Laptop For School and League

KrooshuL·Mar 15, 2015·1 votes·7,377 views

Hi Summoners,

I'm in the market for purchasing a new laptop that would be good for school as well as league of legends. I think I've narrowed it down between the following laptops. They both fall between the $1,200 - $1,300 price range. My main concerns were size/weight/portability and specs that would be good enough to run league well. If anyone has any experience with gaming league with either of these laptops I would love to hear your input. I'm also open to any recommendations for other laptops. Thanks!

ASUS Zenbook UX303LN Link i7 2 GHz Windows 8.1 12 GB DDR3L SDRAM 256 SSD NVIDIA GT840M 2GB DDR3 3.2 lbs

Apple Macbook 13inch with Retina Display Link i5 2.7 GHz Mac OS 8 GB RAM 128 GB SSD (Might go for the 256GB one) Intel Iris 6100 Graphics 3.5 lbs

21 Comments

GaleWinUnleashedMar 15, 20152 votes

I'm rather biased towards Windows/against Macs. Apple generally offers a poor price for the specs, and essentially sells you the brand name more than a good laptop.

I recently bought my own ASUS for approximately $1050, and I'm extremely happy with it. It runs League at max settings with no problem whatsoever. If I had a good enough monitor to hook it up to I'd be getting a consistent 100+ frames per second; as it is it's pretty much permanently stuck at 60 fps. The SSD feels amazing; It boots in 5 seconds, loads applications quickly, and is just generally awesome at everything.

This search on Newegg is essentially what I've got, and seems to fit within your budget. Take a look, then narrow it down from there if you have something more specific in mind.

The one you found seems to have exactly two areas where it might be superior to mine; it has a touchscreen, and it weighs a couple of pounds less. The touchscreen is entirely based on your preference, of course, but keep in mind it bumps up the price rather a lot. If you don't really want it, it's probably best to save your money and go without the touch capability. As for the weight, mine doesn't bother me at all; it's really a non-factor in my opinion. If it was a difference between 3 pounds and 12, then maybe it'd be worth considering the weight, but carrying around a 6-pound laptop is not a problem.

KrooshuLMar 15, 20151 votes

Thank you! I don't really want the touchscreen. I could totally do without one as well as a disk drive. Disk drives would just be unnecessary weight on mine. I've been going back and forth between wanting a 13 or 15 inch laptop. It's hard to find a 13 inch that has all the specs at a decent price.

GaleWinUnleashedMar 15, 20151 votes

Any reason not to have a 15-inch? Is there an issue with how you'd carry it that would make that not fit somehow?

KrooshuLMar 15, 20151 votes

No specific reason in regards to a carrying issue. I could just do without a disk drive and a 10 key which most 15 inch laptops seem to have

GaleWinUnleashedMar 15, 20151 votes

Better to have 'em and not want 'em than the other way around, I'd say.

FoquimGamerMar 15, 20151 votes

Dude i have a toshiba that is 4 years old and still works there are somedays that doesnt work however is still like this laptop, it cost me close to 300 bux so in my opinion any of those 2 suggestions is good fo playing league and for school, my computer is worse than both and i do both jobs as well on it so :)

My answer to you is go for the one you like the most because they will both be good for what you want :)

KrooshuLMar 15, 20151 votes

Yeah I'm also using a toshiba that is almost four years old. I have to play on all low settings and things can get choppy during team fights, etc.

FoquimGamerMar 15, 20151 votes

For a perfect game you will need to have this on the computer (this is for the best quality and better game visualy)

RAM : 2 GB of RAM (Windows Vista and 7 users should use 4 GB of RAM or more.)

VIDEO: Nvidia GeForce 8800/AMD Radeon HD 5670 or equivalent video card (Dedicated GPU with 512MB+ Video Memory(VRAM))

CPU SPEED: 3 GHz processor

FREE DISK SPACE: 12 GB

This is only if you want to have a perfect gameplays and amazing quality on the game!

Edit: Hope i helped :)

AJStarhikerMar 15, 20151 votes

At 1200-1300, pretty much any Windows machine should have the specs to work. Mine was ~700 and play League with Pandora and Skype but can't stream.

Folding ChairMar 15, 20151 votes

I'm using a Lenovo Y50

same processor as the Asus 8 or 16 gb of ddr3l sdram 516 gb ssd Nvidia Geforce gtx 860m (drastically better) in 2gb or 4gb of ddr3 vram 5.29 lbs (slightly heavier, but thickness and such is closer to the Macbook than the Asus) screen comes in either a 1080p or 4k version.

It's not really about this laptop specifically, I found this laptop on newegg and I would recommend searching around there until you found something you are deadset on.

KrooshuLMar 15, 20152 votes

{quoted}

I'm using a Lenovo Y50

same processor as the Asus 8 or 16 gb of ddr3l sdram 516 gb ssd Nvidia Geforce gtx 860m (drastically better) in 2gb or 4gb of ddr3 vram 5.29 lbs (slightly heavier, but thickness and such is closer to the Macbook than the Asus) screen comes in either a 1080p or 4k version.

It's not really about this laptop specifically, I found this laptop on newegg and I would recommend searching around there until you found something you are deadset on.

I'm really considering getting a Y50 now after reading some reviews and watching some youtube vids. Lenovo is having a deal on them too right now

Folding ChairMar 15, 20151 votes

Gaming wise, I can play Far Cry 4 high at about 45-60 fps. Work wise I do recommend the SSD version because it will start much faster. The only downfall of the laptop would be its slower start, but once it gets going it's pretty much the best specs for it's price.

KrooshuLMar 16, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Gaming wise, I can play Far Cry 4 high at about 45-60 fps. Work wise I do recommend the SSD version because it will start much faster. The only downfall of the laptop would be its slower start, but once it gets going it's pretty much the best specs for it's price.

If this deal is still going on by the end of the week I may go with this one. Pretty nice specs for the price.

Pluie BattanteMar 15, 20151 votes

[deleted]

KrooshuLMar 15, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Pluie Battante,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=qXj3QIbX,comment-id=0005,timestamp=2015-03-15T21:11:54.492+0000)

The ASUS computer is great, but I hate Windows 8 with a passion, I recommend getting a Windows 7 installation dick asap and getting rid of Windows 8 as I found performance issues came with Windows 8 (My FPS in games sky rocketed when I got rid of it, to much back round garbage)

What settings are you able to run league at? and what kind of FPS are you getting?

BearOfBohemiaMar 16, 20151 votes

I currently have a mid-2014 MBP with a 2.8Ghz i5. I can run LoL at full native resolution which is 2560 by 1600 at max settings and pull 30fps, if I dial it down to about 1080p then I can pull 45+ fps while keeping max settings. I do have my MBP plugged in when I play to maximize performance. Also based on preliminary benchmarks for the 6100, it appears to give a modest improvement over last years iris graphics. Also the mac client for LoL works really well. I am currently in University and I find the MBP do a fantastic job with everything I throw at it, especially considering the battery life. Which with the 2015 MBP now have an average 10h battery life compared to last year's 9h.

KrooshuLMar 16, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I currently have a mid-2014 MBP with a 2.8Ghz i5. I can run LoL at full native resolution which is 2560 by 1600 at max settings and pull 30fps, if I dial it down to about 1080p then I can pull 45+ fps while keeping max settings. I do have my MBP plugged in when I play to maximize performance. Also based on preliminary benchmarks for the 6100, it appears to give a modest improvement over last years iris graphics. Also the mac client for LoL works really well. I am currently in University and I find the MBP do a fantastic job with everything I throw at it, especially considering the battery life. Which with the 2015 MBP now have an average 10h battery life compared to last year's 9h.

Yeah I feel like the new MBP may be better all around and not just for gaming. I'm starting to see though that I can get better specs for the price of a MBP. How do you like gaming on a 13 inch screen? Do you hook up to an external monitor? I'm currently gaming on a 15 laptop and am wondering how the downgrade in screen size would be if I were to get a 13 inch.

BearOfBohemiaMar 16, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Yeah I feel like the new MBP may be better all around and not just for gaming. I'm starting to see though that I can get better specs for the price of a MBP. How do you like gaming on a 13 inch screen? Do you hook up to an external monitor? I'm currently gaming on a 15 laptop and am wondering how the downgrade in screen size would be if I were to get a 13 inch.

I had a 15" laptop a long time ago and so I can't say that I really miss it. I don't hook it up to an external monitor, however occasionally I AirPlay it to my tv when I'm watching something on twitch, while I still play on the MBP. I personally found that the 13" is perfect balance between portability and screen size. Ideal it is not for gaming, however as you have stated this is for more than gaming, i.e for school as well. Overall I found myself get quite used to the 13" screen size, and I find now that I don't actually like 15" laptops anymore as they are less portable and generally heavier. Also the screen on the MBPr is fantastic, not just the screen resolution but also the color accuracy is really nice, the colours almost pop. The brightness is really strong as well. I too faced the same diliema that you are facing now, better specs for same price. I decided on the MBP for a few reasons. Firstly, the build quality is hard to match. Secondly, I live near an Apple Store so if I ever have any issues that can not be remedied with online troubleshooting I can just take it in. I have never had a terrible customer experience at my local Apple Store yet knocks on wood. Both computers you posted sound more than adequate for LoL and in general note taking. I recommend the MBP, but if you go the other way you won't be making a mistake, like I said I just prefer the MBP. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

WullfMar 16, 20151 votes

I heard that League is quite bugged on iOS.

And for work/school , take in considration compatibility with other devices that your machine could get in contact with.

KrooshuLMar 17, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I heard that League is quite bugged on iOS.

And for work/school , take in considration compatibility with other devices that your machine could get in contact with.

I've read about the buggy mac client but I also have a friend who plays on mac and doesn't have any issues. So I'm not sure if I should worry about that. Compatibility is definitely something to consider - I have a separate laptop for work so the laptop I'll be getting will just be for school/gaming.