Best places to buy a gaming laptop
What are some of the best and inexpensive Places where I can purchase a gaming laptop
Forum Discussion
I started looking tonight, and I found a few laptops you might like. Currently, as in the last few weeks, models with an Nvidia 1060 are harder to find, as that card is being phased out—one site I checked is out of it completely. The models with a 1660 ti are too new to have come down in price yet. Still, there are a few reasonable deals out there. And if you don’t like what you see now, there’s no harm in waiting a week.
I haven’t heard anything particularly bad about newegg’s customer service, but then again I’ve never bought a laptop from them. The manufacturers should have good CS though. But a couple of the laptops below are on Amazon, if you’d rather stay away from newegg.
This is the budget option, at least relatively speaking. It’s $1,000, but you could (and would definitely want to) add a second hard drive to its single 256 GB SSD. It has a 1060 6 GB and the same strong processor, an i7-8750H, as most of the other models. Its screen is only 15.6”, but it’s an IPS with a high refresh rate. This model does have some cooling issues with intense games, but those games are much more stressful than TS3; I don't think you'd need to worry at all about running the game on this computer.
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Overclockable-Aeroblade-PH315-51-78NP/dp/B07CTHLX8C
The user-accessible hard drive slot will accommodate any 2.5" model. You could easily add a 1 TB SSD, maybe something like this, for $108:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76Q1T0B-AM/dp/B07L3D19MY
The newer version of the above model would be $1,200, but it’s temporarily out of stock on Amazon. If you’re not going to buy right away though, it’s worth keeping an eye on. It has a 9750H processor, which is somewhat stronger than its predecessor, and a 1660 ti.
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-i7-9750H-Keyboard-PH315-52-78VL/dp/B07QXLFLXT
This Asus is on sale for $1,180 for the next four days. It has an 8750H, a 1060 6 GB, a 17.3” screen, and a combination 256 GB SSD and 1 TB SSHD. The hybrid drive will be a bit slower than an SSD but still much faster than a mechanical drive. Asus laptops generally have no cooling issues and are always great for gaming.
https://www.newegg.com/black-asus-rog-strix-scar-edition-gl703gm-ds74-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834234956
This MSI is the cheapest model with a 2060, on sale for $1,350, with an additional $100 rebate. It has an 8750H and a 17.3” screen. Its disadvantage is that it only has a small 128 GB SSD, so you’d need to install everything on the larger, slower HDD.
https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gl-series-gl73-8se-010-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834155076
I know you’d like to stay under $1,300, but if you were thinking about getting a great graphics card for other games, this model has a 1070. (One note on the GPU: It’s a Max-Q model, which means it sacrifices a bit of performance in the name of efficiency, and therefore won’t heat up quite as much either.) The laptop also has a single 512 GB SSD. It’s on sale for $1,350.
https://www.amazon.com/Zephyrus-i7-8750H-GeForce-Military-Grade-Chassis/dp/B07G5Z9H8R
I looked at CyberpowerPC as well, but if you wanted a 1660 ti, 16 GB RAM, and an SSD at least 512 GB, you’d end up paying around $1,350 as well, depending on which model you started with. So the custom route probably isn’t the way to go right now, at least not in laptops.
If these aren’t exactly what you want, just let me know what you’re looking for, and I’ll try to find something better.
I haven’t heard anything particularly bad about newegg’s customer service, but then again I’ve never bought a laptop from them. The manufacturers should have good CS though. But a couple of the laptops below are on Amazon, if you’d rather stay away from newegg.
This is the budget option, at least relatively speaking. It’s $1,000, but you could (and would definitely want to) add a second hard drive to its single 256 GB SSD. It has a 1060 6 GB and the same strong processor, an i7-8750H, as most of the other models. Its screen is only 15.6”, but it’s an IPS with a high refresh rate. This model does have some cooling issues with intense games, but those games are much more stressful than TS3; I don't think you'd need to worry at all about running the game on this computer.
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Overclockable-Aeroblade-PH315-51-78NP/dp/B07CTHLX8C
The user-accessible hard drive slot will accommodate any 2.5" model. You could easily add a 1 TB SSD, maybe something like this, for $108:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76Q1T0B-AM/dp/B07L3D19MY
The newer version of the above model would be $1,200, but it’s temporarily out of stock on Amazon. If you’re not going to buy right away though, it’s worth keeping an eye on. It has a 9750H processor, which is somewhat stronger than its predecessor, and a 1660 ti.
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-i7-9750H-Keyboard-PH315-52-78VL/dp/B07QXLFLXT
This Asus is on sale for $1,180 for the next four days. It has an 8750H, a 1060 6 GB, a 17.3” screen, and a combination 256 GB SSD and 1 TB SSHD. The hybrid drive will be a bit slower than an SSD but still much faster than a mechanical drive. Asus laptops generally have no cooling issues and are always great for gaming.
https://www.newegg.com/black-asus-rog-strix-scar-edition-gl703gm-ds74-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834234956
This MSI is the cheapest model with a 2060, on sale for $1,350, with an additional $100 rebate. It has an 8750H and a 17.3” screen. Its disadvantage is that it only has a small 128 GB SSD, so you’d need to install everything on the larger, slower HDD.
https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gl-series-gl73-8se-010-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834155076
I know you’d like to stay under $1,300, but if you were thinking about getting a great graphics card for other games, this model has a 1070. (One note on the GPU: It’s a Max-Q model, which means it sacrifices a bit of performance in the name of efficiency, and therefore won’t heat up quite as much either.) The laptop also has a single 512 GB SSD. It’s on sale for $1,350.
https://www.amazon.com/Zephyrus-i7-8750H-GeForce-Military-Grade-Chassis/dp/B07G5Z9H8R
I looked at CyberpowerPC as well, but if you wanted a 1660 ti, 16 GB RAM, and an SSD at least 512 GB, you’d end up paying around $1,350 as well, depending on which model you started with. So the custom route probably isn’t the way to go right now, at least not in laptops.
If these aren’t exactly what you want, just let me know what you’re looking for, and I’ll try to find something better.
