Hi everyone.

First off, I realise a laptop is never going to be as good as a desk rig for gaming but being as I work away, it's practical for my needs and when I am home (weekends) I can hook it into a monitor.

The only games I'm really interested in are the WWI & WWII combat flight sims, such as WOFF, ROF, IL-2, etc and other historical simulation/strategy type games but I'd like them to run at decent settings to get the best out of them.

I can get a laptop custom built with a GTX 1070 and an i7 8750H for the beefy bits at around the £1500 mark which is fine providing it will do what I want........ Being no expert when it comes to computer tech, I thought it wise to ask before blowing a wad of money on something that's not up to the job.

Thanks in advance, folks.

Richard.

It's since died a gruesome death, but in 2013 I bought a 'gaming laptop' and everyone thought me mad. But it was awesome, and was perfect for my situation at the time. I didn't really use it for simming, more for strat games, shooters, RPGs and the like. I did play Assetto Corsa on it though. It ran games like Metro Last Light and that sort of thing like butter. So while folks will be quick to say that a desktop is always better, and that's right, it doesn't exclude laptops from being a great solution in certain cases. I'd say go for it.

That said, unless things have drastically changed, that 1070 will be the 'mobile' version and somewhat less capable than the desktop version. Same with the CPU. So I'd expect performance somewhere short of a desktop with the 'same specs'.

At minimum I'd get a 17" screen, any smaller and it's just not enough. My laptop was a serious piece of hardware. Heavy and the power adapter brick was heavier than an actual brick. It produced a lot of heat, and you wouldn't use it on your lap unless you wanted to burn the hair off your legs. I would use it on a table, with supports under both edges to ensure air was flowing beneath it.

Good luck whatever you decide, but if the logistics of your situation call for one, there's no reason you couldn't enjoy your games on a laptop. It worked for me.

And welcome to SimHQ.

Hi Richard. I also used a gaming laptop for quite a few years. In fact I still have it but it's now assigned to lighter duties (It's now 6 years old). I hooked mine up to a monitor,speakers,joystick and keyboard to play games at home but it came into its own whenever I went away on holiday etc for gaming.

Its negative points as noted by DBond is the heat produced and the noise from the fans when pushed for gaming and the weight. Not something you would want on your lap for too long.

I played all sorts of flight sims on mine but as time marched on it was less able to cope with the newer stuff. An SSD upgrade gave it a small boost for loading times but eventually it was retired in favour of a desktop system. I did consider a new gaming laptop but the cost for me was prohibitive. Good gaming laptops are not cheap.

Hope this helps and welcome to SimHQ

Yes, these can be expensive. I paid almost US$2 grand for mine. It's only drive was a SSD. It was a 780M video card, which was near the edge back then. But I soon realized there is some drop in performance with a mobile version. Still, it ran everything that was out at the time easily. Eventually some games pushed it a bit too far, but that's true of any PC, laptop or not.

Well thanks for the replies, help and the "Welcome", guys.

I would have normally gone for a desktop rig but for my situation....... I'm a truck driver and live in my rig from Monday to Friday so only get weekends at home. If I get chance to game at home I can use a full size (32") monitor but it would mainly be used in the truck so noise isn't a huge concern for me. Heat won't be an issue either as it will sit on a purpose built frame in back of the cab with plenty of air flow around it.

Screen size is given as 17.3" so it's workable if not ideal but my main concern is the specs.......... I fully agree that the stated CPU and GPU probably won't perform as well as desktop versions but they're about the best I can get for the money. Providing it's gonna run ROF, etc on 1920 X 1080 at acceptable settings, without looking crap, I'll be happy.

3XS LG17 Vengeance G-Sync
17.3" thin and light gaming laptop with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and i7 8750H Six Core CPU.

Above is a copy & paste of the details, from a company here in UK.

I'll tell you one thing for certain. If I were a truck driver for a living, out on the road, not home all nights of the week, I'd for dam(n) sure have a gaming laptop! How do you power it? Inverter? Generator? Hook up to shore power at night? The battery will last 45 minutes playing a sim, so you'll have it plugged in all the time I imagine?

So yeah, that sort of seals it right there lol. And the games you listed should run nicely on those specs. Actually just about anything out now should run well on those specs I'd reckon.

Yeah, I've been tempted to get one for a while now. Once I get parked up for the night, showered and something to eat, I just want to relax for a couple of hours before turning in. I'm happily married so certainly not interested in trawling bars and the like, lol.

I've always had a huge interest in early aviation so sims like ROF and WOFF are ready made for me. My two sons are both into the console gaming thing but I've zero interest in that, it all seems like FPS Arcade stuff to me but each to their own. It would be a bland world if we all liked the same things.

No chance I'll be using battery power, It will hook up to the inverter and run from the power cord. My internet connection links to my cell phone so that's not a problem. I've been taking a regular old laptop for a few years now but it's time I treated myself to an upgrade, lol..... Hey. Thanks for putting my mind at rest over those specs, I owe you one.

No worries, advice is free, but correct advice will cost ya!

Well you're right, it has cost me but the machine made to the specs I quoted above will be delivered on Thursday.........I now just have to convince my wife that it costs about half of what I paid...GULP!

I hope you enjoy it Richard and it does what you want.

Getting purchases past the 'other half' has always been a problem for some of us lads.

Back in the days when I was fairly new to PC gaming I had a horrible large beige desktop tower unit. The beauty of that was that it received many,many upgrades over the years but because it always looked the same to my lovely wife I never drew any flak over it.

Mind you,I'm pretty sure she never revealed how much her horse cost to keep so I didn't feel too bad.

Thanks, Chucky.

Specs are as follows;

LN64660 *3XS LOGO* 16GB Kingston USB3 Pendrive for Windows Recovery Media
LN91365 2 x *3XS Only* 8GB Module DDR4 SODIMM 2666Mhz C18 VENGEANCE
LN79265 1TB Seagate ST1000LX015 2.5" FireCuda, SSHD, 8GB cMLC NAND, SATA III - 6Gb/s, 5400rpm, 128MB Cache, 7 mm Height, OEM
LN56948 3XS Laptop Build
LN67705 3XS LG17 Vengeance
LN72117 3XS LG17 Vengeance G-Sync
LN85337 3XS Microsoft H17-10001 GML Win Logo
LN88283 3XS PA71ES-G 17.3 Laptop FHD IPS with 1070 + G-Sync + i7-8750H + AC9260 + RGB Keyboard + 90% Dot Free
LN71540 3XS Systems 7 Day Technical Support
LN86090 3XS Welcome Pack
LN86912 3XS Welcome Pack
LN76445 NVIDIA GeForce Experience
LN46869 Scan 3XS Laptop - Build, Config & Test
LN46859 Scan 3XS laptop warranty, 1st year C&R all parts, 2nd year RTB excl screen, battery and HDD
LN89809 Windows 10 Home Advanced DPK KUK-00001

Copied and pasted from my order / invoice... I've left the list as it is, including the Welcome Pack "fluff" but all the important info should be there. I know very little about the workings of computers but from what I've been reading, it should run WOFF, ROF, IL-2, Silent Hunter, etc and that's pretty much the only gaming I'm interested in..... I can use it as a laptop during the week away at work and when I'm home I'll run it through a 38" Smart TV ......(I'd like to say the 55" in our living room but I doubt SWMBO will wear that)........I'm not too bothered about 4K, a good 1080 picture will suit me fine.

Just a small update.

I had an email this morning, apologising for a delay in dispatching my laptop. Delivery is now scheduled for tomorrow (Friday).....Delays happen so I wasn't too worried although a slight doubt crept in that I might be being fobbed off with an excuse.....

Of course there's a chance it was an excuse but a further email this afternoon told me it had passed it's quality control inspection and was in packing....... Half an hour later, another email to say it was in dispatch and then, yet another email at 6pm from the carrier to say they have my parcel and it will be delivered tomorrow..... Delivery driver will txt me an hour before he arrives.

Hmm... Fingers crossed, folks!

Excellent, let us know your impressions, and how your favorite games/sims run on it.

Seems a sensible build. Given your gaming list it should do that exceptionally well at 1080 res, and you didn't overspend either.

Hi, all......

Well the great un-boxing and switch on has happened.

Good as their word, the delivery van arrived and I signed for a very well presented box...... No signs of damage or tampering, etc and as I looked at and checked everything as it was unpacked, there didn't seem to be any need to worry. Great care had been taken in the packing and presentation, which to my mind at least was a good omen.

The laptop itself is everything it said on the tin..... Built exactly to the spec I'd requested and not a mark or blemish on it... Of course it's going to do a bit more than play games so I spent a few hours swearing at Windows 10 while it locked onto our home network and tried to connect to every device it could find. I'm sure that at some point it made a pass at the microwave and it's trying to get into the pants of our neighbour's Sat-Nav!

Anyway.. After finally sorting things out and transferring all the none gaming related stuff over, it was time to do the fun part.. I'd already got ROF installed on our regular home pc and at low to moderate settings it was just about playable for short periods but far from ideal, so as a first step I installed that on the new laptop and transferred my account over. When that was sorted out I pushed the settings up to maximum and hit "Start"......To most of you, this is nothing new but I've never had a purpose built gaming pc of any kind before and it nearly caused an accident in my shorts!...Everything was crystal clear and smooth as silk. I took a couple of aircraft up for a test flight and it was an absolute joy compared to being on the regular pc. The laptop itself was pretty quiet throughout although the fans were certainly shifting some air and although it got warm, there was no sense it was overheating at all.

Before I got too excited I closed ROF and downloaded WOFF.UE, followed by IL-2 1946 which I got from Steam..........I've not really had much chance to do anything with them yet, apart from checking they run, which they do and again on max settings but with those three installed, I won't be needing anymore games for a while!...... Just waiting for some headphones to arrive now so I can enjoy the immersion a bit more without O.I.C Home Division pulling a face and complaining about the engine noise.

That's the first impressions, guys. I'm definitely pleased with everything so far and that includes you folks on the forum.......I'm sure I'll have a few more dumb-ass questions before too long, lol.

Enjoy that feeling of not having to worry about detail settings, I know it well

Great news! Enjoy the new lapbox