Guild Wars 2

I have been without a laptop for a good 8 months and I am getting desperate. I have been looking at a few and this one popped up but I was wondering if the AMD would work with GW2.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-x550ze-15-6-laptop-amd-fx-8gb-memory-amd-radeon-r7-m260-1tb-hard-drive-matte-dark-gray/5640000.p?skuId=5640000

Thank you.

The chestnut with any laptop is cooling.

Almost all (with minor exceptions), tend to drag the air in at the base then shove it out, at the side.

In theory, fine, but the base is next to the table and sometimes, people even put the Laptop on their beds, making the situation even worse.

Added to that is the amount of dirt dragged in, even from a clean desk.

The fins tend to be quite compact so air flow isn’t brilliant at the best of times.

So make sure you can easily clean the cooling and remember to do it, you should be OK.

Performance wise, AMD has lagged behind Intel for many years now and this isn’kittens catchup.

If you can afford it, go for an Intel i5 should be OK, but i7 is better.

Also, make sure they install a large, (over 1Tb), SSD. Many Laptop makes are trying to palm off their stock of HDs.

HDs are essentially old tech.

Thank you so much for the advice. This helps a lot.

AMD is not a good choice atm, and chances are this laptop will struggle with many people on screen. Safer to go intel

Oh by the way. Before you buy a laptop, take a good look at how much it weighs; I’m not sure how much portability is a factor for you, but I think it’s quite nice to spend a bit more to get a lighter one. To me at least.

Also it really depends on how well you run Gw2 to run. Gw2 will run on almost anything new, but running well (on higher settings) is another matter. If you want a laptop with a graphics card and workable CPU for a laptop, be prepared to pay a pretty penny.

Also SSDs in a laptop are a thing at a premium, so don’t need to get a ginormous one if you’re really just playing Gw2 as that really jacks up the price. 256 GB is fine; if you really need storage space, I’d recommend just buying a external HD to store media and whatnot. You can get a 2tb one for less than $100 and I think they’re important for backups anyways. While I certainly would recommend an SSD for the sake of load times for games and Windows, your average video or song or document doesn’t need that sort of blazing speed.

While not recommending this laptop in particular, it may be a good idea to aim for similar specs. I’ll let you judge if it’s good enough:

This also seems to be a good pick: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234023 The SSD is small but it also comes with a 750 GB storage HDD which I think is quite nice. The graphics card is pretty decent compared to the alternatives.

I wouldn’t get AMD laptops at this time… even ignoring the performance disadvantage, they run hotter and are more power hungry than Intel’s, not a good combo for laptops.

If you were to wait, say 6-12 months, that may all change… AMD’s new Zen family chips look promising, but it seems like the desktop chips will be released first.

Oh wow!! Thanks for all of the info, guys. I appreciate it. I have written all of this down to keep handy when looking for a laptop.
AMD off of my list.

At the moment I use a Lenovo Edge E545 which is enough to run the game in medium-high at okay-ish speeds. But to achieve this, I swapped the HDD for SSD and increased the RAM size to 2×4GB to make use of the dual channel architecture. Especially the latter was a game changer (heh). Be warned this machine uses the evil AMD chip, which keeps it from running Dolphin at a playable speed.

As an alternative, I use the rather new-ish Acer E15 notebook which comes with a dedicated graphics card and what can I say, the game runs at max settings with 60 FPS. When I last checked, it was 500€, so it’s rather cheap for a machine with a dedicated graphics card. As a downside, the Lenovo feels more solid and not so cheap, but a comparable Lenovo would be around 1.400$ (last time I checked the US site). Edit: Funny enough, ArchonWing postet JUST that Acer E15 Notebook I am referring to I even watched the same vid to gain Info on it.

Your mileage may vary, that’s just my two cents.

Edit: The Asus Notebook ArchonWing posted looks pretty promising, if somewhat
pricey.

Edit²: Incapability to type.

The Acer e15 is a pretty good laptop, but I do have a bias due to previous bad experience with their support. 940m is a rather weak card too despite being dedicated though it seems Gw2 doesn’t mind too much. Lack of SSD is something of another problem but I’ve never installed things into a laptop so maybe that’s easy to deal with. (960m is a lot stronger so I figured I’d pull that out in case OP wants to play other games) Things may have changed in the past few years though. It’s also pretty well priced though yes I like to check on the budgets first.

Also, don’t forget to check the same product across multiple sites. Sometimes they charge more or less for no real reason; Newegg seems to be the most trustworthy.

Here’s a good example of the aformentioned e15 (there’s a newer version with a 7200u) now

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16834315713

Now look at this. It’s the same thing!
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Laptop-NVIDIA-GeForce-Windows/dp/B01M4MEEZK/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1486068967&sr=1-2&keywords=Acer+Laptop+Aspire+E5-575G-55KK+Intel+Core+i5+7th+Gen+7200U

They’re the same laptop but Amazon’s is more expensive by $70. Before the sale….

They’re also selling the older version shown in the Youtube video for more money because I don’t know. But rest assured the newer version will do even better.

To be frank, I don’t trust Acer that much actually, but the price was just too good to pass by. Concerning the GC, as far as I can tell, GW2 seems to fit it nicely. But as you said, there may be other games which are more demanding, so it would surely be better to gear up in time. Exchanging the hard drive in a laptop is pretty easy if even I can manage it I did use a manual one my premier, tho.

Amen to checking prices on different platforms.

Maybe a warning from me: I tried to get a refurbished laptop from Lenovo. The specs were awesome (i7, 8GB RAM, 512 SSD etc) but for the love of Dwayna, I couln’t get it to play GW2 smoothly. So if you get a refurbished one, make sure it is a recent laptop and not a geared-up model from 5+ years ago because there is “something” that keeps it from being just as fast as a modern system (still haven’t figured out what tbh).

In have a two-year old HP laptop with A8-6410 (15w) processor – kitteneaper than your spec. Will run GW2 smoothly for low to med settings at 20 to 30fps. You can certainly get >30fps without too much compromise – imo – especially if you are into pvp.

The new Windows 10 Game Mode will give a small boost of maybe 2 to 4 fps. The newer versions of the above processor will add a couple more.

kitten adds little to the gameplay although it does give a much better feel to the laptop overall – especially giving how annoying Windows 10 hammering to a large mechanical disk is after start-up.

I won’t be too quick to right off budget AMD laptops, for lower end price points they are better for graphics than Intel by quite a big margin. Of course the more you spend the less likely this is to be true.

Also note that with only a 15w processor you are far less likely to suffer fan-abuse after a couple of years

Plautze.6290:

Maybe a warning from me: I tried to get a refurbished laptop from Lenovo. The specs were awesome (i7, 8GB RAM, 512 SSD etc) but for the love of Dwayna, I couln’t get it to play GW2 smoothly. So if you get a refurbished one, make sure it is a recent laptop and not a geared-up model from 5+ years ago because there is “something” that keeps it from being just as fast as a modern system (still haven’t figured out what tbh).

Ah, yea I prefer new stuff because I don’t know where it’s been and considering even brand new stuff can end up DOA… Stuff suffers from wear and tear but more importantly the act of being shipped around is an issue. Because I know they do not handle it with care. >.> There’s a reason why computer companies ship their computers in what is basically armored boxes.

Did it have its own graphics card? Yes Gw2 doesn’t need a good graphics card but if we’re leaving the CPU to do all the work, then it definitely would be a problem in a game where every spare cycle counts.

I wouldn’t recommand a laptop for gaming. Despite hardware being good/reliable. You still have to deal with cooling. Notebooks arent optimal in those therms. Not to mention the dedicated gpu is in most cases solderd. So if that worns out after a time, you need to buy a whole new system.

ArchonWing.9480:

Plautze.6290:

Maybe a warning from me: I tried to get a refurbished laptop from Lenovo. The specs were awesome (i7, 8GB RAM, 512 SSD etc) but for the love of Dwayna, I couln’t get it to play GW2 smoothly. So if you get a refurbished one, make sure it is a recent laptop and not a geared-up model from 5+ years ago because there is “something” that keeps it from being just as fast as a modern system (still haven’t figured out what tbh).

Ah, yea I prefer new stuff because I don’t know where it’s been and considering even brand new stuff can end up DOA… Stuff suffers from wear and tear but more importantly the act of being shipped around is an issue. Because I know they do not handle it with care. >.> There’s a reason why computer companies ship their computers in what is basically armored boxes.

Did it have its own graphics card? Yes Gw2 doesn’t need a good graphics card but if we’re leaving the CPU to do all the work, then it definitely would be a problem in a game where every spare cycle counts.

IIRC, it didn’t. But the numbers look still too good.

After all, buying a new piece is always more to my taste as well. But again, the sheer amount of choices and the common unpreparedness make it hard to single out a good piece of hardware. So every purchase is foreshadowed by hours and hours of research… but mostly it’s worth it.

GWMO.4785:

I wouldn’t recommand a laptop for gaming. Despite hardware being good/reliable. You still have to deal with cooling. Notebooks arent optimal in those therms. Not to mention the dedicated gpu is in most cases solderd. So if that worns out after a time, you need to buy a whole new system.

You are perfectly right, but… erm… well… I actually don’t know what to say you are right in all points but in my case it is kind of preference to go for laptops I guess. At least the cooling issue can be helped by putting the laptop an a cooling shelf or not using it on the bed. Also, the lack of modularity is a PITA when it comes to cheap parts breaking down and thus in some cases forcing you to buy a whole new system.

Maybe one day I’ll get wise

Well, laptop vs desktop is sort of apples vs oranges. The point of a laptop is portability so if you move around a lot, then naturally the laptop is going to be better even if it doesn’t have the power/reliability. You would want something that a desktop or a smaller mobile device can’t accomplish. And that’s play certain PC games such as Gw2 on the go.

Now obviously if you never move your PC, then a desktop is going to be better. But this is a matter of lifestyle, and honestly, I think that if you’re spending hundreds or not thousands of hours on the thing, then you might as well treat your eyes and hands well and get something that’s comfortable to use and doesn’t strain your eyes. Because it’s not like Gw2 is easy on the wrists…. :S

I have often used a laptop for gaming, and had all sorts of heating problems before I started using an external laptop fan. I have tried many different types, and the only ones that really do the job well work like this:

http://www.antec.com/images/400/NBC_to_go_airflow.jpg

I’ve tried a few makes, and Antec have been the most reliable. All the others have started to rattle after a while.

I seriously advise never gaming on a laptop without an external fan. It will significantly prolong the life of the machine. Well worth the investment.

Also, you can use a laptop in bed or on your lap, but get a large tray, and put the cooling fan and laptop on that. I got a nice piece of 5mm ply and use that for playing when sat on the sofa.

Oh yes, a cooling fan is a must for a laptop. I use one. Thanks for the reminder.

Thornbury, that’s some good input! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Might get one of those myself.

Edit: I looked it up and found Antec Cooler S Compact. Is that it?
Price seems reasonable. But then again, after 16 months I merely got 500h together, is it still worth it to get such a cooler as my laptop does not have to endure that much and prolonged strain?

I would also like to endorse the Acer E15 series. Good bang for buck.

IMO having kitten is nice but not required, now that they are nerfing ABML.

LOL, A followed by SSD is censored.

Thornbury.4179:

I have often used a laptop for gaming, and had all sorts of heating problems before I started using an external laptop fan. I have tried many different types, and the only ones that really do the job well work like this:

http://www.antec.com/images/400/NBC_to_go_airflow.jpg

I’ve tried a few makes, and Antec have been the most reliable. All the others have started to rattle after a while.

I seriously advise never gaming on a laptop without an external fan. It will significantly prolong the life of the machine. Well worth the investment.

OOOH kitten !! That is one nice fan.