I would google model number to look at a few reviews just in case there are glaring problems, especially in regards to heat.
this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
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So far the gigabyte is ok. My concern is if it's a ripoff or good one for the price.
Rule number one when buying tech is your always get ripped off. There is always a better deal two weeks from now. You just have to get a feeling when timing is good enough for what you want.
Yap, find the deal that fits you. Buy it and don't look back. Accept it that you found it valuable enough to buy it.
Check sold ebay listing for used prices. Use camel camel camel to check Amazon price history.
I know it's never fun to wait, but black Friday is typically the lost price of the year for tech
"Gaming"
"Sub $1,000"
My gut reaction is "choose one".
You might be able to get a gaming laptop under $1K but get ready to replace it in 2 years.
The vast majority of games, even the best ones, won't require a top-of-the-line spec, so there's very little that the OP would be barred from playing.
Can be done, but the timing has to be right. My buddy got a midrange gaming laptop during prime days (from a different retailer) that was regular priced around $1500 at the time for $850. I don't like the one he got but I understand his reasoning.
If OP is looking to buy today, maybe. If they can hold off another couple of weeks then there's a smaller "big sale" going on that they may be able to game to get something sub $1k that would normally be more.
If they don't care about playing the very latest at 4k high then they'll likely be able to get 5 years out of it.
I literally just bought this laptop for $1k, Eluktronics RP-15 15.6" RTX 4060 Gaming Laptop AMD R7 7840HS 16GB RAM 512GB SSD. It just arrived yesterday, so haven't had much time to test it out yet.
Small tips: Look at the gpu. Also make sure the laptop have unused slots for ram so you can upgrade down the road if needed. Placement of fans/airflow matters.
So far all models I consider is good enough, my concern is how to avoid ripoff and find good deals
I usually look at price history on anything I buy and see where the one I'm interested in place among those. What's the lowest ever price, etc. You can research this a lot. Eventually you will get a feeling what's good and what's not. Black Friday coming up as well. Never a bad idea to see what happens. Only rarely do prices raise after compared to before.
I had a gigabyte gaming laptop and overall it was a great value... after I fixed the graphics card drivers and updated the motherboard bios. Nothing worked right out of the box new.
If you're just using the laptop as a browser/ ms office machine for school or something I can't recommend the Microsoft surface tablet line enough. I've used a surface 3 for years for that purpose.
But gaming is also important
At that price point I'd recommend looking at used or refurbished units that are still in good condition. I like using Swappa for used devices
Looks like there's Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 units that are below $900. I've heard good things about that line. Make sure to watch/read plenty of reviews before pulling the trigger though
Should probably try to set a few more parameters to narrow your search, like RAM and storage. I'd recommend an SSD and if you like large games opt for 1 TB or more
Do you need an integrated GPU? Could you use an EGPU instead? Yes you sacrifice some performance, and you can only play games where you have your EGPU set up. But it gives you many more options for your laptop itself.
If this is the way, Ryzen is the way. Better integrated gpus. But sub 1k gets you a good dedicated graphics card.