Laptop query

DCS runs fine on my big desktop PC, but I'm going to buy a laptop for surfing and watching youtube and stuff, and it'd be nice if it could also play high-end games like DCS, so I recently sent this email to my local computer shop-

"Hi, I want to buy a laptop but only if it's powerful enough to play high-end strategy games and flight sims, do such super-duper laptops exist?"

And this was their reply-

"Yes they do , start at £799 and go up to £3000!

gets higher spec and game frame rate as you spend more. So depends on your budget?

this sort avail at £1199 inc vat-

· Intel Core i5-9300H Quad Core Processor

· 17.3" Full HD IPS 144Hz Anti-Glare Screen

· Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit

· 8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM

· 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD + 1000GB HDD

· Dedicated GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB Graphics."

What do DCS members think, will those specs do the job or should I spend more?

And will it have enough onboard hard drive capacity for a bunch of games?

And will I need a fan thing to keep it cool? Are fans noisy?

PS- I plan to plug the laptop into my big 27" monitor, I can do that can't I?

You'll want more memory and SSD space. Not sure about the heat but it could be an issue. The size of that hdd will be good but DCS runs better from a SSD and that one is a little small once you get Windows installed. Most laptops have a video out, but I would ask the store before buying to make sure.

I'll tell you right away if you want to play high end games don't go for a laptop, even the most expensive one is overheating, working at high temp is no good.

As gpu and cpu performance increased, the demand for power increased as well, generating more heat, it was ok before with older gpu and cpu units not consuming so much power, but today laptops can't counter that due to lack of space for proper cooling system.

You can plug your laptop into a monitor ofc, you will want at least 16gb DDR4, and more SSD space cause you will need it for DCS.

Check my spec below, its an awesome laptop.

I use it happily to play DCS at 1440p 40-60FPS (actually 2560x1940 with the MFD output) because I dont have a good desktop and got this specifically for what you got yours for and then some video editing, but being able to get back into DCS has been a nice bonus , Biggest issue I have is the hard drive is half gone with DCS, office and a couple misc tools so you would be better to get a 1TB NvMe drive than a 256+1000gb.

I kicking myself for not spending the extra on the RTX 2060 just because more FPS and only having 2 RAM slots I have no ability to upgrade RAM easily, but honestly the extra HDD is probably the only think it really needs for comfortable gaming. At 1080p I was getting 50-70FPS.

By default you want it on power to run or it handicaps the thing terribly and it does get noisy with the fan and as suggested above 'hot' though the cooling on this laptop is exceptional.

You would want 16GB of RAM or 32GB for VR.

It will be hot enough that you wont be able to put them on your LAP.

Make sure to turn off all power saving features.

Get laptop cooler with biggest fan you can get. Smaller fans are noisier.

You can play games on laptops, but like others have said, they'll heat up, slow down, and the hardware will slowly wear down with use due to that heat. If you are ok with these then yeah, you can fly DCS on a decent laptop, and yes, laptops can be connected to external screens including TVs.

VR will probably be a no-go, but it doesn't look like you want to do that anyway.

The system you have posted looks OK for the most part except the RAM. 8GB of RAM is just not enough for DCS anymore.

I'm planning to get an EGPU for my thunderbolt 3 equipped Lenovo Yoga 730-13 i7-8550U, 16gb DDR4.

I'll test DCS with it, and post an update.

Honestly the biggest issue with using your browsing laptop for gaming is all the time it takes to set everything up and then pack it away after each session, but it does save having a second PC, and you can get a reasonable gaming experience on one. Anyone telling you otherwise doesnt have a current gen gaming laptop.

Your always going to get folk that don't use them claiming you cant game on a laptop.

You can, but it needs to be a decent one and you need to make sure it has a good cooling solution. I would also only install DCS on a SSD,

thanks guys, I'm having second thoughts about buying a laptop because of possible overheating; I know we can get fans, but their whirring might set my teeth on edge..:)