Best laptop picks for gaming and multimedia?

Hello, everyone.
I am looking for some expert guidance regarding a potential laptop purchase.
My goal is to find a machine capable of handling both multimedia tasks and gaming. Initially, I set a budget cap of around $900. However, after doing some digging, I realized that by stretching my budget just a bit, I could pick up an HP Omen equipped with an i5 and the newer GTX 1060 series, which is a significantly better value than the previous generation. If I look just $333 higher, this option becomes available.

On paper, this laptop hits all my requirements: a solid processor, great graphics, a 256 GB SSD, and 16GB of RAM. It also boasts excellent, quiet cooling. My only hesitation is that it comes pre-installed with Linux. I’m wondering if there is a catch here—it seems counterintuitive that other models with identical specs but featuring Windows cost $1333 more, sometimes even exceeding that. Does anyone have alternative recommendations or advice? Furthermore, will I run into any issues installing Windows on this specific unit? I intend to wipe it and install Windows 10 64-bit.
I appreciate your input in advance. 🙂

It’s not that complicated. Just ditch Linux, install Windows, and you're good to go. Since you're already dropping nearly $1,700, I guess it might be worth stretching the budget by another $120 or so to $300 grab a Windows 10 64-bit OEM license. And if you can, maybe look into extending the warranty too. An HP Omen with similar specs and Windows pre-installed would be $667 more expensive. If you strip out the Windows license, it ends up being $333 pricier.

Price and hardware don't always line up perfectly. Sometimes it's just about brand power. That Predator is a beast compared to this piece of junk I'm typing on right now—though this junk is an Apple and costs twice as much as that Acer. So, it's really up to you.

Word on the street is they’ll be releasing laptops equipped with the GTX 1050 and 1050Ti, which would definitely fit right into your initial budget. They’ll likely pair them with an i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, among other specs.

Maybe something like this? It’s got a GTX 1050 and comes with Windows. I guess $333 it's also a bit cheaper than that Predator model.

That’s just way too expensive. I’ve even seen some Dell laptops out there with a GTX 1050, and even those MSI models—which are pretty hard to find around here—are priced just as high as the one he linked.

What I was actually getting at is whether a GTX 1050 or a GTX 1050Ti could replace these laptops featuring the 960M or 965M if we looked at slightly more affordable configurations down below.$3000

I guess we should just wait on that. This is the first Kaby Lake model I've actually seen being offered; everything else seems to be Skylake. Maybe once the processor generations shift, we'll start seeing new laptops hitting the market featuring 10xx series GPUs in this specific gaming tier.

I know this might be a bit off-topic, but honestly, for that kind of money, you could build an incredible desktop. The real issue with these gaming laptops is that they’re bulky, heavy, and not really portable at all. Once you factor in the power brick and a decent bag, you're lugging over 10 pounds around on your back. And if you try to run it without the charger, the battery just drains instantly under a heavy load. If it's just going to sit on your desk at home anyway, it only makes sense if you truly have zero space. Dragging a laptop like that around isn't exactly fun.

Honestly, you should probably hold off on waiting for the Kaby Lake and 10xx series to hit the laptop market, especially here in the States. For the first time in forever, AMD actually has some interesting chips for laptops—like Polaris 11 or even Polaris 10—but it’s like they don't even exist over here. I can't remember seeing a single decent deal on a laptop with a decent AMD GPU in this country. It's the same story with Zen processors; we likely won't see those landing in laptops anytime soon, maybe by summer at the earliest.

As for desktops, sure, they're great, but hey, if people actually need portability, they've got their work cut out for them...

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/laptops...09DELL/product/
Looking at this long-term, would this be a smarter play if I plan to upgrade the SSD and RAM later, compared to that other model featuring the GTX 1050?
Portability is my priority—I need to move easily between home, the office, and around the apartment—and I want a laptop that actually offers graphics performance comparable to a desktop setup.
That first link caught my eye because it comes with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD right out of the box. As far as operating systems go, I have the option of getting Windows 7 Pro 64-bit and then paying a little extra to upgrade to Windows 10 later.
Just how much weaker is the 1050ti compared to the 1060?
It might actually be worth just waiting a couple of months.

With how things are priced right now, you're getting way more bang for your buck going with the GTX 1060. Another thing to consider is whether you can actually afford to wait a few weeks or even a couple of months...

Sophia Ross7 said:http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/laptops...09DELL/product/
Looking at this long-term, would this be a smarter play if I plan to upgrade the SSD and RAM later, compared to that other model featuring the GTX 1050?
Portability is my priority—I need to move easily between home, the office, and around the apartment—and I want a laptop that actually offers graphics performance comparable to a desktop setup.
That first link caught my eye because it comes with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD right out of the box. As far as operating systems go, I have the option of getting Windows 7 Pro 64-bit and then paying a little extra to upgrade to Windows 10 later.
Just how much weaker is the 1050ti compared to the 1060?
It might actually be worth just waiting a couple of months.

The "problem" here is that you could build a PC with a similar GPU and a 24" IPS monitor for maybe 60-70% of what that laptop costs.

Sophia Ross7 said:http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/laptops...09DELL/product/
Looking at this long-term, would this be a smarter play if I plan to upgrade the SSD and RAM later, compared to that other model featuring the GTX 1050?
Portability is my priority—I need to move easily between home, the office, and around the apartment—and I want a laptop that actually offers graphics performance comparable to a desktop setup.
That first link caught my eye because it comes with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD right out of the box. As far as operating systems go, I have the option of getting Windows 7 Pro 64-bit and then paying a little extra to upgrade to Windows 10 later.
Just how much weaker is the 1050ti compared to the 1060?
It might actually be worth just waiting a couple of months.

The only question is whether you can actually install an SSD in that one. Since there isn't an optical drive, you can't swap it out for one. It only works if the laptop itself has extra space for an SSD inside.

Portability is great if you have a car. If you don't, your back is going to feel it. Definitely use a backpack instead of a shoulder bag. That beast weighs about 10 pounds with the charger. Honestly, I've carried this class of laptop through airports, job sites, and offices, and eventually, I just ended up "nailing" it to my desk because it was so heavy and awkward.

The 1060 is roughly 40% to 70% more powerful than the 1050ti, depending on what you're doing. The 1060 has higher clock speeds, more memory, faster memory speeds, and a wider bus.

If you aren't planning on waiting and you're ready to drop the cash, just buy that first Predator with the 1060. And go ahead and upgrade from 7 to 10, because 7 is pretty much a relic at this point.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:With how things are priced right now, you're getting way more bang for your buck going with the GTX 1060. Another thing to consider is whether you can actually afford to wait a few weeks or even a couple of months...

The "problem" here is that you could build a PC with a similar GPU and a 24" IPS monitor for maybe 60-70% of what that laptop costs.

I understand the situation perfectly. I’ve had this rig for a few years now—a Corsair Carbide 500R setup featuring a Gigabyte Windforce HD7970 OC, a solid AM3+ motherboard, and an incredibly overclockable Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition running on stock voltage. It’s paired with a great Corsair H70 cooler and a high-quality power supply, but frankly, it’s time to move on. Right now, it’s just sitting in my brother's room mostly being used to play movies. I’m not even sure what kind of resale value I could squeeze out of it at this point. Ideally, I’d want to overhaul the build with a new motherboard, a modern CPU, more RAM, and an SSD upgrade, but space constraints and the need for portability are major hurdles. However, I can still make do with my current NVIDIA card; it scales well enough for my workload, especially when it comes to running Bitcoin mining calculations, which is a core part of my job.

Adam Diaz67 said:The only question is whether you can actually install an SSD in that one. Since there isn't an optical drive, you can't swap it out for one. It only works if the laptop itself has extra space for an SSD inside.

Portability is great if you have a car. If you don't, your back is going to feel it. Definitely use a backpack instead of a shoulder bag. That beast weighs about 10 pounds with the charger. Honestly, I've carried this class of laptop through airports, job sites, and offices, and eventually, I just ended up "nailing" it to my desk because it was so heavy and awkward.

The 1060 is roughly 40% to 70% more powerful than the 1050ti, depending on what you're doing. The 1060 has higher clock speeds, more memory, faster memory speeds, and a wider bus.

If you aren't planning on waiting and you're ready to drop the cash, just buy that first Predator with the 1060. And go ahead and upgrade from 7 to 10, because 7 is pretty much a relic at this point.

I’m fully aware that there’s some extra weight to deal with when moving, but since I have a car, that isn't an issue for me. My main priority is simply making sure I can lug it from room to room without much trouble.