Which would YOU buy?

Slapshot1188

2 Laptops on my radar.

Dell G7 15 $1231

Dell G7 15 - 7588

Processor

8th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-8950HK Processor (6-Core, 12MB Cache, up to 4.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

Operating System

Windows 10 Home 64bit English

Video Card

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 with Max-Q Design

Memory

16GB, 2x8GB, DDR4, 2666MHz

Hard Drive

256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive + 1TB 5400RPM 2.5" SATA Hard Drive

LCD

15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare LED-Backlit Display


Lenovo Y7000 $900
Processor & Memory: 

• Intel® Core™ i7-8750H Processor 2.2GHz
• 16GB DDR4 (2-DIMM) 2666MHz RAM

Operating System:  

• Microsoft® Windows 10 Home (64 Bit)

Drives:   

• 1.0TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive + 256GB PCle Solid State Drive
• No Optical Drive

Graphics & Video:   

• 15.6" Anti-glare IPS LED Backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) Display
• 6GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Graphics

I guess it seems like the Lenovo is a far better value... but it's for a college dorm and I hope to get a docking station.  So far I have not found anything that lists as supporting the Lenovo.  That model does not even show up on their website which is really strange to me...

gunklacker

Never buy a dell.

Slapshot1188

DMKano said:

Out of these 2, my choice would be dell.

I would request a 2nd ssd drive and ditch the platter 1tb drive

Can I ask why?  The only difference seems to be the CPU (and the HD speed).  Not sure I want to pay 33% more for it though.   Dell does have better docking options though... 

just wondering your reasoning. Might help me decide.  Right now I am kind of leaning strongly to the Lenovo

Cleffy

Neither. Lenovo has had problems with pre-installing rootkits which makes them a no-go for me ever again. Dell has a poor reputation. Here you go:
https://www.sagernotebook.com/DUO-SAGER-HOT-DEALS/

Quizzical

Personally, I would buy neither.  But your use case is likely to be different from mine.  What you should buy depends on how you intend to use it.  So, what are you planning on doing with it?

Slapshot1188

Quizzical said:

Personally, I would buy neither.  But your use case is likely to be different from mine.  What you should buy depends on how you intend to use it.  So, what are you planning on doing with it?

Its actually for a child going to college.  So office programs and then gaming.  I envision having a monitor and hopefully a dock with mouse/KB.  

Quizzical

Slapshot1188 said:

Quizzical said:

Personally, I would buy neither.  But your use case is likely to be different from mine.  What you should buy depends on how you intend to use it.  So, what are you planning on doing with it?

Its actually for a child going to college.  So office programs and then gaming.  I envision having a monitor and hopefully a dock with mouse/KB.  

Have you considered making it two separate computers?  That is, a gaming desktop for the dorm room and a cheap, portable laptop for whatever the mobility is needed for?  A cheaper, less powerful, more portable laptop will be much nicer to carry around than a gaming laptop.  Meanwhile, a real desktop gets you all of the advantages of a desktop when you need something more powerful.  That also gives you an implicit backup so that you don't get stuck with not having a computer at all if one breaks.

If the plan is to play demanding games in a variety of places on a day to day basis rather than just in the dorm room, then the two machines approach won't work.  But I do think it's something to at least consider, even if you end up rejecting it for one reason or another.

Hatefull

Cleffy said:

Neither. Lenovo has had problems with pre-installing rootkits which makes them a no-go for me ever again. Dell has a poor reputation. Here you go:
https://www.sagernotebook.com/DUO-SAGER-HOT-DEALS/

Agreed. I have had nothing but issues w/Lenovo. Like I had to take two laptops back bad. I am no Dell fan either, but if I had a gun to my head I will buy the Dell.

I would go for  Chrome book (portable) and then a dedicated gaming system. Sorry, I am not much help.

Slapshot1188

No this is all helpful.  Thanks for the input!

PsYcHoGBR

i9 is overkill for a gaming laptop. I would go for the Lenovo. Maybe wait until AMD bring out the new Zen 2 (3000 series) and Navi GPU.

Vrika

Quizzical said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Quizzical said:

Personally, I would buy neither.  But your use case is likely to be different from mine.  What you should buy depends on how you intend to use it.  So, what are you planning on doing with it?

Its actually for a child going to college.  So office programs and then gaming.  I envision having a monitor and hopefully a dock with mouse/KB.  

Have you considered making it two separate computers?  That is, a gaming desktop for the dorm room and a cheap, portable laptop for whatever the mobility is needed for?  A cheaper, less powerful, more portable laptop will be much nicer to carry around than a gaming laptop.  Meanwhile, a real desktop gets you all of the advantages of a desktop when you need something more powerful.  That also gives you an implicit backup so that you don't get stuck with not having a computer at all if one breaks.

If the plan is to play demanding games in a variety of places on a day to day basis rather than just in the dorm room, then the two machines approach won't work.  But I do think it's something to at least consider, even if you end up rejecting it for one reason or another.

I'd recommend separate laptop and desktop.

For school you'll want a laptop that is easy to throw into a bag and carry around from one lesson to another, and also easy to throw into a bag and carry with you during breaks so that no-one steals it, and you'll want it to run on battery power long enough that you don't need to plug it in for every single lesson.

For serious studying a $500 portable laptop is much better than $1000 gaming laptop.


EDIT: When choosing a laptop for studying you'll want to look for a model with SSD. You don't need that good processor or performance otherwise, but an SSD gives a lot of improvement 

Slapshot1188

My biggest concern with the desktop is simply space.   She will have her own bedroom but its small.  A desk and dresser pretty much take up the one wall.  I think a mini fridge JUST squeaks in and the desk isn't deep enough to put underneath by the chair. 

I will have to see if I can find exact dimensions though and find a way to make room. 

rojoArcueid

what about something like this? it's on sale for $1400, supposedly down from $2.5k. I wouldn't pay full price.

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Stealth-009-Ready-Gaming-Notebook/dp/B07C6Z864X/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KT7E2PDAEHRT3Y9YHDK2 

maybe others will chime in to see if its worth it. I would buy a MSI Stealth or Asus Zephyrus on sale because they are pricey. I have the bad impression that the two OP laptops wouldn't last 2 years, much less as a student who also play games.

Slapshot1188

maybe others will chime in to see if its worth it. I would buy a MSI Stealth or Asus Zephyrus on sale because they are pricey. I have the bad impression that the two OP laptops wouldn't last 2 years, much less as a student who also play games.

One benefit of the Lenovo is that it's from Costco with 2 year warrantee

Vrika

Slapshot1188 said:

My biggest concern with the desktop is simply space.   She will have her own bedroom but its small.  A desk and dresser pretty much take up the one wall.  I think a mini fridge JUST squeaks in and the desk isn't deep enough to put underneath by the chair. 

I will have to see if I can find exact dimensions though and find a way to make room. 

Place the desktop's case on top of the dresser?

Though if there's limited space then the decision must be hers. A college student is old enough to decide.

centkin

Slapshot1188 said:

Quizzical said:

Personally, I would buy neither.  But your use case is likely to be different from mine.  What you should buy depends on how you intend to use it.  So, what are you planning on doing with it?

Its actually for a child going to college.  So office programs and then gaming.  I envision having a monitor and hopefully a dock with mouse/KB.  

Actually I would focus on the office programs and such -- Your kid going to college doesn't need a gaming computer -- that is a distraction.

Quizzical

Slapshot1188 said:

My biggest concern with the desktop is simply space.   She will have her own bedroom but its small.  A desk and dresser pretty much take up the one wall.  I think a mini fridge JUST squeaks in and the desk isn't deep enough to put underneath by the chair. 

I will have to see if I can find exact dimensions though and find a way to make room. 

When I was in college, my dorm room was about 70 square feet, but I still had a full desktop with a CRT monitor.  It's a question of priorities.  I probably had less than 20 square feet of floor space that wasn't covered by something like the bed or desk.

If you're looking for a docking station for a laptop, a small form factor desktop doesn't have to be that much bigger than a docking station.  I realize that space can be at a premium in dorm rooms, but desktops can be fairly small if they need to.  It may also be easy to stick a desktop case under or on top of something in space that wouldn't otherwise be used.

Slapshot1188

centkin said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Quizzical said:

Personally, I would buy neither.  But your use case is likely to be different from mine.  What you should buy depends on how you intend to use it.  So, what are you planning on doing with it?

Its actually for a child going to college.  So office programs and then gaming.  I envision having a monitor and hopefully a dock with mouse/KB.  

Actually I would focus on the office programs and such -- Your kid going to college doesn't need a gaming computer -- that is a distraction.

Compared to the other stuff you can get into in college I think occasional gaming (literally Overwatch) will be OK

SirAgravaine

I wouldn't buy a laptop, because they are a waste of money.

alkarionlog

I say never buy a dell and never buy a lenovo

but if you are only giving the 2 choices, the dell one is a better choice

I would scrunge around and build my computer myself, but each to his own

Quizzical

If you want to talk about vendor shenanigans, a lot of OEMs have done some rather bad stuff, but I don't think Dell has ever managed to top Lenovo's Superfish fiasco.  Here's my explanation of it from four years ago:

https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/427972/lenovo-superfish-malware-intentionally-installed-by-lenovo-on-their-laptops

Ridelynn

I would ask what professors in her major recommend - they usually have a list of software requirements that are used in classes.

if it’s a non-specific degree that just needs Office and a few other light tasks — Quiz and Torval have the right idea.