Laptop for solid WoW experience - lightweight preferred (~$2,000 budget)

[jjkr]

Title pretty much sums it up. I have an Eluktronics MAG-15 with 64GB of Ram and an Intel Core i7 @ 2.60GHz Coffee Lake 14nm Technology. Solid laptop but heavy as heck and really bulky. I'm hoping for some advice on an alternative that can still play WoW with good graphics (High setting would be awesome, but shrug) and that doesn't need a forklift to move to my laptop (The MAG-15 weighs close to 5lbs.). 15" screen would be great. Any possibilities? Any guidance would be really appreciated.

 

[faalin]

I would look at MSI and ASUS. I had a MSI GT60 2OD-026US since 2013 and is still going strong, down side was its 7.7 Lbs and had a brick (literally the size of a brick) for a power supply. 2 weeks ago i replaced it with a Asus ROG Zephyrus G15, havent gamed on it yet but the 1660 Ti is about 40% faster then the 780 in the msi so i dont think it will have any issues.

 

[jjkr]

I would look at MSI and ASUS. I had a MSI GT60 2OD-026US since 2013 and is still going strong, down side was its 7.7 Lbs and had a brick (literally the size of a brick) for a power supply. 2 weeks ago i replaced it with a Asus ROG Zephyrus G15, havent gamed on it yet but the 1660 Ti is about 40% faster then the 780 in the msi so i dont think it will have any issues.

Thank you! Looking into it now.
EDIT: Looking at the specs it actually weighs more than the current laptop

 

[faalin]

The issue with higher end laptops is they need bigger coolers to keep the CPU and GPU cool. I think my asus laptop is around 4.5Lbs, both msi and asus have 15.4" monitors but the asus is alot smaller in dimensions wise.

I know MSI has some thin client laptops but spec for spec the asus one came up a little cheaper.

 

[hang-the-9]

Slim gaming laptops are just a failure waiting to happen, you need proper space for the cooling hardware to work. Gaming laptops tend to fall into the same issue areas, throttle performance due to too much heat, crash due to overheating, have loud fans, components will fail early due to heat. The smaller you go the more chance of those things happening.

Get a desktop for gaming unless you absolutely need to be portable with it, then don't look for a light and slim laptop for gaming, just get a good one with good space for cooling.

 

[jjkr]

That's what I'm coming to realize. I'm looking at the Dell XPS, but they're really not that much lighter than my current machine. I do need it to be portable so the desktop route won't be an option. Any suggestions on good non-gaming laptops?

 

[faalin]

there's the razor blade
https://www.amazon.com/Razer-Blade-...B086MFZBM9/ref=psdc_13896615011_t1_B07D37VBVC

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MHR7D9?ref=emc_p_m_5_i&th=1

But even those sit in the 4-6Lbs range

 

[jamzkang]

I would look at MSI and ASUS. I had a MSI GT60 2OD-026US since 2013 and is still going strong, down side was its 7.7 Lbs and had a brick (literally the size of a brick) for a power supply. 2 weeks ago i replaced it with a Asus ROG Zephyrus G15, havent gamed on it yet but the 1660 Ti is about 40% faster then the 780 in the msi so i dont think it will have any issues.

Sweet pick, did the Zephyrus come with the 144hz display?
My Asus ROG Stix 15 w/ GTX 1060 is pretty heavy as well. 8 pounds, and it only being 15.6 inches, it feels like a true 17 inch laptop.

My other Asus ROG 15 with an RTX 2060 is so much lighter and slimmer. However Asus also took out the key pad section off that keyboard and the video camera, all to reduce the profile and weight.

 

[jamzkang]

That's what I'm coming to realize. I'm looking at the Dell XPS, but they're really not that much lighter than my current machine. I do need it to be portable so the desktop route won't be an option. Any suggestions on good non-gaming laptops?

I would strongly suggest the newer 15.3-15.6 ASUS ROG laptops. The only downside to those is like I mentioned earlier, Asus took out the keypad section and video camera to keep the laptop light and sleep. It may be an inconvenience if you really need those enmities.

 

[erik_h]

Do you need "portability" and "performance" at the SAME TIME?

If not, you can look into a tiny light machine w/ an eGPU, though that is $$$ it will do what you want.

Other option: Do you need a monitor or keyboard? If not, have you considered building your own in a portable case?

Otherwise I think you're SOL. Cooling is the main issue and if you really want good performance you may run into trouble going smaller.

For example, I have a lenovo x1 extreme w/ a 6-core i7 and 4GB Geforce 1650

It's a great machine--but it doesn't run as fast as you would think from the specs, because it is thin, light, and therefore limited by cooling. It simply cannot support continuous max-cpu wattage, much less continuous max-cpu and max-gpu.

No surprise: Think of how big a desktop cooler needs to be in order to dump 90w; look at the tiny ports in any thin/light laptop, and there's your answer.

Those same components that I have would be faster in the "normal" T-15 setup (which is cheaper, heavier, and larger), and faster still in the 17" (even thicker, larger, more cooling.)