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Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





Shrimp or Shrimps posted:

Some Clevos come with bios MUX switches to switch between discrete and integrated (the P650s definitely had it), and the Zephyrus laptops with G-Sync also allow you to reboot into the iGPU which is pretty nifty. Requires a reboot, but frankly, I'm totally okay with that and wish all gaming laptop manufacturers would allow for the option since my work flow doesn't require the dGPU at all, though I can see how it'd be a pain for people who need the dGPU for work but not all the time.

In your nvidia control panel you should click "Desktop" in the menu toolbar and then something like "Show GPU usage icon in tray" - then double click on that new icon and you should see what's recruiting your dGPU.

Yeah that is cool! Doesn't work for GPU workflows as you say, but nothing is perfect for everyone. Still a neat option for geeks who want g-sync and an office laptop in one.



It says "1 display, 0 programs," and when I click it shows this. Yesterday in the same use conditions it showed a bunch of Chrome processes and Slack. It's possible that the 1440p monitor is triggering it right now, but it still shows/does this even when unplugged from everything.

baka kaba posted:

Dunno if it helps but if you go to the Nvidia control panel (it's usually in your tray) is the default global setting using integrated graphics?



Assuming I'm looking at the right thing here, it's set to auto-select. What happens if I switch it to prefer integrated, will the 1050ti still kick in as needed?

Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Oct 5, 2018

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Sininu
Jan 8, 2014

Shrimp or Shrimps posted:

That new smaller Alienware 15 model: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Bette...s.320842.0.html

No longer breaking the back.

Oh sweet, they got rid of the useless macro keys but retained the numpad. I like.

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





Okay so monitor outputs always activate the dGPU. No big deal, my power cord lives next to the monitor. In order to get the 1050ti to shut off, I have to unplug from everything AND have the global default set to Integrated. So far it seems like Auto-Select will always pick the dGPU no matter what I'm doing.

But even with the 1050ti finally off, I'm still getting a predicted runtime of 3:38
ahahaha it just updated to 22:21, we're in business baby
Now it's 5:14
Now it's 9:45
Now it's 6:56

No programs are open, no work is being done. WHAT IS HAPPENING :cry:

Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Oct 5, 2018

space marine todd
Nov 7, 2014



So I'm moving to NYC and I don't want to bring my custom built behemoth of a gaming desktop with me. I am going to miss my GTX 1080 Ti, but not enough to lug it across the country.

My new job will involve quite a bit of air travel, so I'd love to be able to play Dead Cells and other resource-light indie games on the plane (while plugged into the outlet so I actually get to play for more than an hour). As for what I would do at home, it would mostly be Destiny 2, Warframe, Path of Exile, UX/UI design and programming. It would be great if I could also plug in 3 monitors + a proper keyboard and mouse to do the actual gaming and software development work on. Since it will pretty much always be connected to an outlet and I am always carrying a 12-inch Retina MacBook, battery life isn't a concern.

I know gaming laptops are pretty much huge compromises and it is always better to build a desktop unless you're dealing with unusual circumstances/constraints (and I think this would count as one). Based on previous posts, it seems like the Gigabyte Aero 15x would be a solid pick. I wish it had G-Sync though. The Razer Blade 15 looks great, but that keyboard layout is annoying.

Are there other options?

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





My opinion is the same that I gave above: if you're planning to have a setup with external monitors at home, get the Aero 15x (or Razer if you're a trackpad perfectionist and don't mind the snakes) and just make one of your monitors G-Sync. Out of every game and usage you listed, it's only going to matter for Destiny and maybe Warframe, which you're going to be playing almost exclusively at home. G-Sync is the one thing where you still can't spend your way out of compromises because it's mutually exclusive with Optimus (and I think adds weight?). So unless someone can endorse one of the models Shrimp mentioned that reboot in and out of dGPU, AND you travel constantly and failed to mention it, it's probably not worth making those sacrifices to get it.

If you don't like that answer, you can also keep your 12" MB, put whatever games are compatible on it, take your current rig's CPU GPU and RAM with you to NYC, and just plunk them in a smaller modern-day case when you get there. Problem solved for the price of a new mobo, case, and PSU.

This is coming from the guy most stubbornly advocating rationalizing that gaming laptops can be worth it.

Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Oct 5, 2018

space marine todd
Nov 7, 2014



Thanks! That is super helpful. I remember there was a lot of hype and excitement about G-Sync when it came out; is it not as big of a deal as people made it out to be?

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Unsinkabear posted:



Assuming I'm looking at the right thing here, it's set to auto-select. What happens if I switch it to prefer integrated, will the 1050ti still kick in as needed?

Sounds like you already worked it out, but yeah my XPS has it set to Auto-select too. But if I go over to Program Settings, and pick some basic apps from the dropdown (like Chrome or the Calculator) they're either explicitly set to Integrated graphics or defaulting to Use global setting (Auto-select: Integrated) (so the auto-select feature has already decided this app should use the iGPU)

I'm not entirely sure where these settings come from - I've only explicitly set a couple of things, the rest were already populated so I assume the driver has a settings list for common applications? Maybe auto-select defaults to integrated unless told otherwise for a specific app, or maybe it does some profiling when you run a thing and decides if you need the extra power

Anyway I'm fairly sure you can set global to Integrated and then set individual stuff to use the Nvidia GPU, if you want to janitor it like that. Might get around your monitor issue too

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Shrimp or Shrimps posted:

When people ask for 15" thin-n-lights (aka thin-bezeled, premium portable gaming), I generally always throw in a slightly beefier model (eg. Aorus X5) as well as the XPS 15 which is slightly weaker into the list of usual suspects which, since the 10 series cards hit notebooks, has stayed roughly the same. I feel like I've typed the same list into this thread a dozen times, lol.

Personally, I think that use case for the top end to the bottom end of said usual suspect list (X5 --> Aero/Blade/GS65/Zephyrus --> XPS15) is not that different from one another, and the list can be whittled down from there depending on additional reqs (long battery? nice keyboard? windows precision? IPS? low screen response time? numpad? g-sync? etc.).

Very solid post, if you care to flesh this out slightly I'll put it in the OP, the OP is light on details for "what's the top three laptops with a 1050*, 1060*, 1070*, 1080* gpu"

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





space marine todd posted:

Thanks! That is super helpful. I remember there was a lot of hype and excitement about G-Sync when it came out; is it not as big of a deal as people made it out to be?

It's one of those things you can only experience in person, and I'm a pauper, so I can't give you any real opinion there. :saddowns:

This thread obv doesn't consider it much of a priority, the monitor/display megathread is divided, and the Overwatch tryhard thread informed me that if you're not on 144hz gsync you're basically wasting your time. My personal takeaway from that was it's probably as good as claimed, but only worth the costs if you're competitive.

Maybe someone with more direct experience can chime in

isndl
May 2, 2012
I WON A CONTEST IN TG AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS CUSTOM TITLE

space marine todd posted:

So I'm moving to NYC and I don't want to bring my custom built behemoth of a gaming desktop with me. I am going to miss my GTX 1080 Ti, but not enough to lug it across the country.

My new job will involve quite a bit of air travel, so I'd love to be able to play Dead Cells and other resource-light indie games on the plane (while plugged into the outlet so I actually get to play for more than an hour). As for what I would do at home, it would mostly be Destiny 2, Warframe, Path of Exile, UX/UI design and programming. It would be great if I could also plug in 3 monitors + a proper keyboard and mouse to do the actual gaming and software development work on. Since it will pretty much always be connected to an outlet and I am always carrying a 12-inch Retina MacBook, battery life isn't a concern.

I know gaming laptops are pretty much huge compromises and it is always better to build a desktop unless you're dealing with unusual circumstances/constraints (and I think this would count as one). Based on previous posts, it seems like the Gigabyte Aero 15x would be a solid pick. I wish it had G-Sync though. The Razer Blade 15 looks great, but that keyboard layout is annoying.

Are there other options?

Have you considered taking that 1080Ti out and slapping it in an eGPU enclosure? Would give you a lot more options in that you can pick just about any machine with TB3 support as well sidestepping the usual problem of laptop cooling being generally insufficient.

You could even get a new 13" to replace that MacBook and consolidate down to one machine, though most of them only have Intel graphics so whatever indie games you play on the plane need to be okay with that.

BENGHAZI 2
Oct 13, 2007

by Cyrano4747
my girlfriend wants to buy a laptop. i am basically an idiot at computer buying. she mostly wants it for browsing the internet/youtube type poo poo, and to be able to play borderlands 1 and 2 bceause they're the only games she likes. what should i buy for her

EvilElmo
May 10, 2009
Looking for a budget laptop, just needs to be able to play world of tanks/boats and eve online.

Might consider second hand/refurb ones if I don't need latest tech (which I assume I dont).

space marine todd
Nov 7, 2014



isndl posted:

Have you considered taking that 1080Ti out and slapping it in an eGPU enclosure? Would give you a lot more options in that you can pick just about any machine with TB3 support as well sidestepping the usual problem of laptop cooling being generally insufficient.

You could even get a new 13" to replace that MacBook and consolidate down to one machine, though most of them only have Intel graphics so whatever indie games you play on the plane need to be okay with that.

I was thinking about this! It looks like the quad-core in the MBP 13 isn't strong enough for Destiny 2 or other modern FPS titles, unfortunately. Are there any other quad-core laptops with a ThunderBolt 3 port and a beefier CPU?

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



BENGHAZI 2 posted:

my girlfriend wants to buy a laptop. i am basically an idiot at computer buying. she mostly wants it for browsing the internet/youtube type poo poo, and to be able to play borderlands 1 and 2 bceause they're the only games she likes. what should i buy for her

EvilElmo posted:

Looking for a budget laptop, just needs to be able to play world of tanks/boats and eve online.

Might consider second hand/refurb ones if I don't need latest tech (which I assume I dont).

For both of you, this is what I recommend as a solid $1k gaming laptop that will play anything now and give you some degree of future-proofing. Neither of you, however, need that level of hardware to play the games mentioned, so for about $700 this one will suffice. The only upgrade you might need for either laptop would be a HDD for game storage: either a 2.5" one to mount internally, (and both laptops have an open bay,) or any external one (USB) that you find convenient. The 2nd laptop, the Acer Nitro could stand a RAM upgrade to 16 GB (which is easy enough, there's an access panel on the bottom,) but 8 GB is sufficient as a bare minimum for a gaming system.

Failing that, you can look for any similar laptop (potentially used/refurb'd, e.g. on eBay) with the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB and a quad-core CPU (Core i5 or i7,) 8-16 GB of RAM and an SSD for the OS. There are many examples from other manufacturers with those specs available used on eBay.

Also, Elmo, since you mentioned WoT say "hi" in the thread here (I don't know why someone changed the thread title recently. :shrug:) We have a Discord channel and a casual goon clan if you want to platoon.

BENGHAZI 2
Oct 13, 2007

by Cyrano4747

Atomizer posted:

For both of you, this is what I recommend as a solid $1k gaming laptop that will play anything now and give you some degree of future-proofing. Neither of you, however, need that level of hardware to play the games mentioned, so for about $700 this one will suffice. The only upgrade you might need for either laptop would be a HDD for game storage: either a 2.5" one to mount internally, (and both laptops have an open bay,) or any external one (USB) that you find convenient. The 2nd laptop, the Acer Nitro could stand a RAM upgrade to 16 GB (which is easy enough, there's an access panel on the bottom,) but 8 GB is sufficient as a bare minimum for a gaming system.

Failing that, you can look for any similar laptop (potentially used/refurb'd, e.g. on eBay) with the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB and a quad-core CPU (Core i5 or i7,) 8-16 GB of RAM and an SSD for the OS. There are many examples from other manufacturers with those specs available used on eBay.

Also, Elmo, since you mentioned WoT say "hi" in the thread here (I don't know why someone changed the thread title recently. :shrug:) We have a Discord channel and a casual goon clan if you want to platoon.

My guy I just said I wanted to play a game from six years ago, do you really think I need a thousand dollar laptop to run borderlands 2

This isn't a gaming laptop, this is a dicking around on the internet laptop that being able to play an old game would be a bonus

Edit oh only seven hundred come on, im not trying to future proof here

BENGHAZI 2 fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Oct 6, 2018

AgentCow007
May 20, 2004
TITLE TEXT

BENGHAZI 2 posted:

My guy I just said I wanted to play a game from six years ago, do you really think I need a thousand dollar laptop to run borderlands 2

This isn't a gaming laptop, this is a dicking around on the internet laptop that being able to play an old game would be a bonus

Edit oh only seven hundred come on, im not trying to future proof here

You'll need discrete graphics for bl2 so yes, you're asking for a "gaming laptop". If you want something cheaper than that, it'll be used, or it won't run bl2.

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





Shrimp or Shrimps posted:

I think that use case for the top end to the bottom end of said usual suspect list (X5 --> Aero/Blade/GS65/Zephyrus --> XPS15) is not that different from one another, and the list can be whittled down from there depending on additional reqs (long battery? nice keyboard? windows precision? IPS? low screen response time? numpad? g-sync? etc.).

I forgot to ask earlier, but which thin and light 15" has a numpad?

space marine todd posted:

Are there other options?

Two things I missed: you actually did mention a lot of air travel in your future, and one of the laptops Shrimps mentioned that has Gsync and can reboot in and out of integrated graphics to save battery is the zephyrus, which is actually good. That might be a legit option for you!

space marine todd posted:

Are there any other quad-core laptops with a ThunderBolt 3 port and a beefier CPU?

Any of these should do. I'd personally go for the X1 Carbon, bought from the Barnes & Noble Gold link in the OP. If you wait for one of the very frequent sales you can get one with a dope 1440p screen for like $1300. The XPS 13 and MacBook Pro 13 are also good options. I have no idea how Apple works anymore but Dell sells refurbs of the XPS 13 for like a grand

Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Oct 6, 2018

isndl
May 2, 2012
I WON A CONTEST IN TG AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS CUSTOM TITLE

BENGHAZI 2 posted:

My guy I just said I wanted to play a game from six years ago, do you really think I need a thousand dollar laptop to run borderlands 2

This isn't a gaming laptop, this is a dicking around on the internet laptop that being able to play an old game would be a bonus

Edit oh only seven hundred come on, im not trying to future proof here

Next time post a budget instead of bitching about price after getting recommendations? Seven hundred is a pretty reasonable price for an entry level laptop with discrete graphics, any less and you're probably compromising build quality or other specs. Look for refurbs if that's still unacceptable.

Unsinkabear posted:

Two things I missed: you actually did mention a lot of air travel in your future, and one of the laptops Shrimps mentioned that has Gsync and can reboot in and out of integrated graphics to save battery is the zephyrus, which is actually good. That might be a legit option for you!

I'm kinda surprised that Nvidia needs reboots to switch out of the discrete graphics, my XPS 9575 is powering down its Vega chip without any intervention on my part (or at least Task Manager reports zero utilization appropriately whenever I've checked). Guess it's more of that spooky integrated black magic.

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





isndl posted:

Next time post a budget instead of bitching about price after getting recommendations? Seven hundred is a pretty reasonable price for an entry level laptop with discrete graphics, any less and you're probably compromising build quality or other specs. Look for refurbs if that's still unacceptable.


I'm kinda surprised that Nvidia needs reboots to switch out of the discrete graphics, my XPS 9575 is powering down its Vega chip without any intervention on my part (or at least Task Manager reports zero utilization appropriately whenever I've checked). Guess it's more of that spooky integrated black magic.

Yeah, lol. $700 is drat good and complaining about that shows a serious lack of understanding of what you're buying.

Nvidia normally doesn't need those reboots to power graphics on and off, that's only on Gsync machines because the Optimus firmware that does the smart switching is incompatible with Gysnc for some reason. :iiam:

Speaking of, I think I forgot to post earlier but my X1 Extreme's graphics switching is now behaving itself, thanks Baba Kaba! Still no clue as to why Auto-Select was so aggressive, so I had to manually janitor the GPU to only switch on for Overwatch. But it's cool and quiet now, seems to be getting around 7-8 hours of active use battery, and I'm really loving it so far

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





Unsinkabear posted:

Yeah, lol. $700 is drat good and complaining about that shows a serious lack of understanding of what you're buying.

Nvidia normally doesn't need those reboots to power graphics on and off, that's only on some Gsync machines because the Optimus firmware that does the smart switching is incompatible with Gysnc for some reason. I don't know much about it. :iiam:

Speaking of, I think I forgot to post earlier but my X1 Extreme's graphics switching is now behaving itself, thanks Baba Kaba! Still no clue as to why Auto-Select was so aggressive, so I had to manually janitor the GPU to only switch on for Overwatch. But it's cool and quiet now, seems to be getting around 7-8 hours of active use battery, and I'm really loving it so far

roomforthetuna
Mar 22, 2005

I don't need to know anything about virii! My CUSTOM PROGRAM keeps me protected! It's not like they'll try to come in through the Internet or something!

AgentCow007 posted:

You'll need discrete graphics for bl2 so yes, you're asking for a "gaming laptop". If you want something cheaper than that, it'll be used, or it won't run bl2.
I don't think you actually need discrete graphics, but to do it acceptably with integrated graphics means you've got a high-end processor that would make your laptop more expensive than the low-tier gaming laptop.
(But you might actually prefer that because this kind of solution is probably better on every other metric.)

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

Even csgo sucks on uhd620 imo

I have to travel for work soon and i might actuslly bring my helios instead of my xps13

NewFatMike
Jun 11, 2015

roomforthetuna posted:

I don't think you actually need discrete graphics, but to do it acceptably with integrated graphics means you've got a high-end processor that would make your laptop more expensive than the low-tier gaming laptop.
(But you might actually prefer that because this kind of solution is probably better on every other metric.)

Yeah, the R3 2200G desktop APU seems to get 30-40fps in some less detailed YouTube benchmark, but to get an R7 2700U in a non crap-tier laptop it's still $800

https://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&urlLangId=&catEntryId=3074457345618849820&quantity=1

It starts at $600, but it's a dramatic hit to graphics performance.

thechosenone
Mar 21, 2009
So after looking around and considering what everyone here has said, I'm thinking it might help to think of what I really want, which is basically just a simple computer that smoothly and cleanly runs web-browsing, and some games from over 5 years ago, like Skyrim and such. This will likely be used both for an upcoming vacation my family is planning to do, and as a browsing computer for my dad when he is at work, and use by my mother (for farmville) or myself otherwise. Dedicated graphics add enough battery use that I'd think it would be best to stick to integrated.

1000$ budget
15.6" screen
8+GB ram (Dual channel)
256+GB SSD (Preferrably no additional HDD)
Aluminum or other metal body
backlit keyboard

Are there any AMD CPU laptops that meet this? I could also go for intel if it keeps me below target, so long as it stays quad-core.

If there is any additional details I should provide, or if there is anywhere I should look to get further insight before asking for recommendations, I'd be happy to do so. I do appreciate the advice already provided so far (I just wish vendors would be clear on if they put only one stick of ram in their devices)

https://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&urlLangId=&catEntryId=3074457345618849819&quantity=1

looking at this from the previous posts link (and looking at the 15.6 inch version), This is plastic right? It is good to get a metal body right? its not just a luxury option?

thechosenone fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Oct 6, 2018

CFox
Nov 9, 2005
You have a huge amount of options with that criteria but when it comes to gaming look up some benchmarks with the Intel 620. I doubt it's going to do well at all with Skyrim. Just because a game is older doesn't mean the Intel gpu will handle it at all, especially at 1080p.

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

For y'all wanting to play "old games", there's still a difference between integrated graphics and a dedicated GPU. Back when those games were new you'd have been crazy trying to play them with your onboard graphics - integrated has made sweet gains and closed the gap since then, but it still can't handle stuff that was fairly demanding when it came out

Look up some videos with the GPU you're interested in (MX150, 1050, Intel HD620 or whatever) and see how well they run a thing and what compromises you have to make to get acceptable performance. Don't expect too much and you can probably get something pretty cheap

Unsinkabear posted:

Speaking of, I think I forgot to post earlier but my X1 Extreme's graphics switching is now behaving itself, thanks Baba Kaba! Still no clue as to why Auto-Select was so aggressive, so I had to manually janitor the GPU to only switch on for Overwatch. But it's cool and quiet now, seems to be getting around 7-8 hours of active use battery, and I'm really loving it so far

:tipshat:

It's probably worth looking into a bit more, maybe keep an eye on new driver revisions - it just seems like a default config issue and there's no reason why one laptop should need the dGPU as the default. Wouldn't be surprised if there are complaints on forums or whatever and they end up fixing it so you don't need to mess around yourself

thechosenone
Mar 21, 2009

CFox posted:

You have a huge amount of options with that criteria but when it comes to gaming look up some benchmarks with the Intel 620. I doubt it's going to do well at all with Skyrim. Just because a game is older doesn't mean the Intel gpu will handle it at all, especially at 1080p.

Yes, it does seem like there have been little in the way of improvements in that as far as Intel goes. If I have a lot of options right now, Then I can probably be picky and ask what options there are if I wanted a laptop with a Ryzen @2700U APU?

It still can't hold a candle to dedicated, but it seems like it should be a good step up from my desktop's geforce GT 630 (although I keep seeing it doing worse than vega 8 on user benchmark. is that because the lower end APU on desktop is technically got 'vega 8' graphics?").

thechosenone fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Oct 6, 2018

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





thechosenone posted:

Dedicated graphics add enough battery use that I'd think it would be best to stick to integrated.

This isn't really true anymore, almost all modern laptops switch the graphics card off when it's not required. So you just plug in when gaming and get great battery runtimes when you're not.

And baba kaba's post is right on the money. Integrated graphics may have closed some of the benchmark gap but most games are still designed with a GPU in mind. My T460 has HD 520 integrated graphics which is what, two generations old? And it struggles to run Overwatch, a game known to run on literally anything. I had to drop all settings to rock bottom, set framerate cap to 30, and let it scale the rendering quality automatically. To hit 30fps it has to make things so pixelated I sometimes can't tell who I'm shooting.

And if you check out Notebookcheck's benchmarks for 620/630 graphics, there's a handful of games like Civ VI that can't even launch

If gaming is a consideration but it's not purely your machine, get something with cheap, light, entry level graphics like the MX150. The Asus Zenbooks are in your budget and fairly popular, and there might be cheaper options too

Unsinkabear fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Oct 6, 2018

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



NewFatMike posted:

Yeah, the R3 2200G desktop APU seems to get 30-40fps in some less detailed YouTube benchmark, but to get an R7 2700U in a non crap-tier laptop it's still $800

https://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&urlLangId=&catEntryId=3074457345618849820&quantity=1

It starts at $600, but it's a dramatic hit to graphics performance.

I just want to reiterate for everyone here that the Ryzen mobile APUs (i.e. xxxxU) are not nearly as powerful as the desktop APUs (xxxxG.) I have to strongly insist that if you're considering buying a laptop so equipped, check benchmarks to make sure you know exactly how much performance you're getting. A 2200U is significantly less powerful than the 2200G!

thechosenone
Mar 21, 2009
Thank you very much for the Recommendation. What is a good option when considering only integrated graphics? I think I've decided I wont' need to use it to play video games that much, as I have a switch, and I probably won't have the laptop around enough to invest in proper graphics for it.

Intel Integrated graphics (or Vega 8/10) can drive video content on a tv just fine right? I can probably hook it up to a tv either at home or while we are on our trip? Given no dedicated graphics, does it make sense to have 16GB vs 8GB (like does it help with caching of data since it seems windows uses compressed space on ram for that now)? or 512GB vs 256? not gonna store any big modern titles or lots of video/sound on it, so if it is properly provisioned, I can't see 256 filling up on a browsing use-case.

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





Edit: Whoooooops, wrong thread. :cripes:

Atomizer
Jun 24, 2007



thechosenone posted:

Thank you very much for the Recommendation. What is a good option when considering only integrated graphics? I think I've decided I wont' need to use it to play video games that much, as I have a switch, and I probably won't have the laptop around enough to invest in proper graphics for it.

Intel Integrated graphics (or Vega 8/10) can drive video content on a tv just fine right? I can probably hook it up to a tv either at home or while we are on our trip? Given no dedicated graphics, does it make sense to have 16GB vs 8GB (like does it help with caching of data since it seems windows uses compressed space on ram for that now)? or 512GB vs 256? not gonna store any big modern titles or lots of video/sound on it, so if it is properly provisioned, I can't see 256 filling up on a browsing use-case.

Any integrated GPU will handle video output perfectly. For a non-gaming, general-purpose Windows system 8 GB of RAM is just fine. A 256 GB-class SSD is sufficient for the OS and most general applications, since you're no longer interested in using it for gaming and you can always bring along an external drive for multimedia.

I'd suggest some wiggle room on the display size (14-15" or even smaller if you're interested in better portability) and chassis materials as there's nothing inherently wrong with plastic and an all-metal chassis can force you into some unnecessarily more-expensive models. The Dell XPS line is very nice but is perhaps overkill for your needs. More specifically there are many options that meet your criteria under $1k, and in particular this Acer caught my eye as it's under $600 and it does have a dGPU; the MX150 is a GT 1030 (which is perhaps in the range of the 940-950M) and can handle lower-end gaming after all!

roomforthetuna
Mar 22, 2005

I don't need to know anything about virii! My CUSTOM PROGRAM keeps me protected! It's not like they'll try to come in through the Internet or something!

Atomizer posted:

Any integrated GPU will handle video output perfectly. For a non-gaming, general-purpose Windows system 8 GB of RAM is just fine. A 256 GB-class SSD is sufficient for the OS and most general applications, since you're no longer interested in using it for gaming and you can always bring along an external drive for multimedia.
Additional context for 256GB SSD being okay - I got a 512GB SSD, because I do use my laptop for gaming. I have probably 10 games installed at the moment, one or two of which are AAA titles. I have no additional storage. I have several software development environments installed, chat clients, drawing tools, Blender...

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thechosenone
Mar 21, 2009
Decided I'd order the Acer you showed me. It does have dual-channel RAM right?

Unsinkabear
Jun 8, 2013

Ensign, raise the beariscope.





Same. I swear games are getting smaller. My last two machines were 500gb because I ran into storage problems on my old 256gb tower, and I never even came close to needing that space. Some weirdos insist they still need 2.5" drive slots for multi-terabyte HDDs though, so maybe it's just one of those things that varies wildly by individiual.

sincx
Jul 13, 2012

furiously masturbating to anime titties
.

sincx fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Mar 23, 2021

roomforthetuna
Mar 22, 2005

I don't need to know anything about virii! My CUSTOM PROGRAM keeps me protected! It's not like they'll try to come in through the Internet or something!

Unsinkabear posted:

Same. I swear games are getting smaller. My last two machines were 500gb because I ran into storage problems on my old 256gb tower, and I never even came close to needing that space. Some weirdos insist they still need 2.5" drive slots for multi-terabyte HDDs though, so maybe it's just one of those things that varies wildly by individiual.
I guess maybe for people who just have one computer in their house more storage makes sense, for media and stuff. I do have a 1TB drive attached to a raspberry pi as a NAS for media. I pretty much never move things between my laptop and that though, it's more as a companion for a Shield TV / FireTV type device. (Or standalone as a raspi media center if you don't want netflix.)

baka kaba
Jul 19, 2003

PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

thechosenone posted:

Thank you very much for the Recommendation. What is a good option when considering only integrated graphics? I think I've decided I wont' need to use it to play video games that much, as I have a switch, and I probably won't have the laptop around enough to invest in proper graphics for it.

Intel Integrated graphics (or Vega 8/10) can drive video content on a tv just fine right? I can probably hook it up to a tv either at home or while we are on our trip? Given no dedicated graphics, does it make sense to have 16GB vs 8GB (like does it help with caching of data since it seems windows uses compressed space on ram for that now)? or 512GB vs 256? not gonna store any big modern titles or lots of video/sound on it, so if it is properly provisioned, I can't see 256 filling up on a browsing use-case.

Intel integrated graphics will play some games (including 3D ones) just fine! It honestly depends how demanding they are. Sometimes it can even be worth forcing the laptop to use integrated instead, just because the dedicated GPU is overkill

When you get laptops that automatically switch between integrated and dedicated (like using Optimus), 99% of the time it's using the integrated stuff. So yeah, Intel graphics is completely fine and standard for general use, including on high-end laptops. It has optimisations for things like video content, and runs a hell of a lot more efficiently than the Nvidia GPU or whatever else you have in there, so no worries about that

It's up to you with the memory, 8GB is probably fine (especially with an SSD so it pages quick) but 16 is gonna be a better experience, especially as it gets more common in future. Up to you though, and a hell of a lot of recommended laptops (including gaming ones) come with 8GB. Being able to upgrade the ram is obviously better in that case - it's soldered on in some machines

NewFatMike
Jun 11, 2015

Atomizer posted:

I just want to reiterate for everyone here that the Ryzen mobile APUs (i.e. xxxxU) are not nearly as powerful as the desktop APUs (xxxxG.) I have to strongly insist that if you're considering buying a laptop so equipped, check benchmarks to make sure you know exactly how much performance you're getting. A 2200U is significantly less powerful than the 2200G!

Thanks for clarifying that for me, I could have done better!

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Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

Playing with the old x205t, does w10 have a built in power wash type tool and if so where

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