I could use some Laptop buying advice please?

[BelindaN]

OK so treat me as an idiot. When it comes to IT, that’s me.

This has been done to death already I know, but please bear with me………..

I’m laptop shopping in the sales. I know you’ll all have an opinion, but I need to ask some questions. Even if I get a dozen different opinions, there might be some concensus.

Brands: I’m looking at Lenovo, Asus, and Dell. Any others worth considering?

The specs below come from 21 listed laptops.

I don’t game at all other than SL, but who knows, I might sometime…………...

Monitor size15.6” 0r 17.3”?? Opinions please. I’m currently on 15.6”

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Processor: i7 9750; 10750; 10875………..Bigger better??? i9 worth considering.

GeForce RTX 2060 6GB Graphics card

GeForce RTX 2070 8GB Graphics card

GeForce RTX 2070 Super 8GB Graphics card

GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB Graphics card

I assume the 1660Ti is the worst???? Of the others, does it matter?

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All are 16GB RAM, except one which is 32GB. Will I notice???

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512GB SSD

1TB SSD

1TB Hard Drive + 256GB SSD

1TB Hard Drive + 512GB SSD So which???

🖖

 

[Gage Wirefly]

Well if you're set on a laptop, I would go for the most top end your pocket can afford. Reason being, it's a laptop and only the memory and probably HD/SSD are all that is upgradeable.  And a 1660ti is not a bad gpu at all, it's just the lower end of all the others you listed, but more than capable for SL.  The cpus you listed are also more than capable, but again, it's a laptop. Get the fastest you can afford.

Just edited to say that 16gb of ram will suffice, unless you seriously need more.  You could go with 8gb but that's cutting it close in Windows 10 using SL, 16 is the sweet spot.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Gage Wirefly

[Rolig Loon]

I agree pretty much with Gage. I have an Acer Aspire laptop that's almost 3 years old and doesn't have as much memory or as modern a GPU as the ones you are looking at, but it's more than adequate for SL.  It does have a 17.3" monitor, which I recommend (In fact, I'd recommend investing in a larger standalone monitor anyway.  You'll have a much better SL experience on a large screen.)  For the same money, though, you can get a fancier desktop and a larger monitor.  I think that's what Gage is quietly hinting when he says, "Well, if you're set on a laptop ..."  Even though my laptop does a fine job in SL, I spend almost all my time in world on my desktop.  The laptop is for those times when portability counts  ( remember those pre-CoVid days when you could actually go somewhere? ).

[Malin Sabra]

If you want to have a somewhat future proof lappy I would go with one of the gaming laptops from these companies.... MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock.

- The reason why I recommend those companies if because thats what they do... making gaming parts for PCs and PC builders. They strive on making the best parts for the purpose of gaming.

I would not recommend anything by Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, HP (Will their "gaming" laptops work... yeah sure)

- The reason why I don't recommend these is because thats not their forte, I consider them to be more of the "commercialized consumer directed companies" They make PCs for the average person with intentions of making money rather than making PCs that are quality builds and upgradable. If you open up an HP computer you will see they used their own specific branded motherboard which you probably wont be able to upgrade in the future etc.. Dell customer support and sales team is a flat out joke, if you call them you will most likely end up with a PC you dont want with added things you dont want, every other word they say will be "Do you want to add warranty" they care more about selling you the warranty than what you are actually getting lol. Its true, research it.

 

I don't know your price range but maybe these will give you somewhat of an idea. I'm pulling names from Newegg website but you can probably search Amazon for the same and find them as well. These are all 16gb+ Ram, 1TB SSD, and 1660 - 20XX series video cards. Seems usually $1200+ price range is when you get in to the decent ones that will last for years.

 

• ASUS ROG Strix G15 (2020) - 15.6" 240 Hz - GeForce RTX 2070 - Intel Core i7-10750H - 16 GB DDR4 - 1 TB PCIe SSD - Windows 10 Home - Black - Gaming Laptop (G512LW-ES76) $1449
• ROG Zephyrus G15 (2020) - 15.6" 144 Hz - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti - AMD Ryzen 7 4800HS - 16 GB DDR4 - 1 TB PCIe SSD - Windows 10 - Ultra Slim Gaming Laptop (GA502IU-ES76) $1049 (On sale normally $1299)
• MSI GE75 Raider 10SFS-225 - 17.3" 300 Hz IPS - Intel Core i9-10980HK - GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER - 32 GB DDR4 - 1 TB NVMe SSD - Windows 10 Home - Gaming Laptop $2399
• MSI GE66 Dragonshield 10SE-654 - 15.6" 240 Hz - Intel Core i7-10750H - GeForce RTX 2060 - 16 GB DDR4 - 1 TB SSD - Windows 10 Home - Gaming Laptop $1699
• ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 - 17.3" 300Hz - GeForce RTX 2070 Super - Intel Core i7-10875H - 16GB DDR4 - 1TB SSD - Per-Key RGB KB - Windows 10 - Gaming Laptop (G732LWS-DS76) $2150
• ASUS TUF 15.6 Full HD Gaming VR-Ready Laptop | AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 8 cores up to 4.1GHz| 16GB DDR4| 1TB SSD+1TB HDD| NVDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB| RGB backlit keyboard| HD webcam | Windows 10| Gray $1224
• ASUS TUF A15 Gaming Notebook, 15.6" FHD Display, AMD Ryzen 7 4800H Upto 4.2GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, HDMI, DisplayPort via USB-C, Wi-Fi, BT, Windows 10 Pro $1324

 

[BelindaN]

52 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

I agree pretty much with Gage. I have an Acer Aspire laptop that's almost 3 years old and doesn't have as much memory or as modern a GPU as the ones you are looking at, but it's more than adequate for SL.  It does have a 17.3" monitor, which I recommend (In fact, I'd recommend investing in a larger standalone monitor anyway.  You'll have a much better SL experience on a large screen.)  For the same money, though, you can get a fancier desktop and a larger monitor.  I think that's what Gage is quietly hinting when he says, "Well, if you're set on a laptop ..."  Even though my laptop does a fine job in SL, I spend almost all my time in world on my desktop.  The laptop is for those times when portability counts  ( remember those pre-CoVid days when you could actually go somewhere? ).

Thanks Rollig. I can't use a desktop at home, it just wouldn't fit. Even a standalone monitor isn't doable, because I'm usually on the sofa in a corner! I'll look some more, and maybe I should go for the 17"!! And Asus by the sound of it.

[Alwin Alcott]

I'm using a Asus TUF FX505DT-AL097T
15.6 inch
AMD Ryzen 5
8 gb mem
GTX1650 4 GB
512 GB SSD

[FairreLilette]

1 hour ago, BelindaN said:

Thanks Rollig. I can't use a desktop at home, it just wouldn't fit. Even a standalone monitor isn't doable, because I'm usually on the sofa in a corner! I'll look some more, and maybe I should go for the 17"!! And Asus by the sound of it.

I have a laptop but I use a laptop tray with cooling vents.  Doesn't a laptop sitting on your lap feel hot to your legs?  My laptop is just for music and headphones and cheap and not for Second Life.  I have a desktop and a 19" flat screen monitor for SL.  But, I was still wondering, doesn't the laptop get hot on your legs?  I'll put a picture below of what a laptop tray is (but mine had cooling jets - you can find laptop trays on Ebay and Amazon and other places).  This is just an FYI post.   p.s.  Best of luck getting a great one!

[BelindaN]

2 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

I have a laptop but I use a laptop tray with cooling vents.  Doesn't a laptop sitting on your lap feel hot to your legs?  My laptop is just for music and headphones and cheap and not for Second Life.  I have a desktop and a 19" flat screen monitor for SL.  But, I was still wondering, doesn't the laptop get hot on your legs?  I'll put a picture below of what a laptop tray is (but mine had cooling jets - you can find laptop trays on Ebay and Amazon and other places).  This is just an FYI post.   p.s.  Best of luck getting a great one!

Oh thanks Fairre! I didn't know you could get trays......Oops! 

Yeah in summer it gets a bit hot. Winter is OK. 

I would LOVE a 19" flat screen, but it's just not possible here.

Edited December 26, 2020 by BelindaN

[Claireschen Hesten]

5 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

But, I was still wondering, doesn't the laptop get hot on your legs? 

If the laptop sits flat on your legs it can get quite warm. before i got a small table and started using fan based cooling pads more than 10 years back i could only really use one on my lap and actually got red patches on my thighs from the heat they did go when i started using the table

[Rowan Amore]

20 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

If the laptop sits flat on your legs it can get quite warm. before i got a small table and started using fan based cooling pads more than 10 years back i could only really use one on my lap and actually got red patches on my thighs from the heat they did go when i started using the table

I use a cooling pad on my lap or at my desk when I'm running SL.  I'm using an HP Omen now.  17".

[Rolig Loon]

You are protecting more than just your legs, which will heal.  If your machine overheats, it can damage expensive parts.  You can get an acceptable cooling pad at Best Buy (or even Wal Mart!) for under $25. If you don't want to spend even that much and are willing to set the laptop on a table instead of your lap, just prop the back side of it up with something small (like pop bottle caps) so that you get air space under the machine. A dime store fan is enough to maintain air flow under it and prevent costly overheating (and damage to your tabletop).

[Rachel1206]

For intel based PC with NVidea GTX recommendations in 2020 - all will run Second Life fast and stable with high graphics with ALM enabled:

Minimum

iCore3, 16 GB RAM, GTX 1050 4 GB VRAM GPU, 512 GB SSD

Recommend

iCore5/iCore7, 16-32 GB RAM, GTX 1060/2060/3060(*) 6 GB/8GB VRAM GPU,  512 GB/1 TB SSD

Gamer

iCore7/iCore9, 16-32 GB RAM, GTX 1070/2070/3070 8+GB VRAM GPU, 1 TB SSD

Professional

iCore9, 32-64 GB RAM, GTX 1080/2080/3080 8+ GB VRAM, 1+ TB SSD

 

For display on the laptop, go for a 144 MHz display, new gaming laptops have 144/266/300 MHz. Entry models only have 60 MHz.

(*) GTX 3060 will be presented 12th of January 2021

Edited December 27, 2020 by Rachel1206

[Bree Giffen]

A big laptop is great if you don't plan on carrying it outside the house. It may also be able to disperse heat better which is always a problem when gaming.. or running SL. It can be heavy though. They're called desktop replacements because you just put them in one spot and pretend they are a desktop computer. I was at a store once and looked at a large 17" laptop that was super light and could be lifted with one hand... that was nice but I don't think it was for gaming. So.. check that weight spec!

[BelindaN]

Fantastic help everybody!! I just ordered a cooling tray, which I found recommended on an IT site. I really had no idea you could get these things.

Next job is to filter through all the likely laptops and hopefully get a 17".

I'm not rushing this part, because I think more options might come up after January First. I shall be referring back to this thread probably on a daily basis.

No more hot legs!!!  oo-err!

PS...I got a new Car-Mouse. I'm such a geek with mouses. Or Meece.

Edited December 27, 2020 by BelindaN

[Lindal Kidd]

15 hours ago, BelindaN said:

I would LOVE a 19" flat screen, but it's just not possible here.

What are you living in, a refrigerator shipping box??

I'd go with the 17" screen.  Any of the other specs you mentioned are fine for SL, although the SSD would be very nice to have.  Either the 256 or 512, although more is better of course.

Malin's comment about a laptop from a gaming company has some merit, although Lenovo and Dell computers should also be just fine for SL, as long as their hardware specs are equivalent to a machine from a "gaming" background.

If you can't have a stand alone monitor at least get a stand alone mouse.

[Arielle Popstar]

There are also loads of different articulating arms that can be wall mounted, table mounted with clamps etc. Might be something to consider too especially as its nice to have 2 monitors when playing S/L. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=monitor+articulating+arm&atb=v245-1&iax=images&ia=images

After a recent purchase of a Acer Nitro budget gaming laptop in addition to my desktop, I would suggest at minimum 16 GB of ram, a 512 GB SSD and a Nvidia card in the 60's like 1060, 1660, 2060 as I found that though the 1050 was adequate for reasonable fps in S/L, I do get more noticeable lag in busy clubs and venues. The Ram and drive can always be updated on a laptop but not the video card. 

[Lyssa Greymoon]

I'd look up YouTube videos for upgrades of any computer I was considering. YouTube is a fantastic resource because if a computer exists, there's probably a video of someone taking it apart. Upgrading laptops can range from super simple to pure nightmare fuel. Just because you can upgrade something doesn't mean you will want to.

[Luna Bliss]

On 12/26/2020 at 9:21 AM, BelindaN said:

I’m laptop shopping

I always read the reviews at Amazon and other places. Some laptops can be horribly noisy and often a review will mention if that's the case.