Why Even Non-Gamers Should Consider a Gaming Notebook

You may never have played a Call of Duty game in your life and you might think a Steam library has something to do with railroad literature, but we're here to tell you that a gaming laptop might be the perfect PC for you. Sure, "gaming" might be the intended use and main reason behind their design but these notebooks can be a smart choice even if you only need a PC for serious work.

Let's take a closer look at the reasons why people who don't play games should consider buying a gaming laptop.

Read the full content of this Article: http://www.notebookreview.com/feature/even-non-gamers-consider-gaming-notebook/

 

The "audio and speakers" is a good point. A lot of people here tell consumers who want a high-quality PC laptop to look at business-class models, but I have to tell you, my $2,000 Thinkpad has worse speakers than my $300 Chromebook. They're TERRIBLE. A consumer whose usage includes watching movies and video on their laptop would be better served by an Alienware than by most business-class laptops.

 

Agreed in full.

I challenge your ThinkPad to a sound off with my EliteBook for the worst speakers.

Five years after I bought this notebook I'm still dumbfounded as to how awful it sounds.

 

It doesn't HAVE to be a gaming notebook, but at least a premium notebook at the bare minimum. The cheap laptops my parents buy tend to last 2-3 years, while the Toshiba P305 I use as a DTR has magnificent harmon/kardon speakers and solid build quality. I always encourage to spend a little more on notebooks. 2000$ isn't necessary, but a 700$-800$ computer should get you a more than adequate setup.

 

I accept to this challenge with your elitebook with my elitebook 2560p and/or 8460p. The 2560p's speakers are pointed downward, same as the 8460p with no volume even at max.

I traded my work on both of them to a Lenovo y410p with much better speakers but the plastic construction is just killing me along with this oh so annoying track pad, or annoy pad. This is my 1st time with this type of track pad but holy wow it's so bad. The all in one type track pad.

 

I would like to ...gracefully exit the challenge. I bet the smaller EliteBooks have even worse sound quality than my unit.

Lenovo's clickpads typically leave much to be desired. I have complained about them in almost every IdeaPad review I've written save for some of the very recent ones which have been better but still not as reliable as the traditional two-button setup.

 

The quality is not the worst in the world, its just the volume. I have heard worst quality sound from some other laptops but none offer this low of a volume at maximum settings.

I use these elitebooks for a small full-time at home business, I loved the elitebook tough built but the weight finally got to me. Plus I wanted some higher performance from the GPU. But I am really hating this click or track pad on the Lenovo.

From reading lots of your older reviews for the past 1-2 months, thanks btw, these click-pad type track-pads for becoming common place in the laptop industry now. I have not shopped for a laptop for my business in over 2 years, and I mostly stayed with the elitebook brand, mostly due to the length and warranty support that goes alone with these laptops.

I'm also going to add that I hate two finger scrolling. There is no one finger option on the Lenovo trackpad drivers or settings program. To be honest, I dont think I'm going to have this Levono for long.

 

I might consider a gaming notebook if it were not for the reduced portability.

I often wonder if the 15.6" Dell precision M3800 / XPS-9530 would make a nice upgrade from my 14" Latitude E7440 but then remind myself that in addition to the extra size of the notebook itself there is the bigger and heavier PSU to be carried around.

John

 

With my Thinkpad, it's both quality AND volume

 

I'm actually pretty happy with the speakers in my Precision. Not amazing, but certainly above average/passable, IMO.

 

It depends on what you want the laptop for. My dad used to use a gaming laptop for work, a Dell XPS before they bought Alienware. If you need a really powerful desktop replacement or workstation, it might be worth looking at a gaming laptop, yes.

My Thinkpad T500's speakers sound great, relatively speaking. Among the best I have heard in a laptop, and by far the best of any laptop I've owned.

 

For my needs, Gaming laptops never fit them. They are too flashy and blinged up for business like needs, too big and heavy for machines I must baby with kid gloves, and are often too noisy and hot. And they often have the worst support and service after the sale. If I carry a heavy, bulky laptop it is because I sometimes need a Full Rugged. Otherwise, my needs are best served by business class laptops. So I must disagree. I need business rugged as bare minimum and gimpy proof or resistant. I need easily repaired and upgraded, I need practical and logical. Business Class or Rugged for me the best made. When I need better sound, my laptop is connected to an audio interface and proper amplifier and speakers beyond gaming grade. As I am an audio professional for a living.

 

My first laptop is a gaming one and I still use it as main, after 6 years. It's upgradeable (socketed CPU, MXM VGA, 2x DIMM, 2x mPCIe, Expresscard/54), has very comfortable keyboard and pretty good sound, and still looks great except for the LCD cover. It stays hooked up to second monitor, external audio system, etc. on the desk and is on 24/7 usually - but I've been travelling with it and always appreciated the sound of its' speakers then. Just in case, now I have a 14" netbook (well, Lapdock for my phone, really) to carry with me, it's thin, light, and has great keyboard as well.

 

Secondhand workstation with warranty or refurbished dell precision is my weapon of choice.

 

^ yup!

 

How about the 14" Razer?

 

Reduced battery time when away from a power socket would be one good reason. The more powerful hardware inherently tends to have a higher idle power drain than less potent equipment.

John

 

http://www.notebookreview.com/feature/even-non-gamers-consider-gaming-notebook/

Its a long time ago that I read that kind of rubbish !!!

See #12 from Kent T for most of the reasons, not to speak
of battery life !
Spending a little extra ?
He also had to name the negative side's.

Supposed to be a buyers guide ?

 

Yeah what a load of rubbish. Every one of the points in the article can be easily refuted.

 

Yes, mine too ...HP Business and Lenovo Outlets are good places to find EliteBooks/ZBooks and ThinkPads, respectively (USA links below):
http://www.hp.com/sbso/buspurchase_refurbished.html
http://outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/

Mobile workstations are the top of the food chain for mobile computing.

 

I do not think you will like them keyboards on either xps or the M3800.

 

If you are meaning the shallower key travel which is a design compromise associated with thinner notebooks then I know that I can quickly get used to it - I've clocked up quite a few hours on the Samsung Series 9 notebooks.

However, I see that Dell is offering a weak dGPU option on the Latitude E7450 which I might consider if it is associated with a bigger cooling fan which will run more quietly under full CPU load than the Intel graphics version.

John

 

I have to agree with Kent T and disagree with the article. A gaming notebook has its place and it has its target audience and not-target audience (those who wouldn't benefit from the features, and/or would suffer from the disadvantages).

Gaming laptops might have unique design (though Clevos are fairly conservative in design, which some might like), but the build quality isn't much better than consumer-class laptops, and only look like they have high build quality when you compare them to $300 Walmart specials. But, if build quality is a primary consideration, you really should be looking at business-class laptops, period.

Some gaming laptops do have the MXM advantages (though some workstations do as well), though for the most part the standard customization are "good enough" (CPU, RAM, storage, display, etc.). LED lighting and hand-assembly aren't really important factors imo, unless you're looking for flashy or give some non-trivial value towards hand-made vs machine-made (to me, it doesn't make any significant difference, but that's just my two cents).

The audio is an absolute moot point as far as I'm concerned. If that's really important, or if you're an audiophile of some sort, you'd be using a good pair of headphones and/or channeling the audio through a decent amp rather than depending on the laptop's internal speakers (which all laptop speaks are universally bad, just to various degrees).

The remaining points pretty much vary model-by-model and the only category that really misses these points would be ultrabooks and the like.

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This is just my two cents, but this reads more like "Why Even Non-Racers Should Consider a Sports Car" than concrete reasons everyone should get a gaming laptop.

 

I buy gaming laptops all the time and I'm not a gamer. Thank god my newest gaming machine is 75% paid for.

 

What about
Sager NP8651 (Clevo P650SE) how's the build quality on that. Is a lenevo or Alienware better? Or Asus G751. Sorry I'm trying to decide between these three