Are Expensive Gaming Laptops Actually Worth It?

I compare a budget gaming laptop to something a bit more expensive.
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The HP Victus Laptop (Amazon Affiliate): amzn.to/49TXjre
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[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

For those of you asking for HP benchmarks with a RAM upgrade. I dropped a 32GB 4800Mhz kit in and ran a couple benchmarks. BFV @ 1080P High Stock: Avg 65, 1% 11 Upgrade: Avg 69, 1% 24 CP 2077 @ 1080P High Stock: Avg 33 FPS, 1% 11 Upgrade: Avg 35 FPS 1% 26 It didn’t make as much of a difference as I was expecting, but the RTX 2050 seemed to be the bottleneck. I’m doing a follow up video where I put it through its paces more. Thanks for watching, bye!

[@Karlus_LeV]

Corncob crust pizza

[@steveguy3]

Does anyone really buy laptops to play the newest heaviest titles though? If I ever bought one I'd be buying one expecting to play older games or new less requiring games. That power and airflow limit will always be there. But at a decent price today you can get a serviceable laptop with a proper 100% srgb screen.

[@strider_hiryu850]

would a battery upgrade also help? i feel like part of the charm of these budget gaming laptops is not so much "upgradability" in & of itself. but the money you saved from going for the budget laptop which can be used TO BUY said upgrades.

[@Zoyx]

Did you try adding RGB or changing out the WASD keys?

[@Zoyx]

@@steveguy3 - I can play Triple-A titles on my laptop. Nice to be able to do that while on the road.

[@hiko8822]

No, they arent. Side note, edit: **Gaming** Laptops have bad ergonomics, throttle because of *physical* constraints, and arent as repairable as they used to be. Even cheaper used workstation ones are less of an unrepairable fire hazard. Sales dont make a laptop "better". Look at the 4090.

[@Trapfact]

making a 13mins video as short as a comment

[@imglidinhere]

Wrong. He was sent a laptop that's obscenely overpriced and nowhere near worth the specs. If you don't think they're worth it, that's entirely your opinion, but the sales of mobile gaming machines is increasing year over year.

[@CJWall_rott]

Your mom brought me a nice one though

[@ishouldbestrange4574]

Might i say that none of yall actually finished the video.

[@ishouldbestrange4574]

​@@CJWall_rottwho hurt you perhaps your dad?

[@bomj-valera]

*"I'd take a couple of mm for RAM upgradability any day of the week."* Pure gold. Thin is good, when it doesn't get in the way of user experience.

[@ffwast]

So in other words it's not good.

[@victortoba-ogunleye4056]

The ram is soldered so they can reach 7400 MHz ram speeds compared to 5600 when unsoldered,

[@HunterTracks]

@@victortoba-ogunleye4056 Still not worth it, those ram speeds are not gonna be relevant for 90% of workloads, unlike the additional ram capacity.

[@TheSpotify95]

@@victortoba-ogunleye4056And...?! 16GB in a $2000+ device is criminal. For $2000 you might as well build your own desktop PC, you won't get thermal issues, you'll have much better upgradability and longevity, in fact, the only thing you won't have is being able to use it away from mains, which isn't the end of the world because gaming whilst on battery power will draw an obscene amount of current from the battery, drastically limiting its lifespan. The things that are better in the ASUS, with the exception of the display, are things that don't really matter: most gamers will use an external mouse (or controller), so the trackpad doesn't matter. Most gamers will also be using a headset, so the speakers and mic don't really matter. As for the webcam, so long as it puts an image out (and isn't a really low resolution), it's more than adequate for the job, and in fact the HP has a larger display (good), a dedicated numpad (good) and far better upgradability (good). You could easily stick 32GB of RAM into the HP and it'll be better than the ASUS in terms of longevity, as 16GB isn't enough especially for Windows 11 and whatever bloatware you need to uninstall...

[@wallachia4797]

Never understood the desire to have as thin of a laptop as possible. Yea, obviously don't make it weigh 7 kilos and be half the size of an ATX case, but I feel like there are some really scrawny people out there who throw hissy fits each time a laptop is around 2 kilos and isn't as thin as their phone. What good is your $2000 laptop if it heat chokes itself from lack of cooling (to save space) within 2 years or becomes obsolete from soldered ram? I'll never understand this.

[@thedungeondelver]

As a guy who doesn't travel a lot, let me share this: the lifespan of gaming gear is what interests me. I still drive a 4790 and a 1080ti. Handles everything I throw at it. Those are 10+ year old parts, and they've lasted and lasted. What I have noticed is that gaming laptops tend to eat themselves, usually due to thermal issues, or stress on the hardware due to mishandling. And once they're broken there's no fixing them. They're like Lamborghinis or Ferraris. Very nice, very sporty, super fast...for a very, *very* limited amount of time. I'd need to replace a gaming laptop once every 3-3.5 years, I reckon. And that's just not in my price range. That said there's much to consider about the budget gaming laptop that I quite liked, namely: it's a budget gaming laptop! Honestly I didn't see the performance dip as that big an issue. It was 141 frames vs. 160+ frames in that Battlefield demo Dawid ran, and that's a non-issue for me.

[@lucasrem]

Why the long story Never buy a modern monitor !

[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

I agree, longevity is very important but super difficult to test. I think with a lot of this stuff when it comes to how long it actually survives it’s a bit of a coin flip when you buy it. That 1080Ti is such a great GPU, glad it’s still serving you well.

[@akarna69]

Everything you throw at it, like Tetris and Minecraft? 😂

[@hannahalexy]

My 11 year old alienware 17 w a gtx780m is still going strong today. It was my main pc 2013 to 2016. My 6700k recently died so I dug her out. Serving me for the few weeks I'll be without a desktop. The only downside is the latest driver updates being late 2019. But that's just Kepler for u. Oh and the battery lasts maybe 40 mins. But it still boots up in seconds, and windows is seamless

[@GawelOsa]

My asus G750JX with a 770m is my main pc since 2013. Every 2 years I disasemble and clean it. I repasted GPU once and CPU twice, swapped the HDD for an SSD years ago : it’s still going strong. Laptop maintenance is way harder than tower pc’s, it’s one reason why they last less longer, people skip it.

[@devonward6784]

That hp was on sale for 450 over Black Friday last year and was actually an insane deal

[@cv990a4]

Is it the Victus or the Rictus?

[@lucasrem]

victus gaming notebook, i did see them, wow, great deal that was. play fortnite deal !

[@EDV8ZR1]

@@lucasrem Went on Amazon after watching this video and then they recommended the laptops in the video I was not surprised.

[@grimmpickins2559]

At that price, the contest is over - that is better than a lot of mini-PCs bouncing around that pricepoint. Spend the extra on upgrades for RAM and storage... That said, LOL, still not buying one ;)

[@JackG79]

I got one for my son that looks almost identical, but it has an RTX-4060 in it. Still paid less than 1k for it.

[@Elinzar]

2200 dollars For 16gb of ram, and a miss branded 4060... Epic...

[@BenState]

1800p 120Hz....

[@kirby1225]

@@BenState Of which both require a good GPU to fully take advantage of.

[@Elinzar]

@@BenState a yes 120hz when it can barely push up to that at that resolution... and in a 14 inch! you wont be able to tell the difference between that and 1080p 14 inch....

[@BenState]

@@Elinzar Did you watch the video. It often exceeded 100 FPS.

[@BenState]

@@Elinzar Nonsense.

[@goodbadugly77]

upgrade the ram in that budget laptop and rerun those tests.

[@Zoyx]

I went from 16GB to 32GB in my Acer Nitro 5 (another budget gaming laptop). Benchmarks didn't change. Clocks are hardwired, so if you buy faster RAM, you can't take advantage of it.

[@mastone7563]

​​@@Zoyxmaybe, if you need more multitask and for rendering, then it would be right choice

[@mukkah]

@@ZoyxFair but easier to max out 8 than 16gb =X Though I didn't take note of RAM usage on the budget throughout vid ^_^'

[@Leoexe12pl]

Yeah, I own a budget ASUS gaming laptop and after upgrading RAM it started to actually perform very good, I'd love to see tests for sure!

[@rustler08]

It's not going to matter. The 2050 is a loser GPU and it has horrible thermals

[@TheGodOfAllThatWas]

I was pretty impressed how passable the low spec model was.

[@TheSpotify95]

And how awful the top model was for having soldered RAM and only 16GB... If you're spending $2000 on a PC and go down the DDR4 route (AM4 or latest Intel) you can get 128GB - yes, 128GB - in a top end PC and the overall build will be about the same cost! Or you could comfortably get 64GB in DDR5 (AM5 or latest Intel) and again come in at the same, or less, cost...

[@joe--cool]

A win at FPS per Dollar is still some kind of win if you aren't made of money. Also the cheaper one as a proper keyboard. (though that is only because of its size I guess)

[@legart4507]

And he didn’t even put the second plank of ddr5, the performance would be so much better.

[@Gwenavere]

In my stupid grad school days I moved across an ocean twice with a full ATX gaming desktop taking up half my luggage. I learned from that mistake very quickly and got a budget gaming laptop instead. Now my job involves sometimes extended international travel, often to the kinds of places where you don't want to be going out and poking around after work. My gaming desktop is great at home, but I still see value in having a powerful machine I can bring with me on the go. It makes the long flights and hotel stays a lot more tolerable. I seriously considered the G14 and a couple of similar smaller high end gaming laptops when I got my last one, but ended up opting for a Lenovo Slim 7i Pro X more tailored to creative professionals. The mobile 3050 was still more than sufficient for my gaming-on-the-go needs while the overall package offered a better value for my specific situation.

[@brandon_gb]

Just built my first pc and I have to say youtube channels like yours was a big reason for me wanting to give it a try. I appreciate your fun informative videos and I gotta say from my experiences so far the pc building community in general are helpful good people. I'm probably hooked now though aren't I.😂

[@randy206]

So, in 2022 I purchased a Lenovo legion gaming laptop from microcenter. Paid 499.99 US. It has an i5 12450h, an RTX 3050, 2x m.2 slots which made upgrading the storage extremely easy, and 8 gigs of socketed DDR4. For less than 120 additional dollars I added a 1 tb m.2 and upgraded the ram to 32 gigs. It also has a 120hz display. I really enjoy gaming on it. But then I bought an ally back in September of 2023 and I have not turned on my laptop since then.

[@RAA0000]

I have the same laptop from microcenter, but mine came with ryzen 7 5800h and 16gb ram. How much of a difference did it make upgrading to 32gb ram? I have considered doing it, but dont know if it will actually improve?

[@chriskasprzyk6235]

@@RAA0000 If your 16gb is in two sticks instead of one then going to 32 is not going to do anything. As long as you are running at least 16gb in dual channel, the only thing that may make a slight difference will be faster RAM with tighter timings. Even then the difference won't be large, and that's assuming the bios would even allow you to take advantage anyway.

[@randy206]

I don't really know. I bought the ram upgrade at micro center the same day and installed it as soon as I got the laptop out of the box.

[@randy206]

@@chriskasprzyk6235 for mine, the bios does not allow me to make changes to memory timings or memory frequency. I upgraded to 32 gigs because out of the box mine had only 8 gigs in single channel. The difference in price between 16 and 32 gigs was less than 20 dollars if I am remembering correctly so since I was already splurging I just got the 32 gigs kit.

[@vylrent]

Can I have it lmao

[@kmadhav0923]

What did i even expect coming into this video, OBVIOUSLY THAT EXPENSIVE ONE WILL DEMOLISH THE CHEAP ONE IN EVERY WAY.... Dude is so entertaining i had to watch it

[@chivi4620]

Went too high end; mid range/ low range would show the same results

[@wallachia4797]

How much did Asus pay you for this comment?

[@Dasgabar]

@@chivi4620a 4060 isnt high end tho

[@aleksazunjic9672]

Well, you actually do not get 4 times better performance for 4 times more money .

[@TrusteftTech]

@kmadhav0923 You didn't watch the video, did you? At least I hope you didn't. The more expensive one is not a clear winner in every way.

[@buymeasnickersplease9360]

I got the Acer Predator Triton se a couple of years ago, 2021. I7-11370h RTX 3060 90w 16gb DDR4 3200mhz (upgradeable to 24gb) 1TB NVME SSD. 144hz monitor. The CPU in this is the limiting factor but it still powered through every release I've thrown at it in the last 3years without having to resort to upscaling most of the time. The cooling and build quality on this is also amazing! The airflow is so good that it keeps my hands cool on hot days whilst typing with a cooling pad underneath. Because the cold air from the cooling pad comes through the keys on the keyboard, resulting in the CPU never going above 78c and the GPU settling in at 55C...For a laptop this thin it's got great design and thermal management. Think i might have to upgrade soon though, mainly for a better CPU but i have been happy with my purchase. Depending on the game and how demanding it is i could get anywhere between 55fps to a 144fps with DLSS on or off at 1080p or 1440p (more 60 at 1440p).

[@bajgen]

Its always a good blast of a time coming back to Dawid's Tech Stuff

[@cloudycolacorp]

I’ve got the last gen G14 laptop and it’s so nice, typically I’ve gone for machines with the most performance I can squeeze out of the least money, but it’s cool having something with fancy build quality for a change

[@markcentral]

Thanks Dawid. Very happy with my ASUS Scar 18 Laptop i bought on discount over the holidays. Has a 4090 Mobile and in that form factor, they were kind enough to make the 2 ssds and ram upgradeable

[@joshuastedford1670]

I think having a third option right in the middle of the price range would make this comparison series much better

[@MrPruske]

openbox refurbished from microcenter $810 13700hx, 32gb ram, 4060 8gb, 1tb nvme, 144hz 1080p in the same victus chasis works well for me

[@MrPruske]

it can play star citizen pretty good

[@rustler08]

I found one with Ryzen 7, 4060 8GB, 32GB RAM, 1TB, 144Hz for $750. The deals are there.

[@mukkah]

That's a beauty of a system, spec / price-wise, my dude (even refurbished)

[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

That configuration would perform pretty close to the Asus due to the thermal limits on the GPU. Also nice that yours has a better display. The one in the model I tested a a rough display in it.

[@konstantinlozev2272]

​@@DawidDoesTechStuffI wish you tested that RTX 4060 laptop.

[@sutskotheoneandonly7565]

Really loved this one Dawid:) Keep up the amazing work brother

[@twrex-13]

I used to travel for work. Having a gaming laptop I could throw in my stuff made the experience a lot more enjoyable. Was it as powerful as my desktop? No. But it didn't have to be. I just wanted to play some light games after I was done for the day. I certainly would like a more premium gaming laptop, but I couldn't justify the expense at the time. Several years on and the laptop struggles quite a bit, but for older games and eSports it's fine. Throw a decent pair of closed back headphones or IEMs in your bag and you barely even hear the jet engine. That said, I traveled less than 30% of the time. If my travel was 50% and up, I would have likely sold most of my desktops and bought the highest-end gaming laptop I could have, since that would have been my primary system. I think the biggest justifications for a high end laptop are (1) how often are you on the go - classes, work, whatever and (2) how often do you game? If you're never on the go and you never game, obviously don't get a high end gaming laptop. If you travel a little bit or game every once in awhile, spending money on a high end gaming laptop doesn't make sense - buy something cheap for those times when you'll use it (a Steam Deck or similar might make even more sense here than a budget laptop). And same for if you game a lot but never travel - why buy a laptop in the first place? Or the inverse - if you travel a lot but never game, why are you even looking at a gaming laptop unless you need the GPU horsepower for a specific work task? But if you're in the subset of the population that travels a lot and wants to game every chance you get, a high end gaming laptop starts to make a lot of sense

[@aaroncall5274]

I like the lap top cause I don’t want to have to go to a designated area to play a game and I don’t have a desk with an expensive gaming chair like you see everyone else doing. I can play in my recliner, on the couch, in bed, a different room etc

[@lordofhyphens]

5:35 So I just heard "if you mouse left-handed... probably avoid the premo laptop"

[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

And if you mouse right handed avoided the other one. 😂

[@lucutes2936]

​@@DawidDoesTechStuff why

[@syndicatepenguin8420]

I have an ROG Strix Scar 2 bought last 2019 (almost 6 years and counting) with the i7-8750H and an RTX 2060. It's somewhat considered high-end in my country since it costs $2400 while it may be $1500 in the US back then. It has been able to handle everything I throw at it and it's yet to have any issues. With proper care and maintenance (although take account to the build quality), these expensive gaming laptops can be worth it to last long. Idk why but probably too I haven't been able game too much on it since I've been busy with other projects so it might have not stressed it out as much

[@EhAmes94]

Great video as usual Dawid, also I think this idea is worth revisiting but with a laptop priced somewhere in the middle of these two.

[@primitivepatterns]

I always thought that was Dawid playing the guitar in the intro. I'm just going to continue to picture him playing that sweet sweet lick

[@jeffjohnson2731]

I bought my Victus with 32GB DDR5, 1TB PCIE Gen 4 SSD, and a 144Hz display all for $699. the display makes a huge difference and dual channel DDR5 gives me about a 25% boost over the numbers you got, so for the money, I'll take this budget laptop every day and twice on Sunday. Great buy!

[@brando3342]

I think in general there's about an 80 percent chance something is worth the extra money, provided one important caveat. That being "If you actually have the extra money to spend." It's all relative, it's worth it to get the cheaper product, if that's what you can afford, and same for the more expensive.

[@lohitsai12]

The real question is: Are expensive Apple Phones worth buying?😂

[@RandMV]

No really

[@Zilla8899]

Yeah

[@princeboss5419]

No

[@lucutes2936]

No

[@harinmehta7841]

nah

[@Acopolypse2K]

More interesting would be the cheapest laptop with a certain graphics card vs the most expensive one. For example you can sometimes get a laptop with a RTX 4060 for about 700 bucks, but there are also laptops with a RTX 4060 for over 2000 bucks.

[@samdzairy]

Usualy a max p version of a laptop gpu is around 20-30% more powerful than the lowest wattage ones

[@dameanvil]

- [00:00] 💻 Comparison between a budget gaming laptop and an expensive one. - [01:18] 🎮 Budget gaming laptop ($800 CAD) features Ryzen 5 7535HS CPU and RTX 2050 GPU. - [02:22] 💰 Expensive gaming laptop ($2,200 CAD) includes Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU and RTX 4070 GPU. - [02:34] 🏗 Build quality difference: HP laptop (plastic) vs. Asus Zephyrus G14 (metal, glass). - [04:24] ⌨ HP laptop features a serviceable keyboard and trackpad, Asus offers a more satisfying experience. - [04:38] 🔌 Additional I/O ports on Asus laptop, better arrangement for cable management. - [05:55] 🔊 Audio quality: HP laptop speakers mediocre, Asus front-firing speakers much better. - [07:03] 🦠 Both laptops loaded with bloatware, requiring a fresh Windows install. - [07:27] 🖥 Display quality: Asus Zephyrus with high-res OLED display outshines HP's lower-quality screen. - [09:43] 🎮 Gaming performance: Asus dominates HP in performance due to better hardware. - [10:34] 💾 Upgradeability: Both laptops have limitations, HP has socketed RAM, Asus has soldered RAM. - [12:04] 💰 Value of expensive gaming laptops is subjective but high-end models offer significant benefits.

[@Fgtfv567]

Asus soldered the ram because the SODIMM socket adds latency between the CPU and SODIMMs. The traces have to go under the sticks and back around to the contacts. They also did it to push the speed up so high. Really interested in someone using CAMM2 and see if the speeds and latency would still be as good

[@daflipbizkit]

Just when I was looking at purchasing a 4090 laptop this review came out! Thanks Dawid!

[@gandalf5895]

I need this style of video to become a whole series

[@ArvindSharma-wp3ft]

That clicks ASMR was mandatory

[@AnnaDoes]

right! It was so goood

[@markaven5249]

I had an rog with a 3060 back when that was very good. It's not worth it. I wanted mobility, but it's better to get a lightweight on the go solution, then at home have a bigger beefy desktop. All I remember is, the laptop got really hot, dangerously so, higher end GPUs just aren't meant for that kind of thing. Get a Ryzen 5700u lightweight one for being mobile, get a home setup with an RTX for your home setup.

[@Techskills2077]

Dawid, I waited for a good video from you for more than half a year, finally something caught my eye!

[@Techskills2077]

Bro this video fastly became boring, compering a 2050 with a 4070? Cmon, you know better!

[@csolisr]

I got me that version of that Victus laptop for Christmas! Had to add some RAM and storage of course, because it only brought the core hardware configuration, but it somehow got a 144 Hz monitor instead of 60? Probably because they had updated it in the interim. And you're right, for battery and performance purposes it's better to keep it at 60 anyway.

[@I_am_ENSanity]

Had a Helios 300 with a 1660ti, i7 7700, 144hz screen, 16tb of ram, and 1 tb ssd for $900 back in 2019. Just got a "refurbished" (small scuff on the outside panel) Lenovo Legion 5i with 3070, i7 12700, 16tb of ram, 144hz 1440p screen, and 1tb nvme for $1099.

[@JBrinx18]

16tb!?!? Wow, someone here who can actually run Chrome AND movie render at the same time

[@devardilshad3944]

that lenovo deal us too good man, i got the 3060 for $1230

[@ragefacememeaholic5366]

As someone who's had both budget and premium laptops. The budget ones are so bad its not even worth looking at. What matters most for a laptop, are actually the parts you interact with. The touchpad, the screen and the keyboard. Budget laptops always skimp on those parts and its just not even worth my time. Obviously if your broke and have no computer at all, getting something super cheap might actually be helpful. But $600 isn't super cheap.

[@The_Flying_Comrade]

I understand your point regarding everyday use, but when it comes to gaming, it's decent enough and not worth splurging $2k on a laptop. If you're truly into gaming, you won't be using the touchpad, speakers, or camera much anyway. I snagged it on sale for $450, which was a pretty good deal. However, even at its regular price of $600, it's still a much better value proposition than shelling out 2 grand. At that point, you might as well invest in a gaming PC and opt for a decent laptop for portability, like taking it to a coffee shop or on the go. Let's face it, hardly anyone hauls their gaming laptop and entire setup around to play elsewhere; home is where the real gaming action happens!

[@calebfulton3992]

I bought one of those HP Victus laptops(albeit a 144hz model) on black friday sale for ~450$, along with a single 32g stick of ram for another ~40$. What a pleasant little thing. Doesn't touch my desktop, but it happily chugged along while playing every game I frequent at very usable framerates.

[@notloki3140]

If buying online, I would go with the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3. You get a 3050, and with an extra ram and SSD slot, you are golden. Got the Ryzen 5, 8GB, 512 version for $680 here in the UK last fall, and upgraded it to 16 ($25) and 1tb of storage ($45). That's $750, which is not bad looking at the prices of similarly specd laptops. With a Logitech G305 and a Logitech G435 (grabbed on sale for $38 & $50 respectively, the setup is complete. You can also mod your mouse to shed a few grams if you are into that sort of thing. I've had a blast lugging it away on trips and still being able to play the games I like. I am looking at more compact and durable laptops for this purpose (as my gaming needs are not extreme), but for now this will do the trick. Will also lose less value on the used market if that's something you care about. Asus TUF is another good option around that price range.

[@briangu1046]

They didn't make the decision to solder the ram. they made the decision to go w/ LPDDR5x over DDR5. LPDDR5x happens to be required to be soldered but comes with many benefits of speed and power consumption over DDR5

[@lemagreengreen]

A new laptop being sold with a 2050!? Didn't even see many of those when that chip was contemporary, it almost seemed like a paper launch it is so rare.

[@ThexCondor]

They realized they didn’t want to put out cheap 4000 series chips so they decided to pull a call the 1650 cool budget laptop. The fact I got my 3050ti laptop for less than what they want for a 2050 now is just yet again some BS marketing and greed they have going on.

[@Firitesen]

The 2050 is pretty much the old 3050 laptop GPU but with half the memory bus width (64-bit as opposed to 128-bit) Both have 4GB of VRAM which honestly sucks; the new 3050 has 6GB of VRAM but only select 2023/2024 models have that

[@5h4ck]

@@ThexCondor Exactly this. I got a Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3 w/R5 5600H and a 3050Ti w/120hz display from Best Buy for $525 late last year. Dropped a 32GB RAM kit and a 2TB SSD and it's a great travel gaming setup. Asking $600 USD for an inferior product is absurd.

[@BenState]

@@5h4ck lol, do the math

[@charginginprogresss]

@@FiritesenAlso half the GDP, all the HP victus models from 2021 and 2022 have a 80 watt 3050, the 2023 2050 models are all 40 watt GDP. Biggest bottleneck. Even more than the bandwidth that more than often barely matters.

[@JanKubicek-ez5cc]

Greating from Czechia . I realy love your videos . Keep going man you are better then linus ❤

[@basedemt6608]

I like my predator helios 300. I bought it brand new for like $1200 three or four years ago, and at the time it had extremely respectable specs. i7-11800 CPU, RTX 3060 8GB variant, came from the factory with 16GB dual channel, 1TB HD, and upgradeability is spectacular. I noticed some stuttering issues on extremely demanding games, so I upgraded the ram to 64GB and it disappeared. Also added another 1TB SSD to it, and it's been cruising along. Noise is very respectable, display is good. Brand new you can still get them for like $900-$1000, factory refurbished for hundreds less, and it'll run Helldivers 2 on max settings just fine.

[@Houtka86]

For 2200 usd you can build one hell of a gaming pc with a mechanical keyboard, a great monitor probably even 2 and a good sound system.

[@shocknaw]

can you compare a beast of a laptop from 2021 vs a new budget one from 2024?

[@KouroshFarrokhzad]

More cheap / expensive comparisons please! I just picked up the MSI Cyborg 15 for Christmas w/ a 4050 and couldn't be happier. I'm also Canadian and it's amazing how manufacturers and gaming companies work so hard to convince all of us that we need to pay $2000, $3000 or even $7000 (Razer, Apple) for the "luxury" experience. 60 FPS in AAA titles is good enough for me and having the GPU run only at 45W means a much cooler, quieter laptop with a decent battery life - all for much, much less money. Works for me!

[@chinkasuyaro8983]

The good thing about budget laptops is that, due to lack of upgradability, you will likely need to replace it sooner than a desktop PC. Blowing your wad on a high-end laptop, just to see better versions come out in a year and see the value of your laptop degrade leaves you feeling more disappointed due to the greater financial investment which translates into emotional investment. Of course, if you use your rig mostly for work and you can easily afford it those considerations will be considerably lessened. That being said, a Framework laptop is still probably the best choice for longevity.

[@TheSpotify95]

The high end laptop was, for longevity, worse since you can't upgrade the RAM...

[@spacer125]

I got a laptop with 13900hx and RTX 4080 for 2200. Upgraded the ram and storage for like 100 dollars

[@giuseppenaylor]

…and no battery life. That’s a desktop replacement, not a portable gaming rig. It depends on what you want out of it.

[@antalpoti]

@@giuseppenaylor Can you take it from one place to another? Yes, so it's portable. Portable is a blanket term anyway. Some people want, as you said, a desktop replacement. Some people want something with good battery life and performance on battery.

[@lucasrem]

cheap brand, any good ? forgot the brand ?

[@lucasrem]

@@antalpoti i never use it on battery, there is wall power always

[@TheSpotify95]

@@antalpoti You will NEVER get good performance on battery from a gaming laptop. Playing a game on battery is like driving your car straight into a 5ft deep flood. It won't end well.

[@turks1966]

I enjoyed this video make more of these is expensive versus cheaper videos, which is better. Thanks again.

[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

Cool thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

[@Ha1rD1aper]

if you shop around and mainly only look at the CPU and GPU can get surprisingly good deals, even when factoring in an extra 16GB-32GB RAM kit to install 5 seconds after you unbox the laptop. especially if you compromise a bit on screen resolution and refresh by using a monitor or TV at home with a wireless kb/m.

[@andreyhilario8376]

Well, I've recently bought my first ever computer, it's an IdeaPad Gaming 3 15IAH7 - a budget gaming laptop - and I must say I'm deeply satisfied with it, the tradeoffs aren´t a problem at all and I can see myself using it for as long as it lasts.

[@lohitsai12]

This is huge for any college student who travels frequently. Who either design games or likes to play games a lot. But if you're settled in one place, then desktops are the best options.

[@lucutes2936]

Ok

[@blackcobra123]

Always a good day when dawid uploads!

[@mukkah]

Truth, bruh Always a nice, chill and comedic vibe. Hope homie is still enjoying making this content, it's a really fun take on tech =D

[@mini1602]

Amazing, i hade the same victus but with a 12450h and gtx 1650 last year.

[@stephenhood2948]

I just got an MSI Crosshair 16 at Best Buy for $1,100. i7 13620h, 140 watt RTX 4070, 144hz, 16GB DDR5 and 1TB Gen 4 SSD. Very happy with the performance, but the display leaves a lot to be desired. You won't mistake it for an OLED. I'm thinking about retiring my i3 9100f/GTX 1080 PC and using the MSI as a desktop replacement due to the subpar display. I was planning on upgrading my desktop anyway and can always pack the laptop up and deal with the non impressive display when I'm on the run.

[@volvo09]

Unexcusable ASUS.... Soldered RAM? Nope.

[@eugeneryzen6323]

Yes I hate soldered RAM also it is so hard to REPLACE

[@Adil-sv2xi]

@@eugeneryzen6323i had an hp envy ryzen 5 with 8 gb ram, and i didn’t know that only 6 gb would be usable and the ram was also soldered. I eventually bought a new laptop because of the stupid concept of soldered ram.

[@BonusCrook]

Should be illegal, it makes me sick.

[@barny15]

That Asus laptop is FAR too expensive for what it is. Horrible value.

[@apike_72]

I have an HP Victus with the i5 12500 and 3050ti - I upgraded the Ram from 16 GB to 32 GB and also increased the storage from 500 GB to 4 TB. Pretty cool laptop and very easy to upgrade. It plays most games pretty well on medium settings in 1080p. It’s perfect for traveling. Just hate the speakers the most lol

[@BB-wh2vu]

I would like to see more reviews for 'Budget Gaming Laptop comparisons' and I like the premium vs budget coverage

[@makuIa]

I’ll sleep better tonight knowing dawids gentlemen’s vegetables were pleased by the one hand open test

[@whiteline8077]

Bruh Lenovo 9i costs 3000 dollars

[@mashy712]

At least the 9i has removable ram

[@whiteline8077]

@@mashy712 😂

[@iwantpig]

It would be interesting to see some gaming desktop vs gaming laptop for the same price comparisons. It might be closer than you think as you would have to include a monitor, and probably a basic keyboard to do the comparison justice.

[@shaynecarter-murray3127]

Even at the high end, its always a gamble if you don't keep up with product reviews. For $2000 you can end up with a fancy paperweight

[@unit9754]

Oh no, it's sponsored 🙄

[@starview7045]

Well worth watching, TY 🙂

[@tomgallant9253]

I'd like to see you compare some high end big brands against similar spec'ed but more budget minded laptops. You know the big boys versus the discount vendors! Regardless, still a fun vid like always!

[@superbeance]

Cool video Dawid! What watch do you have on?

[@chanm01]

Is it worth it? No, not unless you actually spend more time out on the road than you do at home. But "worth it" isn't why products like the Zephryus and the Razer Blade exist. They exist so that people have a way to conveniently trade off money to minimize how much they have to compromise their mobile gaming experience. But minimal compromise is still compromise, and if what you actually want is to maximize your limited gaming budget, you still want a gaming desktop.

[@Geddy135]

I sold my desktop a while ago because I was moving around a little bit and went for a used laptop. The laptop I ended up getting had a 10700H, 3070 (115w variant), 32gb of RAM, 1080p 240hz display, and decent IO. I paid about 1200USD for it and so far it's been pretty good. Now that I'm not moving around anymore, I'm thinking about building a PC again.

[@bhxlegend]

good vid looking forward for next vid

[@waldfruchttee]

i wiil watch this video in the future again im sure

[@psychedelicwizard66]

I broke the screen on my old MacBook that I used for school, so I bought that Victus model to replace it for $600 CAD (about $450 USD) on sale. It's a pretty solid little machine for the price. Added another stick of RAM and it runs a bit smoother.

[@ansia8785]

Interesting. I do own one of those Victus 15 laptops (The intel version from 2022), but mine came with an IPS with 144hz.

[@RickSFfan]

I have the Victus. Got it on sale for $460 US. The American Best Buy version came with a 144hz display. I added 32GB DDR5 RAM for $70, and a 2TB Samsung EVO 970. I am happy with it. I get over 120 fps in titles like Spider-man Remastered. But my use case is for school and gaming is just cool, so there's that.

[@Kebabinator]

yay new video!

[@Obie327]

Buy the best gaming laptop that you can afford. My first was a 2014 Rog Strix 17.3 inch with an i7 4700HQ, 860m, and 16 gigs of ram. That lasted me 9 years and sold it for a shiny new MSI Raider GE78HX i9/4080 edition. (I'm totally smitten by its performance and sound output) Fun stuff Dawid and can't wait for your next vid! Cheers!

[@jonransom312]

This was a very interesting watch for me as I recently got an MSI Katana 15 B13V gaming laptop for £1299 (about $1650 USD) which is like a hybrid of the two laptops in your video. It's the build quality of the HP with specs very similar to the ASUS. i9-13900H RTX 4070 16GB DDR5 5200MHz 1TB SSD 15.6" 144hz screen It was good to see how this level of laptop hardware compares to lower specs. A twisted irony here is that the versions of this laptop with lower spec graphics cards (4050 and 4060) actually cost more than this did, and this laptop wasn't even listed as discounted at the retailer I purchased it from (Currys).

[@truealchiemist]

I have the higher tier of that HP Victus with the 144hz display, 16GB RAM, 3050TI, and the Intel 12650H. It cost $780 at the time of purchase from Best Buy. It seems to handle everything I throw at it well enough. There are only 2 complaints. First is an annoyance. The fan noise. It has a whine to it however if you remove the bottom cover the whine goes away. It has something to do with the way it's pulling air in through the bottom vents. Second is battery life. Just using it as a regular laptop it only lasts about 3 hours max. I always plug in when gaming so no idea on gaming battery life. Now the positives. The keyboard is actually very comfortable to type on. I don't have any issues with screen glare. It does not ramp up to extremes like that Asus does under full tilt. It recharges fairly quickly since it comes with a 200w charger. Overall I'm satisfied for what I got it for.

[@TheJamie109]

I've personally settled into a 2 computer setup. I have my big boy desktop for home gaming and getting shit done. Very upgradable, nice and quiet, built for 1500 cad rubles. And I also have a framework 13. It is moderately upgradable, satisfys my needs for gaming on the go surprisingly well considering its on an iGPU. Intel has made them pretty decent these days. I would personally recommend to anyone to splurge on a solid desktop for gaming and get a laptop moderately cheap with a recent intel cpu. That budget laptop is a pretty good showing for the pricepoint. The problem with laptops is you will ALWAYS be paying a premium for compressed space and for lesser performance than a desktop. Its convenience is an important factor but I personally have found myself just waiting to get home to play more demanding titles. Whereas things like minecraft, factorio, even cities skylines work just fine on the go on my laptop. Pop in some headphones for cities skylines to reduce the fact it sounds like a jet engine and it is a very respectable gaming experience.

[@lennymota8239]

I got a zephyrus about a year ago, and I do not regret it, not a single penny.

[@chrisv6126]

Snagged a Victus off eBay that had a hole punched through the screen. It took out the ribbon cables on the keyboard and trackpad as well. I was able to find a replacement keyboard, fix the trackpad and heat the plastic back in shape. Then popped in a 1440p 145hz screen and 32gb of ram. In the end I was in about $280. Very impressed by the 3050ti in it. Battery life sucks, but it can still game at 100+ fps. Sorry for the long story, in short I feel Victus are nice / cheap laptops. Love the videos Dawid, no matter what they're about.

[@LetThySingleEyeBeStill]

I've had nothing but terrible experiences with gaming laptops. I will never buy one again honestly. They are made with cheap plastic parts. They break in the most ridiculous ways and they are extremely sensitive to being messed with on the inside. If you change the paste or thickness thinking you'll get cooler results or boost your performance. Think again! I've had 2 computer stores and 1 solo computer repair guy absolutely destroy the performance of my laptops by doing things like this. None of them knew that if you don't clamp together and screw in the laptop exactly as it was meant to be. You can effectively crush the performance of that laptop to it's knees. Don't ever change the thickness of laptop pads. You will kill your laptop. Not worth it, never again. I'll just build a small form factor PC I can take with me before I ever deal with one of these stupid things.

[@antalpoti]

Sounds like you got a lemon and nitpicking a bit. I had an Asus gaming laptop, used it for 8 years. It still works perfectly fine, I needed to change the battery twice tho. Nothing else broke, ever. Yes, some brands definitely do like plastic hinge mounts, some others use metal. I've never heard anyone complain about the build quality of a Lenovo Legion for example. Neither about the cooling system. There is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of gaming laptops.

[@LetThySingleEyeBeStill]

I've owned two lemons back to back. Twice was enough for me. I don't need a third go of headaches. But like I said, they were fucking amazing. But as soon as I let Professionals touch them. They never worked the same again. So I think the lesson in here is that if you buy a laptop. Don't upgrade it unless you know wtf you're doing. Just buy all the spec hardware you want from the get go. Because again these things are so sensitive that anything done to them in the guts could be a disaster. I just don't want to deal with it. I didn't even go into all the shit that broke on these things. That's a whole other story. @@antalpoti

[@The-oo2if]

I think it would've been interesting to do the Dawid Arena of Death with these 2 laptops, something in between, and desktops of about equivalent price just to see the performance you get for your money, along with the convenience of each.

[@seedmoreuser]

Be interesting to see what performance improvements you'd get with a another stick of ram in the cheaper one.

[@dank_pepe__]

Dawid can you please tell us that how good these laptops are for creative work

[@morphowolf.-vv5fq]

hp victus 3050 intel i5 12th gen is actually nice and mine came stock with 144 hz and 16 gb ram and i got it for $480

[@Rentta]

Would have been interesting to see something between those 2 price point wise to see what is best bang for the buck.

[@0Ciju0]

The Asus Zephyrus series is genuienly an AMAZING laptop.

[@pablo_p_art]

Lately I bought Acer Aspire with RTX 2050 and i5 12450H. Costed £550 and surprisingly doing the job. Got one more m2 slot and 1080p panel with 144MHz (not sure what's the point if RTX 2050 isn't performance demon). And have aluminium top.

[@samcurmudgeon]

I didn't realize that HP sold a Cut Rate version of the Victus in Canada. In the US it comes minimum with a 3050 and much nicer quality plastic then what the laptop looks like in this video

[@Whiterin]

Yo, Dawid. What keyboard and switches you using, and are those SA keycap? That has a good sound. I've got super heavy clicky switches, but they don't have that low "thoc" sound. Think it's mostly going to come down to the actual board for that.

[@efftee]

Pro tip for Asus laptop owners - clean install Windows then install G-Helper, it replaces all the functionality of the bloatware in a much lighter program.

[@NubAnSkrub]

I have that same hp and its pretty good might upgrade in a few years

[@pajamas720]

For anyone wondering, the soldered ram allows higher memory speeds and (maybe, correct me if im wrong) slightly better battery that wont be availible in upgradable form for a while now. that said, was it too much to ask for 32/ 64 gb ram versions and maybe an extra 10 watts power limit? the G14 with the 4070 actually is pretty good with thermals and 32 gb ram is the bare minimum for future proofing or using as a mini workstation.

[@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep]

I think the middle ground is the best. Laptops have gotten really good nowadays. The Zephyrus G14 is what i have but basically all the other laptop manufacturers have them too. Really great build quality for an excellent price (provided you buy the previous year's model).

[@alengheyvandiyan9430]

tell that to the idiots in this comment section saying laptops are bad and die after a year

[@e2622]

Don't normally comment but just wanted to say "thanks!" I like your video format Dawid and generally am very interested in the things you talk about. I hope you are doing great today.

[@mukkah]

Been watching for a little while now and it's a nice part of the day, when you see a new vid from Dawid pop up, for sure ^^ Big thanks from this viewer for the content, too

[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to post a comment. Have a great day. 😃

[@thegrubbiest]

The thoc keyboard is the Epomaker TH80 SE for people who were wondering like I was.

[@geblah187]

The Zephyrus are nice looking machines, and great if you want a thin and light laptop, but their hero/strix series pack better cooling, more upgradability, and mine at least has a desktop GPU (non mobile) crammed into it as well. Yes, it does sound like a fleet of jumbo jets taking off when you have the fans cranked up all the way, but that's what headphones are for.

[@josephhaywardjr8502]

I got myself a HP Victus for £450, it comes with a 16.1` display that supports 144hz at 1080p, Ryzen 5 5600h, Radeon Rx 5500m. then the upgrades are just the best, 2 pcie 3x4 slots so 2 m.2 ssd. dual channel ram and a massive 70Whr battery plus it hardly gets hot under load. Best deal I ever got.