Advices for gaming laptop

[Toarzo]

Hello everyone,

I m looking to buy a new laptop, for gaming purposes and I have a few questions :

• First of all, do you know if it is possible to ask for a dual boot Windows - Ubuntu ? It seems not possible in the configurator although it would be very nice if I didn't need to install it myself...

So I am wondering what would be the "best" configuration mostly for gaming purpose in the range of 1600-1800£ (1800-2000€) including a monitor. The laptop needs to have a decent battery (although it will be plugged in most of the time). I play games using the RAM as well as games heavily using the CPU

Among my interrogations :
- Should I go with a RTX2060 or a 2070 ? Is there much a difference in recent games between both ?
- Which laptop should I go with ? (given the same configuration what are the differences except for esthetics ?)
- Dead pixel warranty : do you guys usually take it or not ?
- Should I go with 32GB Ram ? (although games would be ok with 16GB, having some extra can always be great as I am not sure if the build will allow me to add extra 16GB in the case I find out I need it... Especially if I can have a dual boot Ubuntu for coding )

Do not hesitate to post some configs you think would be suiting me, thank you !

 

[SpyderTracks]

First of all, do you know if it is possible to ask for a dual boot Windows - Ubuntu ? It seems not possible in the configurator although it would be very nice if I didn't need to install it myself...

PCS only support windows, so any dual boot would need to be done by yourself.

- Should I go with a RTX2060 or a 2070 ? Is there much a difference in recent games between both ?

There won't be any performance difference between either card, but the benefit of the 2070 is that it will last a lot longer. On a laptop you can't upgrade the GPU and it will be the first bottleneck so it's advised to spec the highest card you can afford

- Which laptop should I go with ? (given the same configuration what are the differences except for esthetics ?)

Totally depends on your use case, you mention coding and gaming, anything else?

- Dead pixel warranty : do you guys usually take it or not ?

I personally did, for the sake of not much money it's definitely worth it.

- Should I go with 32GB Ram ? (although games would be ok with 16GB, having some extra can always be great as I am not sure if the build will allow me to add extra 16GB in the case I find out I need it... Especially if I can have a dual boot Ubuntu for coding )

For gaming, there's no benefit to over 16Gb, no game even uses that much currently. Only you know if your coding requires it, but I would imagine not. You can add more RAM or SSD's as you like, and it won't affect warranty.

 

[SpyderTracks]

This would be my pick at that budget:

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 240Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 SUPER - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 94WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + THX Spatial Audio
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.1 PORTS
Keyboard Language
PER-KEY RGB BACKLIT UK MECHANICAL KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM5MPHW (8GB RTX-2070 SUPER, i7-10875H, 240Hz)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days

Price: €1,990.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/recoil-IV-15/KtV3gsA2MY/

 

[SpyderTracks]

The added benefit of the above is that it has thunderbolt 3, so you can add an eGPU when the GPU is getting too weak to last many years longer:

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[Toarzo]

Thank you for the answers and proposed configuration

Totally depends on your use case, you mention coding and gaming, anything else?

Mostly gaming, potentially coding yes (but as Cloud is developping I don't need too much RAM for it, that's pretty much it (I don't do picture editing / video editing)

Does the choice of external monitor impact the config in any way ? What monitor would you advise (In fact, this will be my first time to use an external monitor, I used to have only the laptop monitor)

 

[Toarzo]

Hello guys,

Here is what I'm thinking to go with (which is pretty much similar to what you suggested)


Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 Max-Q - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Defiance Series Integrated 3 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (73WH)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
17" DEFIANCE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
Clevo PC70DF1 (8GB RTX-2070 Max-Q, i7-10875H, 144Hz N7, Blank KB)
Delivery
4 - 6 DAY DELIVERY TO MALTA
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,837.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/defianceVII-17/NvB6CY5ur6/



Although I still have a few interrogations :

- I see in most of the configurations you chose the 15"6 version instead of the 17"3, any particular reason about that ?
- I would like a second SSD Drive to have more storage, but I m not sure about which one to take
- Would you advise to buy the Monitor on PCS ?

 

[SpyderTracks]

- I see in most of the configurations you chose the 15"6 version instead of the 17"3, any particular reason about that ?

Just unless specifically asked, we'd always assume 15"

- I would like a second SSD Drive to have more storage, but I m not sure about which one to take

The PCS would be ample for secondary storage as speed isnt' so important

- Would you advise to buy the Monitor on PCS ?

Depends what you need, if it's for gaming, they have an MSI and IIyama at this level which may be suitable, but they're range isn't great.

 

[Toarzo]

Hello, i am about to build this build (thanks @SpyderTracks for helping), although I would like some other reviews about it !

Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 Max-Q - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Defiance Series Integrated 3 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (73WH)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
17" DEFIANCE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
Clevo PC70DF1 (8GB RTX-2070 Max-Q, i7-10875H, 144Hz N7, Blank KB)
Delivery
2 DAY DELIVERY TO FRANCE
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: 1 665,00 £ including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/defianceVII-17/WDSU4AwDgn/


My main question is about the temp : how the Defiance will handle the temp of the CPU / GPU ? There is not much reviews on the forum about this