Help with deciding/buying laptop

[lar_lo87]

• What is your budget? 1500$ (Even laptops that range to 1800$ as I will buy on black friday and they will drop in price)
• What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Doesn't really matter
• What screen resolution do you want? Doesn't really matter.
• Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Desktop replacement
• How much battery life do you need? Not that much, can be kept charged fairly easily
• Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low, Medium or High)? High, the most difficult games to run I want to play are Baldurs Gate 3 and Dragon Age Veilguard
• What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Not much, probably just your usual word and excel.
• How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? Minimum of 500 GB
• If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. Best buy https://www.bestbuy.com/
• How long do you want to keep your laptop? At least 5 years.
• Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. I dont have a preference, just something that is reputable or has a good track.
• What country do you live in? USA.
• Please tell us any additional information if needed. International student who travels twice a year, dont know much about laptops or components but just need enough to play Baldurs Gate 3 and that it stays good for a long time

 

[ZedClampet]

• What is your budget? 1500$ (Even laptops that range to 1800$ as I will buy on black friday and they will drop in price)
• What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Doesn't really matter
• What screen resolution do you want? Doesn't really matter.
• Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Desktop replacement
• How much battery life do you need? Not that much, can be kept charged fairly easily
• Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low, Medium or High)? High, the most difficult games to run I want to play are Baldurs Gate 3 and Dragon Age Veilguard
• What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Not much, probably just your usual word and excel.
• How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? Minimum of 500 GB
• If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. Best buy https://www.bestbuy.com/
• How long do you want to keep your laptop? At least 5 years.
• Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. I dont have a preference, just something that is reputable or has a good track.
• What country do you live in? USA.
• Please tell us any additional information if needed. International student who travels twice a year, dont know much about laptops or components but just need enough to play Baldurs Gate 3 and that it stays good for a long time

The gaming laptops with the highest consumer ratings are Lenovo and HP. I've owned many gaming laptops through the years, and I will only buy from these two brands now. Everything else has problems and low build quality. I've had MSi, Asus, Acer, Sager, etc. Do yourself a favor and get either a Lenovo or HP. My current laptop is an HP Omen, and it's fantastic. Never gets hot. The keyboard is great. I bought my kids Lenovos, and they are fantastic as well.

Also, if you want your laptop to last 5 years, you might want to consider buying the extended warranty, although that's more for the other brands than the HP and Lenovo. It still wouldn't hurt. Laptops, even the best ones, are just not as reliable long-term as a desktop.

If you need help with specs, it's better that you post links to some that you are looking at, and I'll look through them

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome to the forum

Best gaming laptops in 2024: I've had my pick of portable powerhouses and these are the best

Don't compromise on power or portability with the best gaming laptops.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[ZedClampet]

I would absolutely suggest buying from a PC Gamer link. I do all my Amazon shopping that way, and it helps them financially. But the problem with their laptop reviews is that they pull the laptop out of the box, test it and write the review.

The question with gaming laptops isn't how they work straight from the box. They pretty much are all okay when you first start using them. The question is how they will be after a year or two of use, and that's something professional reviews can't tell you. Only consumer reviews know the answer to that.

This goes for most products--professional reviews can't tell you much about reliability--but it's especially important if you are going to spend $1500 on something to find out how it performs over time, particularly for a product as sketchy and typically terrible as a gaming laptop. Just about any other gaming product I wouldn't care, but most gaming laptops are just plain garbage.