Hi all,
Sorry again for another HN deal. Someone on my last gaming laptop deal asked for a RTX under 1k well here it is.
Quick search for cheaper prices came up with GTX cards and few hundred dollars more for the RTX.
In my area there are 3 HNs with stock so, not sure on other areas.
This laptop also comes with:
Modern warfare 2
Total war: Warhammer 3
Vampire
Via redemption and are a digital download.
SPEC:
Acer Nitro 5
15.6-inch screen
i7-11800H/8GB/512GB SSD
RTX3050 4GB
On the plus side at least most gaming laptops are easy to upgrade the RAM on (unlike ultrabooks and the like).
trying to maximise return i guess. ram is plentiful these days so it should be a cheap little upgrade.
Cost cut mostly. You could pair another 8GB in fairly easy and inexpensive. Also 3050 is performing quite bad and will be the bottleneck with this configs.
3050 in a laptop performs between GTX 1650 Ti and the 1660 Ti Max-Q depending on TDP.
Just say worse than a 2060
Knowing Acer and based on my current Acer Nitro 5 using RTX3060 at 95W I can't see this RTX3050 in this model goes up any higher than that. Which is bad news in the long run.
@Grey 13: Is there a way of finding out the TDP of these cards? This video comparison of the 3050 80w vs 3060 115w shows how much the 3050 gets flogged is great but not if the TDPs are different
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcJCEZ1BCqA
3060 is like 100% better
edit: 3050 vs 3060 95w better comparison the 3060 is like 50-60% better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj42ykVTS8k
@Jazza2400: Yeah just go to your Nvidia Setting, click on Help and then select System Information. The TDP for the dedicated GPU should be listed there.
You must have recently moved out from a cave so let me explain. It’s called a tiered pricing model so that consumers will spend an extra few hundred dollars for the next best model. Acer does this by offering 11800h/3050 or 11400h/3060 for its low end budget range and Apple by storage space or ram for its computers. The point is to get people to aim for its more expensive mid to high range models. Also ram is so cheap that you should be happy it’s only 8gb.
3060 model is better value?
Found this deal
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/719654
$100 more just i7 11800H/3050 4GB VRAM vs i5 11400H/3060 6GB VRAM
Both 8gb ram, 144hz FHD screen, 512GB storage.
Processors have same TDP the i7 has more cores/threads ect but both are overkilling for gaming at this point
Check out these videos you can see in the 3060 video it's using over 4gb of VRAM (higher quality settings)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqOFJWx_A7w - 11400H/3060 6GB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMTrsXQZP8 - 11800H/3050 4GB (I think this uses High settings whereas above uses Ultra)
The bottleneck is the 3050. For gaming you are better off with a lesser CPU and better GPU in this instance. You have a 144fps screen and a GPU that can't achieve that unless the settings are low.
@MuddyClear: To an extent yes but the step up from 3050 to 3060 is better performance per dollar than the 3060 to 3070. Regularly see 3060 lappys around the $1k mark but not 3070.
And Gerry has so many "angels" to canonize him into heaven? Cheers to all the pro HN bots.
Btw I bought a laptop among dozens of things there and sometimes something actually just works…
exactly what i wanted. Thanks!
glad it will save you a buck or two.
I bought it before Christmas last year from HN, one dollar cheaper. I added 16G ram. It works fine, but because the power is more than 60W, the usb-c hub could not provide power to it. The original power adapter is needed everywhere.
I'd like a budget laptop to do 4K video editing in Davinci Resolve. OzB, please halp! Is this a good deal for that use case? Any better suggestions?
Should be able to handle Davinci Resolve and 4K video editing just fine, granted you're using proxy files.
Thank you for the reply, cheers!
Lol. BYO RAM
Does the type C port do display?
I’m after a cheap laptop with good specs not gaming will be for daughter Xmas general house use.
Looking to pay between $350 to say $450 ish.
for a laptop at that price, you will be getting a bottom range, usually 4gb ram (barely sufficient) and celeron processor. all in all an ok laptop but it will be slow in some things and might even have issues running HD YouTube.
have you thought about Chromebook?
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/collections/computers-tablets/chro…
my daughter uses the 10 inch duet for her school work and playing games/ YouTube and it covers all the bases with ease.
the budget you have will get a decent mid tier one which will have better user experience.
i do use a budget laptop at the time was $400 dollar range and win 10 was very poor and sluggish most of the time. i installed Ubuntu (linux) and it has improved the experience a lot, Linux isnt for everyones taste but for me it is.
also i have found that with cheaper models the RAM is fixed in place and cannot be upgraded which is a bummer, mine has an emmc which again is fixed so an sd card is for expanding the storage, although these days the SSD on most laptops are a simple plug and play setup on connectors.
Not sure about these chrome book ain’t they very similar to a iPad I think she was asking for a laptop.
She already has iPad and a phone she might not get an laptop yet but it was mentioned a while back she like one.
But that might not happen.
For the budget they mentioned a Chromebook who's is a laptop in essence would be better suited as the user experience will be better off.
That's a bad price point. Id be looking at refurbs or extending the budget
Yeah its just all low-spec Celerons & Chromebooks there.
There have been quite a few refurb laptop/2-in-1s deals recently here on OzB, check them out
Good specs for 350 is non-existent.
Better off grabbing one of the refurbished ex-Govt Lenovos Thinkpads being listed here regularly.
Not into refurbs as it be an Xmas gift surely there are good laptops close to my price or little over which pop up on sale from time to time?
It honestly depends on the use case. If it's basic word processing, web browsing, YouTube, then most of the laptops in that price range will suffice. It won't be blazingly fast, but chuck in an SSD and more RAM if possible and it should be pretty alright. If you're doing anything more intensive, you won't be having a good time with it. This is coming from someone who has been using a $500 laptop for the past few years. Gaming might be possible depending on the titles.
@CrispyChrispy: The newer cheap laptops sold nowadays those things are soldered in, basically preventing upgradability.
Probably keep an eye out during Black Friday this coming Nov.
Fair enough. But for that price, you'll need to manage your expectations. You're going to get a slower processor and lower RAM.
But if it weren't a present, I highly recommend refurbs or second hand. I bought a secondhand Lenovo X1. 3 years old, Gen 8 Intel processor, so it officially supports Windows 11, plus, it keeps it out of landfills.
@BadGiraffe: I second refurbs, especially buisness-range, 8th gen Intel i5 or i7. You probably wont find anything new comparable in terms of price to performance AND durability/general workmanship. You may find some new plasticky laptops around that price point which may match performance, but will probably come with below average screens and durability.
I agree that a good ex-commercial grade laptop is better value than a same price new domestic grade.
May also be worth checking - some resellers have insurance packages to cover faults & accidental damage.
You want everything it seems? Good specs, very cheap price, brand new, non-chromebook … You have unrealistic expectations.
Just buy a refurb and clean it up nice, and put it in a nice box or wrap it nicely. Your kid isn't going to care if it's brand new as long as it seems clean and shiny.
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/laptops-&-notebooks/gami…
Would this be a decent purchase for a 17 inch?
$500 bucks extra for 2 inches of screen and extra 8gb RAM?
Me, id save the extra cash, purchase an extra stick of RAM and enjoy the savings.
3050ti maxq kills the deal. You expect a 3060 minimum if going 17in gaming
Hard to find good deals with 17in and 3060, idc about ram etc as can upgrade at later date. I keep searching but can't find anything that's OK priced.
Reiterating what Jazza linked above. This was the 3060 deal back in August:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/719654
Like fking hell the computing industry's deadset on being such a scam rn. The absolute (profanity) at Nvidia with their GPU prices, retailers (HN, JB etc) marking UP their prices and deals when the used market prices are going DOWN?? Same with pc part sellers (Centrecom, pccg) not moving their prices either?
Complaining about how they have excess stock not selling. How about reducing your prices even a little then? Stubborn dumbasses!
Posting to hopefully help anyone who was in my situation…
I bought this planning to upgrade with another 8GB of RAM and a spare 2.5" SSD.
I couldnt find the laptop's RAM specs anywhere, so got 8GB of Crucial 3200MHz, which was cheaper than the 2400 or 2666 stuff. Turns out the laptop came with a Samsung 3200 stick, and with both installed they run at 2933… eh, whatever, no big deal.
The old SSD that I installed was OzBargain's darling, an MX500… and it was a problem. Turns out this laptop and that drive have compatibility issues. After lots of forum diving I found a fix: disabling the VMD controller. Afaik that means no RAID arrays or Optane, but again, whatever.
Oh also, Harvey Norman took my grand when I ordered then said the order was under review by the online security team and went silent for 2 days until I followed up with an email, which got the process started again and I had the laptop a few days later. Dunno how long it would have taken without the email but read horror stories of people waiting a week only to have their order summarily cancelled then waiting again for their refund.
So, few hiccups and uncertainties, but overall stoked with what I got, especially for the price.
Hope this helps anyone thinking of going a similar way :-)
It always baffles me that these "Gaming Laptops" have such low RAM. Honestly, any laptop I look at buying has to have a minimum 16GB RAM, even if it's not being used for gaming.