The Best Laptops - Early 2024

bennyg said:

Legion 7 Pro finally has a 7945HX model too, it only took all year after it was announced all the way back in Jan at CES. Not a worldwide release, unfortunately

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That might've been my number one (the 4080 model) had I been really desperate for a new laptop. But at £2500 and 12Gb VRAM it was a no go vs a desktop upgrade; a 7900XTX replacing the 6800XT for not far off a third as much. My gf gets the 6800XT as a bonus, replacing her 3070 which isn't a 3440x1440 card anymore, if it ever was. And some lucky, worthy, good cause gets that 3070 as a favour, pay it forward deal.

The various 4070 Legions weren't any better mind... at a significantly higher price rn than my hot deal 2022 Legion 5 (6800H, 3070ti etc) was for not much GPU uplift, still 8Gb VRAM (which isn't enough for 2560x1600 for either)

I can hang with the Legion 5 for longer tbh, sure some games I have to tweak settings down to high or so (which rarely makes much difference) to stay under 8Gb which often also nets some fps gain but tbh I'd likely be tweaking down or capping fps to mitigate thermals and fan noise anyway.

I used some of the money saved getting that 7900XTX vs a Legion 7 by buying my mum an Ideapad plus extra warranty to replace her knackered out cheapo refurb laptop... one of a long line of such she insists on to 'save money' but which are devils to manage (which is my job of course) At her age she deserves something nice and proper and well, she's my mum so why not?

Your Best Gaming Laptops comparison for the $1,700 range is comparing a $2,900-3,600 ROG Strix SCAR 16 vs a $2,249 Lenovo Legion. Then at the end you throw in that you can get the Strix cheaper at $1,700. That's a completely different laptop. For a tech website, this is really sad.

4070 LED v 4080/4090 miniLED. The two biggest components in a laptop, the GPU and the screen are on another level.

Is this just an Asus advertisement?

Both start at $1,300 with 3050/4050 and go up to $1,700/1,800 with 4060/4070. Maybe you can do a real comparison with those unless the above is really just an advertisement. I'd love to get a miniLED screen on a laptop but not paying extra $1,000 over LED for a 16" screen. I can get a 48" OLED for the same money.

BabaYaga said:

Both start at $1,300 with 3050/4050 and go up to $1,700/1,800 with 4060/4070. Maybe you can do a real comparison with those unless the above is really just an advertisement. I'd love to get a miniLED screen on a laptop but not paying extra $1,000 over LED for a 16" screen. I can get a 48" OLED for the same money.

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I got an Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 for my wife from Best Buy a week ago, it was on sale for $999 13700HX/16GB DDR5/4060/1TB NVME. I just don't see the value in these really high-end gaming laptops. For what you pay for them, you could build a really high-end gaming desktop. Not to mention they really are not that portable, if you want to game on the go, you have got to carry around a 5-pound brick of a power supply. For $999 you could still beat it in a desktop build, but not by much. The Neo can be charged on the go with a 100W USB TP and be just fine as long as you are not gaming, which is not usually practical on the go anyway.

Her old computer was a Helios 300 with a 1060 6GB and it's honestly still a great computer and would meet most of her needs if it wasn't for the photo editing. I was pleased enough with it to look for the Acer Helios branding again. We paid $1099 for that one, so I feel like we got an even better deal on this one.

LOL XPS 13 $599, not sure what specs that would have, but in Australia they start at $1800 and not even on a cold day in hell would I consider one they are such garbage value.

Isn't the m2 air afflicted by overheating problems due to the missing cooling fan?

WTH is that list? Apple? Really? MacOS?

Where the hell is FRAMEWORK!

https://frame.work/ca/en/products/laptop-diy-13-gen-amd/configuration/new

The only viable ones on the list are the gaming ones simply for not having shitty half-sized / split cursor keys that are absolutely terrible for both gaming and working in Excel alike... Also shoutout to both Dell & HP for disguising the power button as a regular key on the keyboard and placing it right next to backspace on their "Elite" tier brands.

The reviewer who said "Modern laptops are designed to be sold, not actually used" nailed it.

redgarl said:

WTH is that list? Apple? Really? MacOS?

Where the hell is FRAMEWORK!

https://frame.work/ca/en/products/laptop-diy-13-gen-amd/configuration/new

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No where on list because it doesn’t deserve to be there. For a number of reasons.

Signed,
A deeply unsatisfied owner

Any Laptop with Intel that isn't parked on a desk is trash. Maybe 14th gen can actually be competitive?

Just some info, anyone considering a higher end 4080 or 4090 laptop should be sure to get an MSI GT series, Lenovo Legion 7 or HP Omen. They all have small tweaks available that allow them to edge past their power limits.

I have an Omen 17. 13700HX\4090. In the Omen gaming hub is a slider called Smart Performance Gain. Turn it on and a they will be able to go above their respective wattage limits.

Last, for gaming, the i7 can actually be preferable over the i9. While max performance is near identical, the 1% lows are better by a fair amount. Jarrod'sTech did a youtube video on that (with the 12xxx series laptops) and said It's because Nvidia Dynamic Boost allows more power, for longer, to the GPU because of the i7s lower power draw. So now just tweak as normal.

Out of the box, the 4090 will perform in that small space between desktop 3090 and a 3090 TI. So now, test your shiny new 4090 laptop against the 3090 ti!

A TS article put up these stats:



Naturally, a desktop 3090 ti can also be tweaked. But if you can't see the basics behind this, maybe a tech site really isn't for you!

I think there should also be an "out there" section as well. I'd love one of those dual screen Yoga 9i laptops but sadly can't justify the price.

I still regularly use an Asus flip Chromebook. It was cheap when I bought it and now, 8 years later, it's still perfect for browsing or watching videos (if YT can fit one in between all the adverts). Obviously it's useless for dev work etc but ...

BSim500 said:

The only viable ones on the list are the gaming ones simply for not having shitty half-sized / split cursor keys that are absolutely terrible for both gaming and working in Excel alike... Also shoutout to both Dell & HP for disguising the power button as a regular key on the keyboard and placing it right next to backspace on their "Elite" tier brands.

The reviewer who said "Modern laptops are designed to be sold, not actually used" nailed it.

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While I dont approve such placement, I understand the thought.
More simplistic design with fewer bumps.
For the same reasons we get fewer and fewer ports. They want solid smooth surfaces lacking anything on them.
At least, that power button turns the screen off and locks it on most devices I know rather than forcing a restart. That would be irritating.