Work / Light Gaming Laptop - advice needed

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by RedMileDJ

I'm looking to get a laptop that I can use for both work and play. I'm looking to replace my existing laptop and desktop. Consolidate everything into one machine.


Work:

• Google docs
• Excel
• Word
• PDF
• Power Point
• Email (Google)
• ERP (online)
• Lots of tabs open for various websites

Play:

• WoW
• Diablo
• Starcraft
• Facebook
• Twitter
• CP
• NO FPS games.

So I'm looking for some suggestions. I know perhaps an i5 will suffice, but I'm looking for something that will last me 2 or 3 years. So I'm leaning towards i7.

BTW: I need to buy something this week. Ie: have in my hands this week. My current laptop is on it's last legs.

I have a spending limit of $1,400.00.

I'm not one for buy "2 in 1" type of machines or tools, so I have a Beast PC that for gaming, and I have a separate work laptop. If you check out the other laptop thread I highly recommend the HP Elitebook 9470m for work. Runs for about $1100 I think.

It's the best work laptop I've ever had.

[Flaming Choy]

I was in a similar boat as you and picked up the new Dell XPS13.

Just needed something to be an "every day" laptop with some games, leave the desktop gaming PC for more intensive games/photo processing.

Loaded up Diablo and that runs well so it should be able to play the games you listed.

the 13.3" screen might be a touch small though if you're doing lots of work on it.

[DoubleF]

For gaming, consider adding some money (not much) to your budget for a laptop cooling pad/cooling station. Mainly to improve airflow, reduce over heating which may lag your game and/or damage your laptop. Many of the damn things die after about half a year to a year though.

Also, many laptops can be connected to an external screen if laptop screen size is a problem.

I suggest a business grade laptop (ie: The elitebook suggestion above or a Lenovo X/T series). You can find these at staples. XPS is one too I think, but I don't like Dell.

Lasting 2-3 years is easy if you have a solid state drive or hybrid drive. i5 or i7 isn't really a necessary discussion. Even if you have a i7 over i5, the mechanical drive is generally still a bigger bottle neck performance wise. Probably cost about $100-200 depending if you need 256 or 512 GB drive and A) An hour of research and a 5 minute youtube tutorial on how to clone a disk using Acronis or B) A case of beer and an evening to some random cp member who knows how to do this.

[CaramonLS]

I bought a gaming laptop about 2.5 years ago, an Asus G73-JW.

Pretty sweet machine, works well on most games. The problem that you're going to run into is that a lot of laptops don't have very many configuration options and they can never run as well as desktops, even if you get top of the line ones. Trying to find a small laptop with a top of the line graphics card is quite difficult.

The problem with the laptop is that it is a beast. It is heavy and large.

Games like WoW, SC and Diablo can be pretty heavy memory hogs too. Those aren't Crysis, but they still take a lot of resources to run.

My advice would be to choose one or the other, because if you try to get a hybrid, you're not going to like your gaming experience.

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by RedMileDJ

Appreciate all the feedback.

I think you're all right in saying I should separate the machines. That being said, I'll update the graphics card on my gaming rig and continue to use that for gaming.

I'll buy a laptop for business, CP browsing and some social media. Ie: nothing that is geared for gaming.

Looks like I'll be looking for a Lenovo or HP. I can't seem to find any places in Calgary that carry the HP Elitebook. Suggestions?

Staples and Memex have the best selection of business grade laptops. I've sorted out a few and listed them below.

http://www.staples.ca/en/Laptop-Comp...24953320&sby=1

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Categor...1-4a2c214b4b37

You can find some reasonable priced HP Probook and Elitebooks. There are also an assortment of Lenovo X and T series. The only issue is ensuring you don't end up with a refurb (if that's a concern to you). I prefer not to do refurbs from Staples. Some of them literally look like they were obtained in a war zone (Stickers with middle eastern writing on it, dents, scratches and sand in the units) durable buttons which should not be damagable but are damaged etc.

Another laptop to consider, perhaps may be the HP envy. As far as I've seen, it's built just as well as some of the business grade laptops out there. The only minor issue might be the keyboard feels like it lacks feedback. This can potentially be fixed by attaching an external keyboard to it... but this might not be a good option for portability sake.

My suggestions are the following:

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX55645
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX55568
(But you might need to double check the graphics cards specs, integrated should be enough for casual gaming, Probably not be enough for higher resolution gaming)

See chart below for the intel 4400 to see if you are ok
http://www.pvladov.com/2014/10/games...-graphics.html

Other suggestions:

http://www.staples.ca/en/HP-ENVY-Not...4_2-CA_1_20001

http://www.staples.ca/en/HP-Envy-17-...0_2-CA_1_20001

I own the 17" envy in i7 version and put a 240GB SSD into it. It's awesome, but ridiculous overkill. I played a little D3 pre-expansion on it and never had issues, but not sure of the requirements post expansion.

You should be able to walk into a few Memory express or Staples stores to get a hands on for these laptops well below your budget. I am a huge fan of the feel of the HP probook for work. Gaming... not as much... If you want more gaming than what the probook can offer, perhaps the envy is better. If you want to lean on your desktop for gaming, then perhaps the probook may work.

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[ken0042]

^^ I'd upgrade it to 8 GB of RAM before you leave the store. (If not 12 or 16 GB.)

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[DoubleF]

Congrats on the purchase. Hopefully it meets your needs.

If the SSD seems a little small, I think you can grab yourself a reasonable sized SD card and leave it in the SD card reader full time for additional storage at a reasonable price (I think it has an SD card reader?). I think a lower class 64 or 128GB card should be less than $100. Otherwise, external drives are good too, but more in the way of being able to use an SD card.

[RedMileDJ]

nm

[Rhettzky]

*Bump*

I'm looking to get a laptop as well with generally the same requirements as Redmile and was hoping to get some advice. I've been leaning towards the Dell XPS 13:

Dell XPS 13

A few questions I have;

-The touch screens have pretty bad glare so I was hoping to go for non-touch and they only offer a 5th gen intel i3 or i5 for a $200 price difference. Is it worth the price to upgrade to the i5? Or should I be looking for a different laptop with an i7? I don't really understand the difference but I want something I won't have to replace for a while.

-One option on the i5 version is to bump the memory from a 128 SSD to a 256. Is this worth $200 for the usage described in Redmiles's OP?

-Is it worth spending the extra to get the extended warranty or service plans for laptops?

And lastly, does anyone have any suggestions for laptops that are comparable that they enjoy as well? The draw of the XPS 13 to me is the thin bezel, size in general, backlit keyboard and the display.

Thanks for any advice!

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

*Bump*

I'm looking to get a laptop as well with generally the same requirements as Redmile and was hoping to get some advice. I've been leaning towards the Dell XPS 13:

Dell XPS 13

A few questions I have;

-The touch screens have pretty bad glare so I was hoping to go for non-touch and they only offer a 5th gen intel i3 or i5 for a $200 price difference. Is it worth the price to upgrade to the i5? Or should I be looking for a different laptop with an i7? I don't really understand the difference but I want something I won't have to replace for a while.

For those tasks, I would say that it is NOT worth the $200 to upgrade to an i5.

-One option on the i5 version is to bump the memory from a 128 SSD to a 256. Is this worth $200 for the usage described in Redmiles's OP?

Ehhh. It's really really expensive as a $200 upgrade. However, I play those games (diablo/wow/starcraft) and I found that a 256 allowed me to keep the games on the SSD, and have enough room left over for random documents, windows and little programs. 128 was pretty tight.

-Is it worth spending the extra to get the extended warranty or service plans for laptops?

No.

And lastly, does anyone have any suggestions for laptops that are comparable that they enjoy as well? The draw of the XPS 13 to me is the thin bezel, size in general, backlit keyboard and the display.

Thanks for any advice!

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX52645

A bit more expensive but similar in price to the XPS13 if you add the i5 and the SSD.

Obviously the Macbook Air is a very strong competitor as well. Blizzard has very strong Mac support for all their games so if you stay with their stuff, it won't matter.

[Rhettzky]

Thanks for the info!

I'm not sure if best buy screwed up or what, but they have the XPS 13 touch (Intel Core i5-5200U/256GB SSD/8GB RAM/Windows 8.1) on for $670 off today. Although there is no stock available, Dell will match the price. The best buy model comes with a 256gig SSD, which was an additional $200. Same computer through Dell right now is $1,650. But they will price match to $930!

Seems like a really great deal, here are the links if anyone else is interested. Offer ends on June 4th at best buy.

Best Buy Deal

Dell Site


***Nevermind, price has been fixed on best buy now***