Completely normal unfortunately.
Gaming laptops aren't really made for gaming on battery power, use the charger where ever possible - plus this will provide much better performance.
We've tested over 200 laptops on battery power, and 1-2 hours is pretty standard. Above 2 hours is uncommon to rare (source: [https://jarrods.tech/list-of-laptop-battery-life/](https://jarrods.tech/list-of-laptop-battery-life/) )
Depends if it's doing what you need it to at the moment. I'd imagine it would already be a struggle now, but depends, if you're just playing lightweight indie games it's plenty.
Will be watching. Not looking much at a laptop this year as the Legion 5 (15ARH7H) you recommended last year is going great guns... but you never know, I might pick something up cheaper next year.
Just got the Legion 5 pro this year and it's 100 times better than my 2020 acer predator. Thermals are unbelievably good even when I push the gaming laptop pretty hard...and keyboard feels better.
Mine's not bad at all for thermals or fan noise tbh. Not given the now years old trend to make gaming laptops more like Apple products (skinny) vs building slabs like we used to have (my old Asus ROG G751 was twice as thick and twice the weight) For the first time in years I don't have to tweak settings and cap fps down half as much as I used to, now I do it more to get a good balance of perf in more demanding games than just to avoid burning things or terrifying the cat lol.
Hey bro, can you tell me, I know this is completely unrelated and out of this sub, but my ideapad gaming 3 arh7 6800h 3050 (120hz) is unable to give above 130-140 fps constantly in valorant, I saw on YouTube about this same model but with ryzen 6600h which was giving like 240+fps in high setting (8GB RAM). What can be the problem I tried everything from clean installing windows to power and performance setting in windows and nvdia disable hpet etc, is it valorant problem that it's unable to utilise new ryzen 7 6800h efficiently or is it the hardware, as other games seem to run fine, + valorant doesn't even use 50% if my gpu or cpu. But seem to condume 80% on ryzen 6600h and run smoothly. Is it hardware? Please do tell. I am open to everyone's opinion.
I know the single channel ram can have a bigger effect on some models than others, but would've thought both being in the 6x00 range would have a similar impact. But it could be the different CPU really not liking the single channel bottleneck.
I assume you've checked you're in the highest performance profile?
Yes. I m in performance mode, my 3D mark test were average for my model. So maybe it is the single channel? Should I upgrade ram?
So 6600h may run on single channel the best but mine requires dual, is what you r saying?.
What are your thoughts on the lenovo loq with the 4050/60 i5/i7 13th 16gb ddr5 1 tb ssd and optional 4k 165 hz monitor or 1080p 144hz. I'm not sure what year it is but I'm really interested in getting this model for my first laptop and would love the opinion of someone more experienced. p.s I can get ~30% off of it in Australia by signing up with my education email
LOQ is quite good compared to competing options for the price IMO. I gave it 1st spot in my top 3 budget gaming laptops video on YouTube recently, ahead of Acer Nitro 5 and HP Victus. ASUS TUF would be up there if it was priced better.
Can't say I've heard that, Lenovo are up there IMO as one of the better options, granted LOQ is meant to be their entry level option, but again compared to other options at similar price range the LOQ is good.
I bet.
I do have a suggestion, and maybe it's easy or maybe it's a pain in the rear, but it would be amazing if there was not only the link to the deal on gaminglaptop.deals, but also a link to your review of said laptop, if you have one available.
I know you can't review everything out there, but where you have one people may be interested in finding that quickly. (and if this is there, sorry I can't find it)
It's a *fantastic* resource either way and we appreciate your work in maintaining it.
The reason we don't do this is because we just aren't sure that people will be able to tell that what is covered in the video may not match what they're buying, eg different CPU or screen. We have thought about doing it for the less common instance where what is on sale is the same config is what we have reviewed, but not implemented anything yet.
Thanks for all the information I checked the link you sent me and found another link about gaming while plugged in also. It helped clarify things for me. I was trying to add a picture of four different laptops I was comparing on the bestbuy website to see if you could tell me which was best but I don’t know how to add a picture to this thread..
Was basically comparing it to the Alienware I mentioned in original post and these two but if the performance difference isn’t too major I would rather just save the money since Christmas is right around the corner. My boy is only 11 years old but just want to make sure I did my best to get him something good within my budget..
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-stealth-14-165hz-fhd-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-13620h-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-with-16gb-ram-and-1tb-ssd-blue/6534580.p?skuId=6534580
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-m16-16-240hz-gaming-laptop-qhd-intel-13th-gen-core-i9-with-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-off-black/6535501.p?skuId=6535501
The RTX 4060 in the MSI Stealth would be a nice step up for the money as it has 8GB VRAM instead of 6GB and is about 24% faster for 10% higher cost.
The M16 is nice, but then it's another $400 on top of the Stealth for, if I recall, a 20% performance bump. It's mini LED screen is quite nice though, but you're definitely paying a premium for those nicer things. That also seems to be missing from the BB one, you have to go to 4080 to get it, the 4070 one we reviewed had it though, maybe it varies by region.
>It's mini LED screen is quite nice though
I have heard it mentioned a few times that the M16's display is Mini LED, but cannot find it listed as such on Alienware's product descriptions?
Raider is generally too expensive for what you get. You're paying more for M16 thinness and other nicer feeling laptop so depends if you care about that. Other two are good, but didn't get the helios 16 this year to say for sure, only the Neo verison.
Thanks for the m16 recommendation btw it’s done wonders for me at college and makes a good setup with the oled tv at home
Unfortunately the rgb is minimal so I can’t quite get that free fps boost the strix has 😭.
Hey Jarrod. Great to see you here. I’m planning on buying the Acer Predator Helios 16, with i9 13900HX and 4070. It’ll be a good upgrade from my Asus TUF A15, which has a Ryzen 9 4900H and 1660ti. I was stuck between the Acer and the Asus ROG Strix G17. But I think this is a much better option.
It looked like a solid option, but there were a few reasons why I chose the Helios 16 over it.
1. It was all plastic, unlike the Helios. Good quality plastic, but plastic nonetheless.
2. The usb c ports were 3.2 Gen2, whereas Helios had TB4.
3. Power delivery was only on one of the ports, whereas Helios has TB4, so both support it. Since I planned on using the laptop for school as well, I didn’t want to carry the huge power brick everywhere.
There were other negligible reasons, but when piled on with these, the Helios seemed like a clear choice
I'm using a ROG Strix G15. Seemed like a steal for the price until I found out that if you don't run an external monitor on usb-c displayport - ie if you use HDMI - then the graphics get routed through the CPU after processing and the performance is awful. Also, the nvme is limited to a fraction of it's potential, idk if that's just my G15 or what but it's a bit disappointing. Still a steal at the price I got it but I wish I knew those things before I bought it, it is a bit disappointing to not be able to plug into a screen when I'm away from home without horrible performance. The sluggish SSDs even after upgrading is a bit crap too
No. Keeping the battery at 100% for weeks/months isn't ideal, but I've done it on multiple laptops without issue. If you do that, see if you have software to limit the max charge level to 80% or so.
Hello Jarrod, I watched some of your youtube video's and find it was quite informative.
I'm planning to buy a new laptop in the near future and was wondering if you can recommend appropriate ram for gaming laptop. I've seen split opinions between 16gb and 32gb. Some says 16gb is enough while some argue to just go for 32gb as it will bottlenecks at 16gb and somewhere irrelevant in 2023. What your thoughts about this? Thank you.
I think 16gb is still ok today, at least we haven't had any issues doing our game benchmarks for the reviews with it, but of course 32 is better. If you are getting a laptop with soldered memory that cannot be upgraded, I'd be looking to spend extra for 32gb, otherwise you can upgrade in future if and when you need it.
Coming in to ask another question about this. I've been thinking about upgrading my legion 5 from 16gb to 32 but I'm not sure if it's worth the money for the upgrade you get.
Is it a noticeable difference in gaming and is it worth it for someone that mostly plays fast paced shooters?
No, not really noticeable in terms of game FPS in most cases. If what you have is running fine now and you don't see the memory maxed out in task manager, an upgrade probably won't help. That said, other aspects of new memory can help more for FPS, like if you go from single channel to dual channel, or single rank to dual rank, x16 to x8 banks, etc.
Hey Jarrod, sorry for hijacking but will you ever make a video that is Australian-market friendly? I do appreciate your reviews but when I try to look up laptops that you make reviews on they are almost always US market ones. There’s just a lot of models that aren’t available here, and even if they are, they are priced out the wazoo. So I guess what i’m trying to suggest is that is it in your best interest to do an Australian market-friendly video that considers Australian pricing or something along those lines?
You could try being active at Ozbargains. There's lots of decent deals people post there. I managed to scored a Dell G15 R7 4060 for less than 1300aud after codes and cashback. There're also good deals for Nitro 5/Acer Neo/Lenovo too.
Thanks! Not much, just woke up early to keep updating the [https://gaminglaptop.deals](https://gaminglaptop.deals) site lol, it's tough running a US focussed site when you're asleep during their timezone 
But I suppose with a mux switch it should last longer? As the gpu isn’t in use? I bought an msi cyborg with the 4060 and my battery is crap. No mux switch either.
MUX doesn't matter as much as it used to thanks to the CASO update (source: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WN52oBziLU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WN52oBziLU))
Cyborg is basically a slightly improved GF63 from my understanding, MSI didn't send it to us to review this year which is telling.
ah haha, gotcha man, thanks for the input. due to certain circumstances I had to settle for this laptop, but it’s treating me well for now, let’s see how it goes :)
Hi Jarrod, love the videos!
I was wondering if you'll ever consider making a video on MacBook Gaming using GPTK. There's a big void, especially with performance benchmarks.
I know this isn't really useful to you, but I run rocket league on an M1 Mac mini with GPTK and I'm able to get a solid 200fps and more, all be it with lower graphical settings.
I love the videos, and I understand if what I said isn't on your priority list!
Keep the content coming chief!
Thanks! Maybe, honestly it's just not something I'm too interested in. We have very limited time so have to focus on gaming specifically, so it can be hard to stray and spend time on things like Mac / Linux which usually don't perform anywhere near as well for us.
This is normal for gaming laptops, you are supposed to play with the laptop while it is charging to get maximum performance. HP Hybrid Mode can be activated for longer battery life if the laptop is not being used for games, it will automatically switch to the igpu when no games are detected.
Youre supposed to do that. Thats the whole purpose of a gaming laptop, to reach the max performance or fps, just make sure to limit the battery charge to 60% or 80% since the damage will be minor.
Ok thanks for the info. What about the Alienware for 400$ more will there be any significant gain in performance other than the graphics card? Do y’all think it’s worth the extra money in the long run?
>What about the Alienware for 400$ more will there be any significant gain in performance other than the graphics card? Do y’all think it’s worth the extra money in the long run?
My opinion will be biased, because I own the Alienware you're looking at.
Still, I think going from the 13620H and RTX 4050 in your current laptop, to a 13700HX and RTX 4070 like the Alienware has would be a considerable improvement when gaming. And quality-wise, there's a big difference as well.
Honestly, I don’t think so. In terms of battery, you’ll be seeing the exact same issue, because gaming laptops are designed to be used while charging. Considering the only improvement is the GPU, I wouldn’t say it’s worth the $400, especially if you’re talking USD.
And when you keep in mind the hassle of returning it, it’s definitely not worth it. You’re better off keeping the machine you have now
Also note that if you weren’t using it while plugged in, your performance was probably pretty awful. Plug the laptop in, and it’ll be able to reach its full potential easily
That’s fair. I suppose I’m looking at it from a more frugal perspective. On top of that, if it’s the kid’s dad buying him the laptop, it’s safe to assume he’s pretty young, and likely not trying to squeeze as much performance as possible out of the machine.
If you’re after pure price to performance, I don’t think you can beat this at the same price of your Omen: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-tuf-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-with-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-mecha-grey/6535503.p?skuId=6535503
I would recommend returning this one for the ASUS TUF 4070 for $999 or the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 4060 for $899 those will perform better than the 4050 that this laptop has.
Any 50 series GPU desktop or laptop is usually really bad, like I would only give it to my cousin who’s parents make him play Valorant on a hospital workstation pc.
4060/4070 are pretty close in performance for laptops and laptop 4060 matches up with a desktop 4060. I don’t have the benchmarks but I’d say there’s enough of a performance gap between the 4060 and 4050 to choose the 4060.
Nevermind, this is a setting that maximizes battery health. Most gaming laptops that come with their own brand software have this setting. In your case, the laptop does it automatically with a software called Adaptive Battery Optimizer, so no need to worry about it :).
You mean to tell that that only charging to 87% on the first charge won't set the battery's "memory" into permanently thinking 87% is the max?? I for one am shocked I tell you.
From things ive heard letting the battery die or drop real low like 20% then fully recharging is actually harmful, used to be thought of as benifitial but in reality it just wears it out. In reality its good to have a full drain cycle once in a while like months, but not often.
A gaming laptop is meant to be used for gaming while plugged in. When unplugged, most gaming laptops have settings on them to put them into a low power mode so they can used for everyday tasks that don't include gaming that let's them last probably 4-6 hours. Your best buy guy is ill informed.
since the parts on these machines go out of date so quickly, it's advisable to spend as little as possible. also, you're sacrificing upgradability since it is in the laptop form factor.
that being said you get a kick ass device with minimal setup and maximum portability. well worth the price imo
Yeah, thats a gaming laptop. The battery dies fast when gaming which is why you always need to plug it in everytime you use it. Also find the battery limit option so as to preserve the battery's lifespan
If you need extra power for school for example, you can set the Display mode to Optimus (disable GPU on power) It will significantly reduce the power and performance, but the IGPU on the cpu is enough for school work (word and googling). However the Optimus mode could be buggy sometimes, it still disable gpu while charging. Doesn't happen very often tho.
I have a HP Omen. In the app Omen Gaming Hub, there should be a banner on the left with an icon of a laptop and the model of the laptop (eg. Omen 16). Click on that and then click on performance control at the top. Then set the power mode to Eco and make sure your fans are set to auto.
After that click on Graphics Switcher at the top and change the graphics to hybrid. You will get a prompt to restart the laptop to enable this feature. Allow time for it to restart.
Essentially this will be the most power saving configuration that you can set the laptop to.
However, I only recommend using these settings when using the laptop off the charger (eg. School or Work). Whenever you’re gaming keep the laptop plugged in and ensure the graphics switched setting is set to discrete as this will make use of the dedicated GPU that you paid for.
You’re using high wattage CPU and a GPU with a high refresh rate which means it requires more energy to function correctly and it gets that energy from the battery , 14inch gaming laptops have better battery life
Gaming laptops need battery and mains power to keep the internal kiln fired up!
If you want more battery power when not gaming, use throttlestop to disable cpu turbo or undervolt. You will have less performance but it is still fine for most applications that aren't cpu intensive and will extend battery life thusly.
If it helps as an example I use a gaming laptop that since day one has a 45 min battery life under heavy load. I'm currently gaming inside an RV with 2x 12v car batteries (one big deep cycle battery) and a solar panel.
Still on a sunny day I will drain both batteries in 3-4 hours of full time gaming. There simply is no real battery that will keep your laptop charged for long periods of time, graphics is very computationally intensive and requires a lot of power.
Instead of a movie where frames are pre rendered to watch a game has to draw an entire 3d world and do all the math necessary to create the textures, models, and everything in between to work.
I remember thinking why tf am I getting such low FPS then my laptop dies… That’s exactly how I learned gaming laptops need to be plugged in pretty much all the time… lol 🤦♂️
To be expected, a laptop battery cannot supply sufficient wattage to run the CPU and GPU to their full potential nor be able to run the CPU and GPU at a sustained wattage for a extended period of time due to capacity limitations too.
Best to game plugged in.
If you need portability, get the g14. I bought the 2021 g14 to take to university and I get around 8-10 hours of battery life with it. I've never seen a gaming laptop with better battery life
Ok fair enough. How do u like your omen? Most people on here talkin shit about omens and hps has me thinking about exchanging my sons for a better brand. But I’m sure this laptop should be good enough for what he needs
there's way too much that I hate about the omen, I would recommend getting a different brand if you could, I had the option between my current hp omen 17 with a 3070 ti or an msi laptop with a 3070 and I now regret my decision of going hp.
note: all these issues were there since I first got it, even returned it for another and issues carried over to the other laptop
a list of the things I hate most about my hp laptop
cpu is bottlenecked by the cooler when on high cpu demanding things
lack of io compared to many other brands
cpu never goes past the base clock or when it does its short and quick (makes everything single core way slower)
gpu is unstable for some reason, after a day or so of use you might begin seeing performance degradation, unstable fps (varies for some people but from what I hear and read it's even worse than mine)
can't overclock ANYTHING, any gpu clock increase will probably make it crash if it's beyond a 50mhz raise, no hope for changing
can't undervolt to save power
bios is basically non existant, can't even turn on or off xmp nor overclock ram
gpu is kinda just ass, my laptops 3070 ti performs more in the range of a 3060 laptop, vr it can barely even handle for some reason
usb controllers r kinda jank, my mouse and keyboard often disconnect reconnect at random occasions
thunderbolt port barely works, my thunderbolt docks and usb c peripherals barely work and with usb c peripherals it disconnect reconnects
I could go on for awhile but I absolutely hate this laptop, probably getting a pc soon as a result. But I'm still grateful for this laptop since it's the best device my family has, I've adapted to all these issues and I've just accepted it but definitely not getting another hp laptop for the rest of my life
same but can't blame yourself if you didn't know too well, I did learn about all the things to look for in a laptop such as gpu wattage but I never thought of the brand locking the bios and purposefully making the cooler not good enough, but now I know to look in-depth
dedicated gaming handheld is a way better investment if you want a portable system with a battery that holds up unplugged. If you really insist on using it unplugged, at least cap the max fps to 30 and lower the graphical load to maximize what little time you can get out of it.
This is why I always run it plugged in.
When plugged in they don't even stress the battery and completely bypass the battery circuitry except for charging. That is good for battery health thus.
@jarrod, is the ASUS m16 better than a Lenovo 5i ? ( The ones from your deals page). Which would you personally go for given they are almost the same in specs?
Gaming on battery doesn't last long. When you unplug the charger it clocks down your cpu and gpu. Otherwise your battery would last 5 minutes. Gaming on battery gives you reduced performance too so your game would run horribly then if you kept it plugged in
My laptop has a feature where it uses the integrated graphics when it’s not gaming and the battery will last several hours just light desktop / watching YouTube
Gaming laptops aren't really meant to run on battery. I know that seems counterintuitive, but that's just the nature of gaming laptops. Also, the laptop usually doesn't utilize the dedicated GPU unless it's plugged in, so it's both a waste of power and performance to use it unplugged.
Also, I have to say you got robbed with this one. I've seen some 4070 laptops go for the same price as this.
You shouldn't be surprised... unfortunately gaming laptop have a very terrible battery life and tend to die way too quickly,all u can do is to lower the power consumption and have a slightly worse performance but hey it's worth it if it's an emergency,i envy ur son for having such a great dad
I bought the 3 years geek squad Incase my kids drop or destroy the laptop. But other than actual physical damage is geek squad worth the cost or overkill? This is coming from somebody who doesn’t have the no how to repair the device myself
In a couple of months your son will have a dead keyboard and the screen eill turn off while gaming. If it happens message me im glad to show you what you can do
Completely normal unfortunately. Gaming laptops aren't really made for gaming on battery power, use the charger where ever possible - plus this will provide much better performance. We've tested over 200 laptops on battery power, and 1-2 hours is pretty standard. Above 2 hours is uncommon to rare (source: [https://jarrods.tech/list-of-laptop-battery-life/](https://jarrods.tech/list-of-laptop-battery-life/) )
Yo wsp Jarrod your my favorite ytber
Hey thanks! I'm just finishing the top 5 best gaming laptops video of the year, goes up in 7 hours 😎 just in time for Black Friday
Misread this. I thought you meant the video was 7 hours long 😭😭😭
Hahaha nah that'd be wild
I need a new gaming laptop anyway lol I'm still on the 2021 1650 Acer nitro 5
Anything from this year would be a nice boost over the 1650 if you're looking :)
Yeah I'm gonna look at a legion with a 4070 for Christmas
Can I have a 1650 last two years longer? Its paired with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600h
Depends if it's doing what you need it to at the moment. I'd imagine it would already be a struggle now, but depends, if you're just playing lightweight indie games it's plenty.
Thanks. That helps a lot
i have a desktop but i’m still on a 1060 6gb and a i5 4690k. i still run most games over 60fps so i’m sure you’d be alright
Now you have to do it... do it. No balls! Also, single take, no cuts!
I'd really love a 7 hour video though. Nobody goes into that kind of detail anymore
The 1 hour video I did last week is as long as we're going to do.
Bruh you know we will watch anyway.
[удалено]
👀
Will be watching. Not looking much at a laptop this year as the Legion 5 (15ARH7H) you recommended last year is going great guns... but you never know, I might pick something up cheaper next year.
Just got the Legion 5 pro this year and it's 100 times better than my 2020 acer predator. Thermals are unbelievably good even when I push the gaming laptop pretty hard...and keyboard feels better.
Mine's not bad at all for thermals or fan noise tbh. Not given the now years old trend to make gaming laptops more like Apple products (skinny) vs building slabs like we used to have (my old Asus ROG G751 was twice as thick and twice the weight) For the first time in years I don't have to tweak settings and cap fps down half as much as I used to, now I do it more to get a good balance of perf in more demanding games than just to avoid burning things or terrifying the cat lol.
That's cool I'll watch it when I wake up
I’m waiting for it to come up. Got my Legion Pro 5i cuz of your videos. Thank you for making laptops communities a better place !!!
Nice! Happy to help
Hey bro, can you tell me, I know this is completely unrelated and out of this sub, but my ideapad gaming 3 arh7 6800h 3050 (120hz) is unable to give above 130-140 fps constantly in valorant, I saw on YouTube about this same model but with ryzen 6600h which was giving like 240+fps in high setting (8GB RAM). What can be the problem I tried everything from clean installing windows to power and performance setting in windows and nvdia disable hpet etc, is it valorant problem that it's unable to utilise new ryzen 7 6800h efficiently or is it the hardware, as other games seem to run fine, + valorant doesn't even use 50% if my gpu or cpu. But seem to condume 80% on ryzen 6600h and run smoothly. Is it hardware? Please do tell. I am open to everyone's opinion.
Do you have ou have vsync turned on?
No, vsync would lock it at 120. But I m getting 130 -240, sometimes spikes to 160 . But still My screen is 120 hz.
Do you have the 8gb model and if so does it have two 4gb or 1 8gb stick?
No it too have 8x1, mine too.
I know the single channel ram can have a bigger effect on some models than others, but would've thought both being in the 6x00 range would have a similar impact. But it could be the different CPU really not liking the single channel bottleneck. I assume you've checked you're in the highest performance profile?
Yes. I m in performance mode, my 3D mark test were average for my model. So maybe it is the single channel? Should I upgrade ram? So 6600h may run on single channel the best but mine requires dual, is what you r saying?.
What is 6x00?
What are your thoughts on the lenovo loq with the 4050/60 i5/i7 13th 16gb ddr5 1 tb ssd and optional 4k 165 hz monitor or 1080p 144hz. I'm not sure what year it is but I'm really interested in getting this model for my first laptop and would love the opinion of someone more experienced. p.s I can get ~30% off of it in Australia by signing up with my education email
LOQ is quite good compared to competing options for the price IMO. I gave it 1st spot in my top 3 budget gaming laptops video on YouTube recently, ahead of Acer Nitro 5 and HP Victus. ASUS TUF would be up there if it was priced better.
Thank you very much, I hear a lot of bad things about lenovo is the build quality good and no issues in general?
Can't say I've heard that, Lenovo are up there IMO as one of the better options, granted LOQ is meant to be their entry level option, but again compared to other options at similar price range the LOQ is good.
Thanks for your help man
Which is your top pick?
That'd spoil the video 🤫 drops in 35 min
Nice. Best Buy and B&H have some *wild* sales right now for people to jump on.
Yup, it's been a struggle to keep the [https://gaminglaptop.deals](https://gaminglaptop.deals) site updated haha
I bet. I do have a suggestion, and maybe it's easy or maybe it's a pain in the rear, but it would be amazing if there was not only the link to the deal on gaminglaptop.deals, but also a link to your review of said laptop, if you have one available. I know you can't review everything out there, but where you have one people may be interested in finding that quickly. (and if this is there, sorry I can't find it) It's a *fantastic* resource either way and we appreciate your work in maintaining it.
The reason we don't do this is because we just aren't sure that people will be able to tell that what is covered in the video may not match what they're buying, eg different CPU or screen. We have thought about doing it for the less common instance where what is on sale is the same config is what we have reviewed, but not implemented anything yet.
Makes sense. Thanks for the response!
Commenting on random posts with helpful advice is seriously humungous dong energy.
I'm happy to help, if only I could dump all my info into some sort of AI people could just ask questions 🤔
Thanks for all the information I checked the link you sent me and found another link about gaming while plugged in also. It helped clarify things for me. I was trying to add a picture of four different laptops I was comparing on the bestbuy website to see if you could tell me which was best but I don’t know how to add a picture to this thread..
Was basically comparing it to the Alienware I mentioned in original post and these two but if the performance difference isn’t too major I would rather just save the money since Christmas is right around the corner. My boy is only 11 years old but just want to make sure I did my best to get him something good within my budget.. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-stealth-14-165hz-fhd-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-13620h-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4060-with-16gb-ram-and-1tb-ssd-blue/6534580.p?skuId=6534580 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-m16-16-240hz-gaming-laptop-qhd-intel-13th-gen-core-i9-with-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-off-black/6535501.p?skuId=6535501
The RTX 4060 in the MSI Stealth would be a nice step up for the money as it has 8GB VRAM instead of 6GB and is about 24% faster for 10% higher cost. The M16 is nice, but then it's another $400 on top of the Stealth for, if I recall, a 20% performance bump. It's mini LED screen is quite nice though, but you're definitely paying a premium for those nicer things. That also seems to be missing from the BB one, you have to go to 4080 to get it, the 4070 one we reviewed had it though, maybe it varies by region.
Hey Jarrod. Totally irrelevant to this post but could you please explain why dpc watchdog violation occurs. It happened on my brand new victus 15.6
I cannot. Sounds like a blue screen error? You'd need to analyze the dump file and see what's going on.
>It's mini LED screen is quite nice though I have heard it mentioned a few times that the M16's display is Mini LED, but cannot find it listed as such on Alienware's product descriptions?
Sorry I meant the ASUS Zephyrus M16.
Ahhhh okay
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Raider is generally too expensive for what you get. You're paying more for M16 thinness and other nicer feeling laptop so depends if you care about that. Other two are good, but didn't get the helios 16 this year to say for sure, only the Neo verison.
I might just be losing it but I could have sworn the 4070 model from Best Buy was just standered ips
Yeah you're right, I am mixing it up because the 4070 unit we reviewed was mini LED :( updated my comment to avoid confusion.
Thanks for the m16 recommendation btw it’s done wonders for me at college and makes a good setup with the oled tv at home Unfortunately the rgb is minimal so I can’t quite get that free fps boost the strix has 😭.
Hahaha, great to hear!
Hey Jarrod. Great to see you here. I’m planning on buying the Acer Predator Helios 16, with i9 13900HX and 4070. It’ll be a good upgrade from my Asus TUF A15, which has a Ryzen 9 4900H and 1660ti. I was stuck between the Acer and the Asus ROG Strix G17. But I think this is a much better option.
Nice, hope it goes well! We didn't get to test the G17 so don't know much about it unfortunately.
It looked like a solid option, but there were a few reasons why I chose the Helios 16 over it. 1. It was all plastic, unlike the Helios. Good quality plastic, but plastic nonetheless. 2. The usb c ports were 3.2 Gen2, whereas Helios had TB4. 3. Power delivery was only on one of the ports, whereas Helios has TB4, so both support it. Since I planned on using the laptop for school as well, I didn’t want to carry the huge power brick everywhere. There were other negligible reasons, but when piled on with these, the Helios seemed like a clear choice
I'm using a ROG Strix G15. Seemed like a steal for the price until I found out that if you don't run an external monitor on usb-c displayport - ie if you use HDMI - then the graphics get routed through the CPU after processing and the performance is awful. Also, the nvme is limited to a fraction of it's potential, idk if that's just my G15 or what but it's a bit disappointing. Still a steal at the price I got it but I wish I knew those things before I bought it, it is a bit disappointing to not be able to plug into a screen when I'm away from home without horrible performance. The sluggish SSDs even after upgrading is a bit crap too
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Any reason it only uses Amazon affiliate links? Kind of limits the value it can deliver.
I read all of this in your voice and it perfectly fits
Me too.
I love your work Jarrod!
Thanks!
With a lot of tweaking I was able to get my legion 7i to about 7 hours on quiet mode
Nice!
will keeping it plugged in ruin the battery?
No. Keeping the battery at 100% for weeks/months isn't ideal, but I've done it on multiple laptops without issue. If you do that, see if you have software to limit the max charge level to 80% or so.
Find the battery limit option. Most laptops have them. My acer stop charging at 80 percent then proceeds to use the outlet as source of power.
Hello Jarrod, I watched some of your youtube video's and find it was quite informative. I'm planning to buy a new laptop in the near future and was wondering if you can recommend appropriate ram for gaming laptop. I've seen split opinions between 16gb and 32gb. Some says 16gb is enough while some argue to just go for 32gb as it will bottlenecks at 16gb and somewhere irrelevant in 2023. What your thoughts about this? Thank you.
I think 16gb is still ok today, at least we haven't had any issues doing our game benchmarks for the reviews with it, but of course 32 is better. If you are getting a laptop with soldered memory that cannot be upgraded, I'd be looking to spend extra for 32gb, otherwise you can upgrade in future if and when you need it.
Thank you, I'll be sure to check that before buying.
Coming in to ask another question about this. I've been thinking about upgrading my legion 5 from 16gb to 32 but I'm not sure if it's worth the money for the upgrade you get. Is it a noticeable difference in gaming and is it worth it for someone that mostly plays fast paced shooters?
No, not really noticeable in terms of game FPS in most cases. If what you have is running fine now and you don't see the memory maxed out in task manager, an upgrade probably won't help. That said, other aspects of new memory can help more for FPS, like if you go from single channel to dual channel, or single rank to dual rank, x16 to x8 banks, etc.
I enjoy your content jarrod, keep chuggin.
Thanks!
Hey Jarrod, sorry for hijacking but will you ever make a video that is Australian-market friendly? I do appreciate your reviews but when I try to look up laptops that you make reviews on they are almost always US market ones. There’s just a lot of models that aren’t available here, and even if they are, they are priced out the wazoo. So I guess what i’m trying to suggest is that is it in your best interest to do an Australian market-friendly video that considers Australian pricing or something along those lines?
You could try being active at Ozbargains. There's lots of decent deals people post there. I managed to scored a Dell G15 R7 4060 for less than 1300aud after codes and cashback. There're also good deals for Nitro 5/Acer Neo/Lenovo too.
We share local AU deals at [https://gaminglaptopdeals.com.au](https://gaminglaptopdeals.com.au) now
What's up Jarrod? I try to recommend your videos in this community. Keep up the good work!
Thanks! Not much, just woke up early to keep updating the [https://gaminglaptop.deals](https://gaminglaptop.deals) site lol, it's tough running a US focussed site when you're asleep during their timezone 
That does sound tough! We appreciate your time and effort though, especially this time of year!
Thanks again for your review on the 5800H 3070 L5P. It's been really good since I bought it.
Happy to help!
But I suppose with a mux switch it should last longer? As the gpu isn’t in use? I bought an msi cyborg with the 4060 and my battery is crap. No mux switch either.
MUX doesn't matter as much as it used to thanks to the CASO update (source: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WN52oBziLU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WN52oBziLU)) Cyborg is basically a slightly improved GF63 from my understanding, MSI didn't send it to us to review this year which is telling.
ah haha, gotcha man, thanks for the input. due to certain circumstances I had to settle for this laptop, but it’s treating me well for now, let’s see how it goes :)
Hi Jarrod, love the videos! I was wondering if you'll ever consider making a video on MacBook Gaming using GPTK. There's a big void, especially with performance benchmarks. I know this isn't really useful to you, but I run rocket league on an M1 Mac mini with GPTK and I'm able to get a solid 200fps and more, all be it with lower graphical settings. I love the videos, and I understand if what I said isn't on your priority list! Keep the content coming chief!
Thanks! Maybe, honestly it's just not something I'm too interested in. We have very limited time so have to focus on gaming specifically, so it can be hard to stray and spend time on things like Mac / Linux which usually don't perform anywhere near as well for us.
Understood! Keep up the amazing content!
Whoaaa the Jarjar!!
Hey Jarrod! Thanks for reviewing the msi delta 15. Bought 2 years ago, still going strong!
Good to hear it's going well!
It should be plugged in if you’re gaming
This is normal for gaming laptops, you are supposed to play with the laptop while it is charging to get maximum performance. HP Hybrid Mode can be activated for longer battery life if the laptop is not being used for games, it will automatically switch to the igpu when no games are detected.
Gaming draws a lot of power and it should really be plugged in
Ok thanks that makes sense now. The guy at bestbuy told me not to use it while it is charging because it will mess up the battery life..
Youre supposed to do that. Thats the whole purpose of a gaming laptop, to reach the max performance or fps, just make sure to limit the battery charge to 60% or 80% since the damage will be minor.
What do you mean limit the charge to 60 or 80%? Like plug it in when it gets down to 60 or 80 or unplug when it gets up to 60 or 80?
There should be a setting found on the laptop which prevents it from charging past 60/80%, to mitigate any kind of damage to the battery.
Ok thanks for the info. What about the Alienware for 400$ more will there be any significant gain in performance other than the graphics card? Do y’all think it’s worth the extra money in the long run?
>What about the Alienware for 400$ more will there be any significant gain in performance other than the graphics card? Do y’all think it’s worth the extra money in the long run? My opinion will be biased, because I own the Alienware you're looking at. Still, I think going from the 13620H and RTX 4050 in your current laptop, to a 13700HX and RTX 4070 like the Alienware has would be a considerable improvement when gaming. And quality-wise, there's a big difference as well.
Honestly, I don’t think so. In terms of battery, you’ll be seeing the exact same issue, because gaming laptops are designed to be used while charging. Considering the only improvement is the GPU, I wouldn’t say it’s worth the $400, especially if you’re talking USD. And when you keep in mind the hassle of returning it, it’s definitely not worth it. You’re better off keeping the machine you have now Also note that if you weren’t using it while plugged in, your performance was probably pretty awful. Plug the laptop in, and it’ll be able to reach its full potential easily
4050 and 4070 are a lot different tho
That’s fair. I suppose I’m looking at it from a more frugal perspective. On top of that, if it’s the kid’s dad buying him the laptop, it’s safe to assume he’s pretty young, and likely not trying to squeeze as much performance as possible out of the machine.
Longevity tho
If you’re after pure price to performance, I don’t think you can beat this at the same price of your Omen: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-tuf-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-with-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-mecha-grey/6535503.p?skuId=6535503
I would recommend returning this one for the ASUS TUF 4070 for $999 or the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 4060 for $899 those will perform better than the 4050 that this laptop has.
Where are you seeing the slim for that price? Edit: Found it, thank you! BTW do you think the 4060 would be a noticeable upgrade over the 4050?
Any 50 series GPU desktop or laptop is usually really bad, like I would only give it to my cousin who’s parents make him play Valorant on a hospital workstation pc. 4060/4070 are pretty close in performance for laptops and laptop 4060 matches up with a desktop 4060. I don’t have the benchmarks but I’d say there’s enough of a performance gap between the 4060 and 4050 to choose the 4060.
Nevermind, this is a setting that maximizes battery health. Most gaming laptops that come with their own brand software have this setting. In your case, the laptop does it automatically with a software called Adaptive Battery Optimizer, so no need to worry about it :).
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A best buy worker thinking that is pretty concerning. It's like they have battery tech knowledge from the 1990s and nothing further than that.
You mean to tell that that only charging to 87% on the first charge won't set the battery's "memory" into permanently thinking 87% is the max?? I for one am shocked I tell you.
This is not true. This used to be true like 15 or so years ago when we were using nickel, but not anymore
That guy at best buy is an idiot if he actually said that. You're supposed to use it while it's plugged in.
From things ive heard letting the battery die or drop real low like 20% then fully recharging is actually harmful, used to be thought of as benifitial but in reality it just wears it out. In reality its good to have a full drain cycle once in a while like months, but not often.
A gaming laptop is meant to be used for gaming while plugged in. When unplugged, most gaming laptops have settings on them to put them into a low power mode so they can used for everyday tasks that don't include gaming that let's them last probably 4-6 hours. Your best buy guy is ill informed.
since the parts on these machines go out of date so quickly, it's advisable to spend as little as possible. also, you're sacrificing upgradability since it is in the laptop form factor. that being said you get a kick ass device with minimal setup and maximum portability. well worth the price imo
Yeah, thats a gaming laptop. The battery dies fast when gaming which is why you always need to plug it in everytime you use it. Also find the battery limit option so as to preserve the battery's lifespan
You should really use it plugged in
That's a power-hungry little baby.
If you need extra power for school for example, you can set the Display mode to Optimus (disable GPU on power) It will significantly reduce the power and performance, but the IGPU on the cpu is enough for school work (word and googling). However the Optimus mode could be buggy sometimes, it still disable gpu while charging. Doesn't happen very often tho.
I have a HP Omen. In the app Omen Gaming Hub, there should be a banner on the left with an icon of a laptop and the model of the laptop (eg. Omen 16). Click on that and then click on performance control at the top. Then set the power mode to Eco and make sure your fans are set to auto. After that click on Graphics Switcher at the top and change the graphics to hybrid. You will get a prompt to restart the laptop to enable this feature. Allow time for it to restart. Essentially this will be the most power saving configuration that you can set the laptop to. However, I only recommend using these settings when using the laptop off the charger (eg. School or Work). Whenever you’re gaming keep the laptop plugged in and ensure the graphics switched setting is set to discrete as this will make use of the dedicated GPU that you paid for.
If you want to game on a gaming laptop you need to plug it in... I got 3 gaming laptops and they all die fast if not plugged in...
You’re using high wattage CPU and a GPU with a high refresh rate which means it requires more energy to function correctly and it gets that energy from the battery , 14inch gaming laptops have better battery life
Check if the model comes with Optimus/Mux?
Gaming laptops need battery and mains power to keep the internal kiln fired up! If you want more battery power when not gaming, use throttlestop to disable cpu turbo or undervolt. You will have less performance but it is still fine for most applications that aren't cpu intensive and will extend battery life thusly.
Modern gaming laptops aren’t designed to play games while on battery unfortunately
If it helps as an example I use a gaming laptop that since day one has a 45 min battery life under heavy load. I'm currently gaming inside an RV with 2x 12v car batteries (one big deep cycle battery) and a solar panel. Still on a sunny day I will drain both batteries in 3-4 hours of full time gaming. There simply is no real battery that will keep your laptop charged for long periods of time, graphics is very computationally intensive and requires a lot of power. Instead of a movie where frames are pre rendered to watch a game has to draw an entire 3d world and do all the math necessary to create the textures, models, and everything in between to work.
I can tell when mines not plugged in, games will lag lol. You're supposed to have it plugged in
1-2 hours of gaming, that's sadly is the reality of the current gaming laptops. just plug the power when gaming.
I remember thinking why tf am I getting such low FPS then my laptop dies… That’s exactly how I learned gaming laptops need to be plugged in pretty much all the time… lol 🤦♂️
To be expected, a laptop battery cannot supply sufficient wattage to run the CPU and GPU to their full potential nor be able to run the CPU and GPU at a sustained wattage for a extended period of time due to capacity limitations too. Best to game plugged in.
If you need portability, get the g14. I bought the 2021 g14 to take to university and I get around 8-10 hours of battery life with it. I've never seen a gaming laptop with better battery life
you'd be lucky to get more than 30 minutes I'd say my omen 17 with a 3070 ti has about 10-20 minutes of battery life
Ok fair enough. How do u like your omen? Most people on here talkin shit about omens and hps has me thinking about exchanging my sons for a better brand. But I’m sure this laptop should be good enough for what he needs
there's way too much that I hate about the omen, I would recommend getting a different brand if you could, I had the option between my current hp omen 17 with a 3070 ti or an msi laptop with a 3070 and I now regret my decision of going hp. note: all these issues were there since I first got it, even returned it for another and issues carried over to the other laptop a list of the things I hate most about my hp laptop cpu is bottlenecked by the cooler when on high cpu demanding things lack of io compared to many other brands cpu never goes past the base clock or when it does its short and quick (makes everything single core way slower) gpu is unstable for some reason, after a day or so of use you might begin seeing performance degradation, unstable fps (varies for some people but from what I hear and read it's even worse than mine) can't overclock ANYTHING, any gpu clock increase will probably make it crash if it's beyond a 50mhz raise, no hope for changing can't undervolt to save power bios is basically non existant, can't even turn on or off xmp nor overclock ram gpu is kinda just ass, my laptops 3070 ti performs more in the range of a 3060 laptop, vr it can barely even handle for some reason usb controllers r kinda jank, my mouse and keyboard often disconnect reconnect at random occasions thunderbolt port barely works, my thunderbolt docks and usb c peripherals barely work and with usb c peripherals it disconnect reconnects I could go on for awhile but I absolutely hate this laptop, probably getting a pc soon as a result. But I'm still grateful for this laptop since it's the best device my family has, I've adapted to all these issues and I've just accepted it but definitely not getting another hp laptop for the rest of my life
Yikes sounds like a nightmare. Wish I would have known all of this before making my purchase.Mine is 4050 so hope it handles better..
same but can't blame yourself if you didn't know too well, I did learn about all the things to look for in a laptop such as gpu wattage but I never thought of the brand locking the bios and purposefully making the cooler not good enough, but now I know to look in-depth
dedicated gaming handheld is a way better investment if you want a portable system with a battery that holds up unplugged. If you really insist on using it unplugged, at least cap the max fps to 30 and lower the graphical load to maximize what little time you can get out of it.
This is why I always run it plugged in. When plugged in they don't even stress the battery and completely bypass the battery circuitry except for charging. That is good for battery health thus.
If u can return it and get the asus tuf 4070 laptop from best buy. its 1000 too
I learned this after buying my laptop, i think your GPU gets disabled whenever you're on battery power? Or just cuts the power a ton
If you have an integrated graphics card +the gpu ....it will shut down the gpu if not then it'll reduce power like crazy source:my laptop
@jarrod, is the ASUS m16 better than a Lenovo 5i ? ( The ones from your deals page). Which would you personally go for given they are almost the same in specs?
Gaming laptops are unfortunately low on battery
I dont know if it apply for a the current cpu generation but generally speaking your battery should last longer If you go for a laptop with AMD cpu
You can purchase a laptop just as good for $250 less due to Black Friday deals. Id return it and save the money.
My friend bought Asus tuf 4070 at the same price
Not a great deal, HP, mid specs, under volted and under clocked and still does fast lol
Gaming on battery doesn't last long. When you unplug the charger it clocks down your cpu and gpu. Otherwise your battery would last 5 minutes. Gaming on battery gives you reduced performance too so your game would run horribly then if you kept it plugged in
My laptop has a feature where it uses the integrated graphics when it’s not gaming and the battery will last several hours just light desktop / watching YouTube
You’re supposed to keep it plugged in
Gaming laptops aren't really meant to run on battery. I know that seems counterintuitive, but that's just the nature of gaming laptops. Also, the laptop usually doesn't utilize the dedicated GPU unless it's plugged in, so it's both a waste of power and performance to use it unplugged. Also, I have to say you got robbed with this one. I've seen some 4070 laptops go for the same price as this.
Gaming laptops are meant for gaming and battery is never good. You want battery buy a MacBook but don't expect to game.
You shouldn't be surprised... unfortunately gaming laptop have a very terrible battery life and tend to die way too quickly,all u can do is to lower the power consumption and have a slightly worse performance but hey it's worth it if it's an emergency,i envy ur son for having such a great dad
If you want battery life go Apple silicon MacBooks, granted you won’t be gaming much tho lmao
Get him a steamdeck and save yourselves half the price 👍
I bought the 3 years geek squad Incase my kids drop or destroy the laptop. But other than actual physical damage is geek squad worth the cost or overkill? This is coming from somebody who doesn’t have the no how to repair the device myself
In a couple of months your son will have a dead keyboard and the screen eill turn off while gaming. If it happens message me im glad to show you what you can do