Board 8 > So is there any good Black Friday gaming PC/laptop deals?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm looking to finally join the master race, though I'd like to stay under a grand.

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Tag my husband wants a nice PC

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TheRock1525 posted...

though I'd like to stay under a grand.

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so nothing?

:(

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If you want a full build you pretty much have to buy something pre-built which sucks real bad right now.

The deals are out there and pretty good though I havent specifically been shopping for anything.

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Anything good in the way of a solid laptop?

TheRock1525 posted...

so nothing?

:(

Frankly it's probably the worst possible time to buy a cheap gaming desktop. Ray tracing is here and is going to be the AAA standard going forward now that consoles are doing it. That means you need to buy the latest and most expensive graphics cards. If you don't get an RTX card, you are essentially buying a "last gen" gaming computer, which isn't worth it. And the PS5/XSX are roughly on par with older RTX cards, so there's not much point in getting a PC with an outdated card when the consoles are so much better value for your money. Even if you don't care much about graphics...the consoles are still better unless you just really want a PC (or can't find one lol).

Like red says you can find good deals if you go for the top of the line prebuilts. It's just all-or-nothing right now, unfortunately.

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Yeah there have been a lot of complications (crypto boom, scalping, pandemic, chip shortage, tech situation that was just mentioned) that unfortunately have made the last few years the worst period for building a gaming PC pretty much ever. This is really the first time since the literal dawn of computers that prebuilts are actually an appealing option for those looking to get into PC gaming.

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Well that is... a shame

Yeah, I bought a gaming laptop like last year before not even at Black Friday, was like a month before. It was an Open Box at Best Buy but practically brand new. I've yet to see a better deal than what I got even though we are a year on. Chip shortage is crazy

Xiahou Shake posted...

This is really the first time since the literal dawn of computers that prebuilts are actually an appealing option for those looking to get into PC gaming.

If we could get GPU's at anywhere near MSRP the usual deals on mobos/CPUs/etc have all been as good or better than usual. But pre-builts are the only way to get a GPU at anywhere near cost right now.

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Yeah that's a very good point and an important note - the only reason things are remotely as bad as they are now is the insanely inflated price of GPUs. No other component has been anywhere near as affected by all the issues I named.

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How good are gaming laptops anyways? I don't tend to play top of the line games and I do need to replace my computer.

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But couldn't I always replace the graphics card down the road?

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You can, but with the current shortage situation we have no idea when "down the road" is going to be. This also makes future-proofing hard. You'll want to make sure the rest of the computer can handle an RTX card when you get it, and the easiest way to do that is right now is...to buy a prebuilt that has an RTX and all the stuff to use it.

Basically, if you want a good deal on a future-proof computer you have to shell out. If you are looking for non-RTX stuff in the $500-600 ish range (before a monitor and stuff) you have to have a good reason to want a PC instead of just getting a console. And there are decent reasons for that, like specific PC games and emulation and stuff! But that depends on what your goal is here.

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What's the cheapest I can get a laptop that I can basically run discord and watch movies on

PerfectChaosZ posted...

What's the cheapest I can get a laptop that I can basically run discord and watch movies on

Buy the cheapest laptop you can find.

JeffreyRaze posted...

How good are gaming laptops anyways? I don't tend to play top of the line games and I do need to replace my computer.

They're fine. I spent about a grand on mine and literally have no problems with it. Mine runs hot on certain games seemingly at random, such as the newer tomb raiders, but that's about it. If you are going to use the portability they are a great choice. If not, meh. I have mine hooked up to a monitor at all times and only use it as a laptop as anything more than a second screen when I am using the monitor for my work computer.

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I bought a new computer in 2019 and if I were to build the same specs today it would cost me well over $1400 extra. It's a terrible time for PCs and honestly it's not going to get better anytime soon.

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Oh yeah but I don't want a total piece of crap just something cheap and functional