Re: Help choosing a gaming laptop

@hyacinthbunny  That new Asus looks impressive.  The 1660 ti is overkill for any of your current needs, but then who knows what you'll want to play in a year or two.  The Ryzen 7 4800H beats the 9750H in benchmark tests by a considerable margin (50-60% in gaming, smaller gaps for some other tasks).  Plus, it's said to generate less heat for the same level of performance, so thermal throttling should be less of an issue.

With your external drives, storage won't be an immediate issue, and Asus generally makes it simple to add a second hard drive in both its TUF and ROG lines.  Looking at the available configurations, this model definitely has a 2.5" drive bay.  However, because I haven't found a review or teardown of this particular model, we can't be sure that the new generation will be as simple to upgrade as the previous ones.

Along those same lines, no one I saw has posted a comprehensive review of this model, just excitement at the specs and pricing.  While Asus deserves its good reputation, there's always a chance that this model doesn't live up to the hype.  You might want to wait a few days for the first round of reviews to drop; they're probably already written and just waiting for the embargo to lift, which has to happen on or before the release date of April 10.  Notebookcheck.net is as good a source as any.

If this laptop does live up to expectations though, it's significantly better than the ROG I linked.  For $100 minus the cost of the extra 8 GB memory you're probably going to add, it's a huge upgrade.  Even if the performance of the new laptop is a few percentage points less than ideal, it would still be much better.  And anything more than a few percentage points less than top performance would make the laptop defective, not just poorly designed, in which case you should be able to return it.

On that note, the Amazon page you linked is for a third-party seller, and it doesn't have the Fulfilled by Amazon tag.  If you have Amazon Prime, you should be fine anyway.  If you don't, there's a bit more of a risk, although this seller has an excellent reputation.  If you're not comfortable buying from that seller though, there are a number of other websites offering the same Asus for the same price, including newegg and Asus itself.

https://www.newegg.com/fortress-gray-asus-tuf-gaming-a15-tuf506iu-es74-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834235421

(this link is really long)

If you do see it listed on Best Buy, they'd probably match Newegg's price, but it might not be in stock for a while yet.

As far as customer support and proprietary software, there's a reason I didn't link any Cyberpower options.  If you pay extra for their protection plan, service is great, but otherwise, I've heard it can be somewhat lacking.  (That's also kind of old news, but there's a reason they're a lot cheaper than other sites.)  The HP software issue is annoying but can be worked around, although not everyone wants to do that.  (The quick and dirty solution is to start off by wiping the laptop and handle all driver installations yourself.)  I've seen that some Lenovo laptops require a proprietary connector to add an HDD, which is ridiculous, but not all of them do, which is why it's always best to look up the exact model.

It's still really hard to find excellent customer support unless it's connected to a physical store.  Otherwise, you'd need to ship the laptop and wait.  And once shipping is involved, a company might as well choose the cheapest locations to house its repair shops, and you have to wait until those cheap outfits get around to your system.  I have had good experiences with Best Buy service, although in the very different context of setting up home systems for my parents.  And the Apple store is great too, but you don't want another Mac.  Outside of physical stores though, the experience won't and really can't be as good.  Ordering online is convenient, but it's also a compromise.

@hyacinthbunny  I know it can be hard to wait for a new toy... I mean, computer, especially when you have the money and good options right in front of you.  But long-term, the newer laptop looks like it's probably going to be a better choice.  And if you see anything else you like in the interim, feel free to come back and ask for a second opinion.

You tried to play in Isla Paradiso with all packs on a Mac mini?  Are you insane?  I'm kidding, but still, I'm surprised your Mac ever spoke to you again after that.  I gave up playing in macOS and Bootcamped mine two years ago, and it was exactly the right decision.  If and when you do go back to TS3, you'll find out it's such a vastly improved experience, you might as well be playing an entirely different game.

@puzzlezaddictSorry I vanished - I had to distract myself because I was looking too much at laptops I'd love but can't afford. ☹ One review of the ASUS said the display wasn't great, but I don't know whether that means it's bad for the price, or just worse than top of the line models I can't afford anyway. I am not super knowledgeable about displays.

I realize that my Sims 3 game was destined to fail, but in my defense Isla Paradiso is very pretty! And I've never completed that island explorer aspiration. Still, a supernatural household of island dwellers who love gardening, collecting, and exploring was doomed, especially with CC added. I strongly considered Bootcamp but you have to pay lots for that Windows license and it really eats up hard drive space. Since I was saving for a laptop anyway so I can write and do some art stuff on the go, I figured I might as well put that money into a gaming laptop.