The year ahead. Broadwell and Skylake laptops? Star Citizen, when is the "buy" now moment?

Hi guys, I've been looking around the web and I can't really find information on the theoretical improvement Broadwell, or Skylake will bring to laptops. I am also questioning if high end laptops such as the GT72 will get a refresh when Broadwell comes around (is it compatible with the motherboard?) being that Skylake will also be released the same year?

I just got a console as an early Christmas present which has me questioning on a new purchase now since the only game on PC that I can't just play on console is Star Citizen. Seeing as my current laptop is dirt old Alienware 14 with a GT555m I'm having trouble deciding when is the "best" time to upgrade. Is there any other solely PC games out there to look forward to? The dilemma's of a poor person.

 

Unfortunately with hardware, there is no best time to buy, 2 months ago i bought my new laptop, the GTX 850M seemed awesome for 650€, because was able to ran games with very good details even on Full HD, now is much weaker, and looks like games need more vram every day. Ok maybe buy a new pc when new consoles are just deployed (like i have done) isn't the best choice anyway, the problem is that every 6 months a new hardware is out, less price more power, so i think that is better buy a new pc when you want it, right now i think that the best choice is the 970M, even better the 4gb one

 

I think right now is pretty good, high end maxwell is a pretty good jump. If you wait until Broadwell, there will be next gen nvidia chips arriving.. Don't wait for the next best thing, that never works, just pull the trigger if you want a new laptop now.

 

The "buy now" moment is right now. Socketed mobile CPU's, although endangered, aren't completely extinct yet. Get something with MXM so you can upgrade to the inevitable full GM204 refresh.

 

Thanks for posting this one pal because I'm sure theres about a thousand people thinking the same thing. I for one have no new consoles and my old laptop is really not built for these nextgen games. You said you recently got a console and that dirt old alienware is more powerful than what I depend on lol. If I were you I would just enjoy whatever console you have and wait for the new chips. I am in a much worse predicament and yet I aint in no hurry to get anything right away although the upgradable clevos are tempting me.

I doubt gaming laptops high end ones anyway will be using broadwell I think I read somewhere that a haswell refresh will be used nextyear. Either way. I think you should wait unless your in a hurry to play gta5 or witcher 3 on pc and even then those games are nextyear anyway.

 

LOL. I don't think another Haswell refresh or hexa-core mobile i7 is gonna be a thing.

 

There is such a thing as being sensible with when to actually buy a new computer.
For instance, Broadwell is nothing to write home about when it comes to CPU performance (compared to Haswell that is).
The only area where Broadwell would likely be good is better power efficiency.

As for GPU's... here's things are a bit different.
For instance, the Maxwell GPU's are a good buy... however, AMD is bound to release first HBM cards in February for desktop.
Mobile will be here shortly after that.
Personally, I'm waiting for HBM to hit the market so I can get a laptop with that, because it offers just too much in terms of not just large bandwidth, but also power efficiency, lower space requirements, etc.

While it is relatively accurate that new hardware comes out frequently... it also depends whether the hardware in question is something worth waiting for.

Star Citizen will be a fairly demanding game if I'm not mistaken.
If you have no plans on upgrading any time soon and you are currently in no rush to get a new laptop, my advice would be to wait for sometime next year to get a new system.

Granted, if you need a new system now, you could also get one now, but if you don't need it... then I think waiting for a better hardware transition is a better option.
Think of it like this... why get a refresh when you can get a new architecture?
An endless waiting game will get you nowhere... but a smart waiting game is another story.
Do the research and evaluate what you need exactly.

 

^^ if by shortly after you mean 4-5 months after desktop release then ok, but then shortly after (say 6-7 months) Nvidia will release 16nm process (I think full gm204 for mobile will hit the market around AMD's new architecture, I bet will have comparable performance), and it will be much better, so this wait process never ends, what I try to aim when I am buying laptops is the generational leap for gpus. Maxwell is also a good one, previously I did the same with Kepler (though I bought AMD ). Though I understand waiting for AMD's stacked RAM and 20nm process, but don't hold your breath, February desktop means June mobile, and probably July-August for buying a laptop...

 

you said that pretty well! I've always lived by that hah, now im needing to sell my newly purchased laptop sadfaceeee

 

I would buy now... Broadwell is being delayed and delayed and Skylake won't come out till end of 2016 at this rate.. I would get a socketted laptop with 980M and honestly you'll be fine..

 

Buy when you need to.

As far as I'm concerned, we are in a "Buy Now!" moment. On the CPU side, I would say the 4810MQ is the sweet spot for a long term CPU. On the GPU side the 970m/980m and SLI 970m are great and the next GPUs after them should be die shrinks, so they should continue the goodness. The "right time to buy" on the GPU side is open-ended for the time being.

 

Thanks for reminding me that Star Citizen is on the way. I cannot wait for that game!

 

My personal reasoning to wait is because of HBM - I'd like to have it - and it is likely that Broadwell will not be released before those GPU's... in which case, I don't really care about Broadwell.
Haswell will do just fine because Broadwell doesn't really offer that much interest.

In the case of OP though, its his choice in the end.

 

2014 has been a terribly dull year indeed.

 

HBM is out Q1 next year with AMD so actually waiting is a good idea.. I will have to wait till next Sept before I get my 1st paycheck but that's fine.. My 7970M is holding up quite well so bring on HBM and full GM204 Maxwell cards...

 

My point exactly.
HBM does represent a bigger leap in how hardware is made for GPU's (affecting chip size, performance and power efficiency) which to me is a sufficient reason to wait for it.
Besides, if my laptop in the signature lasted this long, another few months isn't going to kill me (plus, I can always get the GT 240M MXM II to finish upgrading this existing laptop and play Dragon Age Origins again [my current 9600m GT can handle it on high ok, but the 240M would be able to handle it better]).

 

Damn dude your laptop lasting for ages lol, seems ancient compared to mine. Well my Alienware M14 with GT555m is still working too but out of the 3 usb ports, one is broken and another works on and off and it feels loose in the socket.

Then occasionally it acts funny like instantly dieing even with lots of battery power left. It lasted long enough where I got a windows prompt telling me I should dispose and replace my battery power, but the only place that still sold the battery I needed was Ebay. So I tossed my old one and for this I get an unrecognized battery notification making me think its a knockoff or not safe. Makes me remember of that one news report where the Granny's dell laptop blew up on her because of a old and faulty battery and she had to be rushed to hospital for burns.

What is HBM? Is that AMD or something. I had my mind on the Asus G751 but so many people complaining about so many little things its putting me off now, but I don't particularly like MSI GT72 style plus it is significantly more expensive here in the UK. Which is also why I'm considering holding off more. I just really don't know if I can wait another year. That would be like almost 5 years. It sucks being poor and not being able to upgrade every year like seemingly the vast majority on these forums are able to do. I cry.

 

Last explains first. If you bought laptop with 850m just 2 months ago then for you there is really no good time to buy.

But no need to tell this to other.

 

This is why it would be a good idea to check online sources for information on when new hardware is coming and what kind of preliminary information is available on its performance/efficiency vs currently available hardware and potential trade-off's - that, and see if you can wait that long.

JinKizuite

My laptop is over 6 years old now.
Had to replace the screen as the backlight went out... but considering its still pretty good for my uses, I find it unnecessary to upgrade to a new laptop too often.
At best, I was thinking of doing an upgrade 2 years ago (after it would be 4 years old)... but at the time, didn't have the cash, so I had to make due.
And right now... I'm ok with waiting for HBM (especially if I decide to slap a GT 240M into the laptop to gain 50% more graphics performance).

HBM is stacked VRAM that AMD will have on its gpu's in February 2015 - according to preliminary data, it increases power efficiency, reduces the size of the gpu and produces a fairly large increase in available bandwidth.

 

everyone here is underestimating the hbm upgrade. we are talking more than double a 980m gtx

 

HBM you mean High Bandwidth Memory? That will certainly unlock a bottleneck with the vRAM, but just faster vRAM alone won't make up for a weak GPU core. But good for AMD, I hope this puts them back in the running for GPU's. Hopefully they have something similar in place to compete in the CPU market with Intel.

 

If HBM reduces board space requirement and improves power efficiency, it's possible to have a larger, faster GPU core.