Complete newbie needs help please!

jason44mag

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Hi Team,

I am in that unenviable position where my son thinks his dad knows everything about everything and is asking for a laptop that is good for gaming :-(

We (as a family) are mainly apple users but he loves plying steam games which are limited in availability on the Steam for Mac app so we thought we would look into a windows laptop that he could use to play games as well as use at his new school (finally at big school!).

I have no idea where to start and frankly the custom built PC rigs are probably too much for his needs right now so i wondered if anyone could offer some advice around:
1) does a laptop that can be used for gaming and general work exist?
2) if so, where do they live :)
3) if not, should i be looking for an inexpensive desktop system?

Thanks in advance and i hope you will forgive the entry level q's!

J
 
Are any of your Mac's x86 based ?, you can install windows on it via bootcamp and play games from steam that way. If you have Arm based Mac's then its not possible.

If you have an x86 Mac there are also external GPU's you can attach to the computer that will increase its graphics performance.

For PC gaming laptop it depends on how much your willing to spend, what's your limit.
 
1) A gaming PC will do office work, although battery run times will be less than a office laptop as GPUs use more power even when idle
2) Shops
3) A desktop gaming system will outperform a laptop system and be upgradeable. For example I fitted a 1TB NVME gumstick drive to my 10 year old desktop PC, and it runs pretty fast (PCI-E) You couldn't do that with a laptop. I can also fit multiple hard drives. Or replace GPU, or PSU, or upgrade to the fastest CPU the motherboard supports. Or replace stock HSF with large tower & fan, or watercooling.

Another option would be buy a cheap office laptop, starting from a Chromebook to a £300-£400 laptop (or second hand) then a desktop PC for games.
 
Thanks Next010, unfortunately we all have arm macs so windows is probably the way to go.

Once i get an idea of what to look for, i would probably be more inclined to pick something up second hand (as its his first device) and see how we go with it for a couple of years.

From looking at general searches, gaming laptops look expensive but i guess they are dedicated to gaming?

If thats the case i could try and find a used one or perhaps there is a laptop thats more of a cross over or sits in the middle of office work and gaming?
 
A affordable, reasonbly specced gaming PC is the Lenevo Ideapad 3 Gaming. It's got RAM sockets, rather than soldered RAM.

Getting the right GPU depends on the game, and expectation. Is he wanting ultra settings on latest AAA graphical intensive games at 4K to a PC?

Also full size arrow keys and it's further away from the keyboard unlike regular laptops.

It's still a rubbish keyboard with chiclet style, so I would recommend a dedicated TKL/full size mechanical keyboard (and mouse)

Typing on a chiclet is horrid also, as poor feedback with touchtyping. I'm using a Logitech Waterproof keyboard now and although it's chiclet style key movement is far greater than a laptop chiclet (plus further spread out gaps between the keys.
 
Thanks rccarguy, i think the desktop gaming rig would be further down the line at this stage. A laptop would be ok for him to take to school and hopefully play games too?

I just did a cursory search on currys https://www.currys.co.uk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops and there seems to be a few middle of the road options (acer nitro? etc). but im still unclear of what i need to look out for?
 
Getting the right GPU depends on the game, and expectation. Is he wanting ultra settings on latest AAA graphical intensive games at 4K to a PC?
I dont think we are at that stage at the moment but would be good to get something that could handle that kind of gaming (if he needs to)

The Lenover option looks a good choice, would that handle those types of games?
 
Typically on a gaming laptop

Backlit keyboard (also useful for office PC as feedback/touchtyping is difficult so able to see keys if you look down, if you you are in dark room helps)

Dedicated GPU from Nvidia 1640 to 3060, different varients etc like "Ti"

Screen size, ratio, resolution, panel type, refresh, freesync/g-sync.

On lower end gaming the dedicated GPU on the Ryzens aren't too bad for older games, but dedicated will always be better. I played Command and Conquer remastered on a Ryzen 7 4700U on the 1920x1080 laptop screen fine.

Issue with laptops is GPU is non upgradeable, so need to go on youtube, compare laptop GPU on the games he's playing.

For example this is the lowest of the dedicated (good) Gpus. Forza runs pretty decent though I get 70-90FPS on my 10 year old PC (2560x1440) on high, ATI 480

 
A laptop would be ok for him to take to school and hopefully play games too?

Does he actually need to take a laptop to school? If he does fair enough but often labs are provided so that the teacher can monitor appropriately\know the correct software is installed. Then there is the risk of it getting nicked etc but that will depend on the school and everything.

The other thing I would be worried about is the weight of the laptop and carrying it around, along with its PSU which will be normally heavier. Usually at least 2.5kg for the laptop alone. The heat output generated often means the battery runtime does not last as long.

You will typically get better value for money and certainly performance from a desktop. It really depends on do you want a laptop to do and what the budget is.
 
Does he actually need to take a laptop to school? If he does fair enough but often labs are provided so that the teacher can monitor appropriately\know the correct software is installed. Then there is the risk of it getting nicked etc but that will depend on the school and everything.

The other thing I would be worried about is the weight of the laptop and carrying it around, along with its PSU which will be normally heavier. Usually at least 2.5kg for the laptop alone. The heat output generated often means the battery runtime does not last as long.

You will typically get better value for money and certainly performance from a desktop. It really depends on do you want a laptop to do and what the budget is.
Thats a good point regarding the weight etc.

The reason we thought laptop is that he can use it in different places, take it to his mates etc. and do school work at home?

i think the $600 mark would be ok for us so that would capture a few on the curry's website inc the lenovo that RC mentioned about.

I assume those specs wouldnt cope with the newer top end games but be ok for steam etc?
 
For example I fitted a 1TB NVME gumstick drive to my 10 year old desktop PC, and it runs pretty fast (PCI-E) You couldn't do that with a laptop
Not technically true. Most modern laptops come with ME drives now
 
On size and school I wouldn’t send a gaming laptop off to school with a child.

Here in Canberra the public schools (government schools here - private schools are called private schools :) ) provide Chromebooks and use the Google things behind that for school work.

If parents wish to provide higher spec laptops they can - makes them a target for theft though as they aren’t the crappy Chromebooks the vast majority have.

Anyway even if I was providing a school laptop I would do just that for that job. A more expensive one for home uses would be separate and suit those uses. Of course it can do basic school stuff if it has to but I wouldn’t buy it for that. Using it with friends is “home” use to me so weight etc isn’t an issue.

Maybe it’s just me and I get cost is always an issue. I always look at school as the cost and the other laptops as luxuries though.
 
If you are set on getting a laptop I'd get a laptop and GPU enclosure. If you get a decent AMD 5 series or Intel 11th series CPU this should last a few years. Then get a GPU enclosure (laptop needs a thunderbolt port) and you have an upgradable GPU then (the thing that most likely goes obsolete first)
 
What games does he play?
 
at the moment he plays minecraft, world or war, total accurate battle simulator, ark and he loves command and conquer
 
If you are set on getting a laptop I'd get a laptop and GPU enclosure. If you get a decent AMD 5 series or Intel 11th series CPU this should last a few years. Then get a GPU enclosure (laptop needs a thunderbolt port) and you have an upgradable GPU then (the thing that most likely goes obsolete first)
Thanks Delvey, i will do some more research.

I saw the hype about the steamdeck system too but i guess this is not suitable as a hybrid games/pc system
 
at the moment he plays minecraft, world or war, total accurate battle simulator, ark and he loves command and conquer
Other than ark most of those are considered not demanding and will run well enough on budget laptops. You could get something low end and then use cloud streaming service GeForce Now to play Ark though that, though the experience varies greatly depending on quality of internet connection.

For £649 you can get this laptop, it has decent gaming hardware with an nvidia rtx-3050 GPU, which can handle ark on low or medium settings. As long as he understands this wont be pushing max graphics in new demanding games it could work out for his needs.
 
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