Purchasing a laptop for game dev and study! PLZ HELP, URGENT

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#1

Hey there!

I’m heading to college for a computer science course with a specialization in cybersecurity (which requires a strong CPU). I’m also studying AI/ML (needing a good CPU and an NVIDIA GPU for CUDA support) and game development (preferably with a good NVIDIA GPU—how does the new FSR compare to DLSS?).

I’m new to AMD and not too familiar with Radeon and Ryzen. Here’s what I’m looking for within a budget of $700-$1050:

Requirements:

  • GPU: Preferably something like the NVIDIA 4050 or 4060. I need to know the AMD Radeon equivalents.
  • CPU: Intel i5 or i7 with more cores and decent power (should I prioritize a newer generation i5 over an older i7? How significant is the generational difference?).
  • RAM: 16 GB.
  • Storage: Minimum 512 GB SSD.

Shortlisted Laptops:

  1. Lenovo LOQ 4060 ($989/$999)
  1. Lenovo LOQ 4050 ($980/$864)
  1. MSI Cyborg: Great specs at a good price, but only comes with 8 GB RAM (I plan to upgrade to 16 GB).
  2. Dell G15: Good specs for the price, but I’ve seen multiple bad reviews.
  3. Lenovo Legion Slim: A bit expensive but seems worth considering.

6. Another Lenovo LOQ: Cheaper, but with an RTX 3050 and 8 GB RAM.

  1. Lenovo Ideapad: Good CPU and more RAM.

  2. ASUS TUF:

I’m having trouble narrowing it down to 3 or 4 options. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

#2

I am not going into much detail, but I have had Lenovo laptops for a very long time, and they simply worked almost 24 hours a day for years until they were too old for the job, so this is fine.

This said, with all those plans ahead, I would go for a separate GPU if you can, and definitely a disk larger than 512GB if you can afford it. Minimum 16GB RAM; mine has 8GB and it’s small for animation and 3D work; it does it, but it takes LONG, not too good for trying things!). If there’s little RAM and little disk, you will soon start to see some messages like “this could be done with 4 threads but there’s only room for 1, so wait patiently” or something like this in UE :woman_shrugging:). Good luck with everything!

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#3

If you want to develop for AI, a $1000 laptop is not ideal. you really need a high end GPU for more CUDA cores and a decent CPU. Also, these days no less than 1TB storage and 32GB ram. For GPU think along the lines of a 4070 or higher and the VRAM may also be important.

Unfortunately you won’t get that sort of spec in a laptop for $1000 and you’d really be looking at double the price. I guess you have to pick what is most important. The other issue is paying less may result in needing to upgrade sooner. Saying that, a quick look at the LOQ 4060 and this is not a terrible laptop by any means. The MSI is also nice (and their hardware is generally very good) but I’d say the specs are a little on the low end.

Avoid the 3050/4050 and try get a 4060 minumum. if you can find that with 32GB ram and 1TB+ storage (trust me, you’ll run out quickly) like the LOQ 4060 then that’s probably going to be closest to your budget.

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#4

Yeah I faced those problems before buying an ssd on my 10 year old desktop while using unreal engine​:skull: hopefully 512 or 1 TB would be enough, or I might consider using the secondary slot in my new laptop, thanks for your reply :smiley:

#5

Thanks a lot for the advice beegeedee!!

Unfortunately, $1000 is all I have at the moment. I am about to start college and might consider getting a better desktop if the laptop proves inadequate. For now, the best I can afford is a laptop with a 4060 GPU.

I have one more question: should I opt for an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 over an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 if it saves me $100?

Lenovo is my top choice right now, but I found an amazing deal from Walmart for under $1000, which seems too good to be true. As an Indian student, I’m not familiar with reviews on tech and laptops from Walmart or the quality they offer at cheaper prices. Could you please tell me if it’s a safe option? I’m buying the laptop from someone living in the US and won’t be able to return it if it turns out to be bad…

#6

One thing I want to add that may help your budget.

If you focus on CPU/GPU and ignore storage/ram, it’s entirely possible that you can get what you really want by upgrading the laptop with purchased RAM kits and SSDs from a computer hardware store for cheaper than just buying the laptop with all of the stuff you want already build-in.

Because for what you’re wanting to do, 16GB of RAM might not be enough, and you’d be surprised how quickly a 1TB SSD can fill up. Just MAKE SURE THE LAPTOP HAS REPLACEABLE RAM AND STORAGE before you try this approach. This would also require you to be comfortable with opening up the laptop in order to perform these upgrades.

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#7

That’s actually a really important point that @Tuomo_T has made about checking for upgradability. Many manufacturers are now soldering the ram onto the mainboards which is counter to the Right to Repair movement that is currently going on. Basically, if the RAM fails on these the laptop becomes useless - a motive for this might be making sure they can’t just swap out ram if it fails and I do believe Lenovo was one of these manufacturers.

Most offer an additional expansion slot however and possibly room for a second SSD. 1TB SSDs are not expensive (I got one recently for what would be less than $100 inc tax just about a month ago. Also keep an eye out for sales for these upgrades on the likes of Amazon or similar retailers. Usually stores like Best Buy will be marked higher than what online sellers will have them for.

Something else to note is USB-C has a good throughput for external SSDs these days too - 10-20GB/s so this can be a valid option later.

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#8

Thank you so much for all the advice, @beegeedee and @Tuomo_T! I’ve ordered my new laptop: a Lenovo LOQ with an RTX 4060, i7-13650HX, 16 GB RAM, and a 512 GB SSD.

I couldn’t find laptops with 1TB storage (I did find one at Walmart, but I wasn’t sure about buying a laptop from there). Fortunately, my new laptop is upgradable, with both the RAM and SSD being accessible. It even has two SSD slots, so I can upgrade in the future if needed!

I have one question: is it okay to use an external HDD for files that don’t require SSD speeds instead of opening the laptop, buying and installing a more expensive internal SSD?

#9

External SSDs are more expensive than internal ones because they require the case and additional hardware. HDDs are fine for bulk storage but for development/projects you want the internal SSD. Basically UE will work but it’ll run like a snail on an HDD, especially a USB one.

Usually it’s a single panel under the laptop to open and you slot in the SSD. very easy if I am correct.

So, if for example you want to install UE and have a modest project, you’ll need at least 100GB free on your SSD and if it’s C++, you’ll need VS installed which is another 20-50GB depending.

I have 1TB just for my OS alone and then another 1TB for installing the game engines (I have about 9 versions of UE which is a good 400GB, and keep my projects on a third 2TB ssd which takes up about 1TB at the moment. I then have a 4TB disk for textures, another 2TB for installers and backups, and another 4TB of standard HDDs internal to PC for general use which is stuff that doesn’t need fast access. my PC can take another 5 SSDs and no doubt I’ll add them in later. I’ve also got another disk I use for file transfers and about a dozen USB Pendrives as well for portability.

So, as you can see, you may need an additional SSD internally. If the laptop does have a USB-C you could use that with an SSD for less intense projects.

#10

Unfortunately the days of having specific panels for removable components is long-gone. You need to remove the entire bottom case, which gives you access to the whole laptop. Lenovo is pretty good with repair manuals, though. Which I highly recommend you read before opening up the laptop.

External HDD would be great for smaller projects that don’t require bulky software, so I wouldn’t recommend it for your Unreal Engine projects (I’m assuming you’re thinking UE due to where this question is being asked). For UE projects I’d recommend an external SSD if you’re going with external storage.

#12

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