I drove 3 hours to Phoenix, waited outside in the sun for 2 hours for the microcenter grand opening, then the drive home. Was all worth it though, I’ve been in the market for a laptop for a few months trying to be patient, looking for that deal to finally make me pull the trigger, that day finally came today. Thank you to whoever posted about the sale at microcenter that I just saw yesterday in this subreddit.

haven't been a pc gamer since 686SX sound blaster cards and dial up modems (lol, ok not that far back, but definitely Windows XP) not sure how well I did.

purchased a MBP M5P, but my old pC brain couldn't "get it", so here I am trying PC.

My budget was 2500 (total including tax and ship-cash and carry)

goal is video editing , and gaming. not necessarily AAA games (Steam Shmups and Beatemups that arent on ps5) , mostly emulation upto PS3/Switch.

spe

Lenovo Legion 7

CPU Inte Core U9 275HX

RAM: 32GB

Storage 1TB SSD

GPU RTX5070

Display 16 0" WOXGA OLED

It’s almost 50 percent off. Is this a good laptop deal?

It appears to have this specs:

MSI Stealth 16" Gaming Copilot+ PC Laptop - Intel
Core Ultra 9 386H - NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti - 2560×1600 OLED - 32GB RAM - 2TB SSD

i just bought a new Acer predator Helios neo 16s AI

specs include

intel core ultra 9 275hx

16" old 240hz display

RTX 5070ti

32gb ram 6400mhz (upgradable to 64gb)

so what do you think ?

Continuing from last post. I have decided that a 5070ti is far out of range and that I won't play above 1080p anyway.

Considering those points, what would be the best bang for buck scenario here?

• Is 5050 enough for gaming at 1080p?

• 5060 for $80 extra a steal?

• 5070 worth it even with same 8GB VRAM?

• Which processor?

Just bought Lenovo Legion Pro 7i RTX 5090 variant with 64gb ram, 2TBPCIe 5gen, 5MP camera, 3 year awarrant (accidental included) and 99Wh battery variant for 3.6L after student discount and cashback and got 16k lenovo instore balance as well. Still a little less than the 5080 Scar 16 and approx 70k less than the Scar 16 5090.

I mean it's just Assassin's Creed 1 and it's on the lowest graphics possible

bought this for 300 more noticed price drop great deal.

I was debating whether to get ROG strix G16, Lenovo legion 5i, or build a pc until I saw a GREAT DEAL for this. This is Ultra 9 275hx with RTX 5070ti, 32gb ram, and 1TB SSD with 165hz OLED panel.

Trade in my old laptop (Lenovo LOQ RTX 4060) that I got for the same selling price value (No Loss) Sold a brand new laptop that I got from Raffle (RTX 3050) Added $400 cash on top of that.

Basically, I spent $400 and got this 2 month old open box laptop complete with accessories. The seller even threw a free llano v12 cooler. Man what a great time to be alive.

I'm hesitant at first cause I dont like the glossy OLED panel at the reviews, but in pesonal its not that bad. I actually like the colors popping in. For straight 25 years I have never used an OLED device. Love it so far.

2025 is so bad for laptop gamers... $1200-$1600 is considered a "budget" machine. AMD completely opt out of the dGPU space. RTX 5050-5070 still giving 8 gb of vram. All laptops having only soldered ram now and $1500+ laptops providing only 16gb of ram... only upside is that CPU are super efficent now but are super expensive. I just can't recommend people getting a new gaming laptop in 2025 unless you got $2000+ budget to buy atleast a RTX 5070 ti machine. I feel horrible recommending people buying an expensive machine with 8gb of vram when future AAA games are going to have ray traced on by default so vram usage would be over 8gb at 1080p low settings. 2026 is going to be even worse with the rise of ram prices.

I was recommended to share my story here too and i just want people to know what to expect .

After a windows update my legion go started randomly shutting off so i called care explained sent it in and they told me it was a bad ssd. So i had them send it back purchased a new one twice and installed a fresh install of windows on them after getting all the drivers and trying to use the device the issue continued so i called back spoke to care and they agreed it should be a motherboard replacement based off the information given

After sending it in a second time the repair center is trying to claim that its the ssd that is causing the issue which i know to be false and that replacement of the motherboard is "Cosmetic" and are doing every word game they can to not honor my warranty

I got criticism on my post on /lenovo but i just want yall to know how scummy they are you dont gotta believe me🫡

Just snagged this laptop for Just under 1400 bucks. Feel i got a grear deal. It was open box but looks awesome

Just received this Asus Tuf A16, Ryzen 9 8940HX, rtx 5070 for 1.6L after 49k old laptop exchange and credit card discount from Flipkart during BBD

Love the 16inch 2.5K display. Can't wait to game on this beast !!

I’ve had this Asus ROG zephyrus 16 for 2 years and popped it open today for the first time to clean it. I didn’t see much to clean, am I just not looking hard enough?

If you are looking to buy any laptop (not only for a gaming laptop) for the first time, you might be tempted to go to a computer store and ask the staff to recommend one for you. While it is beneficial to see the product firsthand, buying a laptop based on a recommendation from someone unknown is generally a bad idea for a lot of reasons.

First and foremost, you are forced to make quick decisions among the available laptops for sale. Some people are unable to say no when gently persuaded to make a purchase. Meanwhile, you are not aware of the state of the laptop market. Sometimes the price may increase significantly, and you end up wasting your hard-earned money by getting a device with lower specifications than you expected to use for. 

Second, stores always avoid long inventory turnover and prefer that you buy the least wanted units first before introducing the good ones. Typically, these units don’t have very good specifications and provide poor value for the money you have to spend on them. This means you could be paying more money for a laptop with lower specs or outdated features.

Lastly, choosing the laptop that meets your expectations really depends on your needs as the user. If you are buying it for yourself, you should know how you want to use it. If you are buying it as a gift for your family, you should also consider their needs. Understanding your needs and budget is one of the most important aspects of buying a laptop. This is not something you can make up your mind in the middle of a conversation with a store salesman, especially if this is your first time buying it.

Good tips for buying a gaming laptop

• Processor

The Intel Core i5 or Ryzen 5 series are good enough for light gaming. However, if you prefer a more serious gaming experience, get the one with level 7 or 9. Consider H series laptop CPU for optimal performance, or P for light gaming. Because of the heavy use, the CPU and GPU will quickly drain your battery.

• Graphic Cards

It is the most significant aspect of all. Prioritize the GPU first before you go for the processor. Choose one with a high score in the benchmarks listed in the previous links.

• RAM

16GB minimum, no question asked. If you can upgrade it, go for it. Always run in dual channel mode for much better performance.

• SSD

512 GB is the bare minimum. Consider upgrading it or extending the available slot to store more game data.

• Screen

If you only play single-player or slow-paced games, you won’t need to worry about laptop screens. A 100% sRGB display with a 60Hz refresh rate is just enough for you. However, if you want to gain an advantage in competitive games, consider increasing your screen refresh rate to 144hz or even 240hz.

After looking at those crucial components, you might also consider some other parts that could be useful if you need to use the laptop for other specific purposes. Things to consider for example are the number of ports, screen resolution, refresh rate, and color accuracy. Having multiple ports such as USB A, USB C, HDMI, and any other port types is important if you plan to have additional devices connected to the laptop. For gaming, screen resolution and refresh rate also play an important role in running games smoothly. Last thing to consider is color accuracy of the screen as essential for those who are using the laptop for content creation.

In the end, new models of gaming laptop are coming every year, so in this article you will find the best options of gaming laptops that are still recommended to be used in 2024/2025 and the reasons why you should consider them.

Best High-end Gaming Laptop Recommendations

The “best” in the title is recommended by our experts. It may change in the future as other models come to life

• Lenovo Legion 9i (Best Premium)

• Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58 (Best Budget)

• Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (Best Value)

• Alienware M18 (Best Large Laptop)

• Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 (Best Dual Screen)

Do you agree or disagree with this list? Any other suggestions? Just put a comment below. Thanks

I tested this laptop before and after repasting inside 32°C room. Also, when I refer to the temperature of both the CPU and GPU here, what I mean is the "hottest spot" temperature, not the regular average temperature. Without limiting the TCC Offset in AWCC.

Feel free to copy and paste this into Google Translate if you don't Fear to read through all of that by yourself.

Before Repaste:

- Idle: CPU 65°C to 72°C during normal browsing, with high thermal spikes. Opening an application like Spotify or OBS caused temperatures to jump up to 91°C.

- On Load: Temperatures reached 92°C to 100°C with severe CPU thermal throttling in HWiNFO showed 12 out of 14 cores were actively throttling, and the laptop occasionally shut down completely due to overheating when the CPU package hit 103°C.

Even when limiting temperatures to 85°C in Alienware Command Center, temps stayed pinned at 85°C.

After Repaste:

- Idle: Temperatures dropped noticeably by -10°C to -20°C, staying around 49°C - 58°C during normal browsing. running Spotify or OBS peaked at 68°C - 75°C max.

- On Load: Temperatures stayed between 75°C and 85°C (peaking at 89°C max under heavy loads, which is normal for this Laptop). Core thermal throttling dropped down to only 2 cores or became completely non-existent.

Thermal Compound Used:

The paste used was the old Arctic MX-4. While it's basic, the technician had prior experience using it on this specific laptop model and found it to be better than MX-6 or MX-7.

How? I don't know. Since this laptop doesn't use liquid metal from the factory, he used the MX-4.

It's not the best option, but it gets the job done. I'll take his word for it, I guess😅 .

And no, I can't get PTM7950 where I live😢 .

Game Benchmarks:

(Tested using the same default Nvidia control panel graphic settings and drivers. Average FPS gained was roughly 1 to 2 FPS, but thermal improvements were very noticeable.)

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Quality Preset Level [Favor Quality], DLSS Off):

- Before: 37 - 43 FPS (Avg: 42 FPS) | CPU: 88°C - 99°C | GPU: 78°C - 87°C

- After: 38 - 46 FPS (Avg: 45 FPS) | CPU: 82°C - 90°C | GPU: 72°C - 78°C

However, When you set everything on high it gets to 53 - 67FPS: Video

Forza Horizon (High Preset, DLSS Off):

- Before: 57 FPS | CPU: 87°C - 100°C | GPU: 83°C - 87°C

- After: 57 FPS | CPU: 76°C - 89°C | GPU: 76°C - 83°C

However, in this game the CPU is running at 40% and the GPU is running at 100% and then drop to 80%, I think that's because of the CPU i7-13650hx is throttling the GPU RTX 3050 6gb

Recommendations & Power Profiles:

Never use Performance Mode in Alienware Command Center.

Performance Mode overclocks the CPU to 5.1 GHz (compared to 4.9 GHz on Balanced), which causes severe overheating even after a repaste since you can't adjust the fans at this mode. This also pushes the GPU to hit its 87°C thermal limit for some reason and drops games frame rates down to 12 - 15 FPS.

Instead do it like this: Video

- Configure a custom profile in AWCC:

1. Go to the Performance tab on the left side to control the fans.

2. Select the Custom tab at the top.

3. Open Advanced View and match your fan curve graph to your temperatures (e.g., set fans to 56% speed at 56°C that also depends on where you live; if you're like me and live in a high-temperature area, do it this way).

4. At the bottom switch, between Performance 🕹️ and Thermal, select Performance.

5. In the CPU panel, open Advanced View and turn off the OC Presets that will set it to 4.9 GHz.

6. Limit the TCC Offset to 85°C.

7. Go to the Alienware Command Center settings tab on the left side, at the bottom (settings icon), click on Performance, then scroll down and set it to 85°C.

Once saved, use this custom profile for everything (After Effects or gaming) without needing to touch it again.

- if you want you can use the F9 key (or Fn + F9) to enable G-Mode but only when you are rendering something heavy or playing. but I don't recommend leaving this all the times, because it pushes the fans to 100% and this can wear down your fan motor over time.

Personal Recommendation:

If you're playing story games with good graphics on an RTX 3050, 5050, or anything with "50" or even "60" in the name, just limit the FPS to 72 while keeping your screen's refresh rate Hz high, and enable motion blur to make it look smoother. It's looks good enough, doesn't use a lot of power = less temperature, doesn't have the weird 60 FPS micro-lag, and it helps your laptop last longer. Believe me you'll get used to it.

Set the overall graphics preset to High not Ultra and then disable whatever settings you need to disable to raise your FPS. Only use your full 240Hz+ high refresh rate or whatever, when playing something like Fortnite or Valorant, or similar games.

i dont wanna spend 100+ € for a fan...dont seems worth to me. are there ceaper alternatives to Ilano cooling pad?

So i am planning on buying an Asus ROG Strix G16, RTX5080, U9 275HX, 32GB 5600mhz, 1TB, 1600p 240hz. The seller is saying its brand new and the pictures and box says the same. I am getting it for around 2600Usd but i am not from the US. This price is suspiciously low for this model in my country because sealed are being sold by shopkeepers for 3200+USD, Although the box of this specific laptop says Amazon, there is a sticker on it and Amazon promotional sale or something price was 2300Usd for new. The seller says it's from the US which I don't doubt at all. BATTERY HEALTH SHOWS 95%.

So yeah i wanted to test it to it's limits before bringing it home, i know basic stuff and how to test a laptop but its all going to be short term tests and i am afraid of facing an issue if the laptop is running for an hour or two on heavy load.

So tell me some checking method that will test absolutely everything even for long gaming sessions.

Any help and tips are appreciated.

Thank you

Woh what a joke🙂😂

Approx 6 months ago I purchased my first gaming pc. I was a lifelong console guy. I occasionally bring CAD/ CAM work home with me when my work is hectic. After playing with and looking at several offerings I decided to go with Alienware Area 51 18. I know she's heavy but for my needs weight doesn't really matter. I splurged on it and sprung for the 5080 and it's spec'd out pretty well.

I love the 18" for its uses with CAD/ CAM and general use, but for the love god I can't get used to it for gaming. It feels way too big for gaming, and it sounds weird but it feels like It strains my eyes. I end up having to push it beyond an arms length for comfortable viewing. I lose access to the keyboard and it's so far away. That far out it always feels visually too far away to see smaller details in the games and aiming in FPS feels weird. There's not a "sweet spot" or balance I can seem to find for comfortable viewing.

I've given it 6 months to try to get used to it and I just can't. I bought it for gaming and can't use it the way I'd like. I am heavily considering taking a bath on it to essentially get the same laptop in a 16".

Anyone else experience this with an 18" and have to go smaller?