Posted: 4/9/2026 12:00:49 PM EDT
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Friends- I am not the most computer literate. I have 1500-2k to drop total for everything I need for a gaming laptop to take with me (I work abroad about 9.5mo out of the year) This includes the laptop, accessories, and anything else I'd need to be able to play current gen games. Rtx 5060, 70, or 70ti? Is an Intel i9 that big of an improvement over an i7? Do ps5 controllers sync to laptops now? Are headsets a must? If so show me what I need. Any other accessories I'd need? I'm not the most computer literate so any help is greatly appreciated! |
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The kind of games that you play would be a little bit helpful to know. Right now is a bit of a bad time to be shopping for a computer or parts due to memory supply concerns, so if you can postpone the purchase then that might be worth doing. But also, prices fluctuate and tend to go up over time. I wouldn't necessarily hold out right now, but we're already seeing OpenAI scale back its orders from the big memory manufacturers so it's a bit of a toss-up. Commentary aside, I have had decent luck over the years with Dell Gaming laptops - NOT Alienware. They've lasted a long time, thanks in large part to the plastic build quality being very resilient, and did everything that I expected them to. They have since eradicated that product line since its superiority was crushing Alienware sales, but a decent used one should be easy to find if you are open to it. Stay away from any HP laptops. I have heard nothing but nightmare stories from owners of those. Scheduled obsolescence is their entire business model. I tend to really like Lenovo products and they can be found on sale reasonably often. I have had great luck with MSI parts, no experience with their laptops. I have had subpar experiences with ASUS parts, no experience with their laptops, people tend to like ASUS products more broadly so I may have just gotten duds. Avoid Razer like the plague for the same reasons as HP. Here are some resources to check out for more guidance based on what you like/want/need. Check them out and do some research on the model you pick out for reliability history, etc.: https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-gaming-laptops-under-1500 https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-gaming-laptops I have found that MOST laptop chips that are i7-grade or better are more than adequate for gaming laptops. The money you would spend jumping to an i9 would be MUCH better spent on upgrading the GPU. Depending on the games you play, you may or may not feel the need to get a headset. Do you want more immersive sound? Do you want to communicate to other players? If the answer is yes to either of these, get a headset. The expensive SteelSeries wireless one is very nice. You can get something wired that's quite good for about $180. Factor in another $50-200 for a mouse depending on how crazy you want to get there. These items are all preference and what fits, feels, and sounds best to you. |
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Mostly modern games like elden ring, battlefield, resident evil, etc. I'm just starting to get back into gaming a bit and things have changed pretty drastically I'd say so trying to figure out all this has been a bit overwhelming Part of the confusion is they aren't all advertised the same way, even on the same website. Like bestbuy for example... similar specs, both with an i7, but the second example has a refresh rate advertised. Idk what that even is |
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Refresh rate is basically how many times the monitor is requesting a new image from the GPU. This can make motion a bit smoother but is mostly important for more competitive games where that brings down the response time. If that's still a bit too technical then I apologize. Feel free to drop a few links for things you think you might like and I can help you sort through pros/cons if you want. This seems like it might be the best deal on Best Buy right now as the cheapest laptop to have at least 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM, and RTX 5070: Gigabyte As a bonus, it appears to be somewhat user serviceable/upgrade-able. The next best deal that I can find is this one: Lenovo The main reason for the difference in cost on these is the OLED panel on this Lenovo versus the IPS screen of the Gigabyte. Personally, the IPS screen seems like a very worthwhile tradeoff to get a much more powerful GPU. Your CPU is a bit less powerful on the Gigabyte model, but the GPU is still likely to be what your gaming performance is limited by so I wouldn't give that too much thought unless you edit video or run 3D models. ETA: It seems like new laptops are coming out like right now so maybe wait for reviews of those to trickle out. |
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The main thing that I try to keep in mind for laptop chips is that a 5070 mobile chip is usually going to be roughly as performant as a 5060 desktop chip. At (essentially) QHD, you will see a benefit from having 5060 desktop chip performance instead of 5050 desktop chip performance - especially in the longer term as new games come out. If you let DLSS do its thing (upscaling, AI generative fill) then you can get away with using a lesser chip quite easily. I turn that off immediately on everything so that's not an option per my preferences. Some people love DLSS. I do not. At that target resolution (2560x1440-ish), I would very much want a 5070 mobile chip since that would give me good performance today and allow me to minimally enable DLSS for future titles if they are demanding. I would almost be tempted to save a little extra for a 5080 mobile chip to be possible. The reality is that laptops just do not last in the same way that desktops do unless you know how to re-purpose the parts once the battery or enclosure fails. If you think you would be willing to put in that work when it happens, by all means grab a 5080 laptop. Keep in mind as I say this, I am the kind of person that spent way too much money on a brand new PC build just to put parts in it that will probably last me over 10 years but 5 years at the absolute least. |
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So by going with a 5060 is it like choosing a ps4 instead of a ps5(5070)? Or ps5 pro (5070ti)? Or are they closer in performance than that. Trying to put it in perspective here since I have zero experience to fall back on Edit just saw your last post Ya I get that! Just trying to have something to play some games on while I spend my life overseas pretty much for work. |
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Think of it more along the line of engine selection for a given car. You get a lot of the same features between different models and even different trims. Let's use the F150 as an example: Do you want efficiency in power delivery? Get the 2.3EB (5060). Do you want a bit more get-up for merging or towing? Get the 2.7EB (5070). Throw a tune on the 2.7EB to squeeze every ounce of performance out it if you want (5070Ti). But if you want the best power possible, you need a Raptor (5080). If you want to be the coolest kid on the block then you can spend way too much money figuring out how to fit an LS7 in there somehow (5090). |
| AMD is cleaning Intel's clock. Performance per dollar is heavily in AMDs court. To me Intel isn't even an option right now and I've been pure Intel for the past 10+ years. Current rig (desktop) in AMD. Past couple laptops were Intel. My last AMD chip with a Phenom X4 until now. |
| I would shop for a laptop based on budget and storage/GPU/RAM almost exclusively. As a very broad generalization, any laptop that comes with a 5070 or whatever is not going to be throttled by the CPU. You can dig into the weeds of which might be "better" but I'm not sure that it would provide that much tangible benefit in a laptop. |