Best Gaming Laptop under $2500?

LTheWiseOne on 21/04/2025 - 13:26

Hello all!

New to NZ (Student). I do a lot of computationally heavy work and wanted to upgrade from my current Legion (6 years old) to a much more powerful machine with at least 8GB VRAM (want to game too!) and 14 cores.

I saw a few Legion and MSI models, and they were pretty much within budget except I realized I was browsing the JB Hi-Fi Australian site. PB Tech had a few good options but I find it overpriced for the specs offered.

Are there any good retailers (offline/online) you would advice me to go? And any particular models I need to look out for?

Thank you

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  • spren on 23/04/2025 - 09:49
    +1

    It's not right for everyone, but consider an SFF build too (you could build a decent SFF PC and have enough left over for a cheaper notebook or iPad/tablet with your budget). Apart from that, just hunt for deals - Computer Lounge, Acquire, PBTech, JB HiFi, Noel Leeming, Harvey Norman, Aquila, Paradigm PCs, Playtech, NotBadTech are all local retailers off the top of my head. RRPs in NZ kinda suck so be a little patient if you want to min-max.

    • thesnek on 23/04/2025 - 15:08

      Are there any pre-built SFF's you would recommend?

      • spren on 23/04/2025 - 17:30
        +1

        I currently use a UM760 Pro (https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um790-pro) as a NAS, Docker host and Moonlight client connected to the living room TV - it has full-bandwidth 4K/144Hz/HDR HDMI 2.1 so I can stream games seamlessly from my actual PC (also SFF, but not prebuilt) in the other room. (At the time I purchased, it was the cheapest option with fully-compliant HDMI 2.1 apart from the Orange Pi 4B, which is barely a computer at all.)

        It's been… fine… at the other tasks - Windows isn't really the best option for a server, but it is what it is. It's also got abysmal WiFi and Bluetooth performance due to the antenna placement being garbage, but it's running over Ethernet so no big deal.

        For a workstation, any prebuilt with the right specs that doesn't randomly die (avoid Intel NUCs) will probably do (Mac Mini M3 is probably the best deal right now, if you can handle MacOS, and if not just chuck Asahi on it). For gaming, honestly, I would strongly avoid prebuilts - non-replaceable GPUs + difficult maintenance + high temps is not a good combo, and you're much more likely to get good deals (and cooler-looking SFF cases) from DIY.

  • whatsmynameagain on 23/04/2025 - 07:42

    I have a MSI Katana 15 B13V gaming laptop, going for $2,300 ish at PB Tech atm.

    It runs the games I play well. It's big. It's heavy. The battery is ok for a bulky and grunty gaming machine that it is.

    Are there better gaming machines out there? Probably. But this one works fine for what I need.

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