My previous laptop, a Lenovo y580p started to malfunction. Basically, the whole keyboard was unresponsive at random times and the touch pad was not working. Attempts at re-installing the drivers to try and save it were pretty futile.
Old Laptop
Since I was pretty desperate then, I unscrewed the covers and opened it up, based off instructions that I found online, so that I can better see what exactly was going on. Don't get me wrong though, I've actually never did this before. Still, what did I have to lose? Spoiling it more? Ha.
It was actually pretty interesting when I got into it as I could finally figure out and piece together where all the different parts of a small PC went. I also realized that anyone that would charge you anything >$20 for 'diagnostic' checks is ripping you off and it would be better for you to learn how to do it yourself.
The problem, at least in my opinion, was that the connection area between the keyboard and the motherboard was completely black (I guess that section overheated over the years?). As for the track-pad, it probably got misaligned, but reconnecting it's connecting ports properly didn't seem to work still.
Finally gave in and decided to get a new laptop. Repairing it was still an option, but I felt that it really would not be worth the time, effort and money. I certainly did not want to be engaged with some shitty customer support tech from the official service center, where the whole process could last for months and the charges would continue to accumulate, or get conned in Sim Lim.
The Search for my New Laptop
Firstly, if you ever want to get any kind of PC for gaming, definitely build a desktop as it is a lot more cost efficient.
However, I still needed something portable, hence a laptop was still the option for me. Didn't want to deal with the hassle of having a gaming PC and a cheapo laptop, as needing to handle files between the 2 would be a pain, as compared to having everything on 1 PC.
The next criteria for me was that it had to have specs that were good enough to game on. This really meant that I'd have to fork out some extra cash, which is really inevitable.
So I went on the net and tried looking for a 'budget' gaming laptop, which yielded quite a few decent results. The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 was the one that really caught my eye though, as it looked quite slick, as compared to the other 'gaming' models that seemed too flashy for my taste. On top of that, the specs were pretty good for the price. I paid $1.3k after a $400 discount from a promotion on Dell's official site.
Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Essentially, the one I got has a 7th Gen Core i7 Processor, a GTX 1050Ti Graphics card together with a SSD hard drive & 8GB RAM. Technically, it should be able to run most games decently, even including the AAA games (more graphic demanding games) at ~60 or more fps with the right tweaks.
At that price for a gaming laptop, it seems pretty reasonable. So I ordered it.
Delivery Day
The product took about 1½ weeks to come. It came in 2 boxes, 1 contained the laptop, chargers and manual and the other contained the laptop bag.
Delivery Packaging
Contents of the Box
Set up & Tests
New Laptop - Before Boot Up
Took about a day to port all my files from my previous PC, re-installed all the software that I'd normally use and ran the necessary updates required.
By the way, Microsoft office 2016 runs on an annual subscription basis now?! If you want it permanently, you'd have to pay $200+?! I thought these things costs like $20-50 max. No way am I paying for that, I'd rather just use the 2010 version that I have.
Performance wise, it runs really fast and games such as DotA2, CS GO & FF XIV are all able to run at ≥60fps at relatively high settings.
DotA 2
CS GO
Final Fantasy XIV
It's all probably thanks to the GTX 1050Ti graphics card. Looks like I'll be having a pretty good time for awhile.
Final Thoughts
Lookin' Slick as F!@#
Overall, I'm quite happy with it. It's smooth and polished design together with the performance it gives at <$1.5k seems like a pretty good deal. Though the screen display could be better, but why complain so much har...
Hope this baby serves me well for the years to come.
