May 1, 2020
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Okay, so I'm as new as it gets to gaming laptops (and gaming pcs in general) and I want to get some advice and recommendations before I take the plunge. I understand that GPU and CPU matter the most when measuring a pc's ability to play a game, but looking at string after string of numbers has made me cross eyed the past two days. So, I'm hoping to get some help.

I'll go ahead and say my budget's $900. I really don't want to go over this amount but still get something decent that I won't immediately regret buying. Not sure how possible that is but here we go.

I'm looking for a laptop that can handle gaming every now and then but also function as my everyday computer, which means hours of constant use. A few of the games I'm hoping to play are The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Oblivion, a (potentially) heavily modded Skyrim if the laptop can handle it, the Mass Effect series, some Fable titles, Dark Souls 3, Hellblade, and Divinity: Original Sin 2.

The actual look or weight of the laptop doesn't matter a lot, but I do need at least 2 usb ports, more would be fantastic. I use my laptop to write a lot, so a decent keyboard is appreciated, as well as a trackpad that isn't garbage. I use a usb mouse almost always but sometimes the trackpad's all I've got. And decent speakers are always appreciated but I've got headphones, so it's not a dealbreaker.

I've been looking at several laptops but don't have a clue what I'm doing lol. ANY advice or recommendations are greatly appreciated and thank you to anyone who can help me out.
 
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May 2, 2020
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With budget of $900 you will need to sacrifice something. But new Ryzen 4800h laptops are coming out now and older CPUs will be on sale.
I would still recommend you look for Laptop using 8750h or 9750h CPU with GTX 1070 (not! maxQ)
8750h and more recent 9750h are near identical in performance. GTX 1070 is actually faster then current most popular 2060 laptop GPU in most titles. I would look on manufacturers websites and sales discounted sections.
 
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I'd strongly recommend edging over the budget as if you go to $950 you could get:

i7 9750H, GTX 1660 ti, 16gb RAM, and a 512gb SSD.

The most you could usually expect to get for within the $900 range is a GTX 1650, so that's quite a step up (~60%+ more performance). Also the extra VRAM will be very useful if you make liberal use of texture mods for Skyrim & co.

Given that you can't replace the CPU or GPU in a laptop, it makes sense to spring for the best GPU you can reasonably afford. As your only upgrade option down the line will be a new laptop.

The Walmart EVOO laptops appear to be based on Tongfang chassis, which like Clevo are widely used by custom builders like Maingear, Schenker and so on. The 17.3" version reviewed well:
Which shouldn't surprise anyone.. because it's a Tongfang with a Walmart sticker on it.

I had a look on several sites and that was by far the best bang for buck I could come up with.

For something you're going to be lumped with for several years, a $50 extra investment would seem well worthwhile.
 
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