which combination should i go for? (Help needed!)

[ririx4268]

i'm currently on the hunt for a new laptop, and i'm deciding between two choices, a Dell G5 (Gtx 1060-max-q 6gb + i5 8300H) V.s Msi GF62VR 7RF (Gtx 1060 6gb + i7 7700HQ).

all other specs are similar (except that the dell has a small SSD while the msi only has an HDD), so i'm either sacrificing cpu or gpu performance.
while i care more about its performance in gaming (as in i dont mind slower outputs when using CPU heavy utilities), i'm worried about CPU heavy games and how well the i7 7700hq is going to be performing in, i'd hate to be cpu bottlenecked.

but at the same time picking the G5 means i'll be stuck with the max-q variant, which doesnt really seem bad, but i wouldn't be able to push it to do anything if i ever needed to, and in most instances where the max-q would be getting 50-60fps, the non-max-q would be stable at 60fps, which i'm not sure i'd be willing to sacrifice either.
Help is highly appreciated!

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd go with the MSI unit and then swap out the HDD for an SSD. You could then pop the HDD in an external enclosure to use for storage or backups, if the laptop does not have space for both drives to be installed.

While the i5-8300 has slightly better performance than the older i7, it is minimal. If you could find a model with a newer (8th gen or newer, like the i5-8300) i5 or i7 AND a normal GTX 1060, that would be better, as the Max Q is driver impaired for efficiency and power usage and will barely outperform the 1050 ti models. For what you are wanting and expecting, it might actually not be a bad idea to not be impatient and wait, save a few more dollars and get a unit with both a good CPU and a good GPU card, plus an SSD. Being in a hurry and "settling" for what you can afford right at the moment rarely turns out to be a good idea after the fact. We almost always kick ourselves in the ass when we do this, so think about it before pulling the trigger.

 

[ririx4268]

i agree, but i've been hunting for at least 5 months, since i'm also looking out for sales.
so far i think i'll only notice the nonexistence of the ssd (which i'll hopefully get one for pretty soon) if i go with the msi, looking at benchmarks, the i7 8750h really kicks in performance when it comes to cpu related operations outside of gaming, but when it came to games, i dont think it improved performance in games that couldnt reach 60 fps at said specific graphics preset (as in it only boosts with more than 3-4 frames when the frame rate is already waaaay past 60, paired with a 60HZ monitor, i wouldnt notice).

so far i think an SSD (even 128gb) with 1tb hdd, a non max-q gtx 1060 6gb + i5 8300h is the perfect combination to look out for.

while i am mainly interested in gaming, i'm no graphics whore by any means (not saying being a graphics whore is a bad thing obviously~) and will turn down settings to high-medium in a heartbeat.

i'll give the hunting around two more weeks, then i guess i'd settle for an i7 7700hq if no greater opportunity pops up, thanks for the answer!

Edit : one more question, would you consider a unit with i7 8750H but a GTX 1060 3gb if it had both an hdd and ssd?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Not really, because there are numerous reviews showing that the 6GB models (Reviews are generally desktop variants, but undoubtedly mobile variants show similar differences) have clear gaps in performance between them and the 3GB models. If you were going to do that you might as well go with the lower performing Max q model and get the better CPU in the bargain.

What is your actual budget and what country are you in, so I can look at some available models as options, that will actually be available to you?

 

[ririx4268]

looking at benchmarks, the mobile variants (non max-q) of the gtx 1060 have no differences aside from more VRAM, since specs shows that the desktop models have different clock speeds and cuda cores.
found an acer predator triton 700 (the gtx 1060 6gbvariant, with i7 7700hq) on ebay for a bargain (750$ , new) the only headache is that the triton has no HDD slot, meaning only ssd upgrades.
my budget could stretch to 860~870$ USD's and its equivalent of whatever currency on different sites, although i am ordering the laptop through my shipping agency which only deals with ebay and amazon (that i am aware of) as of now.
also spending hours on studying benchmarks on the max-q gtx 1060, i'm reconsidering it.
while, for example, the gtx 1070-maxq performs similarly to a non-maxq gtx 1060 (same with the gtx 1080-maxq and a non maxq-1070), the gtx 1060 max-q seems a lot different, since it heavily depends on the laptops engineering and thermal management, not to blindly claim "all", or even most, but some maxq models run at 1600~1680 MHz according to dave2d and jarrod tech's channels.

and if you have some spare time and/or interested in checking the market, my specs requirements are pretty much an i7 7700hq ~ i7 8750h. Gtx 1060 6gb. and a 1tb HDD + 128gb SSD as a base, the SSD and 16gb of ram are preferable, and i'm down for refurbs.
your assistance is highly appreciated regardless!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, USD, but what COUNTRY are you in, because if you are somewhere besides the US, then most of what I might recommend for people in the US is not going to either be available to you, or is going to be prohibitively expensive to have shipped. Better to look at options available IN your region.

 

[ririx4268]

Ok, USD, but what COUNTRY are you in, because if you are somewhere besides the US, then most of what I might recommend for people in the US is not going to either be available to you, or is going to be prohibitively expensive to have shipped. Better to look at options available IN your region.

oh, well staying in libya atm, north africa, so i'm not considering anything local as its cheaper to order something online by comparing the prices as of now.
and yeah, i've seen some really, really sweet deals down at microcentre for in-store pickups only, once spotted an acer predator helios 300 i7 edition for 830$ which wasnt available for shipping.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, Micro center is out, even for many of us in the us.