Need new laptop, grateful for any advice.

I'd recommend Asus. I've never had a problem with them. Whether it was a cheapo laptop or a gaming laptop, and for two grand you should be able to get something decent. Especially if you throw in another $500.

The specs are good but Dell is a dumpster fire that destroyed the Alienware name, yet they continue to sell the name at a premium. No matter what you decide on I would do a clean install, and then just load the hardware drivers to get rid of all the added bloatware in one swoop.

I'd definitely just checkout what they have at Walmart, surf walmart.com, first, search the whole web for reviews where the specs interest you, search for better price, if it can be had. The discount could more than justify throwing in a 3 year warranty, too, though I've always been of the opinion if there's no infantile failure, before the factory warranty is out, you'll get 3 years plus, maybe a lot of years, if you're up for replacing a hard drive, at some point. (These days there are some big solid state drives, too, easily within $2,000, no moving parts.) A couple years ago Walmart had a HP laptop I was drooling over, only didn't need, still don't need, that laptop. In any case, I've always found it a plus you can take a Walmart product back to a store and get a refund, if there's anything you don't like during a burn-in period of a month or whatever, they'll refund, no questions asked. For $2,000, you could buy some mighty gear at Walmart, you'd think, would seem a lot of places. Not being a gamer, I'd get more than I need for $500 or less at Walmart. Good hunting to you! (Make sure you read the bad reviews, see if there are any real warts, not just whiners.)

a reply to: stosh64

So, a thumbs up and a "Dell ruined alien ware", a couple for Asus.
I have done a bit of research on this and this machine at that price really isn't bad.
Curious about the RTX
3060 6gb vs $250 more for the 3070 8gb.

What is wrong with the machine in the op?

a reply to: Gothmog
Thanks Gothmog, I value you opinion on this.
Do you see anything wrong with it? Would it be worth upgrading the GPU from 3060 6gb to 3070 8 GB For $250?
Thanks again!

a reply to: stosh64

Definitely worth getting the 8g card.... future proofing

Especially IF you plan on getting into VR

a reply to: Akragon
That would be the 4th upgrade, lol.
I kind of agree though. Damn that's a lot of $$$

a reply to: stosh64

True... but IF its something you'll be using regularly... you gotta pay for the toys you need

Payed $2700 for my vr lappy two years ago... runs anything i throw at it like butter

IF you can afford it... its worth it

a reply to: stosh64

Best piece of advice I can give to you is buy a laptop with a good mobile Ryzen apu. The built in graphics would be good enough to play many games if you're into that as well as handle pretty much anything else you can throw at it. If you're a hardcore gamer I recommend a desktop for that with a badass gpu. With the money you'd save on the laptop you could probably buy a damn nice gpu for your desktop machine. I'm not a big fan of high end gaming laptops, as they all get hot from too many components jammed into a tiny laptop case. Heat along with it's partner in crime -dust are bad enough in a high end desktop and the problem only magnifies when the enclosure shrinks.

You could check Costco or stores like that too. Sometimes they have nice deals on MSI or ASUS, and others.

Two years ago I got a GE-65 9SF Raider from MSI. Used the Costco Card, huge extended warranty for around $2100 with taxes and extended warranty that was further extended with the Costco Credit card to cover damage.

Decent specs too:

i7 9750H
32 GB Ram
8 GB 2070 RTX (Desktop Apparently, not toned down as much as others, just slower clocks because of temp and power)
1 TB SSD
240 hz 1080p screen

Then I added a 1 TB Samsung Evo SSD and a 2 TB Barracuda hybrid drive from Amazon.

Basically a $3000 laptop for about $2200-2300 when I was done.

Still runs everything I throw at the thing max settings at 1080p. Well, except for Star Citizen but that’s a topic for another day.

ETA: Something I wish I knew before I bought a gaming laptop. The Killer brand wireless chips. Just be warned, they go through phases with software. When it works you’re looking at over 1Gbps Ethernet and about 700-900 mbps wireless speeds. They’re very common in gaming laptops. When the software glitches it can be a nightmare to fix because it messes with the registry. Mine works now and it’s amazing but I had to keep messing with it for like a year with intel drivers until they updated the software which really messed with multitasking and use of bandwidth on my device. Go Intel wireless if you can but my Killer card has been working great for almost a year now.

That combined with using a Wifi 6 ASUS Merlin based AI mesh system has been very helpful in my house during Covid time.

a reply to: stosh64

My current home laptop:

www.ebuyer.com...

Performance is absolutely stellar, however it gets HOT and the battery life when gaming is terrible, lucky to get one hour.

originally posted by: stosh64
a reply to: Gothmog
Thanks Gothmog, I value you opinion on this.
Do you see anything wrong with it? Would it be worth upgrading the GPU from 3060 6gb to 3070 8 GB For $250?
Thanks again!

Nothing "wrong" .
I only have Alienware laptops.
In fact , I was using Alienware (Area51) before they were "bought" by Dell.
If you do the heavy gaming action (such as with Ray Tracing on high),or do video processing , the 3070 is a better choice as it has 8gb .

I will say don't bother with the Asus Vivobook (k571/x571). While it's a nice 'puter with a decent gpu, the battery is poop. I've had mine for ~a month and the battery says it's charging to 60%, and only lasts a couple hours if you're doing just about anything.

a reply to: stosh64

Looks solid to me. That's a top of the line laptop, pretty much.

It might be an expensive paperweight after July 9th, with the CyberPolygon and all.
What could go wrong?