Gaming laptop dilemma: Which one should I get?

Hey everyone,

I've been going back and forth on this for a while now. I was waiting for some sales or holiday deals, but once my Christmas bonus hits, I'm definitely pulling the trigger on one of these two laptops.

So, I'm looking for a gaming laptop (either 15.6 or 17.3 inches) in the $800-$900 range. I could probably stretch my budget by about 10% if you guys suggest something better.

My first pick is:

The second, more expensive option is this one:

Then there's this third possibility, though I'm not entirely sure what the reputation of this shop is like:

I'm using this Dell as my baseline since it's noticeably cheaper than the others, so I'm wondering if it's actually worth paying extra $500 for the GeForce GTX 960m and 4GB of RAM? This HP has a stronger processor and comes with macOS already installed, so it caught my eye.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts to help me make a call.

Verizon’s reputation? Look, I’ve bought from them a few times and everything was five stars. Nobody seems to be complaining, and they’ve been in business forever... people clearly trust them.

Did you even notice that the HP is a Renew unit and only comes with a 12-month warranty? Do you actually realize what that implies? I’m not trying to lecture you, just asking if you have any clue... If you're dead set on it, go ahead and grab it now because there's only one left, which is why it's discounted...

And that cheap Dell is cheap for a reason—it’s got a weaker processor. Those letters like U, H, or Apple-tier specs mean something, and I'm pretty sure the explanation for all that is sitting right there in the top thread...

It feels like those laptops you found aren't fooling you, and since you seem so sure about what you want, maybe you should take a look at these options instead. These are actual gaming laptops:

First off, thanks for getting back to me. I'm glad I didn't just jump the gun on this one. Regarding the HP, I get what you mean about the one-year warranty, but I'm a bit lost on what this "Renew" label actually implies. Is it some kind of extended coverage or something?

Not really. Renew basically means refurbished. It’s a laptop that someone bought, and then either right away or after the warranty expired, something major failed—like the motherboard or the LCD panel—so it got sent back to the factory to be fixed up. Basically, it’s a machine that had some kind of manufacturing defect.

Once the laptop is refurbished, honest dealers sell it at a discount as a renewed unit, but the shady ones try to pass it off as brand new...

So, you wouldn't recommend this Dell Inspiron then? What's your take on an Acer instead? I'm mostly curious about the performance gap between the GeForce GTX 960m vs 950. From what I've gathered, the first one uses DDR5 memory while the other relies on slower DDR3, so I imagine there's a noticeable difference. If anyone here has actually used both, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I’m not trying to give you advice here... I was just asking if you knew what it meant. People can't agree on this stuff. Some swear by it because it was factory-repaired and fully tested, while others think once something breaks, it’s just waiting to happen again. As for the specs, they're solid and the price is fair, though personally, that short warranty on such an expensive laptop kind of bugs me. But look, if you hit up a Best Buy service center and ask if you can extend the coverage through their Google service to maybe 😬 2, 3, or even 4 years for a reasonable fee—and you find a good deal—why wouldn't you? Just be upfront that it’s a refurbished unit so there aren't any "we didn't know" excuses later. And if you're going to pull the trigger, move fast. It's a one-of-a-kind listing, and if someone else grabs it first, it's gone.

Regarding the GPU, just head over to notebookcheck.net. Type the card name into their search bar and click the link. About a third of the way down the page, you'll see the FPS benchmarks for various games at different resolutions. Find the game you actually play, check the FPS for your specific resolution, and compare it to the other card. That'll give you your answer.

By the way, in the US, the 950 series usually only comes with GDDR3 memory; I haven't seen a single one with GDDR5, even though they exist. The 960s always come with GDDR5. Notebookcheck says the difference between those two cards using GDDR5 is about 15%—the architecture is basically the same, just with higher clock speeds. That means the gap is even wider compared to the slower memory, especially when you're playing at higher resolutions.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-....138006.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-....138026.0.html