New Laptop for Graphics Work

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Hello fiends, we need to buy a laptop quickly for graphics related work.

1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)

Rs. 100,000 (USD 1,300) approx.

2) What size & weight consideration (if any) would you prefer?

Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
Light weight will be better, but without compromising performance.

3) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?

Mainly Adobe Photoshop and other rendering software.

5) Any typical configuration in your mind you're eying for ?

Minimum 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD (more better) paired with a powerful CPU/GPU.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Dell/Asus/Lenevo or any other good brand.
b. Dislike: Avoid brands without proper Indian warranty and support.

6) Anything else you would like to say?

Screen resolution ( 1080p (Full HD) )
Battery back up ( minimum (4-5hrs) )
Purchase place ( Online (eg - flipkart, amazon) / Local / Abroad (USA) )

One of my relative is coming from USA, so he can buy during the Black Friday sale and carry with him.

Thanks a lot!

Gigabyte has Aero 15 with optional 4K pantone certified screen, perfect for your usage but could overshoot the budget and have no warranty in India. I can't think of any other OEM having this good config. Even the "creator" laptops these days are just higher priced gaming ones. MSI India doesn't honors International warranty so no point in going for them either.

*www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-AERO-15-OLED-SA-7US5020SH/dp/B07SFR748X

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SaiyanGoku said:
Gigabyte has Aero 15 with optional 4K pantone certified screen, perfect for your usage but could overshoot the budget and have no warranty in India. I can't think of any other OEM having this good config. Even the "creator" laptops these days are just higher priced gaming ones. MSI India doesn't honors International warranty so no point in going for them either.

*www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-AERO-15-OLED-SA-7US5020SH/dp/B07SFR748X

Thanks for the quick reply!

I think India warranty will be important because this will be retained for a minimum of 3-4 years.
Also what about going for a regular gaming laptop from Asus or any other company? I think those will be cheaper, at the cost of little more bulk.

edurgesh said:
I think India warranty will be important because this will be retained for a minimum of 3-4 years.

Laptops can last 7-8 years easily if proper care is taken (not blocking vents, not dropping liquids on it, etc).

edurgesh said:
Also what about going for a regular gaming laptop from Asus or any other company? I think those will be cheaper, at the cost of little more bulk.

You want it for graphics work so don't compromise on the screen. There is Eluktronics Mag-15 which is powerful and light but I'm not sure about the screen options.

There is another option though. Assemble a desktop with a good professional 4k monitor. It would cost more but if it can save at least 20-30% of your rendering time, you can do more work and earn more.

Dell has warranty transfer which works well, but their top the line laptops are shit, Dell G series & Alienware m15/m17. Asus also has international warranty & you can grab this one on sale now:
*www.walmart.com/ip/NVIDIA-G-Strix-...ladius-Mouse-Ti-GL531GU-WB53-B-Gami/359426903

Better choice is this one as it has a better quality display, about 100% sRGB vs 70% on that Asus:
*www.walmart.com/ip/RAM-GTX-PCIe-In...-c86-16eac8efa7c03a&athancid=null&athena=true
Not sure how Lenovo handles international warranty, maybe ask in their community forum. Usually chat agents blatantly lie about it, had experience with Dell & HP.

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Thanks SaiyanGoku & Anupam!

Actually this will be used by my nephew and he needs to carry this to clients; so desktop is not possible.
Also for graphics related work, good screen is really important. That Lenovo laptop looks good and well within budget; need to find out the India warranty part.

Thanks a lot again!

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Do remember that in case similar config model is not sold in India(usually the case) then in case of any rma you may have to wait weeks/month for spare parts arrival from abroad.

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whitestar_999 said:
Do remember that in case similar config model is not sold in India(usually the case) then in case of any rma you may have to wait weeks/month for spare parts arrival from abroad.

Oh ok, thanks for the tip!

I think Lenovo has several model under Legion brand in India, so service should be a problem, provided warranty is honored in India.

^ Lenovo Y545 is a better version of Y540 so you might want to check it as well.

SaiyanGoku said:
^ Lenovo Y545 is a better version of Y540 so you might want to check it as well.

No, inferior actually as it lacks side exhaust vents, so runs hotter. Don't go with the naming scheme.

anupam_pb said:
No, inferior actually as it lacks side exhaust vents, so runs hotter. Don't go with the naming scheme.

It has a MUX switch to run games directly on dGPU, bypassing iGPU and whatever bottlenecks it could be responsible for. Didn't know about the side exhaust vents.

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I think gaming will not be the priority here, so Y540 should be good enough.

SaiyanGoku said:
It has a MUX switch to run games directly on dGPU, bypassing iGPU and whatever bottlenecks it could be responsible for. Didn't know about the side exhaust vents.

Y540 by default only runs on the dGPU. Thats y it has really bad battery life out of the box. less than 2.5 hrs.
You can also switch to Nvidia Optimus. This pushes the battery life to 4 hrs.

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vito scalleta said:
Y540 by default only runs on the dGPU. Thats y it has really bad battery life out of the box. less than 2.5 hrs.
You can also switch to Nvidia Optimus. This pushes the battery life to 4 hrs.

Oh ok, I think battery life of 2.5 hours will be too less. Is there an easy user friendly way to switch to iGPU to increase battery life?
Thanks!

edurgesh said:
Oh ok, I think battery life of 2.5 hours will be too less. Is there an easy user friendly way to switch to iGPU to increase battery life?
Thanks!

When dGPU isn't being used, laptops with optimus should switch over to iGPU automatically. If not, make sure no tasks which use/monitor GPU every second (like Afterburner, etc) are running.

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SaiyanGoku said:
When dGPU isn't being used, laptops with optimus should switch over to iGPU automatically. If not, make sure no tasks which use/monitor GPU every second (like Afterburner, etc) are running.

Ok great! I think this should be fine, and provide a battery life of around 4 hours.
Thanks!

edurgesh said:
Ok great! I think this should be fine, and provide a battery life of around 4 hours.
Thanks!

If u decide to buy this make sure you undervolt the CPU to get improved performance.

SaiyanGoku said:
It has a MUX switch to run games directly on dGPU, bypassing iGPU and whatever bottlenecks it could be responsible for. Didn't know about the side exhaust vents.

Y540 also has the MUX switch.

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vito scalleta said:
If u decide to buy this make sure you undervolt the CPU to get improved performance.

Oh OK, but I think undervolting will be time consuming and risky process?

edurgesh said:
Oh OK, but I think undervolting will be time consuming and risky process?

Nope. Not risky. Worst you'd get is a BSOD. Check undervolting guide from Bob Of All Trades youtube channel.
-100 mV on both core and cache using throttlestop should be easy. How much more it can do depends on your luck.

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SaiyanGoku said:
Nope. Not risky. Worst you'd get is a BSOD. Check undervolting guide from Bob Of All Trades youtube channel.
-100 mV on both core and cache using throttlestop should be easy. How much more it can do depends on your luck.

Great! It looks simple.

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Hello friends, finally the order is placed.

That particular Lenovo model was not ready to be delivered by 6th December (my relative is leaving from US on that day), so we ordered a 17" model with RTX 2060 GPU.
Part Number: 81Q40008US

Legion Y540 Gaming Laptop (17”) | Lenovo US | Lenovo US

Total price comes to around $1,210. Hope this is better than the previous model selected. Only downside I can see it has only 256GB SSD, but additional 1TB HDD is also there.

Thanks a lot for your help and suggestions! I really appreciate that!!

edurgesh said:
Hello friends, finally the order is placed.

That particular Lenovo model was not ready to be delivered by 6th December (my relative is leaving from US on that day), so we ordered a 17" model with RTX 2060 GPU.
Part Number: 81Q40008US

Legion Y540 Gaming Laptop (17”) | Lenovo US | Lenovo US

Total price comes to around $1,210. Hope this is better than the previous model selected. Only downside I can see it has only 256GB SSD, but additional 1TB HDD is also there.

Thanks a lot for your help and suggestions! I really appreciate that!!

Looks like a good deal. Congrats on the purchase. Do post once u get the laptop on ur hand. :thumbs:

edurgesh said:
Hello friends, finally the order is placed.

That particular Lenovo model was not ready to be delivered by 6th December (my relative is leaving from US on that day), so we ordered a 17" model with RTX 2060 GPU.
Part Number: 81Q40008US

Legion Y540 Gaming Laptop (17”) | Lenovo US | Lenovo US

Total price comes to around $1,210. Hope this is better than the previous model selected. Only downside I can see it has only 256GB SSD, but additional 1TB HDD is also there.

Thanks a lot for your help and suggestions! I really appreciate that!!

You were prefering lighter weight & ended up with a 17"?

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vito scalleta said:
Looks like a good deal. Congrats on the purchase. Do post once u get the laptop on ur hand.

Thanks! Sure, I'll post the pics once we get it here.

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anupam_pb said:
You were prefering lighter weight & ended up with a 17"?

Oh yes, that's surprising! Actually this laptop will be used by my nephew and he only was asking for a 15" light weight laptop.
Even I'm surprised when he suddenly jumped to 17" laptop!

Anyway, whatever he likes.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!

edurgesh said:
Oh yes, that's surprising! Actually this laptop will be used by my nephew and he only was asking for a 15" light weight laptop.
Even I'm surprised when he suddenly jumped to 17" laptop! Anyway, whatever he likes.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!

If he likes it, it's fine. That was almost a 180 degree turn.

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anupam_pb said:
If he likes it, it's fine. That was almost a 180 degree turn.

Yes, it was a sudden 180 degree turn!
Actually he is saying that initially he will use this for demo, and buy another light weight laptop later (maybe less powerful). Then this will mostly remain in office; at the most he can carry this to home sometime.

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Hello friends! There is update from me..

That laptop was ordered but somehow could not be delivered on time, so my relative has landed India without laptop.. :-(

Really bad.. anyway, he will get the full refund for order cancellation.

Now looking for similar laptop under one lakh in India only. Please suggest; 15"-17", both are fine!

Thanks!

edurgesh said:
Hello friends! There is update from me..

That laptop was ordered but somehow could not be delivered on time, so my relative has landed India without laptop..
Really bad.. anyway, he will get the full refund for order cancellation.

Now looking for similar laptop under one lakh in India only. Please suggest; 15"-17", both are fine!

Thanks!

Acer Predator Helios 300
Acer Predator Helios 300 Core i7 9th Gen - (16 GB/1 TB HDD/256 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/6 GB Graphics) PH315-52-76WX/ PH315-52-77ya Gaming Laptop Rs.139999 Price in India - Buy Acer Predator Helios 300 Core i7 9th Gen - (16 GB/1 TB HDD/256 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/6 GB Graphics) PH315-52-76WX/ PH315-52-77ya Gaming Laptop Abyssal Black Online - Acer : Flipkart.com
Usually costs 100k, but was on sale for 90k in big sales, like Big Billion Days. Look for sales during Christmas & New Year. Has better thermals than Y540, has an extra M.2 slot, moreover GTX 1660Ti is barely 5% inferior to RTX 2060 80W. Helios 300 has a Turbo mode which overclocks the GPU, so it performs pretty close to 2060 powered laptops. It has factory CPU undervolt, so in a way no need to manually do it, but you can definitely tune it further for better temps.

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anupam_pb said:
Acer Predator Helios 300
Acer Predator Helios 300 Core i7 9th Gen - (16 GB/1 TB HDD/256 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/6 GB Graphics) PH315-52-76WX/ PH315-52-77ya Gaming Laptop Rs.139999 Price in India - Buy Acer Predator Helios 300 Core i7 9th Gen - (16 GB/1 TB HDD/256 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/6 GB Graphics) PH315-52-76WX/ PH315-52-77ya Gaming Laptop Abyssal Black Online - Acer : Flipkart.com
Usually costs 100k, but was on sale for 90k in big sales, like Big Billion Days. Look for sales during Christmas & New Year. Has better thermals than Y540, has an extra M.2 slot, moreover GTX 1660Ti is barely 5% inferior to RTX 2060 80W. Helios 300 has a Turbo mode which overclocks the GPU, so it performs pretty close to 2060 powered laptops. It has factory CPU undervolt, so in a way no need to manually do it, but you can definitely tune it further for better temps.

Thanks @anupam_pb for the suggestion!
This looks pretty good, but have few questions:

1. Earlier Acer laptops were not of good quality (build quality); how are now?
2. How is the screen quality; this is important for our graphics related work?

Thanks!

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edurgesh said:
Earlier Acer laptops were not of good quality (build quality); how are now?

By earlier I think you meant 4-5 years ago & low priced models because acer predator/higher end models never had build quality issue if I remember correctly.

edurgesh said:
Thanks @anupam_pb for the suggestion!
This looks pretty good, but have few questions:

1. Earlier Acer laptops were not of good quality (build quality); how are now?
2. How is the screen quality; this is important for our graphics related work?

Thanks!

1. Helios 300 is well built for the price, definitely not MacBook Pro level. It's similar to Y540 but with metallic lid & all.
2. Similar to Y540 (144Hz) & other high-end gaming laptops, about 70% AdobeRGB, close to 100% sRGB. Asus' 120Hz display is inferior, like 50% ARGB 70%sRGB, ones on FX505 & GA502, even G531. The 144Hz ones are similar to others.

Acer has a warranty void sticker on a screw. My friend had to pay Acer Service Center to install RAM. It comes with 1x16GB, which is bad because its single-channel. 2x8GB is the best value choice right now & sufficient for most. My friend went ahead & bought another 16GB stick (5.3k) for 2x16GB in dual-channel. Dual-channel does improve performance, about 10-15% in games.

My friend with Helios 300 limited CPU power to 40W & increased UV a bit, it stays just under 80C for CPU while gaming, which is great actually.

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whitestar_999 said:
By earlier I think you meant 4-5 years ago & low priced models because acer predator/higher end models never had build quality issue if I remember correctly.

Yes, I meant even older than that; maybe 7-8 years old Acer laptops. But as long as higher end laptops have good build quality, it should be fine.
Thanks!

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anupam_pb said:
1. Helios 300 is well built for the price, definitely not MacBook Pro level. It's similar to Y540 but with metallic lid & all.
2. Similar to Y540 (144Hz) & other high-end gaming laptops, about 70% AdobeRGB, close to 100% sRGB. Asus' 120Hz display is inferior, like 50% ARGB 70%sRGB, ones on FX505 & GA502, even G531. The 144Hz ones are similar to others.

Acer has a warranty void sticker on a screw. My friend had to pay Acer Service Center to install RAM. It comes with 1x16GB, which is bad because its single-channel. 2x8GB is the best value choice right now & sufficient for most. My friend went ahead & bought another 16GB stick (5.3k) for 2x16GB in dual-channel. Dual-channel does improve performance, about 10-15% in games.

My friend with Helios 300 limited CPU power to 40W & increased UV a bit, it stays just under 80C for CPU while gaming, which is great actually.

Oh okay! I also heard about the stickers on Acer laptops. But I think the warranty is for one year only, so it should be fine; we may not be upgrading it within first year anyway.
Also this will not be mainly used for gaming; the main use case is Photoshop and rendering tools, and I think the current 8GB RAM should be fine for at least one year. After that stickers will not matter..

Thanks a lot!

edurgesh said:
Also this will not be mainly used for gaming; the main use case is Photoshop and rendering tools, and I think the current 8GB RAM should be fine for at least one year.

Uh, no. Windows alone will use ~3 GB ram. 16GB is the least one should get. I'm even thinking to upgrade mine to 32 GB because it is costing about 8.7k (new CL17 kit).

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SaiyanGoku said:
Uh, no. Windows alone will use ~3 GB ram. 16GB is the least one should get. I'm even thinking to upgrade mine to 32 GB because it is costing about 8.7k (new CL17 kit).

Oops! Sorry, it's my mistake.
Actually I meant to say 16 GB (laptop already has that), and by mistake wrote 8GB. I think 16 GB should be fine for now; upgrade to 32GB will be later on.

Thanks for poining it out!

edurgesh said:
Oops! Sorry, it's my mistake.
Actually I meant to say 16 GB (laptop already has that), and by mistake wrote 8GB. I think 16 GB should be fine for now; upgrade to 32GB will be later on.

Thanks for poining it out!

Yeah, it will be more than enough. 8GB is the minimum one should have these days, enough for normal users, 16GB is minimum for gamers. 32GB is pure overkill for most people, even gamers.

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anupam_pb said:
Yeah, it will be more than enough. 8GB is the minimum one should have these days, enough for normal users, 16GB is minimum for gamers. 32GB is pure overkill for most people, even gamers.

Great! So, 16 GB should be fine for quite some time.
Thanks!

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Hello friends, looks like the price of that Acer laptop has been jacked up to 1,09, 990 (+ 10K) during the Christmas/New year sale! I was expecting it to come down, or I'm missing something?
Thanks!

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edurgesh said:
Hello friends, looks like the price of that Acer laptop has been jacked up to 1,09, 990 (+ 10K) during the Christmas/New year sale! I was expecting it to come down, or I'm missing something?
Thanks!

Usually the jacking up of price is followed by some sale/discount so worst case scenario you should still be able to get it at pre-hike price.

edurgesh said:
Hello friends, looks like the price of that Acer laptop has been jacked up to 1,09, 990 (+ 10K) during the Christmas/New year sale! I was expecting it to come down, or I'm missing something?
Thanks!

110k/100k for i7/i5 variant is the normal price for Helios 300. I did see it for 10k less few days ago. It was 90/80k only once, maybe. Check prices tomorrow & on 1st, if not, wait for Republic Day. Check Flipkart on fridays as well, they had gaming fridays some time back.

Edit: Flipstart Day sales starts in 1 day 11hrs

anupam_pb said:
It was 90/80k only once, maybe.

Yes that was the launch price. Now they've increased it just because demand increased.

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whitestar_999 said:
Usually the jacking up of price is followed by some sale/discount so worst case scenario you should still be able to get it at pre-hike price.

Thanks @whitestar_999 !! That's what I'm also hoping; not sure how low it will go under 1 Lac.

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anupam_pb said:
110k/100k for i7/i5 variant is the normal price for Helios 300. I did see it for 10k less few days ago. It was 90/80k only once, maybe. Check prices tomorrow & on 1st, if not, wait for Republic Day. Check Flipkart on fridays as well, they had gaming fridays some time back.

Edit: Flipstart Day sales starts in 1 day 11hrs

80-90 K seems very good, but I never saw that price! Let's hope it comes down during the sale.
Thanks!

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SaiyanGoku said:
Yes that was the launch price. Now they've increased it just because demand increased.

Yes, looks like there is a lot of demand for this laptop. Not sure if it will ever come down to that level again. Thanks!

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Hello friends, looks like that laptop's price is not going to come down; now it's around ₹ 1.15 lacs. How is this laptop:

*www.amazon.in/Lenovo-Y540-Windows-...448031&s=computers&smid=A14CZOWI0VEHLG&sr=1-4

Currently sale is going on on Amazon! Or any other suggestion?

Thanks!

edurgesh said:
Hello friends, looks like that laptop's price is not going to come down; now it's around ₹ 1.15 lacs. How is this laptop:

*www.amazon.in/Lenovo-Y540-Windows-Graphics-81SX00F0IN/dp/B07T7NLLJJ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=gaming+laptop&qid=1579506044&refinements=p_n_feature_thirteen_browse-bin:12598163031,p_n_feature_browse-bin:1485947031&rnid=1464448031&s=computers&smid=A14CZOWI0VEHLG&sr=1-4

Currently sale is going on on Amazon! Or any other suggestion?

Thanks!

Its a great choice, 2nd best choice overall behind Helios 300. You have to manually undervolt it using Throttlestop, check videos by Bob of all trades. I'd recommend a -125mV UV, with 3.7GHz boost limit for optimum temps, put a 35W power limit in summers if it gets too hot. Also, elevate back of the laptop or use a laptop cooler. Helios 300 is undervolted from the factory, that along with bit better thermal system results in good out of the box temps.

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anupam_pb said:
Its a great choice, 2nd best choice overall behind Helios 300. You have to manually undervolt it using Throttlestop, check videos by Bob of all trades. I'd recommend a -125mV UV, with 3.7GHz boost limit for optimum temps, put a 35W power limit in summers if it gets too hot. Also, elevate back of the laptop or use a laptop cooler. Helios 300 is undervolted from the factory, that along with bit better thermal system results in good out of the box temps.

Thanks Anupam!
I also thought about that; this is very similar to that Acer laptop, maybe few internal changes but otherwise looks fine.