Gaming Laptop Advice

[PushTheWinButton]

Hi. Hoping someone could point me in a good direction regarding computer hardware and laptops, since I'm not too knowledgeable on it myself and researching this stuff makes me lose the will to live.

 

I'm currently using a gaming desktop + work and personal laptop combo, but I'd like to condense the two down into a gaming laptop which is normal-looking and runs as quiet as possible—both of these points are essential for me. I've been playing and modding everything from Morrowind to Fallout 4 using a liquid-cooled Alienware x51 r3 from 2015 fairly comfortably, but now I'm only really interested in Oblivion and Fallout New Vegas and I doubt I'm going to pick up any new games on PC, since my friends and I are mostly console now. In fact, modding Oblivion/NV is the only reason I use my desktop anymore. I would still like the option to mod up to Fallout 4 occasionally though.

 

I was going to opt for the Alienware m15 or m17 r3 since I've been happy with my current machine, but then I got put off by some reports of loud fan noise and low battery life. It's hard to tell if this is because reviewers always get sent super-high spec models and test the most recent games, whereas I'd get one of the entry-level ones for playing 5+-year old games. I know that machine is obvious overkill too, even at lower specs, so it seems like I'm burning cash unnecessarily.

 

Any other recommendations or experiences to help me out?

[Thandal]

The loud fan noise is likely to be a problem with any machine powerful enough to run "modern games". It can be due to the loads on either or both the CPU and GPU. Most such machines do come with a utility program that gives you some control over how those fans behave, so you might be able to mitigate the issue if you don't run things that heat-stress the components.

 

But I think if you get a 'just good enough for now" rig that over time you'd find yourself wishing you'd gotten a more powerful one. And as compared to a desktop, laptops are much less upgradable. Even the Alienware "m" series that was supposed to allow for GPU replacements hasn't quite managed to deliver.

 

I recommend looking at the ASUS "ROG" series, (Newegg.com frequently runs sales on the "one-and-two gens back" models.)

[xrayy]

i used a gaming laptop for a long time. the bigger the laptop the better the heat distribution - theoretically. so 17" is most times better than 15" with comparable hardware if you do not need it small.

since i use my oled tv as a monitor the laptop solution is obsolete. if you like high end for a reasonable price i cannot recommend gaming laptops.

but if you really need the small form factor use the most energy efficient cpu and gpu hardware available. modding fo4 means you shoud consider al least a 6GB VRAM gpu, currently probably nvidia, for fullHD. i would recommend 32GB ram but maybe 16GB ram is still ok.

if you have the money and like high quality graphics order an oled display. it is far superior to any lcd display. if money counts order ips lcd.

another important thing: test the laptop under full load. fans and bad cooling system could be an annoying matter! it helped me to undervolt gpu and cpu to even produce lesser heat.

forget about the battery. more than 1 to 2 ours unplugged while gaming with a modded fo4 is unrealistic and performance will be in most cases automatically reduced.

the lack of gpu upgradeability, since mxm3 standard was dropped, was the reason i canceled the laptop adventure to run modded skyrim and fo4.

[PushTheWinButton]

I'll probably just forget about Fallout 4. I haven't played it in years and I'm not too interested in the modding scene so I'm unlikely to pick it up again. So mostly I'm just working with Oblivion, New Vegas, and photo editing.

 

My research has turned up the budget option of the HP Pavilion 17". Apparently it maxes out at less than 45 db on full fans, which is similar to my liquid-cooled desktop from 2015. With the white accent instead of the neon green, it also looks fairly acceptable. However, the new HP Omen 15" released a couple of weeks ago is also said to have very good thermal performance, and a 17" version is on the way so I might hold off and see what that brings.

[Techguy46]

I think the problem with laptop gaming is thermal throttling. With the limited design, when running in full load for a long time it is gonna cause some of these problems.

[DoctorKaizeld]

Just throwing out an idea but why not just hook your desktop up to your tv and use a wireless mouse and keyboard. That way you can sit where you do most of your gaming and have the power and customization capabilities of a desktop?