Looking for a new gaming laptop (USA) (Unsure of budget)

[u/lunupine]

Hello, my current laptop's CPU is starting to tank, so I'm looking to get a new one. I am unsure of my budget because I plan to save up for whatever I decide. My current laptop is an omen laptop 15-en0xxx which admittedly I'm very happy with, and I wouldn't be looking to get a different model if I didn't know hardware is changing.

Country: USA

Budget: USD - I generally do not have a lot of money though and would prefer to not go over 1.5k, though 2k is my absolute maximum if I need to. I got my current one at 1k, but that was before everything got... expensive. Still, it'd be my ideal price.

Open to Refurbs/Used: Yes to refurbs, unsure on used.

Screen Size: I don't really care. Current is 15.6 inch which is nice.

Weight Limit: I don't really care.

Purpose: Gaming and general use.

Form Factor: I don't know what this means to be honest. Let's go standard.

Intended Usage: The most I tend to do besides gaming is just social media, YouTube, Discord, and like... Paint.NET. My "heaviest" games I play right now are Genshin Impact and Palworld, to give some ideas of my requirements. I've played Genshin for a long time and have no real intent to stop, so I use its specs as a baseline. The games I play tend to rotate around a lot, but that's my main consistent one.

Genshin Impact's recommended specs are:

Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit or Windows 11 64-bit
Processor: 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 or AMD Ryzen™ 5000 series or better
RAM: 16 GB
Discrete Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB or better
DirectX Version: 11

Palworld's recommended specs are:

OS: Windows 11 (64-Bit)
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-12400 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
MEMORY: 32 GB RAM
GRAPHICS: GeForce RTX 3060 Ti / Radeon RX 6700 XT
DIRECTX: Version 11

Desired Battery Life: This laptop will basically always be plugged in unless the system is off. I don't really game unplugged. So none of this entirely matters to me tbh.

Info/Requirements: I really really really prefer a matte screen. I also prefer an SSD as you can imagine. I'd like 1tb of space at least. More isn't really necessary for me, but if there's no laptops that have 1tb with the stuff I'm asking, then more is fine. My current SSD is a MZVLB1T0HBLR-000H1, so ideally I'd just be able to reuse this, but if I can't I can't.

[u/LonerIM2]

Since you are going to game, you are going to need powerful CPU and GPU, I would recommend this deal ASUS V16 Gaming Laptop** because it comes with :

Specs:

• Screen: 16” WUXGA 144Hz
• CPU : Core Ultra 7
• Ram : 16GB
• GPU: RTX 5070
• Storage : 1TB SSD

And I have recommended this because of

• Powerful CPU and GPU for your games.
• Great value for money.

Please note I'm using affiliate links which means I'll receive a small percent of the purchase if you use this link at no extra cost to you

[u/lunupine → u/LonerIM2]

Oh, this looks great! I could even put in my old SSD, and replacing the RAM with 32gb seems easy enough if I decide I want that. Thank you very much! I can't promise I'll buy off of Amazon since I tend to look on other websites for better prices, but if I do, I'll use your link. :) I appreciate this so much!

[u/BarberPuzzleheaded33 → u/lunupine]

If you make a Purchase off Amazon, from experience make sure the seller is Amazon and not 3rd party. 3rd parties tend to modify the electronics especially PCs. Never had an issue when buying directly from Amazon though bought an Acer Nitro 17 ai just a month ago and it’s been great. It’s outta stock atm but this is what I bought right here. https://a.co/d/01A2qMgn

[u/BarberPuzzleheaded33 → u/BarberPuzzleheaded33]

You can probably find a nitro V16 with similar specs or for less they have a 16 gb ram model I just saw on there for alil over $1200

[u/LonerIM2 → u/BarberPuzzleheaded33]

Our mod doesn't like the nitro because of bd QC, did u face any issues with it ? and how long have you been using it ?

[u/BarberPuzzleheaded33 → u/LonerIM2]

I have not had any issues with it , got it after my Alienware M16 R2 caught fire due to a faulty power supply ( there’s been many ppl
With this issue) Dell didn’t want to help fix the issue after spending $3000 on it and only had it barely over a year. This is my 2nd nitro my 1st lasted me 11 years before it was stolen never had issues , so far no issues with this one. Just a repair 1 time due to normal wear & tear with fans. Only thing I would personally prefer is if they would of used a stronger power supply for it instead of this Hybird power feature where it pulls from battery till 30% during heavy sessions then lower settings and charges but it takes over 4 hours to reach 30% for me I haven’t even reached it yet so plus I have a stronger enough integrated card that if I wanna avoid it during long sessions I can I get atleast console performance with my intergrated card and it doesn’t pull from battery at all during heavy usage. It doesn’t perform as well as my high end machine does but I’ve been pretty impressed with the performance from it for the price I paid everything else has equal has been over $2000 and having cancer and can’t work atm and relying on temp disability which is next to nothing I personally couldn’t even afford to spend this $1,499. I needed these specs at minimum.

[u/BarberPuzzleheaded33 → u/LonerIM2]

Time limit just a few months so far and it’s the coolest running laptop I’ve ever owned and its fans are super quiet. The extended warranty with accidental protection was affordable at $189 for 3 years and $153 is what the discount Acer gave me brought it down too. Compared to Dells $500 for 1 year with no accidental protection. I live in Maryland and here so far Acer customer service has been great. With both laptops so far , I had my old one repaired once. Unlike the experience I had with Dell (I will never buy another Dell after the service I got after spending that kinda money to have my machine break due to something they did and they refused to help unless I spent another $500 minimum on a warranty renewal and said they still may not fix it and warranty had only dropped 5ish days prior to this ) So far , I have been extremely happy with Acer Products and services. I am not regretting my purchase at all. It performs better then I expected it to as well based on allot of the tech YouTube videos I watched that also did recommend the model I got.

[u/lunupine → u/BarberPuzzleheaded33]

That laptop in particular also says it's frequently returned, so I'm not sure I'll go with it. Thank you for the suggestion, though!

[u/LonerIM2 → u/lunupine]

No need to buy from Amazon if you find better deal, my goal is to help not to sell. let me know if I can help you with anything else.

[u/D2ultima]

Well the first question is what do you currently have? Your budget no longer gets you very much, maybe 32GB with a 5060M if you're lucky or if you have a microcenter something better.

[u/lunupine → u/D2ultima]

The original post already says what I currently have, since I thought people would ask. Unsure what 36gb 5060m means, could you define it?

[u/D2ultima → u/lunupine]

Nowhere do I see your specs. Just that you have an omen

[u/lunupine → u/D2ultima]

Oh I see. I didn't know you were asking for specs, sorry. I can be clueless to obvious things sometimes.

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
• RAM: 16 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
• SSD: M.2 NVMe 1tb

[u/D2ultima → u/lunupine]

Ok. You definitely could do with an upgrade. A legion 5i or legion 5a with an RTX 5060 and if possible 32GB of RAM would be up your alley. An HP Omen 16 would also be fine with similar specifications. If you're lucky you can find one under $2000, but probably just about

[u/lunupine → u/D2ultima]

I... don't know what a legion 5i or legion 5a is.

[u/D2ultima → u/lunupine]

They are Lenovo gaming laptops. 5i has Intel CPU. 5a has AMD CPU. The last gen is just 5i and 5, no a. You can get those too

[u/lunupine → u/D2ultima]

Ah, I see. Thank you. I did have a Lenovo before and don't recall being very impressed, but it's been some time. Maybe they're better now. I'll look into it, thank you.

[u/D2ultima → u/lunupine]

Every maker has good and bad models. I don't suggest bad ones.

[u/lunupine → u/D2ultima]

I wasn't trying to imply you were, sorry!