Best gaming laptop under $3000

[Bone]

Hey,

 

i am looking to buy a new laptop under around $3000. my sister will be getting it from the US for me so it needs to be available there.

 

NO I DONT WANT RAZER BLADE

 

THanks <3

 

EDITS: No alienware

Weight is not an issue

I need it for travel purposes so it NEEDS to be a laptop

I do intensive stuff other than gaming too so yeah a 8GB ram probably wont work.

 

EDIT 2:

 

If you think I can get a decent laptop at a cheaper price please suggest that too, here are some rough requirements

-GTA 5 at high-very high

-Atleast 250fps on CSGO

-Video Editing and Rendering (for hours of videos)

-Good looking would be nice :3

-Preferably a nice keyboard/touchpad combo, like, some laptops have shitty placement of the trackpad i dont want that. I wont have an external mouse all the time probably with me

[Forb]

Well, for that price range you can get just about anything

[The One]

You don't need $3000 for a good gaming laptop as most ones at $1500 or less are more than enough.

 

Something like this http://amzn.com/B00XQXZ41S

[w0lk]

Get anything but Alienware and you're good to go

 

http://www.amazon.com/X3Plusv3-CF1-GTX970M-Haswell-i7-4710HQ-Computer/dp/B00S9AIDRU

[Zapperzz]

MSI makes good gaming laptops.  https://gaming.msi.com/products/notebook/gt-series

My friend has an MSI Dominator that he custom ordered with a ton of addons for $2,500.  He loves it to death He runs it with 2 extra displays when he's at home.

 

And yeah... don't get Alienware, super overpriced and bulky

[Spiritwalker]

Do you actually game or do other intensive workloads on the go? Otherwise consider getting a <1000$ laptop and an upgradable and more powerful PC alongside to game with it.

 

If you insist on getting a laptop, you should also state how important for example battery life, weight/size or raw processing power are to you.

 

Edit: Might be worth looking into a sager one, iirc the only company that packs a full GTX 980 (not 980M!) in their laptop. http://www.sagernotebook.com/Gaming-Notebook-NP9870.html

 

video: 

[Demon QS⇄ Unusuals]

you  can get anything with that, i would get an Hp OMEN, very good fro tf2/csgo like 5 hours battery life with no charge touch screen  for $1500 then with the rest buy a custom built desktop PC and accessories.

[Mr. Pain]

This is my personal laptop. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232767

 

I have been able to run every game I've played with over 60 fps on ultra settings. In addition to this, I use this laptop to create and render 3D animations in 3DS Max and Cinema 4D. (Sometimes at the same time as I'm gaming) Even when I'm doing all this the fans rarely even kick it into high gear yet the laptop still remains cool to the touch. 

 

I've had it since the beginning of 2015 and the only issue I have found is that it wont fit into a regular 17.3" carrying case, so I had to order the RoG backpack xD 

 

Edit: 

 

The reason I've got this particular laptop is because I'm constantly on the go and often on campus gaming between classes. If that's what you plan on doing this will be perfect for you. However, if you only plan to take notes or play something non-intensive while you're on the go I'd recommend getting a cheap laptop and building your own gaming computer. While Laptop gaming has come a long way, you still can't get the same amount of "Bang for your buck" that you can if you decide to build your own PC. 

[Findiculous]

With $3000 you should get yourself a custom build and create it around your own personal needs.

Majority of prebuilds have a ying and yang situation where better graphics could mean less hard drive space, or better graphics chipset and memory but slower processor.

 

If you have the availability of the funds then never shy away at the custom builds.

[Huchick]

Guys, just want to say something which I am sure he will agree with.

If he says gaming LAPTOP, don't go ahead and say "Oh with that amount of money you can just get a desktop."

He obviously wants a laptop for whatever reasons, probably because he is moving around alot.

Also, you need to state what screen size you want, what games you are playing, what you are doing on the laptop, how much you want it to weigh. We can't really decide what you need because you may be playing shitty games but getting you a really overpowered laptop which you won't need. Tell us what you want, then we can help

[Huchick]

Do you actually game or do other intensive workloads on the go? Otherwise consider getting a <1000$ laptop and an upgradable and more powerful PC alongside to game with it.

 

If you insist on getting a laptop, you should also state how important for example battery life, weight/size or raw processing power are to you.

 

Edit: Might be worth looking into a sager one, iirc the only company that packs a full GTX 980 (not 980M!) in their laptop. http://www.sagernotebook.com/Gaming-Notebook-NP9870.html

 

video: 

The website says 980M

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5

[AwesomeMcCoolName]

 

The website says 980M

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5

 

It's upgradeable to a desktop 980 for $450. 

[Bone]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses. I can't quote all of the above posts so I am gonna mention some more details here.

 

1. I do lots of intensive stuff other than gaming too so I do need a killer rig.

2. No touchscreen please it's a waste of money in my opinion

3. Yes I do need a laptop, I need this for travel purposes. I have a PC.

4. Weight is not a problem, I don't mind carrying it around in a bag. 

5. Screen size, nothing below 15". The bigger the better though, I am kinda accustomed to my 27" PC monitor lol. 

6. I forgot to mention Alienware in the OP. Like the Razer Blade, I am not interested In alienware either. I was thinking about some MSI laptop but I am not much of a hardware guy so I thought about asking here.

[Huchick]

Thanks everyone for the quick responses. I can't quote all of the above posts so I am gonna mention some more details here.

 

1. I do lots of intensive stuff other than gaming too so I do need a killer rig.

2. No touchscreen please it's a waste of money in my opinion

3. Yes I do need a laptop, I need this for travel purposes. I have a PC.

4. Weight is not a problem, I don't mind carrying it around in a bag. 

5. Screen size, nothing below 15". The bigger the better though, I am kinda accustomed to my 27" PC monitor lol. 

6. I forgot to mention Alienware in the OP. Like the Razer Blade, I am not interested In alienware either. I was thinking about some MSI laptop but I am not much of a hardware guy so I thought about asking here.

What games u playing, rough framerate you want, what res u play at, what screen res u want.

[CapoFantasma97]

With $3000 you should get yourself a custom build and create it around your own personal needs.

Majority of prebuilds have a ying and yang situation where better graphics could mean less hard drive space, or better graphics chipset and memory but slower processor.

 

If you have the availability of the funds then never shy away at the custom builds.

I am of the same opinion.

A nice barebone custom config balanced for the needs and you're good to go

[Spiritwalker]

-snip-

 

I could see the sager NP9870-S being the right option for you.

+ quite possibly the strongest performance gaming laptop out there

+ large screen, since you like that

- loud fans under full load (unsurprising, considering the performance, but at least no or barely any thermal throttling)

- battery probably won't last very long, especially under heavy workloads

- large, bulky and IMO ugly, but apparently this isn't much of a concern for you

 

The standard config should be fine and will allow you to play even demanding titles on very high to ultra settings at solid FPS. Not sure what else you plan to do with it, but I'm quite sure it can easily handle every other workload you throw at it (for example video editing).

• Get more RAM if you actually need it for other workloads (16GB should be fine for gaming and pretty much everything else though)
• Maybe adjust the storage to your personal needs, though the base config should be fine. 

 

In short, if you're willing to pay around 3000$ for a laptop and get the highest performance for that money, this might just be your thing. However, there are certainly cheaper, less powerful options with a better price to performance ratio.

 

A desktop with similar components, peripherals and OS would cost roughly around 1800$ to 2000$, just so you know what kind of power you can expect. It's hard to say, because I haven't found an 8GB Desktop GTX 980. 

 

Shoot me an add if you decide to go for a sager (or even another brand) and need help with the components.

 

Edit: I've looked around, and it seems that the bang for buck is actually quite decent with sager laptops. However, the build quality gets some criticism. 

[Findiculous]

I could see the sager NP9870-S being the right option for you.

+ quite possibly the strongest performance gaming laptop out there

+ large screen, since you like that

- loud fans under full load (unsurprising, considering the performance, but at least no or barely any thermal throttling)

- battery probably won't last very long, especially under heavy workloads

- large, bulky and IMO ugly, but apparently this isn't much of a concern for you

 

The standard config should be fine and will allow you to play even demanding titles on very high to ultra settings at solid FPS. Not sure what else you plan to do with it, but I'm quite sure it can easily handle every other workload you throw at it (for example video editing).

• Get more RAM if you actually need it for other workloads (16GB should be fine for gaming and pretty much everything else though)
• Maybe adjust the storage to your personal needs, though the base config should be fine. 

 

In short, if you're willing to pay around 3000$ for a laptop and get the highest performance for that money, this might just be your thing. However, there are certainly cheaper, less powerful options with a better price to performance ratio.

 

A desktop with similar components, peripherals and OS would cost roughly around 1800$ to 2000$, just so you know what kind of power you can expect. It's hard to say, because I haven't found an 8GB Desktop GTX 980. 

 

Shoot me an add if you decide to go for a sager (or even another brand) and need help with the components.

 

Edit: I've looked around, and it seems that the bang for buck is actually quite decent with sager laptops. However, the build quality gets some criticism. 

 

I would have to disagree with the choice here. Though Sager have created the ultimate gaming laptop recently with the GTX 980 it is likely wasted potential.

Bone has stated it is for a lot of travelling purposes. The Sager laptop is still relatively new and it is yet unclear what the desktop graphics card inside a notebook with a mass amount of cooling systems in place would do if it was bumped about a little.

Going safer for the GTX mobile options is safer and will dramatically reduce the noise which is one of the negative points in your above post.

The most up to date hardware isnt necessarily the best option.

 

If going with a fixed build then the NP9778-S would be better as it is equipped with the GTX 970M as well as the extra RAM (16GB). Since the graphics card is designed for laptops, it wont have the insane cooling system like its newer counterpart so I would assume the noise from fans is a lot less. It would also help with prolonging battery life to not have a large amount of fans in your laptop.

 

But personally I would still prefer custom build models to fit my own desires although Sager do hit pretty much all the marks of what I would require if I was to get a laptop myself.

[Spiritwalker]

-snip-

 

I actually fully agree. I myself would never buy the sager, I just recommended it because it seems that performance is bone's major concern. He also says weight doesn't really matter to him, otherwise I'd have never made that recommendation.

 

It was more of a "I have 3000$, what's the max performance I can get" with compromise on portability, potentially sturdiness etc.

 

If I myself wanted a gaming laptop, I'd settle for a cheaper, lighter and less powerful option with a laptop GPU myself. The real question here is where bone wants to make the compromise. Because you really can't buy a (gaming) laptop which is the best in every aspect.

 

Want top performance? Get a sager.

Want top build quality? Get a macbook.

Want top price/performance? Get the new Dell one which name I forgot.

 

Each has it's issues. The ones from sager we pointed out, macbook's are horribly overpriced for what they offer (and shit at gaming so out of the question anyway), and the dell one lacks in terms of build quality as well as a pretty bad keyboard from what I heard.

 

What certainly is true that in this price range you wanna look at custom builds.

[Python.]

remind me of this http://forums.backpack.tf/index.php?/topic/43380-angelcake-said-she-wanted-a-build-under-9000-so-i-delivered/

[Bone]

hmm it is a bit ugly lol. also now im scared about the fan thing after reading what find said.

 

as far as a macbook is concerned, never. I am a programmer and I specialize in windows universal app dev so having a macbook makes no sense to me.

 

Also, I didnt know you could custom build laptops? A link to a reputed company allowing you to do that would be great.

 

If you think I can get a decent laptop at a cheaper price please suggest that too, here are some rough requirements

-GTA 5 at high-very high

-Atleast 250fps on CSGO

-Video Editing and Rendering (for hours of videos)

-Good looking would be nice :3

-Preferably a nice keyboard/touchpad combo, like, some laptops have shitty placement of the trackpad i dont want that. I wont have an external mouse all the time probably with me

[AwesomeMcCoolName]

hmm it is a bit ugly lol. also now im scared about the fan thing after reading what find said.

 

as far as a macbook is concerned, never. I am a programmer and I specialize in windows universal app dev so having a macbook makes no sense to me.

 

Also, I didnt know you could custom build laptops? A link to a reputed company allowing you to do that would be great.

 

If you think I can get a decent laptop at a cheaper price please suggest that too, here are some rough requirements

-GTA 5 at high-very high

-Atleast 250fps on CSGO

-Video Editing and Rendering (for hours of videos)

-Good looking would be nice :3

-Preferably a nice keyboard/touchpad combo, like, some laptops have shitty placement of the trackpad i dont want that. I wont have an external mouse all the time probably with me

You can't make custom laptops (non that are worthwhile anyway). 

 

Look for a quad core i7 (Haswell or Skylake, it doesn't really matter in the end -- Skylake will be a bit more power efficient, but it's not worth paying a lot extra for), 16gb of RAM, and a GTX970m or above. So you can either go cheaper and go with a 970m or more expensive with a desktop grade 980 -- both will be capable of what you're looking for so it's just a matter of how much you want to spend. 

 

P.s. 250fps in CSGO would basically be a waste since 99.99% of laptops come with a 60fps monitor (so as long as you're maintaining a stable 60fps without any dips below that anything higher doesn't offer much benefit).

[Spiritwalker]

I never told you to consider a macbook, that was just to prove a point

 

I've researched a bit and it's disappointing how little you can customise most gaming laptops. I was gonna write a huge reply but there isn't much point to say anymore than what McCoolname said.

 

However, since you have the money I actually recommend you get the best possible CPU, if there is an option. I don't see any i7 quad core limiting you in those games, but generally speaking CPUs scale quite well for video editing/rendering, wether it's a # of cores, more L3 cache or higher clock rate. Especially over time, it will add up considering you do hours of rendering. Make sure whatever laptop you buy doesn't have terrible cooling, as thermal throttling will do the opposite and can substantially increase the time it takes to render a vid.

 

It's also worth noting that GPUs have much less of an impact on video editing/rendering, unless you do 3D stuff. If that's not the case, a 970M runs GTA V on high/very high ~60FPS, according to benchmarks - unless you get a 4K display, which I don't recommend for a laptop.

 

Edit: Maybe look up wether the programs you use are more intense on CPU or GPU. Even though what I said is usually true, it's always worth double checking.

[Bone]

I was checking out the iBUYPOWER MSI Gaming laptops collection. In the end, they have 'portable workstations' which have Intel Xeon processors and NVidia Quadro GPUs. Are they any good?

[Professional Map Painter]

I was checking out the iBUYPOWER MSI Gaming laptops collection. In the end, they have 'portable workstations' which have Intel Xeon processors and NVidia Quadro GPUs. Are they any good?

I heard that their performance in any sort of sport that involves throwing is second to none.

[AwesomeMcCoolName]

I was checking out the iBUYPOWER MSI Gaming laptops collection. In the end, they have 'portable workstations' which have Intel Xeon processors and NVidia Quadro GPUs. Are they any good?

Quadros aren't what you want if you care about gaming.