A Budget Laptop for Gaming and Media, $1000- $1500

nuttapillar on 18/05/2023 - 23:13

Hi, I want to replace my old ASUS G750jw laptop with something newer.

My main issue right now is trying to play 4K/HEVC/10bit/x265 movies on the TV via HDMI from my media server. The processor in this old laptop really struggles, and doesn't really support it.

So I want a laptop that will comfortably handle the latest and most demanding video formats, as well as transcoding/decoding etc.

Additionally, I'm also a bit of a gamer, so Ideally it'd be decent at gaming as well. It should be similar in performance to my old GTX 1080 desktop, and comfortably run Minecraft with hi-res resource packs, and maybe some shaders too.
I'm a bit out of the loop with gaming laptops these days, but I assume the laptop RTX 3060 is similar to the destop GTX 1080?
Would I be better off going for an amd gpu?

I'm willing to go second-hand, refurbished etc, I just don't know the best places to look. If there are some great deals on new laptops, then I'd also consider those. But I might even go for Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Amazon etc, but I at least need to know what models/specs to go for.
I'm in SA, if that helps.
Any advice? Thanks!

Computing Computer Laptop

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scrimshaw on 18/05/2023 - 23:22

most demanding video formats, as well as transcoding/decoding etc.

Gigabyte G5, KF-E3AU333SH
i5-12500H
RTX 4060 8GB
15.6 FHD 144Hz (45% NTSC) Screen
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/773054

RTX 4060 with AV1 encoding?
- nuttapillar on 18/05/2023 - 23:24
  
  wow that looks pretty good. For some reason I was only seeing 3050 and some 3060s with weak cpus for that price.
- nuttapillar on 18/05/2023 - 23:26
  
  although, the 8gb of ram worries me. Even my 8 year old laptop has 16gb.
  - scrimshaw on 18/05/2023 - 23:29
    
    +2
    
    It's a gaming laptop, it'll be pretty easy to upgrade.
    
    Have you seen how much a 8GB SODIMM module costs these days?
    - nuttapillar on 18/05/2023 - 23:30
      
      lol good point. I hope it's not difficult to add one to this laptop.
    - nuttapillar on 24/05/2023 - 12:46
      
      The CPU looks a little low-end though. Is there a similar laptop with a more powerful cpu?
      - scrimshaw on 24/05/2023 - 12:57
        
        +1
        
        @nuttapillar: Not at the price point you specified. Core i9 / Core i7 + RTX 4000 series? That's more like $2000 ~ $2500 territory. I would look at the Lenovo Legion for that kind of spec.
        
        The extra price you pay doesn't just give you better specs, but better build quality as well. The GIGABYTE laptop has a much more basic chassis and a lower quality screen, and most likely, inferior cooling.
        
        Acer Nitro 5 is also Acer's lineup of budget gaming laptops you could look at but I don't think they are any better value than the Gigabyte.
  - CodeXD on 19/05/2023 - 15:24
    
    $~93 for a 32gb ddr4 stick
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/775778

A Budget Laptop for Gaming and Media, $1000- $1500

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