Thinking About Getting New Laptop

[Omega83]

Hi guys. My birthday is next month, and I am floating around the idea/thought about getting a new gaming laptop. My current one is starting to show it's age, and I feel that I am unable to play newer, more demanding games such as Borderlands 4. I have had my current laptop for about 4-5 years, and it has held up fairly well, even though it's price at the time of purchase was close to $4k. I have purchased majority of my laptops from Xotic PC. Here are the specs of my laptop:

- Windows 11 64-bit OS
- AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX @ 3.30 GHz
- Nvidia RTX 3080 with 16GB VRAM
- 2560*1440 Native Res (Non 4k screen)
- 64GB System RAM
- 2x 4TB SSDs

What is a good price range to look for, and what should I look for in a gaming laptop? I really don't want to spend another $4k, and price range I am hoping for is around 1-2k, or less if possible. Thoughts and help greatly appreciated

 

[Frag Maniac]

I read Lenovo has a new prototype of what they call a Legion Pro "Rollable" Laptop. It is a high end model with RTX 5090 and the screen can be adjusted from 16" to 24" with a push of a button. Since they call it "rollable", and the screen is fairly thick for a latest gen laptop, I assume it uses one of those flex screen super thin OLEDs like the LG OLED TV that has it's screen hidden in a box, then rolls upwards out of it when in use.

Again, these are just a concept at this point, and if they do hit the market, they will no doubt be very expensive. Lenovo however is known for packing a lot of features into laptops at prices lower than most competitors, so there might still be hope for those who aren't ultra wealthy.

The Legion Pro Rollable is mentioned at the :55 mark.

 

[Omega83]

Hi again guys. I am looking at possible Laptop choices, and I saw an HP Omen 16 2k on Best Buy's site for a little over $1k. The Specs look reasonable, but when it comes to PC gaming, how much System RAM is recommended? It comes with 16GB DDR5, and can max out at 32GB. Thoughts and help appreciated

 

[Frag Maniac]

Most avid gamers playing current games are either on or are transitioning from 16 GB RAM to 32 GB, so that is spot on. You'd get a more detailed assessment by listing the thing's full spec though.

If you are referring to this model...

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/hp-omen-16-2k-144hz-gaming-laptop-intel-core-ultra-7-255h-w-ai-boost-2025-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5060-1tb-ssd-shadow-black/JJGH2YRCT5/sku/6633213

...it may be hard to make use of it's 144Hz refresh (via 144 FPS) in a lot of current games with a 5060, but it's res is not high, so that will account for a lot. It's a bit of a stretch to call it "2K" res, as the actual 1920x1200 res is a bit under that. You'll no doubt get thin black borders along the top and bottom of the screen as shown in the above product page with the LoL screenshot. That's because the 16:10 aspect ratio is not supported by many (if any) games anymore.

It depends what games you want to play and what you're OK with. If this is to be a combo gaming PC and mobile workstation though, you WOULD have the benefit of it being able to display side by side documents, which is why many like that res for work. One thing I would definitely check before you buy this laptop is whether HP provides adequate game drivers for the mobile 5060 in this product. HP Omen in desktops are used a lot by gamers who want affordable desktop PCs though, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

Just checked HP's support page for that product and they DO show an Nvidia Graphics driver for it. So it seems HP is at least diligent in working with Nvidia to make sure their Omen laptops work with their drivers. Not all laptops do, and when you see something like this it tells me HP may even be doing driver testing with these products.

 

[Omega83]

Most avid gamers playing current games are either on or are transitioning from 16 GB RAM to 32 GB, so that is spot on. You'd get a more detailed assessment by listing the thing's full spec though.

If you are referring to this model...

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/hp-omen-16-2k-144hz-gaming-laptop-intel-core-ultra-7-255h-w-ai-boost-2025-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-5060-1tb-ssd-shadow-black/JJGH2YRCT5/sku/6633213

...it may be hard to make use of it's 144Hz refresh (via 144 FPS) in a lot of current games with a 5060, but it's res is not high, so that will account for a lot. It's a bit of a stretch to call it "2K" res, as the actual 1920x1200 res is a bit under that. You'll no doubt get thin black borders along the top and bottom of the screen as shown in the above product page with the LoL screenshot. That's because the 16:10 aspect ratio is not supported by many (if any) games anymore.

It depends what games you want to play and what you're OK with. If this is to be a combo gaming PC and mobile workstation though, you WOULD have the benefit of it being able to display side by side documents, which is why many like that res for work. One thing I would definitely check before you buy this laptop is whether HP provides adequate game drivers for the mobile 5060 in this product. HP Omen in desktops are used a lot by gamers who want affordable desktop PCs though, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

Just checked HP's support page for that product and they DO show an Nvidia Graphics driver for it. So it seems HP is at least diligent in working with Nvidia to make sure their Omen laptops work with their drivers. Not all laptops do, and when you see something like this it tells me HP may even be doing driver testing with these products.

Yeah, that laptop was the one I was referring to. Should I still go with that one? Also, I found this laptop on Walmart's site: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-L...US/18297511292?classType=REGULAR&from=/search

Is that a good laptop? I did a google search, and the Lenovo Legion has a higher Screen Resolution than the HP Omen on Best Buy site. The Lenovo Legion has 2560*1600 Resolution, but smaller actual screen size... Further thoughts and help appreciated