't said?
Your budget sounds fine for what you are looking for, however, don't forget that it's Christmas in 3 month's time, you might want to wait until the January Sales to pick up a possible bargain, do some homework and LOTS of research. Have you tried Amazon and such like for laptops, that's a good place to start, you can gauge prices and see what is popular currently and take note of the poor reviews and why, etc.
In the UK we have a couple of companies that build laptops and home computers to the customer's specifications, I imagine there are some businesses across the pond that do similar, if you can get someone to build it for you then you know exactly what is inside it and it's guaranteed to last for several years, I don't trust obtaining anything electronic in a store these days, for several reasons, and the good thing is that all these companies generally deliver to your front door, it saves you having to trudge round all these shopping malls for hours on end in that hot Californian sunshine......

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

[buzz456]

I got mine at NewEgg for what it's worth. Results and info shortly. I didn't have Stevens Pass on the laptop. Downloading now.

[trev123]

Alienware gaming laptops. http://www.alienware.com/

[buzz456]

Okay.... I'll give you 2 locations to test. One that is moderate on the GPU, the other is my go to frame rate killer location.

Test parameter settings: 1920X1080 resolution : Full Screen : Dynamic Lighting-ON : Dynamic Clouds-OFF : FXAA+1x2 SSAA : Anisotropic x8 : All sliders to MAX : Procedural Flora-OFF : Adaptive Bloom-OFF : Depth of Field-ON : Headlight Flares-OFF

Consist: "SD40-2 Mixed Freight" (4 UP SD40-2s on the front, 2 at the rear)

Weather: Summer-Clear-11AM

Donner Pass: Quick Drive - Truckee Yard to Roseville yard.

60 and 60

Stevens Pass: Quick Drive : Eastbound-Delta Yard to Wenatchee 122 mi (the frame rate killer)

20 and 20

Simply report the framerate in cab when it loads up and then the frame rate in the outside view #1. Don't move the camera in either case and allow 10-15 seconds for all objects to load and the framerate to stabilize before taking a fps reading.

And if you feel up to it, I'd be curious as to doing the same tests again, only with it simply changed to FXAA+3x3 SSAA to really stress the system and see the resulting frame rates.

DP 28 and 30
SP 22 and 21


I do have some questions for you as well.....

#1: What model number CPU does it have? i7-6700HQ CPU 2.66Hz
#2: Does it seem to run really hot under gaming load and are the fans really cranked up and loud? No it stays surprisingly cool and all you can hear is kind of a hissing noise where a lot of air is coming out. Most impressed with this.
#3: What size monitor and res is it? 17.3" 1920x1080
#4: Do you know what wattage rating the power supply is? (should be listed somewhere on the power brick) 19.5v 9.23A

That's it so far. By the way even down at that low FPS it was pretty darn smooth.

MSI 17.3" GE72VR Apache Pro-023 Intel Core i7 6700HQ (2.60 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 12 GB Memory 256 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop VR Ready

[GSkid]

Thanks for the info Buzz!

With my i7-4510u and GTX 850M on that test I get...

DP 25 and 24
SP 15 and 14

I'm somewhat shocked, but ultimately not surprised. Cuz I recall people with fairly beefy desktop cards getting only surprisingly modest increases in fps on the most demanding routes. Clearly this sim is inefficient, cuz the law of diminishing returns is very much at play here. To be fair to DTG, none of the modern train sims see a dramatic increase in fps with CPU and GPU upgrades like we clearly see in games like GTA V and others. Hopefully TSW will change that.

I usually have shadows turned off. They aren't important enough to me to sacrifice my frame rate. If I do have them on, I prefer them at max... but find the shadow draw-in as you roll down the tracks annoying. Every once in long while when I'm in the mood to see super high frame rates, I'll turn dynamic lighting off.

Your 180W power supply sounds about right in line with many gaming laptops in that range, although some models like the HP Omen offer a 230W power supply.

This is gonna be a long process of pros and cons of each laptop maker's rigs. I'm not in any hurry. I'll take my time.