Which brand and model of laptop should I buy?

[Splinterdog]

We're visiting family in the UK next month and on my shopping list is a new laptop. It has to be a gaming laptop because all my previous ones have been basic with Intel HD graphics, albeit that was years ago.
Our usage will be 75% general use and the rest, light gaming, nothing extremely demanding like Cyberpunk, Crysis Remastered etc.
Having looked at what's available in the UK, we're spoilt for choice because the equivalents in Argentina are 4x the price.
My minimum spec is 1Tb NVMe and 16Gb RAM. I would like an AMD CPU and possibly a Radeon GPU, not because I'm an AMD fanboy, but perhaps because they may be cheaper?
Anyway, if it's Intel/Nvidia, so be it and the choice seems to be between Asus, Acer, MSI and Gigabyte from what I can see.
Budget is max GB£1000, but if I can get one for £700, even better, especially since my main gaming machine is as per my profile.
Here are a couple that take my interest:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-nitro-5-an5155853we-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-3050-1-tb-ssd-10254545.html

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-tuf-gaming%C2%A0a16-advantage%C2%A0edition-16-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-rx-7700s-1-tb-ssd-10262310.html

I'm taken with the Asus but am open to suggestions. Budget is an important consideration and although Scan UK is a great alternative, these two offer a better deal.

 

[unwind-protect]

I only buy Thinkpads anymore. Thinkpads - no somethingelse-pad or Think-somethingelse either.

 

[JWNoctis]

A few general impressions and pointers:

All current major manufacturers are more or less fine, but others might disagree, and all occasionally produce duds. Make sure to read the reviews, and make sure that things like display colour quality and brightness are fit for use. Those are often overlooked.

I'd avoid overly thin and light ones if you game at all, but if you need portability as well, you may have to compromise. Even enthusiast-grade hardware would not do too well if thermal and power limited, and that would impact lifespan somewhat as well, though that latter point might be debatable if you don't plan to use it for very long past warranty.

Choose one with a user-replaceable M.2 SSD if you ever want to upgrade your storage at all. Don't bother with anything less than 16GB RAM, though that might not be a problem at your price range.

Current-generation AMD APUs are reasonably powerful, leagues above any previous generation IGP, and might be sufficient for light gaming. Again, read the reviews for actual performance numbers to be sure.

 

[micropage7]

i will skip TUF since in here many bad review, from sudden death bleeding backlight that hard to accept for brand new stuff

 

[wheresmycar]

I've always bought Lenovo and Dell but can't write off other brands for not trying them. My last laptop purchase was primarily focused on a 17" screen, ultra-thin and light-weight lappie, excellent battery life and high resolution display. At the time of purchase both Dell and Lenovo fell short of the full package hence I took a punt at a LG GRAM. Zero regrets, absolutely fantastic machine... the only neg being it was a little over-priced.

 

[Dr. Dro]

My experience with the Ryzen-based Dell G15 has been flawless. Though mine is a 2021 Cezanne model. No throttling, good cooling. Weaksauce battery though.

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

We're visiting family in the UK next month and on my shopping list is a new laptop. It has to be a gaming laptop because all my previous ones have been basic with Intel HD graphics, albeit that was years ago.
Our usage will be 75% general use and the rest, light gaming, nothing extremely demanding like Cyberpunk, Crysis Remastered etc.
Having looked at what's available in the UK, we're spoilt for choice because the equivalents in Argentina are 4x the price.
My minimum spec is 1Tb NVMe and 16Gb RAM. I would like an AMD CPU and possibly a Radeon GPU, not because I'm an AMD fanboy, but perhaps because they may be cheaper?
Anyway, if it's Intel/Nvidia, so be it and the choice seems to be between Asus, Acer, MSI and Gigabyte from what I can see.
Budget is max GB£1000, but if I can get one for £700, even better, especially since my main gaming machine is as per my profile.
Here are a couple that take my interest:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-nitro-5-an5155853we-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-3050-1-tb-ssd-10254545.html

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-tuf-gaming%C2%A0a16-advantage%C2%A0edition-16-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-rx-7700s-1-tb-ssd-10262310.html

I'm taken with the Asus but am open to suggestions. Budget is an important consideration and although Scan UK is a great alternative, these two offer a better deal.

I have a slightly different config (7735HS/7700S/512GB) of the Tuf Advantage Edition you linked above.

It's a solid choice. It should have an empty M.2 slot so you can add another SSD if you'd like. The memory config will be 2x8GB of 4800 DDR5. While the display is fine, it's fairly dim (250 nits), and color accuracy isn't up there with the better screens, but it's fine for any office work and gaming. The included power brick is big (280W). It can charge at up to 100W via USB-C, but it's not enough to power it for any type of gaming.

I added a 2TB NVMe and replaced/upgraded the RAM with this kit - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B1GMD6SB/

Price was a major factor when I bought it - I paid $800 on sale in January of this year.

 

[eidairaman1]

We're visiting family in the UK next month and on my shopping list is a new laptop. It has to be a gaming laptop because all my previous ones have been basic with Intel HD graphics, albeit that was years ago.
Our usage will be 75% general use and the rest, light gaming, nothing extremely demanding like Cyberpunk, Crysis Remastered etc.
Having looked at what's available in the UK, we're spoilt for choice because the equivalents in Argentina are 4x the price.
My minimum spec is 1Tb NVMe and 16Gb RAM. I would like an AMD CPU and possibly a Radeon GPU, not because I'm an AMD fanboy, but perhaps because they may be cheaper?
Anyway, if it's Intel/Nvidia, so be it and the choice seems to be between Asus, Acer, MSI and Gigabyte from what I can see.
Budget is max GB£1000, but if I can get one for £700, even better, especially since my main gaming machine is as per my profile.
Here are a couple that take my interest:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-nitro-5-an5155853we-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-3050-1-tb-ssd-10254545.html

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-tuf-gaming%C2%A0a16-advantage%C2%A0edition-16-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-rx-7700s-1-tb-ssd-10262310.html

I'm taken with the Asus but am open to suggestions. Budget is an important consideration and although Scan UK is a great alternative, these two offer a better deal.

Learn to use throttlestop if you haven't already, otherwise be prepared to have 1 of these...

Gaming laptops NEED THIS #llano V12 laptop cooler (it works) #shorts #technology #tech

Check out my long-form review of this where I give a more in-depth look at it and answer common questions (and give you a discount code where you can snag th...

youtube.com

 

[johny bravo]

i dont know anything about laptops but you should check out polish shops and polish eggs

 

[A&P211]

I would not get MSI cheaper models laptops, they have very bad hinge design on the screens. Lenovo laptops seem to getting very popular in the pass few years.
If you go MSI, only look at the GP or GE models but those are higher than your budget allows.

 

[Fizban]

I would not get MSI cheaper models laptops, they have very bad hinge design on the screens. Lenovo laptops seem to getting very popular in the pass few years.
If you go MSI, only look at the GP or GE models but those are higher than your budget allows.

I wouldn't get a MSI laptop at all.

I've bought GE, and GT within the past 3 years. Both had major issues. GE had the hinges break, and it suffered frequent BSOD's. GT had frequent BSOD's as well, and had SSD's disappear from the OS, they'd just randomly stop showing up, and then reappear after a reboot. It then had its gpu die.

 

[64K]

Just my personal experience here so not worth a lot but I always used to go with ASUS or MSI laptops but the last 2 have been Lenovo. Never had a problem with any of them during their lifetime but I kept one for too long I guess and had to replace the battery.

I guess I'm wondering what some examples of games that you would like to be able to play at reasonable settings? I know you ruled out extremely demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077. For me I always kept a 'gaming laptop' before retiring due to travel but I usually spent around $800. You don't get much for that price but it was certainly good enough for older games and I think I recall you saying that you do like playing older games sometimes.

 

[Apocalypsee]

Learn to use throttlestop if you haven't already, otherwise be prepared to have 1 of these...

Gaming laptops NEED THIS #llano V12 laptop cooler (it works) #shorts #technology #tech

Check out my long-form review of this where I give a more in-depth look at it and answer common questions (and give you a discount code where you can snag th...

youtube.com

If I'm not mistaken Throttlestop only works with Intel CPU, though I agree that if you wanted to the laptop to run optimally you need to learn how to control the voltages (if available). Those laptop cooler is huge and...weird. Most laptop have downfiring speaker it will muffle the speaker sound.

 

[A&P211]

I wouldn't get a MSI laptop at all.

I've bought GE, and GT within the past 3 years. Both had major issues. GE had the hinges break, and it suffered frequent BSOD's. GT had frequent BSOD's as well, and had SSD's disappear from the OS, they'd just randomly stop showing up, and then reappear after a reboot. It then had its gpu die.

I had 2 GE75 that the hinges broke 3yrs ago, the last laptop before this current one was a GE77hx model. I was happy when I sold it. I love the MSI bios but I hate their hinge designs.

Reddit has many people with stories of broken hinges.

 

[ne6togadno]

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[Fizban]

I had 2 GE75 that the hinges broke 3yrs ago, the last laptop before this current one was a GE77hx model. I was happy when I sold it. I love the MSI bios but I hate their hinge designs.

Reddit has many people with stories of broken hinges.

I had a GE76 with a 3080. And then after that was a 4090 GT77HX.

Microcenter refunded me for the Titan with a giftcard, which I used to pay for a desktop, monitor, and keyboard, to replace the laptop.

 

[mc_Joe]

I think AMD 7845+RTX 4060 have a good balance of portability and performance, you can looking some model like this, and those should be relatively cheaper

 

[Fizban]

Even 4050 and 3060 are competent GPU's. I would not buy a 3050 laptop though.

 

[Redwoodz]

Lenovo,but it's really hard to find one configured correctly from any brand. For the price range you have I'd look at this one, cheap enough to add more storage in the budget.
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/l...amd-ryzen-5-rtx-3050-512-gb-ssd-10257413.html

 

[kurosagi01]

Nvidia dominates the laptop space, for the price range I would try max out if you want the laptop to last.
The Asus TUF you linked isn't that bad but I would also consider this Acer Nitro with RTX 4060:

Acer Nitro 16 AN16-41-R8P9 AMD Ryzen 7 16GB RAM 1TB SSD NVIDIA RTX 4060 Graphics 16" Gaming Laptop

Discover features of NH.QKCEK.001 Acer Nitro 16 AN16-41-R8P9 AMD Ryzen 7 16GB RAM 1TB SSD RTX 4060 16" Win 11 Home Laptop. Get free shipping all over UK.

box.co.uk

 

[PLAfiller]

Even 4050 and 3060 are competent GPU's. I would not buy a 3050 laptop though.

+100, RTX3050 mobile got pretty bad reviews. I gave the exact same advise to a friend of mine. I wouldn't buy a "gaming" laptop with this particular GPU. Ain't worth it really.

 

[Apocalypsee]

+100, RTX3050 mobile got pretty bad reviews. I gave the exact same advise to a friend of mine. I wouldn't buy a "gaming" laptop with this particular GPU. Ain't worth it really.

I got 3050 mobile, the problem with it is mostly the lack of VRAM, I would avoid anything with 4GB if you wanted to play modern games. It's just not sufficient. The other problem is some laptop manufacturer put too low TDP making it didn't boost much hence lower performance.

 

[mclaren85]

After Sony Vaio's exit from market, no other brand is preferable for me.

 

[kurosagi01]

I mean for brand new price I wouldn't bother looking at RTX 3000 series laptop, unless you can find a good deal on a 3060 for £500-700 or a 3070/3080 for under £1000.
The 7700s and RTX4060 would offer the best overall experience as in my opinion you want the laptop to last.

 

[Assimilator]

I'm an Acer Nitro guy but this one is hard to pass up!

Lenovo LOQ Gen 9 with Ryzen™ 7 7435HS (8c/16t), 24GB DDR5-4800, 1TB SSD, RTX 4060 8GB, 144Hz 1080p display - £760 (you can save 100 quid further if you go for no OS and drop to 16GB RAM).