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Looks like a solid little rig for VR. My current gaming laptop is one video-card step too low to run the Quest 2. It works through Steam with glitches that are nauseating.
I'd love to try out some new games without being in my cramped desktop room.
I know it's a "gaming" laptop due to the title lol, but how would this one be for..gaming? Still trying to find a solid budget gaming laptop and understand whats what, super confusing. Sincerely appreciate any and all help as always!
I know it's a "gaming" laptop due to the title lol, but how would this one be for..gaming? Still trying to find a solid budget gaming laptop and understand whats what, super confusing. Sincerely appreciate any and all help as always!
Going on specs, it's not great. It's a 4-core CPU, with the weak RTX 3050 and subpar thermals. The build is pretty solid, though the IdeaPads have a known hinge issue. You'll probably need to upgrade the RAM and add another SSD, which can run you another $100-150. IMO this is more of a general-use laptop with minor gaming capabilities thanks to its discrete GPU.
If you can shell out another $100-200, the Dell G15s aren't bad (RTX 3050 and 3050Ti). And for another $100-200 more, can get a proper gaming laptop in the Gigabyte A5s with RTX 3060s, which are about 30-50% better than the 3050s. But that puts you nearly in the $1k price range, and which point you really have a lot of options.
So it ultimately still depends on how much you're looking to spend.
I know it's a "gaming" laptop due to the title lol, but how would this one be for..gaming? Still trying to find a solid budget gaming laptop and understand whats what, super confusing. Sincerely appreciate any and all help as always!
Depends on what your budget is. The 3050 isn't the greatest obviously but you can still run games that many integrated graphics cannot. This isn't a bad price but isn't earth shattering. Luckily, RAM is upgradable which many other laptops in this price range do not offer.
Agreed with above. I'll be bumping up to 16 gigs and a 1 TB M.2 SSD most likely. My current "gaming" laptop is only a 1650 GPU but still plays all the games I play very well. I don't play many super modern titles though. I suspect Just Cause 4 is the most taxing game I have on Steam and that plays great.
For the Quest 2 VR setup it barks at you if you run anything less than a 1660, which Is what my desktop is and the desktop runs smoothly. I can force the 1650 laptop to run the games but yeah... there are some nauseating glitches.
So this should meet my needs as a gamer and be relatively future proof, again for MY needs. It will really depend on what you play. I don't even know what high end game the kids are playing these days. Everything I already game on can handle Fortnite for example. I've never tried any of the Red Dead games.
Be warned if this has the same 120Hz screen as the $499 GameStop Lenovo deal, this is only 45% NTSC color. The screen looks dull and it can never produce valid Neon like colors (high intensity) due to the small color gamut. See that thread for more feedback from multiples at the low quality screen.
I know it's a "gaming" laptop due to the title lol, but how would this one be for..gaming? Still trying to find a solid budget gaming laptop and understand whats what, super confusing. Sincerely appreciate any and all help as always!
It's an entry level laptop for gaming. The 3050 is a discrete GPU which helps a bunch for gaming. This will play games at decent settings hitting decent frames - the 120hz helps as you can turn a few settings down and target 120fps in games so you get the smooth gaming that people like with higher refresh rates.
It's not going to play Forza 5, Far Cry 6, or Cyberpunk at max settings hitting 120fps with ray tracing on. It'll play those games turned down. Also, ray tracing which we've had on the 2xxx and 3xxx series recently is beautiful, but unless you're sporting the higher end 3000 series cards, it's usually not worth it or playable even.
Quote
from omnivor
:
Going on specs, it's not great. It's a 4-core CPU, with the weak RTX 3050 and subpar thermals. The build is pretty solid, though the IdeaPads have a known hinge issue. You'll probably need to upgrade the RAM and add another SSD, which can run you another $100-150. IMO this is more of a general-use laptop with minor gaming capabilities thanks to its discrete GPU.
If you can shell out another $100-200, the Dell G15s aren't bad (RTX 3050 and 3050Ti). And for another $100-200 more, can get a proper gaming laptop in the Gigabyte A5s with RTX 3060s, which are about 30-50% better than the 3050s. But that puts you nearly in the $1k price range, and which point you really have a lot of options.
So it ultimately still depends on how much you're looking to spend.
Sure, if you always double or triple your budget, it's better. But this is slickdeals! Also, now that things are normalized again, $600 and $500 decent gaming laptops are a pretty good still.
This is good for the price and upgrading the RAM and extra SSD cost me just around $100 (I got a $25 8GB stick of ram and a $75 1TB storage drive). Mind you I own the one from the gamestop a couple weeks ago that the only major difference is the 1650 vs 3050. It's a very good price for an entry level gaming machine. And, compared to some of the other bargain focused ones, this comes with the 11th gen CPUs instead of what I saw was a lot of 10th gen. Not a massive difference, but it helps with this deal.
Quote
from NoDa
:
Be warned if this has the same 120Hz screen as the $499 GameStop Lenovo deal, this is only 45% NTSC color. The screen looks dull and it can never produce valid Neon like colors (high intensity) due to the small color gamut. See that thread for more feedback from multiples at the low quality screen.
The model number is nearly identical and seems same specs as the $499 gamestop one as well
I'm writing this on that gamestop deal very similar to this one. Yeah, the screen isn't the best. My desktop monitor isn't high end itself but is light years ahead of this. I do welcome the 120hz though - 60hz is annoying and seeing my computers and even phones at 90, 120, and higher refresh rates really makes 60hz bad looking.
Color and brightness leave some room for desire, but it's not horrid. After using the most craptastic basic HP and Dell laptops for work for 10 years now, it's serviceable.
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I'd love to try out some new games without being in my cramped desktop room.
In cart... mulling it over.
I so hate this site.
My daughter will love my hand-me-down gaming laptop to hook to her graphic drawing pad though.
So... you've made a little girl happy, even though this site is internet-crack.
I hope you're happy.
If you can shell out another $100-200, the Dell G15s aren't bad (RTX 3050 and 3050Ti). And for another $100-200 more, can get a proper gaming laptop in the Gigabyte A5s with RTX 3060s, which are about 30-50% better than the 3050s. But that puts you nearly in the $1k price range, and which point you really have a lot of options.
So it ultimately still depends on how much you're looking to spend.
Depends on what your budget is. The 3050 isn't the greatest obviously but you can still run games that many integrated graphics cannot. This isn't a bad price but isn't earth shattering. Luckily, RAM is upgradable which many other laptops in this price range do not offer.
For the Quest 2 VR setup it barks at you if you run anything less than a 1660, which Is what my desktop is and the desktop runs smoothly. I can force the 1650 laptop to run the games but yeah... there are some nauseating glitches.
So this should meet my needs as a gamer and be relatively future proof, again for MY needs. It will really depend on what you play. I don't even know what high end game the kids are playing these days. Everything I already game on can handle Fortnite for example. I've never tried any of the Red Dead games.
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The model number is nearly identical and seems same specs as the $499 gamestop one as well
https://slickdeals.net/f/15852160-lenovo-ideapad-3i-laptop-15-6-fhd-120hz-ips-i5-11300h-gtx-1650-4gb-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-499-97-free-shipping
It's not going to play Forza 5, Far Cry 6, or Cyberpunk at max settings hitting 120fps with ray tracing on. It'll play those games turned down. Also, ray tracing which we've had on the 2xxx and 3xxx series recently is beautiful, but unless you're sporting the higher end 3000 series cards, it's usually not worth it or playable even.
If you can shell out another $100-200, the Dell G15s aren't bad (RTX 3050 and 3050Ti). And for another $100-200 more, can get a proper gaming laptop in the Gigabyte A5s with RTX 3060s, which are about 30-50% better than the 3050s. But that puts you nearly in the $1k price range, and which point you really have a lot of options.
So it ultimately still depends on how much you're looking to spend.
This is good for the price and upgrading the RAM and extra SSD cost me just around $100 (I got a $25 8GB stick of ram and a $75 1TB storage drive). Mind you I own the one from the gamestop a couple weeks ago that the only major difference is the 1650 vs 3050. It's a very good price for an entry level gaming machine. And, compared to some of the other bargain focused ones, this comes with the 11th gen CPUs instead of what I saw was a lot of 10th gen. Not a massive difference, but it helps with this deal.
The model number is nearly identical and seems same specs as the $499 gamestop one as well
Color and brightness leave some room for desire, but it's not horrid. After using the most craptastic basic HP and Dell laptops for work for 10 years now, it's serviceable.