First, apologies if this isn’t the best community; please direct me to a better venue if so.
TLDR: I need to buy 2× used gaming laptops that are powerful enough for 3D-heavy games – I don’t know what to look for?
Situation:
My kids have used Lenovo laptops for their rooms, and after some years, their gaming choices (BeamNG and other such 3D-heavy games) mean that old business laptops won’t cut it. They need to be replaced (the laptops, not the kids!).
Problem:
Back when I was young, I understood CPU and GPU requirements - these days I don’t. Help!
- An Intel i7 may be great but it may also be several years old. I don’t understand the naming anymore.
- Most normal laptops have integrated graphics which don’t satisfy even most basic GPU requirements.
- Real “gaming laptops” are expensive! And I need 2 of them! Gotta find something used, and I have no idea what search criteria to set.
If your kids don’t need a laptop, I’d highly recommend just getting them a desktop pc with GTX 1060 or RX 5600 or better. You should be able to find these used at a fraction of the cost of gaming laptops with the same performance, plus they’ll be a LOT quieter.
Gaming performance requires cooling, which means ideally some big chunks of metal with a lot of air going through. Laptops should be light, thin and portable. These requirements don’t mix well.