[USA] Where to shop for gaming laptops and find good prices?

matcha_addict@lemy.lol to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 25 points –

I've been looking at best buy. Are there any other sites to look on?

Budget: targeting $900, can go up to $1000 Specs:

  • 3060 or 4060 and up
  • decent build and ergonomics
  • good battery
  • 16 GB RAM
  • 6 core / 12 thread CPU
  • good screen
18

It's an exceptionally good idea to look at a desktop tower build if you're getting a gaming machine - It's possible to upgrade, get you a lot more for your money, and will generally have much better cooling capability.

That said, I have no real opinion on your actual question.

I agree on this. Unfortunately this is for a gift to someone who I tried to convince to get a desktop but wouldn't change her opinion.

You guys are buying people $1000 gifts??

I get the feeling she won't be gaming to your specs. Gamers have very good reasons for not going desktop, else they go desktop every time. You sure they're into 4060 levels of gaming?

A 4060 isn’t really that impressive. It’s an 8gb card

You're right, I should look into the 4050 range.

Do you have a Microcenter near you? Their prices are usually the best I've found. They have some shippable gaming laptops that just barely miss the specs or price target you have from what I saw but it's worth looking into.

In that case dell and Newegg might be good places to comparison shop - the mid-range gaming laptop market is pretty thin and they almost all have big flaws. The quality of Newegg is trash compared to what it used to be but it occasionally has fire sales and the reviews are a lot more trustworthy than someplace like Amazon - set your price range, search by review score and do a side by side comparison against best buy. Similarly dell is pretty sketchy price wise but the machines usually have appropriate cooling and you'll pay a premium but it won't be a lemon.

I'd also suggest checking other retailer websites (ASUS comes to mind) - but stay the fuck away from Amazon, it will be cheaper but it will either 1) overtly lie or 2) fail to mention large flaws (like having a potato for a battery).

Absolutely do not shop on Newegg. They were the mecca of computer parts years ago but have since been bought by a Chinese company and now have no customer service and there's been many complaints of receiving defective or misleading products. You straight up cannot return products now.

With those specs, there's really nothing wrong with picking up a used gaming laptop for pretty cheap. A lot of gamers are notoriously careful with their rigs and many like to upgrade every couple of years. You can likely find a good 3080 laptop that looks brand new for cheap.

Heck, right now there's a person near me with an Asus rog strix with a 14th gen i9, 4080 gpu, 32 GB of ram, and an 18" 240hz screen and he just wants $900 for it.

I just bought a Lenovo Leigon 7i slim from their website with $400 off. I’m sure a different spec would get you down to $1000.

Newegg has always been a classic for buying hardware and devices online.

Edit: Newegg apparently sucks now, I was not aware. Ignore this.

Newegg came under new management years ago and has gone into the "drop-shipping for random shady merchants" business.

Do not use modern Newegg.

I was honestly not aware, though I do know there was a whole thing around price gouging for GPUs back in I think 2020?

What do you suggest as an alternative? (Not trying to prove a point, I'm genuinely curious)

Honestly, Amazon is perfectly fine. Or if you're lucky enough to have Micro Center near you, that. PCPartPicker checks multiple stores, so that's not a bad place to start, at least for current and historical pricing information.

I've never used it, but I know people who've used Facebook Marketplace for used computers/components. I've used eBay before plenty (even sold parts there).

Edit: You can also go direct to some manufacturers. EVGA often sells brand new and sometimes "B-Spec" components, often at a good price. I purchased a brand new PSU from them directly and got a great deal on it.