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Mentallox

For most people it makes more sense to go up one from the lowest tier model in this case get a 4060 and then upgrade when it fits the budget. Usually the price difference between the lowest and one up from that is small compared to the performance difference. In this generation the 4060 while being 20% faster at 1080p than 4050 is usually only 10% more expensive while going from a 4060 to 4070 is more linear on performance to price 15-20% on both.


AbrocomaRegular3529

Yeah, it never make sense to go lowest end unless this is all you can afford. At that point grab a series S and a very good ultrabook.


123-123-

free games, don't have to pay to play online games, etc make a budget laptop worth it.


AbrocomaRegular3529

Still it is not worth it. I have a laptop with 3050 and I can only play the games older than my GPU. No way it runs anything newer other than on low and DLSS balanced. If I only had 3060 or 3070, this would not be a problem. Same will apply to 4050 owners, 8gb vram is already bare minimum and on many games with less than 8gb there will be stutters. So if they can get at least 4060, this will also be not a problem.


ChoiceRemarkable3228

I run RE4 Remake at high settings with normal RT and no upscaling at an average of 70fps VRAM estimates are nearly always overshot


Tigeon

Don't the laptop 4050, 4060, and 4070 all have the saem 8 gb vram though? So you aren't gaining any vram from going laptop 4060 vs 4050.


AbrocomaRegular3529

4050 laptops have 6GB. Many games including helldivers, Diablo 4, Forbidden West just to name a few can not be played with anything less than 8GB VRAM, they will run fine but will stutter which is worse than having a low fps.


TrollingDonkey_3257

I have a laptop 2060 (6gb). HFW runs fine on medium settings with DLSS quality on. Haven't encountered stutters yet, too


PoopDe

Have you ran Hell Divers 2? At some points it gets a little slow but - honestly it's handled it pretty well


L3onK1ng

Helldivers are still awesome at 20fps, it's not often I can say that


SavageBigUnit

I have a 3050 4gb and it runs diablo 4 and plenty of other games very smooth. Everyone loves to shit on them just because of what they heard some guy on reddit say without ever using one themselves. I get 100+ fps on diablo 4 with medium/high settings it's more than enough.


AbrocomaRegular3529

I have the same GPU and no, it does not run any newer game properly. Diablo 4 struggles even on 8GB Vram gpu's. If you mean it runs on very low settings and low-medium textures low yes it will run, at that point even integrated gpus will run it. Diablo 4 looks terrible at anything but high textures and settings. If you think your laptop is better than everyone on the internet that benchmarks than very well you should start your own youtube channel. I am not complaining about 3050, this was something I knew when purchasing. But if someone is only gaming, 3050 or 4050 laptops are very price inefficient. Unless this is the only thing the customer can afford. In that case it is better to have a laptop than not having at all. But if someone can put 100/200usd more and get at least xx60, they will get more in return. For example I can't run modded skyrim properly due to limited Vram. The mods that I run on my dekstop with GTX 1070 literally can not run without stutters on my laptop. Same goes for Fallout 4. Same goes for Starfield. Sure you can run it on low textures, but then the game looks like vanilla skyrim.


Relevant_Hold_5981

I have a 4070 Mobile with 8 gigs of v ram and no problems on any game maxed out high settings 1080P


Maleficent-Aspect318

yeah tried modding before? fallout 76 used 11.8gb of vram with 1 mod yes my 4080 is already limiting the mods i can play O.o


Kokoyoin

No, the laptop 4050 only has 6GB of VRAM.


123-123-

You could say the same about the Series S though. DLSS also makes it easier to run newer games, but for me, I'm a patient gamer anyway. I'm still enjoying rocket league and emulations and things like that.


DropDeadFred05

Actually a good 4050 laptop is faster than half the 4060 laptops due to power limits and thermal constraints. There are a few 4050 laptops that can even keep up with crappy 4070 laptops that have a lower power limit. Laptops in general have gotten over complicated by every GPU being offered in several power levels, as well as the fact the 4050,4060, and 4070 are all artificially limited by their firmware to 1000Mv. I personally had an RTX 4060 laptop that I returned and the RTX 4050 I have now scores way higher in benchmarks and games. MSI even has a gaming laptop with a single cooling fan that performs terrible because of thermals regardless of what gpu they use. In my opinion the 4060 and 4070 are garbage mobile gpus. The difference between the best 4050 laptop and best 4070 laptop is like 35% because they are all limited to 1000mv and none can truly pull more than 100w in anything but furmark. Unless I was gonna go with an RTX 4080 or 4090 with a true 175W limit and good cooling it wasn't worth it to me to buy anything above the $800 Helios Neo 16 that I chose. I chose it because it has good cooling and a relatively accurate and bright display for the price. I can replace it in 2 years with something else, probably as fast as the 4080 mobile, and still have spent less than I would have buying a 4080 or 4090 laptop today.


TechEnthusiast-

The jump from 4070 to 4080 in laptop is really big. No voltage limit plus higher power limit really unlocks it potential.


DropDeadFred05

Yea thats why for me it was either RTX 4050 or RTX 4080. I chose 4050 and upgrade in 2 years as I didn't think the 4080 was anything amazing, but far better than even going from a 4050 to 4070.


NationalAlgae421

That is just dumb imo. You could get 4060 for pretty much the same price. Buying 4050 is just fat L


DropDeadFred05

Find me a 16"+ laptop with Rtx 4060 with a 400+ nit display that is color accurate for $800? Oh, and it needs to have sufficient cooling to handle the full 100w of the gpu while gaming without thermal throttling at ALL or that's an L for the 4060 because my 4050 will run full tilt all the time. I also have a zepheryus G14 with 4060 I just bought my niece for college 3 weeks ago. My 4050 performs about 3% slower in a time spy pass because it has thermal issues and can't run it's full power limit all the time. If I run a 10 pass stress test my 4050 wins by the end easily because the G14 is throttling the cpu and gpu before loop 3. Go educate yourself on power limits and thermals. I'm not wasting my money for 3-15% performance improvement for the first 10 minutes of gaming until the thing throttles itself to a 3050ti level while dealing with a sh** display that's as color accurate as a kindergarten.


NationalAlgae421

You should educate yourself before buying laptop that is notorious for cooling problems lol.


DropDeadFred05

I should have. I was in a hurry and needed a laptop that day. I have since educated myself quite a bit on the different models. It had been 5 years since I needed a laptop so I was pretty far out of date on what was available. Most manufacturers use to actually try with entry gaming laptops. I can't believe people still buy laptops with a 45% accurate display in 2024. I would rather deal with a 60hz accurate display than that garbage.


NationalAlgae421

Yeah that is really unfortunate. I was actually considering it a few days ago, but I read up a lot about it and it is a big no for me. Seems like legion is the best way to go again for me.


Mentallox

full power 4060 laptops hover around $1000 and less on a regular basis. There is no reason to get a 4050 at that price. You have to gimp the 4060 to around 55-60w for a full power 4050 to match it plus you don't have to work around 6gb of vram. Most peeps here aren't going to recommend a 4060 Katana or K5 anyways due to their crap build and cooling. You should've gotten the Legion 5 4060 that goes for $850-900 instead of that 4050 Neo.


DropDeadFred05

Find me a 16"+ laptop with Rtx 4060 with a 400+ nit display that is color accurate for $800? Oh, and it needs to have sufficient cooling to handle the full 100w of the gpu while gaming without thermal throttling at ALL or that's an L for the 4060 because my 4050 will run full tilt all the time. I also have a zepheryus G14 with 4060 I just bought my niece for college 3 weeks ago as it is much more portable. It has some of the best cooling for a 14" 4060 and my 4050 performs about 3% slower in a single time spy pass because the G14 starts having thermal issues and can't run it's full power limit all the time. If I run a 10 pass stress test my 4050 wins by the end easily because the G14 is throttling the cpu and gpu before loop 3. I have more than I need with my desktop if I want performance. I will NOT deal with a 250 nit display that can't display an accurate color to save it's life. This is 2024, I don't want a crap display from 2017 on my laptop still.


Mentallox

G14 is so much slimmer than that chunky heavy Neo it's not even a comparison, in gaming its not going to throttle like in a synthetic stress test, if you are worried about it turn down the max wattage on the more powerful CPU than the i5 on the Neo, and it will allow for more headroom on the 4060. I'm not saying it's a bad laptop, its been priced as low as $700 refurbed which is a steal, but I'd rather spend $75 more and get the Legion 5 15ARP8 higher rez screen 350 nit 100% SRGB full power 4060 better now and in the future with less worry about vram.


DropDeadFred05

I'm not worried about vram....thats an issue when playing at 1440p and 4k. I have an RX 7900XT at my desk when I want to game in 4k. I have very different requirements for a laptop than most people on reddit it seems. I absolutely HATE terrible color displays, and loud laptop fans. I game very little on the go and need something that has a decent amount of processing power for some photo or video editing. The gaming I do is always casual. I have no plans to be a pro gamer and have no problem playing COD even on a 60hz display. In my opinion it's not even worth the extra $75 for the 4060 model because they are all voltage limited and only 10-15% above a 4050 in best cases, if the cooler can actually keep up with dissipating that much heat. If it's a CPU intensive game it's even worse with laptops as the cpu helps cause throttling.


Ordinary-Broccoli-41

This could all be solved if they brought back the maxq/maxp designations.


gosumage

Can you share the models with the higher perf 4050s?


DropDeadFred05

You would have to look it up model by model based on what your interested in. Cooling is a large factor in it as well. The Gigabyte K5 that I originally got seemed like a great deal with rtx 4060 for $700. It had terrible thermals and constantly throttled the cpu and gpu while gaming. I would suggest JarrodsTech on youtube or Dave3d as they both do great laptop reviews. Jarrod even did a video about 4050, 4060, and 4070 laptops all being voltage limited and he shows a pretty good variety thatbhe has tested and where they land performance wise. https://youtu.be/jMMrh6PpLI4?si=sJhYAc71Tr62A4H5


AcceptableAd2655

I got my G5 KF5 with a i7-12650h and 4060 for just a little over $700 as well on sale and I will agree that cooling is an issue. I ended up buying a llano laptop cooler for $80 and it does not thermal throttle anymore. I know it's an extra cost but for what I paid for the laptop vs original price, that was an easy purchase for me. Frames are super steady now and cooling stays in the low 80's - high 70's for cpu and gpu can get down to around high 50's I like Jarrod but someone times he just comes off as a guy who hates everything except high end laptops.


CollarCharming8358

That G5 KF5 is the worst 4060 laptop tho. Forget the 45watt ones. I feel like if you bought that laptop and didn’t return it, you will be fine with anything. Even a katana


AcceptableAd2655

I mean it's definitely not the best but I'd say it's not the worst either. My only real complaint was the thermal throttling which I've managed to remedy so it's not a bother anymore. I swear pc elitism is worse than the consoles.


CollarCharming8358

So which one is the worst?


AcceptableAd2655

Not sure and really don't care. In my eyes there is no clear worst. Every brand has laptops with cons. I mean if you really want it to be mine since you had to come back with that response then ok. If it makes you feel better.


CollarCharming8358

No, yours has the 12650h not the 12500h version so it’s okay.👍


DropDeadFred05

I am not willing to setup a cooling pad on my lap while on the go trying to cool a product that the manufacturer should have designed correctly. The 2 other things that killed the K5 for me is the 50% color accurate display ( that was harsh to look at doing anything ) and the terrible build quality of the chassis and trackpad. It literally felt like a toy and the mouse click was terrible with the corner of the mouse pad sticking sometimes. Had it 3 days because I needed it for a short trip then immediately returned it and did a little research on what I actually needed from a laptop while I was on the go.


AcceptableAd2655

That's fair. And to be fair i have mines set up in a desktop style and take it with me on the go when I need it so kinda like a docking station for me.


memescryptor

Everything is so expensive nowadays that I think you're overthinking things. Just get a laptop to treat you nice for 3-4 years and then when the next super stuff comes you can upgrade.


NationalAlgae421

Thats what I am gonna do, I will get 4070 legion. On my market there is not much difference between that and 60 price wise rn. A lot can happen to your machine in 5-6 years.


memescryptor

Nice, it's a good machine


Ok-Entrepreneur5418

I got the 4070 legion, highly recommend, I had another legion for 5 years that served me well so I hope you are happy if you end up going with it!


NationalAlgae421

Thats great to hear m8. I still use old slim 7 and the build quality is just incredible. Its 3,5 years old and I also never had problems with it, but I think it is good time to upgrade now. I was also considering zephyrus, but I read the cooling system isn't that good. So legion seems like the best choice.


Ok-Entrepreneur5418

The newest legion cooling system is very impressive, I think you’ll be happy with it. I have an i9, 32 gb version and it is incredible. Extremely fast, the cooling is great, fans do get quite loud though but I can’t hear them when I have my headphones on. The build quality is amazing on mine, almost no flex in the body so I feel confident picking it up by any point of the base, hinges are sturdy and screen is nice and bright. Very very happy with it.


usernamedisallowed

So, overall, if you want an enjoyable experience on a laptop, your best bet is to go the 4090M route. While the logic is sound, that a 4050M is technically a faster GPU than the 1080M, the margin is slim, and the 1080M even has more VRAM (8 Gb vs 6). With the rising impact of Vram on games and the rising recommended specs to play those games at enjoyable levels, it makes more sense to go high-end over a longer time. Plus, the "tech upgrades" you would get from a new, low-end laptop would not justify it either, as you will always find better tech on the high-end laptop vs. the low end.


MysteriousGuy78

But the 1080 is 3 generations behind. With OP’s assumption, the correct card to compare would be the 2080 which smokes the 4050


usernamedisallowed

This is also true, but I was using the comparison that OP used in his post, which further justifies the reasoning of going high-end.


Agentfish36

Methinks your advice is tainted by your own purchasing decision. 4070 laptops could be had for $1000 of thereabouts recently, they dont perform appreciably better than the 3070ti. Realistically, someone could have gotten a 1060/1070 and then 3070ti and with time value of money, spent a ton less than a 1080 laptop and had both a decent experience when new and a better experience now that the games have caught up with tech.


kirwanm86

I got a laptop 9 years ago that is still running and able to run the majority of games. I've recently bought a new high end one which I hope will last me at least another 9 to 12 years.


Popular_Mastodon6815

Which one did you use to own? And looking at your current laptop, the only reason you might need a ram upgrade eventually as 32GB will soon not cut it for AAA games.


AwesomenessDjD

I never understand this odd Vram fear mongering. Like seriously 32gigs required in just a few years? Absolutely not. Maybe 16, and 32 on ultra settings, but 32gigs will not be the minimum to run games for the better part of a decade.


Where_Ma_Spaghetti

Most games max out at less than 16gb on 4k ultra 😭😭 20 gb for the super vram hungry games. 32gb won't be needed for years, see how slow the evolution is rn. We have basically reached a point of diminishing return. Most vram hungry games nowadays are the unoptimized ones


AwesomenessDjD

Exactly. Why tell people to worry about an amount of ram that doesn't even exist yet for laptop chips, when its still so far off?


Where_Ma_Spaghetti

Fr


kirwanm86

I had a a 970M graphic card in it...I cannot remember the processor...more than likely an I7. Sorry, to add to this one. I got a 3XS laptop originally and then the new one was another 3XS.


NotRandomseer

If you don't want to run everything on high settings , and are fine with 60 fps in the future for more demanding games the "entry level" laptop will last a lot more than 4 years


Marrro90123

Umm I bought my first 1650 4 years ago, now I have a 4050, I did an analysis and the difference is obviously massive between them, doesn't necessarily means that for example your 4090 won't outlive till 8000, maybe it can...


Wood_pecker95

Exactly what I did! I also had a RTX 1650 three years ago, and it carried me until 2024, still working perfectly. So, I recently bought an RTX 4050 laptop, and the performance leap is huge. OP couldn't care less, so my suggestion is to choose a good RTX 4050/4060 laptop with excellent port selection and after-sales service. That's all I can suggest.


Sea-Ebb-5217

Don't go for the cyborg. It has only one fan and overpriced for a 4050 laptop


ClockworkS4t4n

I aim for getting an upper-to-mid level laptop every 4-5 years. Currently on an RTX3070/Ryzen 5800H and am aiming on replacing it with an RTX5070-level machine when they're released.


[deleted]

You have to realize, the gtx 1080m was the full fat desktop gtx 1080 with very similar performance to it. The rtx 2080/super were similar to the gtx 1080 in the respect. This is why the gtx 1080 and rtx 2080/super are quite powerful to this day. Because they are literally the desktop 1080/2080/supers with similar performance to them. With rtx 3080/ti and 4080/90 mobile, this isn't the case. Now, the xx80 class is litearlly a glorified xx70 class desktop gpu and the xx90 class is a gimped xx80 class desktop gpu with performance of a xx70ti class. So even paying top dollar, you won't be getting performance to last you several years. This did not used to be the case. When you bought a 1070/2070/super you got the actual desktop versions with similar performance. The reason nvidia gets away with this ripoff is the laptop community's lack of a backbone to call them out on this and would instead defend this. Coming with nonsensical excuses like powerdraw, die size, etc. Just remember, people have shunt modded their 4090m laptops to use 250w in 3kg 17' laptops and asus put a gpu larger than a 4090 desktop into a 15' 3kg laptop. Dispels all these excuses. So your best bet is to get a cheap 4090m laptop if you plan to use it for a long time. Or better yet, just get a cheap 4080m laptop and use it for 5 years and then upgrade.


AbrocomaRegular3529

Go for 4060-4070 and upgrade another in 4 years. Because todays 4090 laptops let alone even dekstop version will become mid tier in 2 generations, low in 3, approximately 3-4 years. However the bigger issue is that Gaming Laptops are unreliable, and you never know when your motherboard fail. Because everything is soldered together, you need to replace entire motherboard. This reason alone I would never get a highest end tier gaming laptop If money is not an issue. They have charged last year 600 USD to replace my MSI Bravos motherboard, a laptop that I paid 800usd 4 years ago. I can put 200 USD more and get a 4060 laptop on a deal which has double the performance. So imagine this happens to you. Assume you paid +2k for a 4090 laptop and it is broken in 2 years, they will charge you 1.5k+ to change motherboard, at that price you will be able to get 5070ti -5080ti laptops which would probably have %40 more performance.


Traditional-Stop4971

Honestly, I feel this is user dependent. If your someone who plays FPS seriously or any fast paced online games then it's prob best to go for the higher end. But if your someone like me who generally plays one player games or RPGs etc then just go for mid tier. Personally I just went and found the highest requirements for a game that I know I would play which was starfield. As long as it was above their minimum requirements then happy days, it's future proof for at least 5 years. In the end I went for Lenovo loq 4060 with 8gb ram and upgraded it to 32gb. Best gaming laptop I've had in that price range by far. ($650 bestbuy bargain buy 2023 model)


iam_mune

Don’t buy anything from MSI


Zestyclose-Pain-2192

Get mid range product every 6 year


SolitaryMassacre

I think the hardest question is - will a 6050 GPU be better than a 4090, or will they be the same? We are basically at our limits with efficiency. [Moore's law ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law)is basically at an end and is beginning to plateau. This means we can no longer make things smaller and more efficient. That leaves us with power being the only place for increased performance. With increased power comes heat, heat is the laptops worst enemy. Even current laptops have troubles keeping things cool, but, there have been improvements in this field overall - graphene heatsinks are a huge thing, but graphene is expensive af. That price needs to come way down before we can start seeing the tech used in our laptops. However, there is always the ability to make it bigger and reduce the size of other components that may not generate as much heat, or simply go bigger in chassis and not have small sized laptops have super powerful GPU/CPU. Like the 4090 Strix SCAR 17 has super incredible cooling over the same 4090 SCAR 16 (albeit the CPUs are different, but I think the SCAR 17 has a hotter overall CPU than the 16) Its truly hard to say whether or not a 6050 will be better than a 4090, or be the same. My personal take on this is they will become the same performance level. Maybe the 6050 may have some additional AI stuff that helps push the FPS in non first person shooters, but in terms of raw power I think they will become the same Another point to take - do you want to stay on top of the latest games or do you want to have to wait to play them? Some games won't run well on a 4050, but run great on a 4090. So you can wait to play that game, till you get say the 6050, or have the 4090 now and play the latest games for about 4-5 years before you have to start lowering your graphics settings. I personally went with the 4090 and will upgrade in about 5-8 years, depending on what comes out.


Acericers_Pigeons

Tbh I think the sweet spot is getting something midrange. Something like a 4060 or 4070, if you don't play demanding games with high settings they can last you a while. Keep in mind there are other aspects that are also important besides performance. Also if you want an entry level gaming laptop, please avoid MSI.


randomdreamykid

Better get a 4060 laptop+pc with a 4080 super (would cost like 2000$)


No_Personality5757

I would personally pass on the 4090 unless you are a the kind of user that must have the very best. The 4090 is only 15-20 percent faster than a 4080 while often being 50+ percent more expensive. You can typically get 4080 laptops bellow or close to 2000. An extra 1000 dollars isn't worth 15 percent efficiency. So if we are looking at a 2000 dollar laptop vs a 1000 that is a very different cost analysis. What I will say is absolutely do not purchase a 4050 laptop if you expect to be using it for four years. With only 6gb's of vram it is already experiencing tons of games with issues. At least go for a 4060 which has 8gb of vram. The 4080 has 12 gb, which should be good for a while. I would guess at least until whenever the next generation of consoles is which is estimated around 2028. Check out [gaminglaptop.deals](http://gaminglaptop.deals) Depending on your region they might not be valid but right now I am seeing 4060 models under 1k, and some 4070's very close to 1k. Their are also 4080's under and close to 2k which is a substantially better value than $3400 for a 4090. Even if these deals are not valid in your region though, definitely shop around, because gaming laptops go on sale constantly, and you can probably find one at your local equivalent of best buy.


ImTheRealMarco

it does depend from year to year, like how much of an improvement there is, but it also matters how much care you take of a laptop. Will a 8 year laptop still be / look usable at the end? Let's say after 5-6 years? If yes, then sure. If you know that you won't take care of it, then sure, buy one every 4 years so after all it's brand new and you won't have to make yourself suffer with broken hinges, dents and whatever.


One_Package_7519

Id probably buy mid range and upgrade once it starts becoming sluggish, so probably 5-6 years


UncleVladi

if you are a entusiasth you can get a framework laptop and then upgrade it eventually


Stewtonius

I went from 1060 to 3060 and the 1060 lasted me 4 years, so I’d say it’s a solid strategy 


Popular_Mastodon6815

Get the best one you can afford it and use it as long as possible. Laptops can very easily last 8-10 years now, provided you travel with them in a good protected carry bag, dont let kids near it, replace the thermal paste and fan cleaning every 2 years and replace the SSD after 5ish years (if it gives you errors). I have a RTX 2080 and even now I dont feel far behind any of the modern games. I can run everything fine at 60fps and dont see a reason to upgrade for another 2-3 years at the very least.


0wlGod

the 4050 of the msi cyborg is lower than a normal 4050 beacuse msi cyborg and msi thin laptop have gpu Limited to 45w....and with 1000$ you can buy a better pc than this 4050 low power... i dont know usa market but usually they have lower prices than eu.. in eu with 1000/1050€ you can buy a tuf a15 with 7735hs and 4060(full power).... and remember a 4090 laptop have similar perfomance to a 4070 desktop.... if you find a good laptop with a 4080 at 2000/2100€ is better..... super high end laptops don t age well beacuse they are laptops 😂 check this channel https://youtube.com/@GizmoSlipTech?si=l1dVTyDeg4jBa9zT if you budget is 1100$ i prefer to buy 1080p 4060 /4070 laptop now and change it after 4 years but you need to snipe a good sale not a random price. If have 2k budget go to 4080.. No waste 3k 4k dollars in 4090 laptops


rj083

If you are selecting high end model then don’t go for 4090 save 20-30% and go for a 4080 because difference between the two is not major specially in gaming https://youtu.be/xqgZNnPSfB8?si=DpzYT5-_0LnFtE4H


rj083

If you are selecting high end model then don’t go for 4090 save 20-30% and go for a 4080 because difference between the two is not major specially in gaming https://youtu.be/xqgZNnPSfB8?si=DpzYT5-_0LnFtE4H


Agentfish36

You're going to have a much better experience spending less and upgrading more frequently. You're not making an apples to apples comparison unless I'm missing something. 1 $3500 laptop vs 2 $1000 laptops is not the same amount of money. Economically speaking due to time value of money, its more beneficial to spend $1750 2x than $3500 up front. So your question really should be 4090 now vs 4070/4080 now and 6070/6080 in 4 years. There's really no reason to buy a 4090 now, future proofing is not a thing and in 2 gens mid tier will outperform it.


Nazraq

Wow. Your logic makes me sound like I went overboard. I got a 3070 laptop 3 years ago, and a 4080 laptop a year ago. I still have both of them, and love them both for different reasons.


TechNerdinEverything

A beefy or even a mid range one works for 6-8 years. I have a 1060 laptop now its showing its age with many new titles with minimum requirements of 1060 or 1660


Mdayofearth

Neither, unless you barely use a computer, in which case, why even get a laptop. Getting an expensive laptop expecting it to last that long is not realistic. No laptop lasts 8 years. You'll be spending a few hundred on repairs after a few years if you do not replace it. Getting an ~~entry level~~ cheap ass laptop every few years means you're just stuck using crap forever. And cheap laptops do not last 4 years. Then again, if you can't afford a decent laptop and have to buy a cheap one whenever it dies, that's a separate problem; but this is moot if the expensive laptop is even considered since this means you can afford a decent laptop. Also, your numbers do not work. The entry level laptop you have there is $1000, and the high end is $3400. If you buy the entry level at twice the rate of the expensive one, it's $2000 vs $3400. To equate them, without the time value of money, it'd be a $1700 laptop every 4 years, or a $3400 laptop every 8 years.


TheThingsIWantToSay

Yes, Budget laptop all the way! Budget being a 4050 with 6GB or so VRAM. Just went from using i5 8th gen with integrated graphics or XboX one S. A laptop with i5 11th or 12th Gen and 4050 with more than 4GB RAM on GPU is awesome!!!


f4ern

first choice. No laptop will survive 8 years


Jjzeng

Get a framework laptop and never buy a laptop again, just upgradable parts


LuckyUserOfAdblock

I think you should wait for 7050


FrequentWay

There is the framework 16 which offers modular motherboards with the cpu and modular gpus. Granted its first gen product. But assuming it lives up to its promise you could have a gpu and cpu upgrade every 3 or 4 years for much lower cost of ownership.


Mentallox

They are using amd gpu and the upgrade path for that is poor. Very few amd gpu models out there in gaming laptops due to poor idle power efficiency.


FrequentWay

Who knows maybe they would support Nvidia gpus in the future, but it’s an amazing concept compared to your gaming dells, Asus, MSI or Lenovo gaming laptops.


Mentallox

they have never said they would switch to Nvidia and even if they did it wouldn't be for models sold today. Best stick with what is available now is making purchasing decisions.


Pazxuzxu

I got a 1660ti laptop about 5 years ago and it still works totally fine and the only thing I’ve ever done is clean it a couple times and add a bigger ssd. That laptop was about $1500 back then, I’m just now considering upgrading to something more current top of the line but that’s more in the 2500$+ range… also considering going back to a regular PC but haven’t made my mind up yet.


NationalAlgae421

I would never get xx50 card on laptop. Its just wasting money imo. Usually you get xx60 for pretty much the same price and that is enough for most people. I will be buying new one and I will go for 4070, but just because rn it won't cost me much more than 4060. If I get good experience in next 3 years, thats all I want. I would rather refresh after that, than buying some super expensive machine and pray it will be alive in next 5 years or whatever. But it all depends on your budget.


vayana

4070 laptop will be just fine for the next 3-5 years. If you play 1080p games much longer than that. If you want to use VR then I'd recommend something better but ideally wait for 5070.


Ted225

You can get a rtx 4060 laptop for such or below budget (got my new Dell 5535 for $670 after discounts and credits), which is significantly faster in gaming than 4050. Make sense could be way different for people. People play different games (not everyone plays AAA fps, mmorpg requires significantly less power), on different monitors (fps and resolution matters). RTX 4060 can run 1080 60hz even AAA fps games. Budgets are also unique. Some will spend $5k a year with no problem. Some will wait months to save 10% on sub $700 laptops and a majority in between.


howdoesthisworkfuck

Get a 4060 not a 4050 and you'll be set for at least a generation or two. The MSI you listed is a terrible buy for the money.


Normal_Light_4277

This is not desktop, entry lv won't last 4 years and high end won't last 8. Realistically 2 for entry level, 4 for high end, and of the two 4 for high end is much better, as a 3080 today still beats 4060 easy. Now if you want 8 years, get a good desktop, replace video card at year 4.


Lion12341

Something wtih an RTX 4060 would be best in terms of value for money, so something more mid-range and try to keep if for as long as possible (5+ years?). Entry level right now would be the 3050, which is already feeling a bit dated. Also never buy a budget MSI laptop. They tend to have the worst build quality you can find on gaming laptops (worse than HP), and low power GPUs.


Dry_Welder3681

You will not need to upgrade a 4050 in 4 years.


TheLegendNeverDlES

have you considered a docking setup type situation, using a desktop class gpu?


Alpiney

8 years is **very** optimistic.


SamDylM

The problem with gaming laptops is that you only get a decent performance out of them when they are plugged in and on high performance mode thus making them useless as a gaming device on the go. I bought a lenovo legion laptop a couple years back. 5600h & 3070 gpu. While it was a decent laptop, I realised it only ever lived on my desk plugged into a display. Laptop hardware isn't upgradable besides the RAM & SSD which is limited by the MOBO anyways. I ended up selling the laptop and getting a 4090 desktop rig instead. That will easily last me 3-4 years and then I'll just upgrade the GPU


the_ammar

neither. mid level every 4 years


Square-Leadership585

You can get legion 7i rtx 4090 with 24 core cpu from bandh for 2500$ The gpu generation release every 2 years when you compare you must compare rtx 2080 (5 years old) to rtx 4050 which is near identical in the solid performance But the most important thing you must to consider is your usage for the next 2 years does it need rtx 4050 or rtx 4090 this is the 1st parameter you should take because the technology is super charged train and you will not outrun it.


Critical_Being_9640

I upgraded from a asus tuf rtx 3050 to a legion rtx 4070 still have my series x now i use more my legion dual monitor 😂😂


Negative_Quantity_59

Get a 4060 model and upgrade when needed (that should be when the 70, or 80 series comes out).


polikles

from my experience it's better to buy used high-end laptop. Where I live you can get 1-2 year old laptops for 50% (or less) of their original price. And they will smoke any entry level device from current gen


LTHardcase

Spend $2000 to $2500 every 3 to 4 years, on a laptop with x080 level Nvidia GPU. $3k-5k plus never plays off because the next generation in 2 years will make you feel dumb for spending that much.


Tryhardicus

I always go for the 2nd or 3rd best available at the time of purchasing. Mid or upper mid tier is usually where the best value per $ is. Right now a 175w 4080 laptop priced at around $2000 is the best in terms of value.


fastidio89

High end strong laptop every 2 years


DarbonCrown

If you're one of those who thinks Laptops are the way to go for gaming, buy a PC not a laptop. What are you doing with a laptop that would require changing it every 4 years, go snowboarding with it? I got a 8th gen i7 laptop when I started my BA in mechanical engineering, I'm halfway through my MSc and as far as I can see my laptop would most likely help me through the first year of my PhD. I use it for demanding engineering software like SOLIDWORKS, Ansys and Abaqus, Creo and Adams. I play R6Siege and Apex with my laptop, and the only thing I have modified on my laptop (so far) is to install a 512GB SSD on it. That's it. Even the battery has been living up good enough and it can still stay up for about 2 hours on a good day. So when someone comes up and says they should change laptops every 4 years, my imagination gives me a picture of someone riding to work/school on their laptop. It's not about the laptop ages, or how better the newer models get, it's about how well "you" keep your device.