Hardware & Technical What gaming laptop? + Horizons considerations

[Porina]

Earlier in the year I had asked about gaming laptops. I didn't get anywhere with buying one which might be a good thing now that we have Horizons raising the minimum bar somewhat. Still, the question remains, what could we get?

This might be a little further complicated as I'm seeing more and more high resolutions screens offered, like 2.5k, 3k, 4k. I know mobile graphics will struggle with those at native resolution. Will it be ok to run it upsampled? Or would you try to run native at low quality settings? Would it be better to stick to a plain old 1080p display and be done with it?

I'm still debating on the GPU to go for. I'm thinking you would probably have to go higher end like 980M even for 1080p Horizons. I estimate it might be comparable to a desktop 970, although there are differences in clock speeds and bandwidths so it isn't a clear answer.

Note I haven't mentioned CPU. Chances are, if it has a 980M in it, the CPU will be more than fine. At least Skylake CPUs seem much more available now.

 

[Zelos1983]

Are you sure you want a gaming laptop? Portable computers are usually meant to be small with long battery life. Gaming-capability leaves a drastic impact on both aspects, while still not being able to achieve the performance of a regular desktop, that also has a higher reliability and lower TCO.

The technology isn't ready to play in 4k on a laptop. Currently, you need two or three top-line GPUs to achieve 60fps with all bells and whistles. But then again, it isn't needed, because even the largest screens (e.g. 17") are pretty small, thus you don't need the extra pixels. Therefore, I see 1080p as the way to go.

 

[Porina]

I just want to play ED on a laptop when not at home. My current laptop is too old to even run 1.4 at a usable rate let alone think about Horizons. It isn't going to replace my desktops. I don't care about battery life as my existing laptop pretty much has to be run plugged in all the time anyway. See it as like a portable desktop, and I'll only be going to a 15" class screen anyway.

 

[Asp Explorer]

2015 Razer Blade Pro is a pretty nice machine. Nonexistent battery life though, and it gets noisy even at idle Touchpad is finicky, the OLED buttons have a tiny viewing angle, and it has strange problems with HDMI.

It's pretty quick though GF loves it.

 

[Porina]

With a review like that... video chip seems way underpowered for the price class?

Think I saw somewhere someone makes one with a desktop 980, but I think that was a 17" class too. Really think I wouldn't go above a 15".

 

[Asp Explorer]

I'm very critical of it, but happy with the purchase.

The smaller non-Pro version has a faster GPU and a choice of screens and could well be a superior machine - I just like my "gaming" laptops big but light

 

[EdzUp]

Im gonna wait till next xmas to get a gaming laptop for ED+horizons then the specs per buck should be rather nice for a decent spec. Also season 3 will be out and I will be able to see how much the specs change for that to seeing as this machine will have to last me a good few years (the last laptop which I type this on ive had over five years now).

 

[Porina]

Still looking at laptops... what caught my eye most so far is the MSI GE62 6QF Apache Pro. Ok, like every other laptop model that is an almost random sequence of letters and number, but in short, it is a 15" 1080p model with i7-6700HQ (quad core, 2.6 GHz base, 3.5 GHz turbo), 128 GB M.2 SSD + 1 TB HD, GTX 970M and 16GB ram in the configuration as sold. Beware that searching for the model listed can result in different configurations depending on where in the world you look. What I wrote applies to the model on sale in UK, at a typical price below £1300. The only minor niggle is it is "only" a 970, and I would prefer a 980, but that of course means looking at higher priced models.

By no means decided on this, and still looking at other models.

 

[Porina]

Enough debating, ordered the MSI model mentioned in previous post. Should arrive tomorrow. What will come first - Horizons or the laptop? At least I'll have something to test it with!

 

[IAXEM]

Enough debating, ordered the MSI model mentioned in previous post. Should arrive tomorrow. What will come first - Horizons or the laptop? At least I'll have something to test it with!

Old topic, but how are you doing so far with that laptop? I happen to have the exact same model myself (Sadly Elite doesn't run at 60 FPS with everything set in ultra x'c It frequently drops, especially down on planets. I'm still trying to tinker with the settings to find the perfect combination.

 

[Porina]

I only use it when travelling, as use desktop at home. And I don't often have time to game while travelling... for general use it is fine. Oh, do you see any artefacts when looking at an earth-like planet? I don't have a screenshot of it, but it is a moving banding pattern in sea areas. I haven't checked recently in case it has changed since, but I think it is the docking training mission you can use to quickly see it.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=212342
Wrote more in general about the laptop at link above.