Start Creating Games with Core (for Free!!!) app.qlik.me/o/e92c80861699abfa1_tBMsHS gamefromscratch.com/choosing-a-laptop-for-game-development-in-2021/ If you are looking to buy a laptop in 2021, this guide should be perfect for you. We cover all aspects of laptops that are important for game development including CPU, GPU, thermals, form factor, game engine requirements and more. In the end we make several different recommendations to support a variety of budgets. Timeline: 0:00 Introduction 0:43 Written Guide on Gamefromscratch.com 0:59 Core Game Engine Sponsored Video 02:19 Laptop Design Overview 03:27 How Much Power Do You Need for Your Game? 05:44 My Minimum System Spec Recommendations 08:59 Choosing a GPU 14:57 Choosing a CPU 19:45 Displays, Thermals and Thunderbolt 24:24 Laptop Recommendations 24:43 High End Recommendations 30:00 More Affordable Recommendations 39:27 Conclusion
It's crazy how I've come this far in my life as a game dev, without any of those minimum requirements. I didn't have a dedicated GPU, My hard drive was HDD And with an 8gb un-upgradable ram.
@@goofyblocks you’re quite wrong sir. There are many CPUs without integrated GPU and they cannot output anything on monitors until we connect a dedicated GPU. Integrated GPU is actually a GPU that’s built right into the CPU itself. It’s much weaker than a dedicated GPU but is enough for general use.
Thanks! I get tons of sponsorship offers, but only run with ones I genuinely recommend. Which by the way, Core is legit a very cool thing and if you haven't, you should check it out. ;)
Can I just say how detailed this video was? You went over every aspect of a laptop, and now it's clear to me what kind of laptop I want to buy. Although in 2022 the CPU scenario has changed with the HUGE performance increase of the 12th gen Intel chips, this video did really help out with the rest of the stuff. Thanks a lot! Can't wait for the next revision of this topic by you
one thing i'd like to say is that be careful with is to look for gpu TDP, there are a lot different TDP of the same gpu, generally go for higher which performs better if thermals are better.
Haha, I just started my game development study and I needed a laptop for that, so what I chose after my own research was the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (AMD 5800H, 16GB, RTX 3070) I'm planning on upgrading the RAM later when I feel like I need more. A review of the thing here: I've been extremely happy with my choice, as it's basically perfect for me! I don't like thin laptops, because I don't trust them to have good cooling, and I just love the design. The screen is also really great. I'd been using a 1920×1080 60Hz screen for years, but this 165 Hz is so noticeably better. The screen's native 2560×1400 is a little high for me, so I turned the resolution down to 1080p again, and I do not see any difference at all. I also really like how it's 16:10 instead of 16:9. You wouldn't think it makes that big of a difference, but dang, does it ever! I cannot recommend 16:10 (or even 3:2 if you can find it) enough. The laptop does get hot and loud if you turn it to the overdrive profile (there are three profiles: silent, default and overdrive), but if you've got a headset on, you don't hear it anyway. The battery is also not that great if you game on it much, but with just normal word processing, browsing and some 2d game work it can hold out for at least three hours, which is plenty enough for me, personally. I basically always have it plugged in, anyway, because there are outlets at home and at uni. The only place I sometimes use it that doesn't have a place to plug it in is the train, but I'm not going to play games in the train. Maybe some slight game dev experimentation if I suddenly get a good idea, but the battery will hold out. I'd say it's better to consider this laptop as a portable computer with a battery than a workstation you can use anywhere. Though I must also say that when you put it on silent mode, the battery life also gets way better, but the trade-off there is that you can really feel the worse performance, even in normal desktop applications. For example, it takes a second or two for something to happen if I click a different channel in Discord. Even in silent mode, it is still perfectly acceptably speedy, though. For gaming and game dev, it's been able to handle everything I've thrown at it as of yet, so not complaints on that front.
A 3060 is a sufficiently capable GPU. I cover it in the video, but expect about a 15-20% difference between GPU levels(roughly), so if the 3070 gets about 100 FPS, expect 80 to 85 with the 3060. Normally the 3060 as 6GB of VRAM while the 3070 has 8GB. I personally find the __70 series to be the sweet spot for performance/price, so if you can jump up at a cost you can afford, I would do it. But if you can't the 3060 is a good solid GPU choice today.
@@gamefromscratch I agree! My friend who is doing the same study as I am went for the 32GB, RTX 3060 model of the Legion 5 Pro, and we don't really notice too much difference. As I'm also an avid Blender user, and he isn't, he could go with the 3060, but I went with the 3070 for that extra boost.
Me? I started with GameMaker 8.1 Lite way back around 2008. My cousin had leant me the tutorial book on it. These days if you really want to start off simple, I'd recommend starting with Scratch or if you want something more advanced, with p5js
@@TechnicJelle I’m looking forward to buy the legion 5 (non pro) with RTX 3060 too. Seeing your comment made me feel more confident about my choice! I’ll probably wait till Lenovo launches the 12th gen intel lineup as it has quite a performance boost. What level of games can I expect to make on that machine? I want to make 3D games with fairly intensive graphics if possible. Do you think such a laptop would be enough for the next 5 or so years?
Yeah, figured it was about time for an update on that one. It seems to be about every 2 years the tech advances enough to justify an update. This gen with updated GPUs and the rise of AMD CPUs it was definitely worth covering. Hope it proves useful.
The laptops I see on display in stores around me are awful, so I hope you found an actually decent deal. If the store isn't tech-oriented (i.e., Walmart), their laptops are usually Pentium/Celeron trash. Tech-oriented options like Best Buy had some fairly pricier options on display. I only look online for game-dev stuff, and only around Black Friday.
I just noticed your sponsor core and I used core for like an hour, but they didn't have monetization yet. Now for single developers this might be a good option. I will definitely have to give it a second look.
My personal choice would be ASUS. My laptop s 9 years old already, still works pretty fine. Poor perfomance in modern games for sure, but other than that - like a charm, really. Month ago i changed HDD to SSD and it's even better.
I bought a Gigabyte G5 KC a few months back. 1100€ where I live, 3060 RTX, Intel i5 10500, 16 Go RAM, excellent screen and vivid color, 144Hz. I looked for a while for computers around the price range of 1000-1200€, this seemed to be a great value. If you're looking for a capable laptop now and have roughly this budget, I highly recommend it ! The only problem I found so far is that it's making a bit of noise when running demanding tasks, but nothing unexpected or untolerable for a laptop. As a sidenote, I had an MSI laptop for a while, and while they are also great value compared to their prices, the color accuracy of the screens is in my experience not that great on the cheapers laptop (
I did similar research a month ago and was seriously considering the Razer Blade 15, but I ended up going with a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme gen 4 (20Y5CTO1WW) w/ Intel Core I9, 32GB RAM (2 x 16GB), 3080 RTX 16GB, 16" 3840 x 2400 ISPS screen, 1TB drive, 1080p webcam w/ sliding cover, and it's just under 4 lbs. It also has a pretty great warranty where if you upgrade, they will come to your house and fix any hardware issues. The biggest cons are the 3080 runs at 80 TDP and the screen is only 60hz, but an external monitor will fix that. The price is astronomical unless you get lucky and find a sale.
22:34 please this is so funny I’ve had to rewind like five times now bc I keep getting distracted from your funny quips on the display 😆😆😆 my day is good thanks Hope yours is too. Also this video has been super helpful and informative!!!!! Thanks for making it
15:00 i just want to say this is not entirely correct. Unreal engine specific and engines in general can often have big cpu bottlenecks with rendering large amounts of objects or editor ui. Compiling and light building will also benefit from increased core counts.
@MenaceInc Its perfectly fine developing on a mac for a lot of game dev professions these days and windows is preferred most of the time yeah. I'm also very happy with my razer blade but I'm also very keen on what Apple can bring to the table tonight.
I will admit, Apple hit most of my buttons with that announcement. The TouchBar was a big stopper for me. These look legit nice and anyone that owns an exiting MBP have to be crying into their beer right now. The notch though... :(
Thanks so much for your videos. Would you recommend the new ASUS G14 or G15 for small to medium projects on Unreal Engine 5.1? I heard overheating might be an issue... Perhaps with at least 32GB of RAM? Thanks and keep up with the great work!
Amazing video and perfection editing. I wasn't expecting to laugh out loud a couple times looking at the screen. This is an ever evolving topic and I was only recently totally obsessed with it. Being hooked on OLED, I went with the Gigabyte aero 15 OLED KD after buying and returning the Asus ROG strix advantage edition (amd).
I love my Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with the 16inch screen. It's perfect in a lot of ways. However it draws too much power to be plugged in on a plane or RV, or Boat, which surprisingly is a large part of my development cycle. I'm considering picking up a Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 9 for lighter workloads while traveling.
@@lordsfmiller2550 did you buy it? I’m planning on getting the legion 5 with 3060 (non pro) for developing games. Only problem is that it’ll be my only computer for at least 5 or so years, so if it turns out to not be powerful enough, I’ll regret it very much
34:37 The new MacBook Pro lineup that just announced will drop the Touch Bar in favor of bringing back the Function row. They are also bringing back the full-size HDMI port, a full-size SD card slot, and MagSafe charging (still no USB-A in sight, but 3 of the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4). And also the new chips: the M1 Pro and the M1 Max, which if what Apple claims is true, is a massive jump over the M1. So if you’re planning to buy a MacBook Pro, wait for a bit until when reviews are going out. My bit of an opinion: I’m really suspicious on Apple and their claims on performance since they are now sharing which laptops are they comparing the latest MacBooks at, which shows almost or as performant as said laptops, but with a more efficient wattage output (higher performance per watt).
Worth adding, the top model comes with 64GB memory with 400GB/S memory bandwidth (M1 Max) which is shared between the CPU and GPU, but with a price tag to match.
You correctly list Lenovo Legion 5 as a more affordable option, but I feel the Lenovo Legion 7 is on-par with Asus Zephyrus G15. The Legion 7 is what I ended up choosing because : 16:10 aspect ratio numpad RTX3060
To be honest, breaking down the segments when it comes to the big manufacturers ( Lenovo, Dell, etc ) can be really challenging, as they have such a diverse range of products and prices, that the overlap gets very confusing. Where you can buy a higher priced Legion 5 over a lower spec Legion 7, so it does get a bit blurry. That said, the Legion series has been consistently solid and an easy recommendation.
2022 will be a bit of a challenge, as it's mostly a transition year. It will be ultimately the same GPU and CPU combinations as the component tech hasn't refreshed and probably wont till late 2022 most likely.
I'm waiting for the Asus Proart studiobook 16 pro... probably forever. Hopefully they will make a non OLED version with an A5000 GPU. If you have an answer please let me know
Hey @John Doe. The Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 might be a good option to look at. They have a non-OLED display and A5000 configuration. They're currently offering doorbuster discounts on all the configurations, so you may want to check it out. Hope it helps!
@@jonathanxdoe oh no, I wasn't aware of the wattage cap :( Makes me wonder... besides the ThinkPads, do other laptops/manufacturers cap their GPUs? 🤔 cause that's a *big* caveat
thanks for the video, I started learn unity with my surface pro 4. it's an i5 4gb ram. but worked well for learning and getting know unity. now I'm working with a Nvidia mx330 8gb ram laptop. and unity is running great with me even with larg project. I think a powerful laptop isn't necessary if you're start to learn
Another option to consider as a real budget option is the Steam Deck, can't beat the 400$ price to performance of that thing. Though there are some drawbacks and additional costs to consider, like a docking station, a good microSD card, some additional external storage, and a Monitor if you don't have one already. It's also Linux based so if there is not Linux version of the software you are using then it gets a bit more complicated.
It looks like you have skipped HP Omen 15 line. It's awesome, especially Omen15 2020 with Intel CPU and 2070 GPU + upgradable RAM and 2 NVMe SSD. I've bought one for gamedev and Machine Learning last year, and it's awesome! Solid build, 64GB of RAM, top Intel CPU for 2020, Nvidia RTX 2070, 2*2TB NVMe SSDs + tons of ports, including full-size SD + ethernet + USB 3 TYPE-A ports + Type-C + TB3 -- what else do you need for solid gamedev? Also I've bought Frame.Work laptop with the Core-i7 and 64GB of RAM DIY edition and I love it! Now I have both powerful & portable machine that I can use for GameDev as well, just connecting my Razer Core eGPU to Frame.Work USB4/TB3 ports. And yes, 100% agree -- 16GB is not enough for the "real" development or video processing. 32GB is a bare minimum, but I have already switched all machines that I have to 64GB of RAM. P.S. BTW, I've also captured few times UE Editor is using around 30GB or RAM. 🤣
Hello I’m planning on getting a laptop with intel 12 gen, and rtx 3060 (6gb vram). What level of games can I expect to make on such specs? Will it be enough to last me at least 5 or so years? I want to make 3D games with fairly intensive graphics if possible. Also how much storage will I require? I’m planning on buying a separate 1tb m.2 SSD, only for game Dev purposes. Will it be enough?
How would you suppose developing an AAA title would work on one of the recommended laptops? Nevermind would probably explode halfway through development.. bad idea
I know this will sound dumb to people who know what they’re doing but, is the new Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and Max viable? Or, do they have limitations due to being Mac? I know you talked about the regular m1 but what about the new Pro and Max?
made me laugh with the green screen starting at 22:30, btw my day is going good. lenovo legion 5 user here for the past year, got it on sale at the time for 999. i'm glad it's still a decent laptop for game making. i do miss the thunderbolt port and it does get about 3-4hours of life when doing light work
Glad you enjoyed that... didn't know how well that particular bit would go over. ;) Always nice to toss a bit of humour into an otherwise kinda dry subject.
When I rebuilt my pc I put 32 gigs of ram in there, with the intent to upgrade further later. 32 was awesome, now I have 64. I will not be going back from AT LEAST 32 gigs, but ideally I will be using 64 and greater for the rest of my life.
Another commenter brought something to my attention: Apparently laptop manufacturers cap their GPUs wattage due to thermal constraints (at least Lenovo does this, from what I've read in their forums). Will this reduce performance significantly compared to an equivalent priced/spec'ed desktop GPU? Should this factor in when picking up a certain brand-model? Hope someone can clarify this for me, as a non-technical user thinking about upgrading. Thank you!
Hello, sorry if it’s too late already. Yes GPU wattage is a very important thing to consider these days. While lower wattage may help with heat and battery life, it significantly cuts down the performance that the GPU is actually capable of. Even a 10 watt difference can impact performance by quite a margin.
@@smaronboruah No sir, not too late! Yes, I looked into a little more and found interesting options that advertise "high wattages" for their dedicated (NVIDIA) GPUs. I really had never considered this factor - I mostly had been working on desktops until very recently since I moved places. Thank you very much for this clarification! It's really helpful (:
Great video very informative! However I got mad distracted during your talk about monitors/screens lmao I was too busy reading your text lmao but overall great! Thanks!
Acer Nitro 5 user here! Solid machine and good for starter level at an affordable price. I do recommend getting a warranty and not pushing it to its limits. But I can game dev comfortably with some speed annoyances. I plan to upgrade to another laptop once I’m more established with a full time job.
I have a 2017 Razor w/ a 1060 and i5-7700 and opening Unreal Engine on makes it sound like a jet engine- Definitely scary to use because I know that little heat sink and fan are giving it all it’s got lol. I was able to use Godot and do a little 3D and it’s fine for modeling basic things in Blender but I would never get any work done if it was main rig
One thing to check with Razer is Synapse (that hateful thing), I do find that when synapse goes stupid, it's got a bad habit of absolutely maxing out (or not turning on at all) the fans.
Very helpful video awesome .👍 ❓Is intel i5 11gen with integrated iris Gpu is enough for unity , blender and unreal game development . And I am not talking about AAA games and raytracing , only 2D and some moderate 3d .
I need a laptop for unity 3d development. What I must choose? Legion 5 pro with i7 11800h 16gb ram 512 ssd and rtx3050 or Mac air m1 8gb ram 512 ssd? If I choose Windows, I can't deploy to Apple devices.. Nice vídeos
i7-9750h 6core 2.3ghz and 1660 6GB + 16GB Ram and having problem with any game or software, Unity running nice and some latest games Cyberpunk medium/high, new Battlefield or Farcry all high so not bad for older GPU generation but Processor is very good still compete with very good with actual 11gen series
A 3060 is a solid GPU and should do you fine, just be sure to get 16GB+ of RAM and an SSD and that combo is more than enough for normal game dev (and game playing)
@@gamefromscratch Thanks! But I just found out there's bunch of people having serious trackpad issues with this machine so I am not gonna consider it lol
I'm trying to buy Asus Zephyrus G15, but it has 16gb of RAM and 8gb is soldered. So I can just add 16gb to that 8gb and get 24gb RAM. But is it fine to do it? Bcuz people talk about dual channel, I don't even know what it means. Please explain.
Memory in matched pairs, or at the very least same size, can be accessed in dual channel mode. In theory this enables you to read memory twice as fast. In reality it's probably more like a 50% faster read of Ram, nothing to sneeze at.
@@gamefromscratch oh ok. Dual channel works properly when both the dual rams are the size like 2x 8gigs of ram. But what happens when add a 16gig ram to pair with a 8gig. Like will I lose fps? Face any Software issues? Or will the 16gig be limited to 8gig or something? What will cons if do so?😅😅 I might be asking stupid questions but please aid me with this.
Do any of these manufacturers sell Linux laptops? I mean can I get it without Windows, they all seem to have Windows by default, and I don't want to pay for an OS I'm not going to use.
I can play Core games just fine but when I try to create anything it lags like crazy. I'll stick with Roblox for right now but I am constantly keeping up with Core.
Yes, in fact for daily use it's borderline amazing due to the fairly obscene battery life. If you aren't engaging the GPU (aka, gaming or game development) you can get 9+ hours of battery life out of it. (they say 13, but I call BS) This is ultrabook territory. Another aspect I like about it, and HATED about previous RoG devices is, it doesn't scream GAMER. So if you take it to a business meeting or use it in public, it can look pretty subtle but still sharp/interesting. This compares well to my old ASUS laptop that looked like an F117 fighter jet...
I went for the Zenbook Duo 14 (UX482). I wanted something small and light and like you said not a desktop replacement. The additional half screen is really nice. I've had it for almost a month now. I work with Unity and I use it mostly for coding. I use a desktop for blender and other art related activities.
Watching this on my Surface Pro 8, i7 with 16gb version. I loaded up UE5 earlier, it seemed pretty snappy, at least navigating the UI. We will see how it handles once I load up a project.
@@sir.niklas2090 lol, nah it's still going strong. Been using for everything like Unity 3d and Blender. Haven't really loaded up Unreal 5 on it because I've been working on some Unity and and Blender projects. But I still plan to.
Hopefully reazer edge with intel new APUs or some technology like thunderbolt/ wifi6 or really whatever you know when you're on your bed most of the time .or moving in the house without the hassle of carrying extra pounds ( as long as you got wireless coverage) it's my dream , laptop are fine but it's hard to deal with them
AMD technically supports thunderbolt and Ryzen laptops with thunderbolt 4 will start shipping in 2022 (doesn't change the fact that you might as well go for a desktop PC instead of relying on an eGPU)
missed important things: alienware m17 has 3 drive bays, the memory is soldered so pick carefully, alienware has all kinds of copper and fans. I could get m17 alienware from amazon for 2200 but no insurance, if i want insurance i had to buy direct from alienware and that ends up costing 600bucks more. For me it seemed the best deal was online costco msi 17 360hz rtx3070 32G for $2200 and $99 for 3years spill/drop insurance from costco. People are saying substance painter chokes on 16GB ram so maybe 32GB if you plan to do substance painter. one more: the alienware 1TB option is raid0 of 512GB ssds, not sure how to do data recovery on that I would prefer to use 1 real 1TB ssd or plan to backup often.
@Gamefromscratch I am a student who currently has a capable desktop for game development, but I need a laptop for CS classes and general school. I am eyeing the macbook pros with m1x that should be coming out later today because of the expected good performance/battery life, and I like the idea of a large but relatively lightweight 16" laptop. Do you think that is a good idea since GPU performance isn't as big of a deal in my case?
If it's a secondary machine, then the GPU really isn't that important. I personally think 16" is a tad too big for a portable machine, but again, personal opinion. No idea what the next generation of Mac's is going to look like. Honestly, that is it's unique ecosystem, so its really a decision you'll have to make for yourself. The M1 chips are very nice though.
@@gamefromscratch Thanks for the reply, I think the size is good because my vision is relatively poor, so the larger the screen, the better. I guess we will just have to wait a few hours and see what apple announces. Have a good one.
Yeah, when it comes to form factor, screen and screen resolution, we all have different needs. I for one don't care about > 60hz screens, because I'm not really that sensitive to it, but other people it drives insane.
I've been looking at the Acer Swift X lately but it's impossible to get in my country... Edit: also wait till all the new macs are released with new M1 chips, the devs for MacOS have been doing real performance miracles porting all their software to the new ARM chips and architecture, and battery life gets absurd
i got the Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-54-760S Gaming Laptop in my amazon cart and it is actually quite good bc it has all the stuff thats pretty good that is on here
We want table , I like the idea of laptops but ugh , it's hard to work on next time I will get combination of desktop with tablet or the portable steam deck
A lot of it stems from portability. If you spend 100% of your time in the same location a laptop makes a lot less sense, although there are some advantages still (like a built in 3+ hour UPS). Additionally if you like upgrading your system beyond RAM and storage, likewise a laptop isn't for you. But if you favour mobility, even within your own office or house, or you are a student/commuter, suddenly laptops make a ton more sense. Also quite frankly, finding laptops is a heck of a lot easier than desktops these days, and is often actually cheaper. This is especially true if you have no interest in building your own PC. "Good" desktop PCs prebuilds are almost non-existent in Toronto.
@Sono Nicely said. My son works in the industry and was about to get a beefy laptop. I convinced him to upgrade his desktop instead(par the GPU of-course, because atrocious prices...). When we compared the specs for both, within the same budget, upgrading was the clear winner in all aspects.
If you find it , the best and cheapest for work and gaming is Predator Triton 300 PT315-53 | with rtx 3080, 32 GB Ram, 1To SSD and latest intel cpu 11th gen i7-11800H for 2000€ ¨VAT incld arround 1600$
I've had horrible experiences with dell in the past, a brand new laptop's hinges tore the whole chassis open in less than a week. Person on the phone said "that isn't covered by warranty" Something that drastic could only be a design flaw. Anyhow I'm going anywhere near dell ever again. But as you say, experiences can vary a lot. Maybe Dell France is terrible, maybe I was just unlucky. I'm starting to consider an upgrade myself but it is a difficult call to make, everything is moving to usb C yet you still get laptops with usb A 2.0 ports. And there's the whole ARM thing happening with apple, battery performance and thermals would be very nice in a laptop but I don't like apple's garden. The most interesting one is the framework in my opinion but as you said, it's a risky buy. You don't get a whole lot for the money and if the upgradeability falls through, you're left with an average pricey laptop. Hopefully I can make due with what I have for another year or two, but honestly with 5 year old laptop, it's getting near impossible to use Unity. Even a simple 3D scene in Godot won't run that well. Thankfully my even older desktop is keeping my afloat for now, but I'm unable to do serious work away from home currently.
Dell from a customer service/sales perspective is absolutely horrible. It's funny, there was a time where they really boomed because of these attributes, but that is MANY years in the past. My experiences with the actual hardware have always been pretty good. That said, there are like a billion parts in a modern laptop so I can imagine anyone can get a lemon.
@@gamefromscratch I really want to believe that Dell hasn't become the monster I keep hearing about. Dell's tech support wasn't that bad, last week. But then again, it was because an expensive 3-week-old Inspiron died on me and I have to send it back now... It's sad. We've had several Dell machines over the last ~15 years, and they all worked!
My most recent experience with Dell was my wife buying an XPS 13 last Black Friday. They lost her order. 3 weeks, nothing. No updates, no status changes, call tech support and they say its in pending acceptance status. After 3 weeks they finally submitted the order to BEGIN manufacturing. She got a discount/rebate for the screwup, but it was pretty awful. Machine ended up arriving 5.5 weeks later, when it was specifically ordered as an "in stock ships next day" item. It was however a very nice machine.
@@perregrinne2500 I had a Dell laptop when I was a student, nearly 20 years ago. I had many problems with it, generally of a kind that meant it totally died and needed a new motherboard (I think it had 5 over it’s lifetime). Of course this would generally be when I had a deadline. I’d paid for 3-year next day on-site warranty, but I had an absolute nightmare getting them to honour this - when I ordered it, my original machine was stolen from a warehouse before getting to me, and somehow the extended warranty had been applied to that rather than my replacement machine… but even when I’d finally managed to figure that out, I’d still have to spend hours arguing with their support drones *every time*. And this was when making a long phone call cost actual money, too. I’m surprised they didn’t at some point replace it with a newer model with fewer thermal issues (one of the engineers they sent out seemed to think they normally would when things got that bad).
Heh, my gaming laptop has 8GB memory. I don't like keeping a hundred tabs open, though (usually just two or three). I want 16GB for the next one, though.
Yeah 8GB would get you through the previous gen, unless you're like me and keep lots of windows open or are hitting it with memory intensive tasks (like video capture), but I would have a really hard time recommending anyone *today* buying an 8GB machine. I'm even iffy on recommending 16GB if it can't be upgraded.
It might be worth looking into upgrading the memory, if you have an extra slot. That said, parts are kinda pricier than normal at the time I'm writing this (maybe stores raise prices in October so they can claim a steeper discount next month, for Black Friday).
@@gamefromscratch I was so sad a couple of years ago when a young friend of the family was being brought a laptop and they were asking for advice… my dad, who knows computers well and always was an advocate for plentiful RAM in the past (but was in denial about the extent to which demands for even modest use had inflated), told them 4GB would be adequate. My protestations were ignored. 4GB was not enough. The machine was unloved and didn’t last very long before being replaced with a MacBook. Such a false economy.
Yeah I got the ASUS Zephrus Pro Duo for game development and it eats UE5.0 for breakfast. Art, compiling, Unreal development - no problem on all fronts. Keyboard is near perfect as is the trackpad/numpad. Only downside is the battery life (of course) is on the short side. That's comfortably higher end than the ASUS you have in the review, and build quality is Macbook Pro level (all al-zinc). 32GB 1TB NVMe 2070 32 GB OLED 4k DUAL SCREEN Dual Thunderbolt No - this is the perfect game dev laptop GFS
I had a few issues with the dual screen personally. First it absolutely kills the battery driving a second display and second, I don't know if its a gimmick or a game changer. Also I believe it pushes the keyboard to the front of the chassis.
@@gamefromscratch Well you can simply turn off the second screen with the included software. And everybody complains about the keyboard at front, but how is that different from _any_ other (-edit- desktop) keyboard? All of them are 'pushed to the front', few have wrist rests, and with the Duo Pro they include a nice wrist rest anyhow. I can't do any work without at least two screens, three ideally (programming particularly and art) so yeah, works for me.
To a degree yes and it makes sense. Wanna make games, you've gotta be able to run games. However, there is an entire segment of new laptops that are even more focused, called Creator or Studio series. These are basically gaming laptops but with better color calibration, generally higher end specs(and sometimes Quadro GPUs), and much higher pricetags. Due to the high price tags I didn't really focus on them.
I do have to admit, they announced everything I needed to hear. I would NEVER buy a MacBook without F-row keys and they finally admitted the touchbar was a mistake. They brought the MagSafe back. The M1 is legitly awesome. ... but a notch. WHY... WHYYYYYYYYY
@@gamefromscratch yeah no kidding. Some of their “benchmarks” they were showing off were quietly being done against Razer Blade 15’s, Lenovo Legion 5’s, RTX 3050ti’s and even 3080 laptops (if you read the fine print and look up the model numbers). So the potential to be suuuuuuper nuts. As for the notch crap, I got nothing. I’m not sure it’s going to be a huge deal since it’s basically in an unused portion of the tool bar anyway? Hopefully the better webcam is worth it? You would wish they’d put the Face ID shit in there while they’re at it, but nope. Hopefully the reviews come soon enough. If you do mobile game Dev and are going to be dropping $2k+ on a laptop to begin with, it’s going to be interesting to see how they stack up. You like the nice little jab during their presentation of having someone from Unity talking about game development on the new M1 processors?
@@gamefromscratch Maybe when things like games go “fullscreen” they’ll tend to make that whole top section go black (which I guess with the mini-LED will be *really black*) so that it’s effectively like just having the extra bezel, but then having the space available for menus at other times.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Start Creating Games with Core (for Free!!!) app.qlik.me/o/e92c80861699abfa1_tBMsHS
gamefromscratch.com/choosing-a-laptop-for-game-development-in-2021/
If you are looking to buy a laptop in 2021, this guide should be perfect for you. We cover all aspects of laptops that are important for game development including CPU, GPU, thermals, form factor, game engine requirements and more. In the end we make several different recommendations to support a variety of budgets.
Timeline:
0:00 Introduction
0:43 Written Guide on Gamefromscratch.com
0:59 Core Game Engine Sponsored Video
02:19 Laptop Design Overview
03:27 How Much Power Do You Need for Your Game?
05:44 My Minimum System Spec Recommendations
08:59 Choosing a GPU
14:57 Choosing a CPU
19:45 Displays, Thermals and Thunderbolt
24:24 Laptop Recommendations
24:43 High End Recommendations
30:00 More Affordable Recommendations
39:27 Conclusion
It's crazy how I've come this far in my life as a game dev, without any of those minimum requirements.
I didn't have a dedicated GPU,
My hard drive was HDD
And with an 8gb un-upgradable ram.
Good to im not the only person XD
My laptop is like 8 years old. It has 2 gigs of ram 5 gigs of storage and an integrated gpu. Nothing is a downgrade for me
Same here but with more storage
What does 'integrated GPU' really mean?
@@agent-33 it means instead of having a graphics card your cpu does all of the hard work
@@goofyblocks No, it means that the graphics cores are on the same die as the cpu
@@goofyblocks you’re quite wrong sir. There are many CPUs without integrated GPU and they cannot output anything on monitors until we connect a dedicated GPU.
Integrated GPU is actually a GPU that’s built right into the CPU itself.
It’s much weaker than a dedicated GPU but is enough for general use.
So exciting to see you get a sponsor! Keep up the great work Gamefromscratch, it's awesome to see how much this channel is growing, all thanks to you!
Thanks! I get tons of sponsorship offers, but only run with ones I genuinely recommend. Which by the way, Core is legit a very cool thing and if you haven't, you should check it out. ;)
Can I just say how detailed this video was? You went over every aspect of a laptop, and now it's clear to me what kind of laptop I want to buy.
Although in 2022 the CPU scenario has changed with the HUGE performance increase of the 12th gen Intel chips, this video did really help out with the rest of the stuff.
Thanks a lot! Can't wait for the next revision of this topic by you
Let's see how the new Macbook Pros (that are launching today) stack up
one thing i'd like to say is that be careful with is to look for gpu TDP, there are a lot different TDP of the same gpu, generally go for higher which performs better if thermals are better.
Haha, I just started my game development study and I needed a laptop for that, so what I chose after my own research was the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (AMD 5800H, 16GB, RTX 3070)
I'm planning on upgrading the RAM later when I feel like I need more.
A review of the thing here:
I've been extremely happy with my choice, as it's basically perfect for me! I don't like thin laptops, because I don't trust them to have good cooling, and I just love the design.
The screen is also really great. I'd been using a 1920×1080 60Hz screen for years, but this 165 Hz is so noticeably better. The screen's native 2560×1400 is a little high for me, so I turned the resolution down to 1080p again, and I do not see any difference at all. I also really like how it's 16:10 instead of 16:9. You wouldn't think it makes that big of a difference, but dang, does it ever! I cannot recommend 16:10 (or even 3:2 if you can find it) enough.
The laptop does get hot and loud if you turn it to the overdrive profile (there are three profiles: silent, default and overdrive), but if you've got a headset on, you don't hear it anyway.
The battery is also not that great if you game on it much, but with just normal word processing, browsing and some 2d game work it can hold out for at least three hours, which is plenty enough for me, personally. I basically always have it plugged in, anyway, because there are outlets at home and at uni. The only place I sometimes use it that doesn't have a place to plug it in is the train, but I'm not going to play games in the train. Maybe some slight game dev experimentation if I suddenly get a good idea, but the battery will hold out.
I'd say it's better to consider this laptop as a portable computer with a battery than a workstation you can use anywhere.
Though I must also say that when you put it on silent mode, the battery life also gets way better, but the trade-off there is that you can really feel the worse performance, even in normal desktop applications. For example, it takes a second or two for something to happen if I click a different channel in Discord. Even in silent mode, it is still perfectly acceptably speedy, though.
For gaming and game dev, it's been able to handle everything I've thrown at it as of yet, so not complaints on that front.
A 3060 is a sufficiently capable GPU. I cover it in the video, but expect about a 15-20% difference between GPU levels(roughly), so if the 3070 gets about 100 FPS, expect 80 to 85 with the 3060. Normally the 3060 as 6GB of VRAM while the 3070 has 8GB.
I personally find the __70 series to be the sweet spot for performance/price, so if you can jump up at a cost you can afford, I would do it. But if you can't the 3060 is a good solid GPU choice today.
@@gamefromscratch I agree! My friend who is doing the same study as I am went for the 32GB, RTX 3060 model of the Legion 5 Pro, and we don't really notice too much difference. As I'm also an avid Blender user, and he isn't, he could go with the 3060, but I went with the 3070 for that extra boost.
How’d you approach game dev starting fresh?
Me? I started with GameMaker 8.1 Lite way back around 2008. My cousin had leant me the tutorial book on it. These days if you really want to start off simple, I'd recommend starting with Scratch or if you want something more advanced, with p5js
@@TechnicJelle I’m looking forward to buy the legion 5 (non pro) with RTX 3060 too. Seeing your comment made me feel more confident about my choice!
I’ll probably wait till Lenovo launches the 12th gen intel lineup as it has quite a performance boost.
What level of games can I expect to make on that machine? I want to make 3D games with fairly intensive graphics if possible. Do you think such a laptop would be enough for the next 5 or so years?
I can 100% recommed the Razer Blade Pro 15" with a 3070
best purchase ever
thank you for this one, I just look at your last laptop video last week, because i been thinking about getting a new laptop for game dev
Yeah, figured it was about time for an update on that one. It seems to be about every 2 years the tech advances enough to justify an update. This gen with updated GPUs and the rise of AMD CPUs it was definitely worth covering. Hope it proves useful.
Seriously thank you so much for this video and thank you for explaining this as basic as possible
I found my game development laptop by going to the store, searching for the cheapest one and going to the store clerk and saying "give me THAT one!"
Well, that's certainly one way of doing it. ;-)
The laptops I see on display in stores around me are awful, so I hope you found an actually decent deal. If the store isn't tech-oriented (i.e., Walmart), their laptops are usually Pentium/Celeron trash. Tech-oriented options like Best Buy had some fairly pricier options on display. I only look online for game-dev stuff, and only around Black Friday.
I just noticed your sponsor core and I used core for like an hour, but they didn't have monetization yet.
Now for single developers this might be a good option. I will definitely have to give it a second look.
My personal choice would be ASUS. My laptop s 9 years old already, still works pretty fine. Poor perfomance in modern games for sure, but other than that - like a charm, really. Month ago i changed HDD to SSD and it's even better.
ASUS is one of my favorite hardware makers
I bought a Gigabyte G5 KC a few months back. 1100€ where I live, 3060 RTX, Intel i5 10500, 16 Go RAM, excellent screen and vivid color, 144Hz. I looked for a while for computers around the price range of 1000-1200€, this seemed to be a great value. If you're looking for a capable laptop now and have roughly this budget, I highly recommend it ! The only problem I found so far is that it's making a bit of noise when running demanding tasks, but nothing unexpected or untolerable for a laptop.
As a sidenote, I had an MSI laptop for a while, and while they are also great value compared to their prices, the color accuracy of the screens is in my experience not that great on the cheapers laptop (
You've put together great recommendations!
I did similar research a month ago and was seriously considering the Razer Blade 15, but I ended up going with a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme gen 4 (20Y5CTO1WW) w/ Intel Core I9, 32GB RAM (2 x 16GB), 3080 RTX 16GB, 16" 3840 x 2400 ISPS screen, 1TB drive, 1080p webcam w/ sliding cover, and it's just under 4 lbs. It also has a pretty great warranty where if you upgrade, they will come to your house and fix any hardware issues. The biggest cons are the 3080 runs at 80 TDP and the screen is only 60hz, but an external monitor will fix that. The price is astronomical unless you get lucky and find a sale.
Strix G17 here with a 1660ti and serving me well so far.
22:34 please this is so funny I’ve had to rewind like five times now bc I keep getting distracted from your funny quips on the display 😆😆😆 my day is good thanks
Hope yours is too.
Also this video has been super helpful and informative!!!!! Thanks for making it
I'm really glad you stuck to the portable laptops thank you!
15:00 i just want to say this is not entirely correct. Unreal engine specific and engines in general can often have big cpu bottlenecks with rendering large amounts of objects or editor ui. Compiling and light building will also benefit from increased core counts.
Just told a jb hifi assistant in Melbourne Australia how good this video is. Props 👏😄🎉❤
Bold posting this video a few hours away from apples pro-event :D
I was thinking the same thing :D
Same reaction here
@MenaceInc Its perfectly fine developing on a mac for a lot of game dev professions these days and windows is preferred most of the time yeah. I'm also very happy with my razer blade but I'm also very keen on what Apple can bring to the table tonight.
Apple event today?
I will admit, Apple hit most of my buttons with that announcement. The TouchBar was a big stopper for me. These look legit nice and anyone that owns an exiting MBP have to be crying into their beer right now.
The notch though... :(
Like the video. You actually went in depth than most RUclips creators. Thanks really appreciate it.
Can you do one review for MacBook Pro 16 M1 max 32 core compare with PC, I think it will be very popular video for you.
HP ZBook is what I use. The only problem with them is they front end a crap ton of bloatware with the excuses for 'security'.
Ayo! I think this is your first sponsor.
Congrats mate, you deserve it.
I've had a few, I only take on sponsors when I genuinely recommend the product, but thanks, it's appreciated.
Thanks so much for your videos. Would you recommend the new ASUS G14 or G15 for small to medium projects on Unreal Engine 5.1?
I heard overheating might be an issue...
Perhaps with at least 32GB of RAM?
Thanks and keep up with the great work!
Amazing video and perfection editing. I wasn't expecting to laugh out loud a couple times looking at the screen. This is an ever evolving topic and I was only recently totally obsessed with it. Being hooked on OLED, I went with the Gigabyte aero 15 OLED KD after buying and returning the Asus ROG strix advantage edition (amd).
This is a great topic to cover thanks
I love my Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with the 16inch screen. It's perfect in a lot of ways. However it draws too much power to be plugged in on a plane or RV, or Boat, which surprisingly is a large part of my development cycle. I'm considering picking up a Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 9 for lighter workloads while traveling.
Would you recommend it for unreal 5? I’m wondering g if I should lick it up
@@lordsfmiller2550 did you buy it? I’m planning on getting the legion 5 with 3060 (non pro) for developing games. Only problem is that it’ll be my only computer for at least 5 or so years, so if it turns out to not be powerful enough, I’ll regret it very much
@@smaronboruah Same here, what did you decide then?
I just got the Asus zenbook pro duo is that good for game development and art?
34:37
The new MacBook Pro lineup that just announced will drop the Touch Bar in favor of bringing back the Function row. They are also bringing back the full-size HDMI port, a full-size SD card slot, and MagSafe charging (still no USB-A in sight, but 3 of the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4). And also the new chips: the M1 Pro and the M1 Max, which if what Apple claims is true, is a massive jump over the M1.
So if you’re planning to buy a MacBook Pro, wait for a bit until when reviews are going out.
My bit of an opinion: I’m really suspicious on Apple and their claims on performance since they are now sharing which laptops are they comparing the latest MacBooks at, which shows almost or as performant as said laptops, but with a more efficient wattage output (higher performance per watt).
Worth adding, the top model comes with 64GB memory with 400GB/S memory bandwidth (M1 Max) which is shared between the CPU and GPU, but with a price tag to match.
You correctly list Lenovo Legion 5 as a more affordable option, but I feel the Lenovo Legion 7 is on-par with Asus Zephyrus G15. The Legion 7 is what I ended up choosing because :
16:10 aspect ratio
numpad
RTX3060
To be honest, breaking down the segments when it comes to the big manufacturers ( Lenovo, Dell, etc ) can be really challenging, as they have such a diverse range of products and prices, that the overlap gets very confusing. Where you can buy a higher priced Legion 5 over a lower spec Legion 7, so it does get a bit blurry.
That said, the Legion series has been consistently solid and an easy recommendation.
@@gamefromscratch would a Lenovo legion 5 pro work?
Video dedicated on macs and game development please
Damn! Now I know why you didn't upload for days. This was really detailed video hope you keep getting more sponsors thanks
Glad you enjoyed it, yeah, was certainly a more time demanding video then my usual works.
Waiting for your 2022 game development laptops want to buy one with your help🤓
2022 will be a bit of a challenge, as it's mostly a transition year. It will be ultimately the same GPU and CPU combinations as the component tech hasn't refreshed and probably wont till late 2022 most likely.
Why is Hp not in the list? I feel like the Omen 16 is pretty good
Great video; lots of useful information. Thank you.
How about new MacBook pro with m1 pro or max chips
Hi bro can u plz help me isn't it alienware m17 r4 is worthy to develop games if it is could u plz provide the link plzz
I'm waiting for the Asus Proart studiobook 16 pro... probably forever. Hopefully they will make a non OLED version with an A5000 GPU. If you have an answer please let me know
Hey @John Doe. The Lenovo ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 might be a good option to look at. They have a non-OLED display and A5000 configuration. They're currently offering doorbuster discounts on all the configurations, so you may want to check it out. Hope it helps!
@@dantekaoz Right, they were the other entry on my list. The GPU is capped at 80W and they take 4 months for shipping though.
@@jonathanxdoe oh no, I wasn't aware of the wattage cap :( Makes me wonder... besides the ThinkPads, do other laptops/manufacturers cap their GPUs? 🤔 cause that's a *big* caveat
thanks for the video,
I started learn unity with my surface pro 4. it's an i5 4gb ram.
but worked well for learning and getting know unity.
now I'm working with a Nvidia mx330 8gb ram laptop.
and unity is running great with me even with larg project.
I think a powerful laptop isn't necessary if you're start to learn
Hey, why did you skip HP?
Omen line seems fine, chunky boi like lenovo legion
Another option to consider as a real budget option is the Steam Deck, can't beat the 400$ price to performance of that thing.
Though there are some drawbacks and additional costs to consider, like a docking station, a good microSD card, some additional external storage, and a Monitor if you don't have one already.
It's also Linux based so if there is not Linux version of the software you are using then it gets a bit more complicated.
Valve did say you *could* run windows on it though.
It looks like you have skipped HP Omen 15 line. It's awesome, especially Omen15 2020 with Intel CPU and 2070 GPU + upgradable RAM and 2 NVMe SSD. I've bought one for gamedev and Machine Learning last year, and it's awesome! Solid build, 64GB of RAM, top Intel CPU for 2020, Nvidia RTX 2070, 2*2TB NVMe SSDs + tons of ports, including full-size SD + ethernet + USB 3 TYPE-A ports + Type-C + TB3 -- what else do you need for solid gamedev?
Also I've bought Frame.Work laptop with the Core-i7 and 64GB of RAM DIY edition and I love it! Now I have both powerful & portable machine that I can use for GameDev as well, just connecting my Razer Core eGPU to Frame.Work USB4/TB3 ports.
And yes, 100% agree -- 16GB is not enough for the "real" development or video processing. 32GB is a bare minimum, but I have already switched all machines that I have to 64GB of RAM.
P.S.
BTW, I've also captured few times UE Editor is using around 30GB or RAM. 🤣
Hello I’m planning on getting a laptop with intel 12 gen, and rtx 3060 (6gb vram).
What level of games can I expect to make on such specs? Will it be enough to last me at least 5 or so years? I want to make 3D games with fairly intensive graphics if possible.
Also how much storage will I require? I’m planning on buying a separate 1tb m.2 SSD, only for game Dev purposes. Will it be enough?
How would you suppose developing an AAA title would work on one of the recommended laptops? Nevermind would probably explode halfway through development.. bad idea
We're is laptops like the gigabyte g5
Is asus rog g17 is suitable for ue5 16gb ram 6gb graphics
I know this will sound dumb to people who know what they’re doing but, is the new Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and Max viable? Or, do they have limitations due to being Mac? I know you talked about the regular m1 but what about the new Pro and Max?
One question: if I want to make 8K game do this laptop don’t work ? 🤔
made me laugh with the green screen starting at 22:30, btw my day is going good. lenovo legion 5 user here for the past year, got it on sale at the time for 999. i'm glad it's still a decent laptop for game making. i do miss the thunderbolt port and it does get about 3-4hours of life when doing light work
Glad you enjoyed that... didn't know how well that particular bit would go over. ;) Always nice to toss a bit of humour into an otherwise kinda dry subject.
When I rebuilt my pc I put 32 gigs of ram in there, with the intent to upgrade further later. 32 was awesome, now I have 64. I will not be going back from AT LEAST 32 gigs, but ideally I will be using 64 and greater for the rest of my life.
rich pepul
Another commenter brought something to my attention: Apparently laptop manufacturers cap their GPUs wattage due to thermal constraints (at least Lenovo does this, from what I've read in their forums). Will this reduce performance significantly compared to an equivalent priced/spec'ed desktop GPU? Should this factor in when picking up a certain brand-model?
Hope someone can clarify this for me, as a non-technical user thinking about upgrading. Thank you!
Hello, sorry if it’s too late already.
Yes GPU wattage is a very important thing to consider these days.
While lower wattage may help with heat and battery life, it significantly cuts down the performance that the GPU is actually capable of. Even a 10 watt difference can impact performance by quite a margin.
@@smaronboruah No sir, not too late! Yes, I looked into a little more and found interesting options that advertise "high wattages" for their dedicated (NVIDIA) GPUs. I really had never considered this factor - I mostly had been working on desktops until very recently since I moved places. Thank you very much for this clarification! It's really helpful (:
Great video very informative! However I got mad distracted during your talk about monitors/screens lmao I was too busy reading your text lmao but overall great! Thanks!
what do you guys think of macbook pro m1 max 16 ''?
and would you consider a Dell Mobile Precision overkill?
is acer aspire 7 a good laptop for game dev and gaming???
Acer Nitro 5 user here! Solid machine and good for starter level at an affordable price. I do recommend getting a warranty and not pushing it to its limits. But I can game dev comfortably with some speed annoyances. I plan to upgrade to another laptop once I’m more established with a full time job.
Can you mention the specs ? Also, what’s the performance you are getting out in Unity 3D.
Would it be good for video game design?
I have a 2017 Razor w/ a 1060 and i5-7700 and opening Unreal Engine on makes it sound like a jet engine- Definitely scary to use because I know that little heat sink and fan are giving it all it’s got lol. I was able to use Godot and do a little 3D and it’s fine for modeling basic things in Blender but I would never get any work done if it was main rig
One thing to check with Razer is Synapse (that hateful thing), I do find that when synapse goes stupid, it's got a bad habit of absolutely maxing out (or not turning on at all) the fans.
Razer Synapse is useful and should be checked and also open it up and clean all dust from every inch and replace the thermal paste on CPU and gpu
My G14 has a number of issues plus it's too try hard with the LED array. Very powerful yes but kinda wish I'd gone for something else.
Mike How about the i7 10870h and rtx 3060 acer predator helios 300 for 100k INR? It has 16x1 ram and the second slot is empty.
Good specs should be a solid pickup, no idea what that price is and what your regional pricing are like though
Very helpful video awesome .👍 ❓Is intel i5 11gen with integrated iris Gpu is enough for unity , blender and unreal game development . And I am not talking about AAA games and raytracing , only 2D and some moderate 3d .
I need a laptop for unity 3d development. What I must choose? Legion 5 pro with i7 11800h 16gb ram 512 ssd and rtx3050 or Mac air m1 8gb ram 512 ssd? If I choose Windows, I can't deploy to Apple devices..
Nice vídeos
i7-9750h 6core 2.3ghz and 1660 6GB + 16GB Ram and having problem with any game or software, Unity running nice and some latest games Cyberpunk medium/high, new Battlefield or Farcry all high so not bad for older GPU generation but Processor is very good still compete with very good with actual 11gen series
What about DELL inspiron with 3060 60w? Seems very affordable/portable/capable for normal-level gamedev
A 3060 is a solid GPU and should do you fine, just be sure to get 16GB+ of RAM and an SSD and that combo is more than enough for normal game dev (and game playing)
@@gamefromscratch Thanks! But I just found out there's bunch of people having serious trackpad issues with this machine so I am not gonna consider it lol
I'm trying to buy Asus Zephyrus G15, but it has 16gb of RAM and 8gb is soldered. So I can just add 16gb to that 8gb and get 24gb RAM. But is it fine to do it? Bcuz people talk about dual channel, I don't even know what it means. Please explain.
Memory in matched pairs, or at the very least same size, can be accessed in dual channel mode. In theory this enables you to read memory twice as fast. In reality it's probably more like a 50% faster read of Ram, nothing to sneeze at.
@@gamefromscratch oh ok. Dual channel works properly when both the dual rams are the size like 2x 8gigs of ram. But what happens when add a 16gig ram to pair with a 8gig. Like will I lose fps? Face any Software issues? Or will the 16gig be limited to 8gig or something?
What will cons if do so?😅😅
I might be asking stupid questions but please aid me with this.
Do any of these manufacturers sell Linux laptops? I mean can I get it without Windows, they all seem to have Windows by default, and I don't want to pay for an OS I'm not going to use.
I can play Core games just fine but when I try to create anything it lags like crazy. I'll stick with Roblox for right now but I am constantly keeping up with Core.
Is ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 good for daily use other than gaming?
Yes, in fact for daily use it's borderline amazing due to the fairly obscene battery life. If you aren't engaging the GPU (aka, gaming or game development) you can get 9+ hours of battery life out of it. (they say 13, but I call BS) This is ultrabook territory.
Another aspect I like about it, and HATED about previous RoG devices is, it doesn't scream GAMER. So if you take it to a business meeting or use it in public, it can look pretty subtle but still sharp/interesting. This compares well to my old ASUS laptop that looked like an F117 fighter jet...
@@gamefromscratch Good point. Thanks for your kind opinion.
I went for the Zenbook Duo 14 (UX482). I wanted something small and light and like you said not a desktop replacement. The additional half screen is really nice. I've had it for almost a month now. I work with Unity and I use it mostly for coding. I use a desktop for blender and other art related activities.
Did he say Core gives you a 50% revenue share for your released game?
Watching this on my Surface Pro 8, i7 with 16gb version. I loaded up UE5 earlier, it seemed pretty snappy, at least navigating the UI. We will see how it handles once I load up a project.
Did you manage to load up that project? I've been curious about this too as a UE4 dev.
@@rogerwinright2290 Not yet. I've been meaning to this weekend. I have been using Blender in it just fine though.
@@johnramhos how’d it go?
Did your Surface die? Its been 3 months. :D
@@sir.niklas2090 lol, nah it's still going strong. Been using for everything like Unity 3d and Blender. Haven't really loaded up Unreal 5 on it because I've been working on some Unity and and Blender projects. But I still plan to.
Note: Next gen AMD laptops will DOUBLE CPU core count. So if you don't absolutely need one this year, wait a year.
Hopefully reazer edge with intel new APUs or some technology like thunderbolt/ wifi6 or really whatever you know when you're on your bed most of the time .or moving in the house without the hassle of carrying extra pounds ( as long as you got wireless coverage) it's my dream , laptop are fine but it's hard to deal with them
AMD technically supports thunderbolt and Ryzen laptops with thunderbolt 4 will start shipping in 2022 (doesn't change the fact that you might as well go for a desktop PC instead of relying on an eGPU)
Lenovo legion 5 pro is 5.7 pounds but best power for the price
missed important things: alienware m17 has 3 drive bays, the memory is soldered so pick carefully, alienware has all kinds of copper and fans. I could get m17 alienware from amazon for 2200 but no insurance, if i want insurance i had to buy direct from alienware and that ends up costing 600bucks more. For me it seemed the best deal was online costco msi 17 360hz rtx3070 32G for $2200 and $99 for 3years spill/drop insurance from costco. People are saying substance painter chokes on 16GB ram so maybe 32GB if you plan to do substance painter. one more: the alienware 1TB option is raid0 of 512GB ssds, not sure how to do data recovery on that I would prefer to use 1 real 1TB ssd or plan to backup often.
@Gamefromscratch I am a student who currently has a capable desktop for game development, but I need a laptop for CS classes and general school. I am eyeing the macbook pros with m1x that should be coming out later today because of the expected good performance/battery life, and I like the idea of a large but relatively lightweight 16" laptop. Do you think that is a good idea since GPU performance isn't as big of a deal in my case?
If it's a secondary machine, then the GPU really isn't that important. I personally think 16" is a tad too big for a portable machine, but again, personal opinion.
No idea what the next generation of Mac's is going to look like. Honestly, that is it's unique ecosystem, so its really a decision you'll have to make for yourself. The M1 chips are very nice though.
@@gamefromscratch Thanks for the reply, I think the size is good because my vision is relatively poor, so the larger the screen, the better.
I guess we will just have to wait a few hours and see what apple announces.
Have a good one.
Yeah, when it comes to form factor, screen and screen resolution, we all have different needs. I for one don't care about > 60hz screens, because I'm not really that sensitive to it, but other people it drives insane.
I've been looking at the Acer Swift X lately but it's impossible to get in my country...
Edit: also wait till all the new macs are released with new M1 chips, the devs for MacOS have been doing real performance miracles porting all their software to the new ARM chips and architecture, and battery life gets absurd
Africa ?
HP OMEN 15, RYZEN 4800H RTX 2060. very good price, you can fetch it for like 900 euros.
i got the Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-54-760S Gaming Laptop in my amazon cart and it is actually quite good bc it has all the stuff thats pretty good that is on here
We want table , I like the idea of laptops but ugh , it's hard to work on next time I will get combination of desktop with tablet or the portable steam deck
Game dev in laptop, that's something i never understood, specially in covid times. To each their own i guess.
A lot of it stems from portability. If you spend 100% of your time in the same location a laptop makes a lot less sense, although there are some advantages still (like a built in 3+ hour UPS). Additionally if you like upgrading your system beyond RAM and storage, likewise a laptop isn't for you.
But if you favour mobility, even within your own office or house, or you are a student/commuter, suddenly laptops make a ton more sense.
Also quite frankly, finding laptops is a heck of a lot easier than desktops these days, and is often actually cheaper. This is especially true if you have no interest in building your own PC. "Good" desktop PCs prebuilds are almost non-existent in Toronto.
I can't tell you how much work have I lost during random power outages, a laptop would have been useful.
@@Th3HarzyGamePlays Or an UPS
@Sono Nicely said. My son works in the industry and was about to get a beefy laptop. I convinced him to upgrade his desktop instead(par the GPU of-course, because atrocious prices...). When we compared the specs for both, within the same budget, upgrading was the clear winner in all aspects.
@@Audiojack_ I had an UPS, but it broke after 2 years and I didn't bother to buy another one.
What laptop do you currently use?
ruclips.net/video/rFVtDilNDJA/видео.html.
I Use lenovo legion 7, it pretty good I recommend it.
If you find it , the best and cheapest for work and gaming is Predator Triton 300 PT315-53 | with rtx 3080, 32 GB Ram, 1To SSD and latest intel cpu 11th gen i7-11800H for 2000€ ¨VAT incld arround 1600$
I've had horrible experiences with dell in the past, a brand new laptop's hinges tore the whole chassis open in less than a week. Person on the phone said "that isn't covered by warranty"
Something that drastic could only be a design flaw. Anyhow I'm going anywhere near dell ever again. But as you say, experiences can vary a lot. Maybe Dell France is terrible, maybe I was just unlucky.
I'm starting to consider an upgrade myself but it is a difficult call to make, everything is moving to usb C yet you still get laptops with usb A 2.0 ports.
And there's the whole ARM thing happening with apple, battery performance and thermals would be very nice in a laptop but I don't like apple's garden. The most interesting one is the framework in my opinion but as you said, it's a risky buy. You don't get a whole lot for the money and if the upgradeability falls through, you're left with an average pricey laptop.
Hopefully I can make due with what I have for another year or two, but honestly with 5 year old laptop, it's getting near impossible to use Unity. Even a simple 3D scene in Godot won't run that well. Thankfully my even older desktop is keeping my afloat for now, but I'm unable to do serious work away from home currently.
Dell from a customer service/sales perspective is absolutely horrible. It's funny, there was a time where they really boomed because of these attributes, but that is MANY years in the past. My experiences with the actual hardware have always been pretty good. That said, there are like a billion parts in a modern laptop so I can imagine anyone can get a lemon.
@@gamefromscratch I really want to believe that Dell hasn't become the monster I keep hearing about. Dell's tech support wasn't that bad, last week. But then again, it was because an expensive 3-week-old Inspiron died on me and I have to send it back now... It's sad. We've had several Dell machines over the last ~15 years, and they all worked!
My most recent experience with Dell was my wife buying an XPS 13 last Black Friday.
They lost her order.
3 weeks, nothing. No updates, no status changes, call tech support and they say its in pending acceptance status. After 3 weeks they finally submitted the order to BEGIN manufacturing.
She got a discount/rebate for the screwup, but it was pretty awful. Machine ended up arriving 5.5 weeks later, when it was specifically ordered as an "in stock ships next day" item.
It was however a very nice machine.
@@perregrinne2500 I had a Dell laptop when I was a student, nearly 20 years ago. I had many problems with it, generally of a kind that meant it totally died and needed a new motherboard (I think it had 5 over it’s lifetime). Of course this would generally be when I had a deadline. I’d paid for 3-year next day on-site warranty, but I had an absolute nightmare getting them to honour this - when I ordered it, my original machine was stolen from a warehouse before getting to me, and somehow the extended warranty had been applied to that rather than my replacement machine… but even when I’d finally managed to figure that out, I’d still have to spend hours arguing with their support drones *every time*. And this was when making a long phone call cost actual money, too.
I’m surprised they didn’t at some point replace it with a newer model with fewer thermal issues (one of the engineers they sent out seemed to think they normally would when things got that bad).
Never gave your reason for no HP on the list
Prometheus XVI Is a Good Option
Heh, my gaming laptop has 8GB memory. I don't like keeping a hundred tabs open, though (usually just two or three). I want 16GB for the next one, though.
Yeah 8GB would get you through the previous gen, unless you're like me and keep lots of windows open or are hitting it with memory intensive tasks (like video capture), but I would have a really hard time recommending anyone *today* buying an 8GB machine. I'm even iffy on recommending 16GB if it can't be upgraded.
It might be worth looking into upgrading the memory, if you have an extra slot. That said, parts are kinda pricier than normal at the time I'm writing this (maybe stores raise prices in October so they can claim a steeper discount next month, for Black Friday).
@@gamefromscratch I was so sad a couple of years ago when a young friend of the family was being brought a laptop and they were asking for advice… my dad, who knows computers well and always was an advocate for plentiful RAM in the past (but was in denial about the extent to which demands for even modest use had inflated), told them 4GB would be adequate. My protestations were ignored. 4GB was not enough. The machine was unloved and didn’t last very long before being replaced with a MacBook. Such a false economy.
Yeah I got the ASUS Zephrus Pro Duo for game development and it eats UE5.0 for breakfast. Art, compiling, Unreal development - no problem on all fronts. Keyboard is near perfect as is the trackpad/numpad. Only downside is the battery life (of course) is on the short side. That's comfortably higher end than the ASUS you have in the review, and build quality is Macbook Pro level (all al-zinc).
32GB
1TB NVMe
2070
32 GB
OLED 4k
DUAL SCREEN
Dual Thunderbolt
No - this is the perfect game dev laptop GFS
I had a few issues with the dual screen personally. First it absolutely kills the battery driving a second display and second, I don't know if its a gimmick or a game changer. Also I believe it pushes the keyboard to the front of the chassis.
@@gamefromscratch Well you can simply turn off the second screen with the included software. And everybody complains about the keyboard at front, but how is that different from _any_ other (-edit- desktop) keyboard? All of them are 'pushed to the front', few have wrist rests, and with the Duo Pro they include a nice wrist rest anyhow.
I can't do any work without at least two screens, three ideally (programming particularly and art) so yeah, works for me.
A shame that Lenovo, HP and Asus professional machine are not featured...
wouldn't the 3090 be more powerful than the 3080?
There is no mobile 3090
@@gamefromscratch Ok thanks! Don't know much about performance laptops. Your video has been great for me!
Everything I wanted to know is in this one video, I'm not search anymore
Only choose a laptop if you have no other choice. Otherwise, go for a proper PC.
Nah, choose a desktop if you don't have any choice; otherwise go for a proper laptop
Watch the core ad with x2 speed
So if I understand this correctly, best option is to buy a gaming laptop and make ur games on that.
To a degree yes and it makes sense. Wanna make games, you've gotta be able to run games.
However, there is an entire segment of new laptops that are even more focused, called Creator or Studio series. These are basically gaming laptops but with better color calibration, generally higher end specs(and sometimes Quadro GPUs), and much higher pricetags. Due to the high price tags I didn't really focus on them.
I can't wait to see how these insane sounding new MacBook Pros stack up over the next few weeks.
I do have to admit, they announced everything I needed to hear.
I would NEVER buy a MacBook without F-row keys and they finally admitted the touchbar was a mistake.
They brought the MagSafe back.
The M1 is legitly awesome.
... but a notch. WHY... WHYYYYYYYYY
@@gamefromscratch yeah no kidding. Some of their “benchmarks” they were showing off were quietly being done against Razer Blade 15’s, Lenovo Legion 5’s, RTX 3050ti’s and even 3080 laptops (if you read the fine print and look up the model numbers). So the potential to be suuuuuuper nuts.
As for the notch crap, I got nothing. I’m not sure it’s going to be a huge deal since it’s basically in an unused portion of the tool bar anyway? Hopefully the better webcam is worth it? You would wish they’d put the Face ID shit in there while they’re at it, but nope.
Hopefully the reviews come soon enough. If you do mobile game Dev and are going to be dropping $2k+ on a laptop to begin with, it’s going to be interesting to see how they stack up.
You like the nice little jab during their presentation of having someone from Unity talking about game development on the new M1 processors?
@@gamefromscratch Maybe when things like games go “fullscreen” they’ll tend to make that whole top section go black (which I guess with the mini-LED will be *really black*) so that it’s effectively like just having the extra bezel, but then having the space available for menus at other times.
Thanks for the valueable content. 16 GB is the at least point but its is better to have 32 GB so that your PC can breath properly!