Is a good gaming laptop possible?

Is a good gaming laptop possible?

only if it's a thinkpad

What makes it better than others?

Define laptop
Define gaming

Define good too

Laptop as in mobile computer

Gaming as in Overwatch, modded Skyrim, etc

Good as in won't overheat or have major issues running

With external gpu, sure.

Don't some laptops come with a GTX 960? What's wrong with that?

it's definitely possible with egpu

it's way to go if you want to safe money for electricity. such notebook have like 10x lower power draw when idle and egpu is detached compared to desktop gaming pc

Nothing has changed since you asked an hour or so ago.

No.

>Define gaming
teh 3d grafix with splosions and omg

I wasn't the one who asked last time friendo :^)

No. But a portable gaming computer is. (You know, the laptop won't take too much space and you can move it around)

Literally any skylake or kaby lake cpu with integrated graphics can play those games on low settings at 720p without major issues, therefore every laptop is a gaming laptop

Won't there be fps problems?

Any recommendations?

Came here to post exactly this.
As long as you're not aiming for 2560x1440 max settings, almost anything made in the last two years will do fine. If you want to up the settings a bit more than medium at 1280x720 then you'll want to grab a ULV laptop with either Iris graphics or an AMD APU. There's no point in getting anything with a dedicated GPU any more, you'll only meet with optimus problems, build quality issues, overheating and general misery.
>Won't there be fps problems?
Again, not if you're willing to play at "good enough" levels. Expect slightly better than console graphics.
>Any recommendations?
Not him but avoid anything MSI like the plague if you still insist on getting a gaming laptop. They're infamous for inadequate cooling, shitty hinges and terrible customer service.

What about ASUS laptops? I heard they have godlike cooling.

Still have your heart set on a gaming laptop, huh? Yeah, fine, get an ASUS, they're not the worst but they certainly aren't the best. Don't expect it to last more than three years.

Have you ever noticed that you don't see anyone with an old gaming laptop? People are generally speaking very slow to get new laptops, so why do you think that is? That's a question you're going to have to answer for yourself.

Yeah but here's the thing. A few years ago a laptop gpu would be the equivalent of an underclocked pc gpu. Now you've got a desktop 980 gtx on a laptop. Sure, it costs a shitload and sometimes you might have cooling problems, but there you have it. PC components in a laptop. Even the 860m I'm using right now for almost 2 years has been serving me good. I would say that it's all according to each person's preference. I would honestly build a custom mATX pc on a small case but the dorm I'm living in has very little space.

wasn't me
Thanks for the help. It doesn't look like I'll have to spend $1500 for an Acer

Trying to reach desktop replacement levels of performance is generally stupidly expensive, and gets you heavy and hot laptops, but reaching acceptable levels of performance isn't a problem. Even integrated graphics can handle light gaming fine, and something like GTX 960m can run everything perfectly fine with 1080p unless you have some sort of obsession for ultra settings.

>A few years ago a laptop gpu would be the equivalent of an underclocked pc gpu
It still is. The fact that they've since shoehorned an underclocked desktop GPU (because it is still underclocked, despite being a higher binning) into a laptop doesn't change that. In fact, things have gotten WORSE. The gtx 970m has a TDP of 100 watts, which was usually the x80m category. The 980m pumps out a whopping 120 watts of heat. That's insane! This is definitely a step in the wrong direction.
>I would honestly build a custom mATX pc on a small case but the dorm I'm living in has very little space.
Fun fact, there are things even smaller than mATX. A desktop Kaveri build in ITX form probably would have performed as well while being significantly cheaper. Throw the same amount of money at it and you probably could have gotten a 960 and an i3, running circles around your laptop in and absolutely tiny footprint.
>and something like GTX 960m can run everything perfectly fine
While being only marginally better than Irish graphics or the higher end APUs and putting out fifty watts of heat for the GPU alone. Sounds like a great plan. On the bright side, Intel and AMD have successfully killed sub 50 watt laptop GPUs.

It depends on what you define as "acceptable" and what you're playing. You can play a lot of 10 year old games on integrated graphics. If you want to play newer or more intensive shit, then it's really hard to get good performance at decent settings.

The power envelope is not there for laptops. Even when they're stupid thick and heavy and shit battery life they don't have the thermal capabilities to exhaust as well as a desktop and even when on A/C they just can't draw the same amount of power.

No. A laptop is always a compromise.