Decent gaming laptop for $700 ish

December 07, 2018, 11:09 AM

Lord Vaalic

I want to get my son a laptop for gaming, despite my vehement aversion to PC gamimg. He doesn't need the latest and greatest, he wants to play a bunch of indie Steam games mostly so not the latest AAA titles that take only bleeding edge tech. I'll admit maybe I'll play The Old Republic on it. Looking to spend $700 ish on one. I've been away from PC gaming so long I don't know what to look for anymore. Thoughts?

December 07, 2018, 11:20 AM

reloader-1

For what you stated, a 1050ti would be a decent GPU:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/sho...top/fncwG3F1421hSEQ4

December 07, 2018, 11:34 AM

trapper189

Go to dell outlet. Search for the $917 G5 Gaming, use this code for 14% off: 14gamcw55, bringing the price to $789.

Quad core I5
16 gig memory
256 gig SSD
1 terabyte HD
1920x1080 IPS 15" screen
NVidia GTX 1060 6 gig

LINK

I got one in red on Black Friday as my son's Christmas present. Best deal I could find.

December 07, 2018, 11:46 AM

Chowser

Go 1050ti or 1060 minimum.
I bought my son a gaming laptop in '17 and it had the 1050. I bought myself one this summer with the 1060. Big difference.
Also I have a 256gb M2 boot drive so that helps.

December 07, 2018, 11:58 AM

smschulz

Gaming requirements are graphic intensive.
Putting it all in laptop for $700 - you are going to have to settle for old technology, no way around it.
You have to check the games you want to play first to see if the hardware is up to snuff.
Good Luck.

December 07, 2018, 12:05 PM

RogueJSK

Lenovo Y-series

Available from ~$700-$1400+, depending on configuration.

Here's a Y50-70 for $709:

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-...&keywords=lenovo+y50

December 07, 2018, 12:09 PM

FenderBender

This one, I assure you, it's everything you'll need.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/a...AvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

or if he's something of a data horder, the above has a 256 gig SSD, this is a 1TB Spinning disk. he'll see better proformance from the above but if he want's to keep a bunch of games installed...

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/a...AvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

December 07, 2018, 12:11 PM

reloader-1

Rogue, isn’t that one a bit long in the tooth for that price?

Good processor, but 4th gen, and a 960m card. I’d also be concerned about warranty, as that isn’t a 1st party seller.

December 07, 2018, 01:48 PM

RogueJSK

Yes, it's 2016ish tech. But it's a quality laptop that will work well for the OP's stated purposes.

You're not going to get a top of the line, current tech gaming laptop for $700.

There are better/newer options among the Lenovo Ys, but likely only if he's willing to raise his price limit.

Or you may be able to find a similar price on a slightly newer Y series model, if you hunt around a bit. That was the first option I ran across from a big name retailer within the OP's stated price with a quick Google.

December 07, 2018, 01:58 PM

reloader-1

Right, that makes sense.

I guess my major concern would be the seller - it’s fulfilled by Amazon, but the actual selling party is a minor 3rd party. That may make warranty concerns a bit dicey.

December 07, 2018, 02:11 PM

Lord Vaalic

I am aware that $700 wont get me top of the line equipment. I gave up PC gaming a long time ago because I was tired of the constant upgrades.

But he wants to play a bunch of smaller indie type games, not the latest release big name titles. I would be willing to go up a little for something better, but I am not looking to compete with some water cooled Alienware gaming rig. Looks like you can drop $700 - $800 and then the next step up is about $1200, then up again from there.

Like I said I may play Star Wars Old Republic MMO on it, but that's an old game at this point also. Ive been out of the PC building game so long, honestly I don't know shit anymore about what chips or cards are what anymore.

December 07, 2018, 02:17 PM

RogueJSK

quote:
Originally posted by reloader-1:
I guess my major concern would be the seller - it’s fulfilled by Amazon, but the actual selling party is a minor 3rd party. That may make warranty concerns a bit dicey.

Lenovo's warranty is 1 year from date of purchase. As long as it's not actually a refurbished or used laptop that they're trying to pass off as new, that 1 year factory warranty should still apply. (And if it does turn out to actually be used, Amazon will help make it right.)

Besides, I doubt many big retailers will still have 2-3 year old laptop models on the shelves. So getting a new-old-stock laptop will likely have to involve a minor seller.

December 07, 2018, 02:23 PM

bigdeal

A question. Why does it need to be a laptop (i.e. versus a desktop machine)? You can get a whole lot more machine in terms of capability and performance for a whole lot less coin with a desktop machine.

December 07, 2018, 02:32 PM

smschulz

quote:
Originally posted by bigdeal:
A question. Why does it need to be a laptop (i.e. versus a desktop machine)? You can get a whole lot more machine in terms of capability and performance for a whole lot less coin with a desktop machine.

^^Very True!^^

While there are specific gamer-laptops they on average are 17" screen models with enhancements for gaming.
New ones are going to be about $2K.
A similar new desktop with 27" fast monitor, speakers and better graphics card can start at $1.5K (and up).
Add more for better graphics card, more ram, larger monitor and water cooling.
But the point is for gaming you can customize as you wish.
Laptops are built for convenience, portability and power consumption savings.
YMMV

December 07, 2018, 02:45 PM

trapper189

quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Lenovo Y-series

Available from ~$700-$1400+, depending on configuration.

Here's a Y50-70 for $709:

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-...&keywords=lenovo+y50

For $80 more, he could get the computer I posted that has a GTX 1060 which runs circles around the GTX 960M plus a 256 GB SSD, 8 GB more memory and a current generation processor that's not only 25% faster, but also uses less power as well.

December 07, 2018, 03:43 PM

bigdeal

quote:
Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
I am aware that $700 wont get me top of the line equipment. I gave up PC gaming a long time ago because I was tired of the constant upgrades.

But he wants to play a bunch of smaller indie type games, not the latest release big name titles. I would be willing to go up a little for something better, but I am not looking to compete with some water cooled Alienware gaming rig. Looks like you can drop $700 - $800 and then the next step up is about $1200, then up again from there.

Like I said I may play Star Wars Old Republic MMO on it, but that's an old game at this point also. Ive been out of the PC building game so long, honestly I don't know shit anymore about what chips or cards are what anymore.

Given what you've noted you want to use the machine for, the demands you'd put on it with those games are pretty mild. My suggestion would be to hit the Dell Outlet for a refurb'd Inspiron with a current gen i5 chip, running 8gb or better of ram. You won't find huge gaming benefits from an SSD so a spinning drive should be fine. Your main focus should be on the graphics card. Hit up Newegg (or similar) for a GTX 1060 or 1070 with at least 6gb of RAM. The purchase of the PC and graphics card should keep you right around $700, and leave you money to buy a nice 27" monitor.

I think you and your son would far prefer gaming on that machine than a lower end laptop.