Advice on Hardware

[thesummerqueen]

I'm looking to get a new gaming laptop. (Yes, it has to be a laptop because of space purposes, so no I don't want to hear about how I need to build a desktop gaming PC - when I have a larger place with a legit office area, I'll do it.)

I have about $1200 to spend on this endeavor, and for a while I had been looking at the Acer Aspire V Nitro series. One in particular was tempting because of its harddrive space and the SSD - those features are useful to processing my photography as well as feeding my habits - but the reviews are iffy on other Nitros.

So I guess what I'm asking is: does anyone have one of the Acer Aspires or experience with one to let me know if the pros and cons are real? For the following issues, some people have issues and some don't:

-Keyboard
-Trackpad (less worried about this - I use a mouse for just about everything)
-Wi-fi performance (this is hard line for me - if I can't download properly, I won't buy)
-screen issues

This is the one I'm thinking of: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6834314703

The reviews are pretty much all positive for that particular model, but after all the crap in the reviews of similar Aspire models...I'm nervous.

My second question: are there others with objectively better specs for that price point (or lower) that anyone knows of/has experience with?

[The Grand Nudger]

It's nicer than my "gaming desktop"....lol.

[thesummerqueen]

I bet your desktop doesn't crash half as much as most gaming laptops do, though.

Or that could be because many of my friends are cheap and are like me - running on inferior Dells and HP's

[Dystopia]

thesummerqueen, I have the same "issue" as you, I need to get a good gaming machine but I'm undecided, because a laptop is a necessity for my daily routine and gaming isn't the number 1 priority of getting a computer... I saw a few for sale but they were 1800€, the hardware was good though.

From what my friends with gaming laptops have told me - Which is not much but better than nothing anyway - The laptops with more complaints are HP, I've never heard people having problems with Acer or Asus, which seem to be popular choices for people who need a PC for gaming..

That laptops seems sweet, dunno how the GTX860 is in terms of power but for the prince I'm guessing it is top notch, and the screen resolution of 1920x1080 is just great.

I'd never buy a computer with a CPU with 2.50GhZ simply because there are some older games I still play and they run only on one core.

If you could say the games you play more often that would be helpful. I have a friend with a much lower priced Acer laptop, but the most demanding game he plays is Skyrim, so finding a mid ranged graphics card and and reasonable CPU is not hard for about 600 or 700€ - In fact even the most recent integrated intel graphics card can run Skyrim

[Marsellus Wallace]

running on inferior Dells and HP's

do u meanz dat my laptop is inferior ?

[thesummerqueen]

I play modded Skyrim - most of the mods I use are low on graphics (more for immersion) specifically because the Dell I have is NOT made for gaming and has a shitty graphics ability. I'd like to be able to run on a higher resolution without adding graphics mods to boost it.

I also own Assassin's Creed and Bioshock games that I've yet to finish because they keep crashing my laptop even on the lowest settings. I don't have Unity yet due to the fact that I don't have the system capabilities and might as well wait until it comes down and price and the bugs get worked out.

Currently I'm working through the Vanishing of Ethan Carter, which doesn't require a lot of quick action, but the setting is fucking beautiful and deserves a higher resolution than I can play it at.

I've got a few in my wish-list queue like The Talos Principle and Shadow of Mordor that look like they'll need more intensive graphics.

---

Oh yeah, and I'd like to get into the Witcher series, but I have no idea how that game affects computers.

[fr0d0]

I just watched an Australian guy review this laptop and say that it could only play the lowest spec games on medium settings... before I lost interest in trying to contribute something useful lol. I agreed with his view that Acer tend to want to please everyone too much. That's my experience of them too. That and that you get a lot for your money with them usually.

I could add that my own experience with graphics cards, win 8.1 and performance laptops is that changes to drivers changes everything. Mine was so temperamental but then has been fine since the drivers updated. Sorry not much help

[pocaracas]

Gaming laptop... the things they come up with!

So, let's see what we have here:
Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz)
16GB Memory
1TB HDD
256GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2 GB GDDR5
17.3" Windows

So... all that's required of a laptop to be called "gaming" is a 17.3" screen and 16GB RAM? Or the graphics chip is also something to behold?... meh... on a desktop, the 860 GTX isn't exactly high performance, but isn't bad.

The SSD should be for windows and apps. Swap... with 16GB RAM you should never use swap!
Documents should be stored on the HDD... well, that's what I'd do

On that laptop, what I like is the ventilation on the back.... reminds me of my own laptop and it's great to keep the hot air flow away from us, in the Summer... and, you, being thesummerqueen, I guess you know all about hot air flow.

I was browsing through that site and I couldn't find anything better and cheaper, so... keep it!

[thesummerqueen]

Looking up reviews seems to show that it's entirely subjective. Some people say that performance holds up well - 8 or 9 out of 10 rating - but the body and build is weak.

Others say exactly the opposite.

I don't know gaming review sites the way I do photography sites - I'm skeptical of who to trust.

[fr0d0]

Body and build weak... Yes that's Acer. That's why you get more bang for your Buck.

There are good quality tech reviewers on YouTube not so hard to find. I'd ask on places like http://linustechtips.com/main/ who have a good YouTube channel that I follow.