I might be needing to consolidate some space in my apartment in the near future, and one thing I thought might help is by replacing my desktop, which I was already needing to replace anyway, with a gaming laptop. The only game I play is WoW, both versions. Does anyone here use a gaming laptop, and what specs should I be looking for in one? Prefer to keep it under $1,000, if possible, I don’t need the most up to date high end system, just something that can run the game with good performance and graphics.
There are lots of great gaming laptops out there but $1,000 is not much money for a laptop, let alone a gaming laptop. You can get a lot more computer in desktop than you in a laptop.
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I’ve been looking at this list for a future purchase myself:
https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-gaming-laptops
While true, some people may not have the space for a desktop, or just require more mobility in general.
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If you just want a laptop that can run WoW well you can probably find one around $700-$800 or less if you shop around. You’ll want an i5 or ideally i7 processor of some sort and as much RAM as possible if not a dedicated graphics card (though those are usually what drive them up to the $1000 range) I would personally check Amazon and other online retailers but also don’t discount going to regular stores especially right now as there are good deals to be found.
$1000 for a desktop is great but for a laptop youre not gonna find any good ones.
laptops, even good ones, are not designed to be all-day every-day workhorses. If you play wow for a few hours/day, a laptop is likely to only have a few years of life.
warnings aside, you can get away with the below for at least the next 3 years if WoW is your only game:
intel i5 (7th gen or newer) or amd ryzen5 (zen2 or newer)
8GB RAM
250GB SSD (this game will probably eat too much space for a 128)
nvidia 1060 / radeon 5700
Certainly you could do better with better specs, but those specs should be fine.
I am very happy with the thermals of the major players (alienware m15 / m17, Dell XPS 15 (2019), Razer Blade (2019)), although Razer customer support and product reliability is probably the worst in the business, maybe second only to ibuypower.
If money is your key limiter, I’d check out the Dell Outlet website for refurbs. Keep in mind that there are no good discounts right now from most makers because demand for entertainment devices is up and ability to supply them is down. Now is not a great time to buy. Maybe Facebook marketplace in a few weeks when people start to get desperate 
Personally I am waiting for the Zen3 chips and the ray tracing Radeon cards that I expect will come out ahead of XBox and PS this fall, as those cards should not only be cheaper because of the bulk console production, but should also force everything else on the market to come down in price.
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Not true. Follow the link I posted.
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Thanks for the replies and for that guide, Beau! I’ll definitely check that out.
MSI has some great options for 1000 and under and for 1000+
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https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GF63-9RCX-615-i5-9300H/dp/B07TN4C9FY/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=msi&qid=1587690398&sr=8-6
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GF63-Thin-9SC-066-i7-9750H/dp/B07QF66YQB/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=msi&qid=1587690398&sr=8-9
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Thanks for those links!
I just snagged one with a new generation i7, rtx 2070 144hz display, nvme 1tb ssd for 1400. Different model series than the GF. MSI honestly always seems to pack the best performance for money in your lower priced to mid tier laptops. Once you start getting into the 3000+ range, MSI seems to lag behind in the display area but seems to be catching up atm.
Here is one that is decent price/spec and can configure for extra RAM/SSD, you can go from 8GB to 16GB RAM for extra $100 and 256GB SSD to 512GB SSD for another extra $100. h ttps://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&urlLangId=&catEntryId=3074457345619288318&quantity=1
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You can do a mini-ITX build for a desktop PC and it will hardly take up any room at all. If you play WoW on a laptop you’ll still need a desk and room for a mouse, so honestly there’s no point to a gaming laptop in my opinion unless you travel a lot for work etc and need something mobile.
If you don’t need the mobility, just build a mini-ITX desktop PC.
Acer Predator Helios 300 1299 little over budget
Asus ROG Strix G5. 1,157 tad over
Asus Tuf Fx505…799 and under budget
Depends for wow gaming find very good laptops that run wow on max settings for well under 1k
eh
/10char
Dont know if am late.
but Am using MSI 17.3 inch, 2070 Max-Q. 1TB. its very good so far, like i tried so many laptops, this is the best so far, will keep buying from MSI, tho one thin’.
it gets dirty like dust quickly. and I like everything clean, but as laptop performance its working better than all laptops I had.
1 major problem for most people is heating, this one never heats, even if it heats that would be from like top left side small area, not that noticeable but its a laptop it must get a bit heated.
Click here( or copy it) if you wanna check it out
( MSI - 17.3" Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q - 1TB Solid State Drive - Matte Black With Gold Diamond Cut ) it cost right now 1849$. bought it 1799$ without tax these numbers. was on blackfriday, 50$ more should not be problem.
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Define few?
Have an old hp that runs wow on lvl 3 graphics and is 6 years old?
That’s the tower.
You’re also talking about a place to set up a keyboard, mouse and MONITOR. Those take up a decent amount of space as well.
I’d have to agree. I have an old computer that wasn’t SUPPOSED to run Windows 7 (but I forced it HURRAH SCIENCE!) is at LEAST 10 years old and could probably run WoW on the lowest settings.
Obviously, I’d still want something better, but for solo play it would be fine.