Opinions on the best latop June 2018?

[jdpreston1227]

Hello all,

I plan to purchase a new laptop and I am looking for some direction.

Pricing wise something up to $4,000 or so but would like something that I can play any game on but would prefer the 15.6 monitor size to keep it light and easy to use when I'm traveling and of course I would use it for work quite a bit

I really like the new MSI GS65 THIN but would like your opinion on other options before purchasing

Also any suggestions on where to buy? For example Bestbuy has a model with a slightly lower quality WIFI card and SSD.

I was looking at Xotic PC but again would like some suggestions

Thanks!

 

[Frag Maniac]

Thin is nice, but unfortunately you end up with significant tradeoffs. The two highest rated thin gaming laptops of 2018 being the MSI GS65 and ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501, are no exception. The GS65 suffers from very poor cooling, while the GX501 suffers from sub par battery life. It is also said the GX501's keyboard is awkward, but they also nit picked about it's trackpad being on the right, which most gamers used to a right hand mouse on a desktop might prefer for gaming.

The GX501 is the clear winner on performance, having a 1080 GPU, and if anyone makes a longer running higher amp hour battery for it, it's probably worth checking out. It's very well priced considering it's GPU, and all ASUS ROG products have their premium warranty service, whereby the first year covers immediate replacement without waiting for them to get, test, repair, and return the defective product.

I would check and see if you can find any longer running backup batteries for the GX501, and stop by a store that has one to see if the keyboard feels OK to you. I'm kinda wondering if part of the reason for the low power battery though was to keep temps low. In my searching I found no aftermarket batteries for the GX501, but it just came out this year, so that might be why. If you're OK using a power adapter or external battery for your gaming, you might not be bothered by it.

It's my opinion that you're better off carrying a portable external power bank/charger than using a laptop that runs extremely hot with longer battery life. Good ventilation and cooling is VERY important in gaming laptops. Excessive heat can cause lag and damage.

There are many options in smart device power bank/chargers now ever since USB-C and low power laptops became prevalent. The RAVPower ones are very high power, very portable, and very popular. They're also priced pretty well.

https/www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/best-gaming-laptops-top-5-gaming-notebooks-reviewed-1258471

https/www.techradar.com/news/top-8-best-portable-laptop-battery-chargers-and-power-banks-in-2017

 

[jdpreston1227]

Thank you! What is your thoughts on the Zephyrus M version?

 

[Frag Maniac]

Well, it's a newer model so you can get it with a 6 core 8th gen CPU. It's all a matter of what you can afford because they cost more. Still has short battery life though.