I'm looking to buy a laptop so I have something to do during my breaks at work. It will mostly be for surfing the web and playing games, though I may try to learn a modern programming language so I can make my own games (though previous attempts have been freakish disasters). So I went to a store yesterday to see whats available, then spent several hours searching retail and manufacturer websites for what I want. And discovered my requirements are not only eccentric, but surprisingly hard to search/filter for: 1. Price < $1000 2. Keyboard with a numpad and full-sized arrow keys. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I'm also not really casual either. I'm a cheap gamer who likes playing big, complex, free games (RPG, TBS, CCG). Which means I often have a spreadsheet open to take notes. These two requirements eliminate all manufacturers except Asus and Lenovo. 3. Dedicated video memory While cheap desktops with integrated graphics were perfectly fine when indie/hobby game devs were all using Flash, Adobe and browsers are now abandoning Flash, so devs are being pressured into using Unity instead and my current desktop isn't quite good enough to run it. I'm assuming that's due to the lack of video memory, and figure that any amount of VRAM will be enough for anything I want to play. 4. Touchscreen In addition to free PC games, I'd also like to try some mobile games (I don't own nor want a smartphone or tablet). I also find touchpads to be amazingly hard to use (never owned a laptop before) so I want some alternative when I don't have space for a mouse. As far as I've been able to tell, there is only one laptop model that meets all my requirements: Lenovo Flex 4 15" (80VE000MUS) Any comments? Anyone able to convince me that #3 isn't necessary? Anyone have experience playing mobile games on a Windows 10 touchscreen?
My only real comment is thanks for doing legwork for me. I've been in a similar boat for awhile. Technology keeps leaving me behind. For the most part, I don't care, but since I want to develop, too, ugh ugh ugh. My computer is below spec for the latest versions of an IDE I've been using for over a decade $:^ [ plus I've said how many times around here that it's not rare that I crash playing Card Hunter. That computer you listed looks decent (i.e. a lot better than what I currently use), but I've never even heard of that hardware manufacturer before... (Plus, I don't have the $699 anyway.) Hm.
I have a laptop that I frequently plug a USB full keyboard into when I want more keyboard functionality. Something worth considering maybe.
I've plugged a full USB keyboard into my laptop for over a year I think. The laptop's keyboard is slightly broken... Lol...
So, to give a little bit of context, I’m shopping in Portugal, and Portuguese keyboard is a must. That already leaves out any chances of ordering from Amazon or asking any relatives in the US for better deals. For what I want, I want a reliable machine who is also pretty powerful and can run basically anything I throw at it (not necessarily always on max graphics in case it involves Raytracing or just is very demanding) and that can last me for a long while. My last laptop lasted 10 years, for reference and it was awful (820M and i5 4420U…). So, I’m making this post. I’m relatively new to laptop shopping and would like recommendations/tips on how to make a better informed decision. Below, I’ll leave things I’ve already thought of, in case that helps with recommendations, I’ll try to check prices, but I’ll leave some references below, so you can see that prices here are 600€ to 1000€ more expensive than their price in USD. In terms of budget, I’m thinking of possibly up to 3,000€, though I’m not purchasing at this exact moment and hopefully when I am about to purchase something there’s more comparisons and reviews so I can better choose (note: by the end of June, after my exams). I’m thinking possibly a laptop with a 3070Ti (better value than 4070, usually 500€ cheaper from my searches and not that far off when talking about real frames) or if I could find a 4080 for 3200€ or near that I might bite the bullet and go above my initial budget. If it’s Ryzen 7XXX or Intel 13th gen, I don’t have much of a preference when it comes to CPU as long as it’s decent, but if 12th gen or Ryzen 6XXX, I’d prefer Intel, since lower laptop prices allow me to be pickier. I’d like something discrete in terms of RGB, something that doesn’t scream “Gaming PC” by colours or eccentric patterns. For ports, mostly USB A would be my preference, and of course, Ethernet, though at this price range I’d expect every option to have those. And 1TB SSD for me is a must, I like the storage size big but not unnecessarily big. Some prices I found were these (the new Strix Scar of course is not being considered by me. If the Legion drops like 200€ with an i7 I think I might go for it, can’t see atm, there’s no option in the site) > Ryzen 7945HX + 4080 ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17”, 32GB Ram, 1TB SSD for 3800€ > Intel i9 13900 HX + 4080 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (8th gen), 16GB Ram, 1TB SSD for 3629€ > Intel i9 12900 H + 3070Ti ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16, 32GB Ram, 1TB SSD for 2489,90€ Thanks in advance for anyone who decides to help with this search, I appreciate it.
Question: Is a Portuguese keyboard physically different? If not, something like this might be an option. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3235518931...Sc4qw1aAuT0sn+6dq2i7Lnaw==|tkp:Bk9SR4zbwMbzYQ I doubt they're highly durable, but if you save enough on on the machine, it might be worth the hassle of buying a set or 3. I'm told the downside of SSD is that it withstands a limited number of data changes, so I opted for a 120 GB SDD, and bought a 4 TB external HD. OS and apps that must be on the C: drive are all I put there. All my data is on the external, with cloud backup. I don't know if that would work for you, but I submit it for your consideration.
I've been hearing a lot of good things about Framework laptops, but they don't seem to have Portuguese keyboards yet.
The concept takes me back to the days when I ran towers. The departure from interchangeable modules was straight-up evil.
