Not actually that demanding a game, it runs just fine on my GPU-less ultrabook
That must be the PC mustards at /v/ being dumb again and me being just as retarded for believing them, even Steam’s page for the game lists AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 under the game’s recommended specs. Hell,
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart has similar recommended graphics specs too (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700).
Damn it, now I’ve gotten myself second-guessing everything.
The GPU is going to cost you a lot of power even when it isn't directly in use. Loads of applications you'd never think use a GPU will spin it up to full power to draw buttons or video clips on the internet. Gaming laptops are not good at gaming, and they're not good at being laptops. I'm on team "Avoid if possible" here. How about a GPU-less ultrabook at less than half the cost of a gaming laptop, and a console? No GPU is the way to go for a good laptop, and consoles are more portable than you'd think, you can bring it while travelling and plug into your hotel TV or whatever pretty easily.
The non-gaming stuff is more of a “last resort” thing in case my current Macbook Pro (a mid-2015 model, very horrifying) suffers some form of damage that requires serious repairs. All of the gaming stuff would be done whilst plugged in. I also remember reading something about the battery being replaceable.
As far as taking my consoles whilst traveling that’s something I generally avoid due to conflicts between screen accessibility and privacy. Using at hotels
is an option (and is something I vaguely remember doing in my youth) but it isn’t if I’m staying at a family friend’s or relative’s place, I don’t think Nana Acheops would be too pleased with all of the gun violence triggering Gumpa Archeops’ PTSD.
Apple aren't that bad for gaming, and the trend is actually that Apple are getting enormously better at gaming, not that they're getting worse. Macbooks have seriously good CPUs, seriously good iGPUs, and seriously good battery life. This is basically the worst time ever to switch away from Team Apple, their laptops are so much better than anything else on the market right now.
That is something I’ll concede to, I was digging through Steam and I was shocked to see the variety of Mac games and that some of titles I recognize (
Psychonauts,
Yooka-Laylee,
Hades,
Baldur's Gate 3, etc.) are Mac-compatible. Sadly some of the games I am interested and have been playing on the older ASUS laptop aren't Mac-compatible.
But for me the issue with Apple isn't just about gaming compatibility, I'm also a bit leery about some apps being gimped on Apple platforms and some of their privacy policies (but everyone has that problem these days).
Another thing about the new laptop is that I see it, in addition to being a gaming device, as something of a teaching tool towards learning how to build my own PC. Reading up on shit like motherboards, cooling fans, PC housing, and all that jazz spooks the shit outta me. With a gaming laptop all I have to worry about is the permanent CPU/GPU build, swapping RAM cards, and adding more storage. From there I can use it a "jumping off" point on proper PC-building skills.
And thank you for the information on CPUs and GPUs, I'll keep it in mind in the future.
Your main issue in this regard is that the 4070M isn't a particularly future-proof GPU. A good rule of thumb is that the mobile variants tend to perform one-tier lower than what their numbers indicate - so a 4060M will be around a 4050 desktop and a 4070M will be around a 4060 desktop. Practically-speaking, this is kinda smack-dab in the middle of current-gen console territory except console versions of games tend to be a little more optimized so you'll probably notice worse performance overall.
It's just a rough spot to be stuck in imo and I worry that you won't really find it to be a satisfying use of a grand.
To be honest I'm fine with middle-gen specs, I own games on both the PS4/5 and Switch and I tend to not really care about the differences. If I get at least 3-5 years (with the later years seeing some lower returns due to the passage of time) of joy out of it I'd consider that money well-spent.
Those are both current-gen GPUs. I have an ASUS Tuf from the generation before (Ryzen 6800U + 3050 Ti Mobile + 32 GB DDR5). I'm going to assume you actually really do want one of these, so I'm not going to suggest something different. Therefore take this feedback for what it's worth. My biggest issue with a gaming laptop is heat. As a laptop, as in, on my lapboard or on the table in front of me, if I actually drive a game as hard as the computer can handle, it gets hot as
fuck. A few nights ago, I was playing some gay & retarded game on the easy chair while my wife was watching some girl movie, and she noticed I had sweat running down my face. So, in practice, what this means is that the only time I can really run it hot is when it's plugged into my dock and comfortably away from from hands & face. When actually being used as a laptop, even tethered to the wall, I have to keep the settings in a game down so that it doesn't turn me into boiled lobster. IDK if your background includes any engineering, but a gaming laptop does draw less energy than a gaming desktop, so it will generate less heat overall. It's just when that heat is in your lap, it gets out of control. As far as gaming performance goes, so many games have DLSS now that I have zero complaints, and my 3050 Ti Mobile isn't nearly as powerful as either of the GPUs you listed there. I can run games like Diablo IV and Modern Warfare 2 at 90+ fps at good settings. Not quite maxed out, but then, I can barely tell the difference between medium and ultra in games these days.
That said, between the two, I'd recommend the ASUS for the following reasons:
- 12th gen i7 won't get as hot as 13th gen i7.
- At the exact same settings, 4070 should run cooler than a 4060.
- There are very, very few consumer applications that are bandwidth-bound. DDR5 is needed to get good iGPU performance, though
- ASUS Tuf build quality seems pretty good (had mine a year, no complaints), and I've never heard a single good thing about Acer.
That's the funny thing, I
loved my ASUS laptop (Intel Core i5 + 8GB expandable Memory + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050) when it worked but this supposed motherboard issue kind of spooked me, it was just so damn sudden and it recently came out of warrant when it happened.
