Nice low end gaming laptop

Discussion in 'Laptops & Notebooks' started by scajjr2, Feb 4, 2016.

  1. scajjr2

    scajjr2 Member Guru

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    Asus RT-6900XT LC
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PYYDMQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01

    Got one of these a couple days ago. Works great for what I need (web, video, Steam games). I added another 8Gb ram, put a 128Gb 2.5" SSD in the open drive bay and have ordered a Intel 7265 wifi card to replace the 3165 that's in it.

    Keyboard and trackpad are not as bad as some reviews make them out to be, about the same as other low end laptops I've used.

    This IS NOT a high end gaming laptop, so if you're looking for that type of machine this ISN'T it. But for decent specs at $799 this one works just fine for me.

    Sam
     
  2. zipper

    zipper Maha Guru

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    You are too harsh, 960M is rated as upper mid-range :)
     
  3. Dch48

    Dch48 Guest

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    I wouldn't say that's a low end laptop. It's more like high-midrange. It's excellent for the price.
     
  4. vbetts

    vbetts Don Vincenzo Staff Member

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    Low end I would say is an FX-8800, or anything with a Core M 5200 and 950 or lower.

    I am very pleased with laptops now as I didn't used to be too pleased with them. My Macbook has the Intel 5300 in it, and for an iGPU it's pretty decent for some lower res gaming.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2016

  5. scajjr2

    scajjr2 Member Guru

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    Yeah the hardware is high mid-range, but as gaming laptop pricing goes, $799 would lead one to believe the hardware isn't that good. But this laptop really is a great buy. Does everything I need it to do. Very fast loading Win 10, under 10 sec.

    Sam
     
  6. kanej2007

    kanej2007 Guest

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    Agreed. Also the fact it actually comes with an SSD drive is a great option since most laptops are still stuck with regular hard drives and 720p resolution which is so stone age...
     
  7. vbetts

    vbetts Don Vincenzo Staff Member

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    Some of the hardware in lower end laptops can only comfortably handle 720p is the sad part...
     
  8. kanej2007

    kanej2007 Guest

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    A bit like my Lenovo X220. It has an i5, 12Gb DDR3 ram only issue it has shared graphics. :bang:

    Later on I'll get something like an MSI or Razor laptop having a proper dedicated GPU like a GTX 970M & Quad HD resolution which would be great for older games. 1080P would be fine for more recent titles.

    Looking for a 14'' laptop with the 970M. Around $1000 but worth it due to mobility, portability, size and weight...
     
  9. vbetts

    vbetts Don Vincenzo Staff Member

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    You can find some in USD for that price range.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232863

    It is a little big, and little over $1000 but it's not that bad other than that...:D
     
  10. Dch48

    Dch48 Guest

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    You can get Clevo based gaming laptops for very reasonable prices from a few makers like Sager and XoticPC.
     

  11. kanej2007

    kanej2007 Guest

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    Last edited: Feb 11, 2016
  12. scajjr2

    scajjr2 Member Guru

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  13. scajjr2

    scajjr2 Member Guru

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    I ended up returning the i5 model and getting the i7 from that SlickDeals site. $699. I put in a 850 Evo 256Gb M.2, replaced the 1Tb HDD with a 500Gb 850 Evo, kept the 8Gb ram module and the 7265 wifi card I had gotten for the i5 model and added them to the i7 one.

    Sam
     
  14. kbdfan

    kbdfan Guest

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    It's a pretty good deal for the price, I've had a good experience with Dell keyboards in the past, but lately, the quality has been declining.
     
  15. JulieCMattern

    JulieCMattern Guest

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  16. Imglidinhere

    Imglidinhere Guest

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    The 960M is actually classified as entry-level by most... for some stupid reason. x3 I have the laptop in question and I can say, it's... got its quirks, and I wouldn't pay much more than what I did at the time half a year ago ($810).

    Keyboard is kinda spongy, screen is dim even at max brightness (210 nits), Color reproduction is average (70% sRGB/50% RGB), the touchpad is kinda average to sub-par what you might like, and the i7 version of this laptop overheats like no tomorrow.

    However aside from these quirks, the machine is very good. The screen is a full IPS panel, and has great viewing angles. Good black values and all that. The i5 is a full quad core and will even keep up with a GTX 970m, so the 960m isn't bottlenecked in the slightest. It's a perfect pairing of both portability and power. Battery lasts a good while too. Skylake lets you set the TDP down in the power settings, so when the CPU is on battery, it's a 35w TDP rather than a 45w TDP, and clocks lower too. That and using Chrome to browse the internet I typically get close to 6 hours of battery life if I'm jumping around. Not super long, but Chrome is a giant power hog for laptops, so that's good in my eyes. :D

    The 960M is pretty potent for games. It's the 750 Ti in all respects, except 4GB so it'll match a GTX 480 in every game out there. Does DOOM at medium settings 1080p, 40 fps. Does Space Engineers with planets at 45 fps on medium settings... sometimes. For older games, it'll do Crysis 1 completely maxed out without any AA and hold 40 fps no problem. =3 So there's that. :D

    I love this machine personally. The only downside is the lack of a thunderbolt port and the SSD is a TLC drive, so the warranty is crap on it AND it's likely to crap out before the rest of the machine does. Warranty is rated for 72TB of writes before it's no longer covered... and for a SSD, that's pretty much guaranteed for any consistent gamer to be used up in a couple years. <~> But aside from that, the machine has a spare DDR3L slot open so you can pop in a cheap 4GB stick like I did and profit. =D Can't recommend it enough. :3
     
  17. 0blivious

    0blivious Ancient Guru

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    Just got myself an Acer E5-575G-5341 for $574 (from Newegg)

    I was planning on getting a 12-14" $400-500 everyday laptop, but this light gamer went on sale and was hard to pass up with it's GPU, dual drives, 1080p and supposedly great battery life.

    i5 6200U (2.30GHz)
    8GB ddr4 (1 stick, other slot open)
    GTX 950M 2GB
    128GB SSD
    1TB HDD
    USB 3.1, 2x3.0, 1x2.0, HDMI, VGA out
    1920x1080 15.6" (Matte, not IPS, not touch)

    The sound is above average, I've heard better from laptops but they were high end. The outside is plastic but it has a nice feel and it has a nice, aluminum "look". Interior is metal. Build quality seems pretty good. Touchpad seems responsive. Bloatware is minimal. The unit weighs almost exactly 5 lbs.

    I just ran NFS Shift (2009) on high settings and it ran great. The unit didn't put out too much heat and I didn't hear it get loud at all. An older game but still a workout for any laptop.

    This was selling for $700. Right now it's $589. Still a great deal for what amounts to a light gaming laptop.

    Acer also make a very popular similar unit (almost same model #) with a 940M, 256GB ssd (no HDD) for $549 on Amazon.
     
  18. rabits

    rabits Guest

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    I wouldn't say that is a low end portable workstation. It's more similar to high-midrange. It's superb at the cost.
     
  19. gamehunter

    gamehunter Guest

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    For a low-end gaming toy, I will select the following configuration
    2ghz CPU with quad core
    Ram of 4 GB
    HDD of 500 GB
    All the above will work in a fair match with windows 7.
     
  20. Dianeallen

    Dianeallen Guest

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    Great suggestion. Thanks I will surely check them out.
     

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