Update 7/14/2022: laptop still works well for my needs. A few new issues lately. The laptop sometimes decides to turn off (not just the screen, the whole thing) if you’re not actively using the mouse. Also when it does this I often have to reconnect to WiFi manually. I’ve tried updating everything and clearing out files but the problem persists. Still not enough to warrant looking for a new one yet.
First off, this laptop looks and feels great and although I haven't had the chance to test many games yet it seems to do well. Since there's plenty of info on the Pros of this laptop (value for the money being a big one) I thought I'd mention a few Cons that really stick out to me.
1) The very first thing I noticed was the power plug-in location. The hole to plug in the power cord is located on the left side of the laptop roughly in the middle. This is a weird location in general but on this laptop it makes even less sense because it means that if you run the cord behind your laptop (like most people) the cord will be directly in front of the fan that blows out the heat from the laptop. This was nearly a deal-breaker for me.
2) This hasn't been an issue yet since I rarely use the laptop unplugged but the laptop boasts 7hrs of battery life unplugged. First off, this doesn't strike me as an impressive stat since my previous laptop was 12hrs. Second; this is only if you don't optimize your settings for gaming. One way the laptop tries to save power is by using the integrated Intel graphics whenever possible. If you tell it to always use the GTX 1060 (as most people will do for gaming) it will be a stronger drain on the battery.
3) The GTX 1060 in this laptop is the Max-Q variant. While this name may make it sound like an upgrade, it is actually slower than the regular 1060. The Max-Q is designed for and used in lighter/thinner laptops but benchmarks show it is roughly 18-20% slower than the base 1060 model. This again might be a deal-breaker for some.
All-in-all this is a great budget gaming laptop and you can't buy a gaming laptop this cheap and expect it to not have a few caveats. However I am considering returning it and spending the extra $200 for something less "limited" for lack of a better word. The 2020 model for $900 seems promising but has the same weird power inlet location.
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Processor | 2.4 GHz core_i5 |
| RAM | 8 GB SO-DIMM |
| Memory Speed | 4.1 GHz |
| Hard Drive | 512 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | GTX 1650 MaxQ |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Card Description | Dedicated |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 4 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 7 Hours |
