NP8658-S vs NP9758-S How important is the processor vs the GPU

So I have narrowed my purchase down between these two laptops. I really am not sure what to do. I use my laptop primarily for gaming more than anything. I do work on my laptop as well, but the work I do is mostly web based and very very low intensity and can probably be run on a Surface Pro or something equivalent. That said, I am playing the Witcher 3 and want to play the new tomb raider game when it comes out for PC and any other next gen games whenever they come out.

So the major difference between these two laptops is the processor and GPU. The 8658 has an Intel i7-6700HQ and an Nvida 980M and the 9758 has a better Intel i7-6700K but sacrifices the GPU to Nvidia 970M. My question is for what I'm doing, which would be the better buy. I am leaning towards better GPU but I don't want my computer to be slow or have long load times due to lag from the CPU. Is this even an issue during games or other areas or am I just being paranoid. I don't want to spend the money to get the best on both if possible. I probably will downgrade the HDD to just a SSD and no 1 TB drive as I keep everything backed up on the cloud and have little use for extra HDD space.

 

980m is better to have than the 6700k. Almost any laptop quad core i7 is enough for modern games, the 980m will give you a much more noticeable improvement in framerate and quality compared to the desktop cpu for gaming. The cpu is only worth it if you do mostly cpu intensive operations, for gaming 980m all day long.

 

I would vote for the 980M machine as well, like what Galm17 said. GPU is more important than CPU in terms of gaming, and there's quite a performance gap between the 970M and the 980M. The 6700HQ will good enough for gaming.

 

I would get the 6820HK by stretching a bit.. Will be much more futurrptoof.. Personally I can't tolerate soldered stuff so I would pay the extra for a 9758 with a 980M however in your case if budget doesn't allow get the 8658 with 6820HK+980M..

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TomJGX offered the best compromise in my opinion

980M for gaming 100% although in my case i would be heavily bothered by the soldered components...

if OP indeed chooses to go the soldered route, please make sure to get the best extended warranty possible!

 

I love that I'm not the only person here who CANNOT STAND soldered components and will avoid them like the plague. You guys are awesome.

 

A lot of people don't ever open it up, for those people the soldered machines offer a lighter, smaller and cheaper machine with better performance.

 

Thanks all for your replies. I was hesitant to getting a soldered laptop as I have always bought Sager/Clevo's (with the exception of one Malibal laptop). They have all lasted me over 5 yrs each. I have always opted for options to upgrade components in all my purchases and in all those years never have upgraded anything. I just live with it as it is and when it gets too old I just buy a whole new laptop. It probably isn't the best way to approach it as TomJGX probably is correct. I'm just lazy and am finally admitting my nature.

That said, I am really trying not to upgrade any further because I already upgraded RAM to 24 GB, buying windows 10 as I can't transfer my current windows (came installed already), upgraded to 500 GB EVO SSD and got rid of the 1 TB drive. At this config it sits just over $2000. My budget was actually $1700 so I am way over. Originally I had a much higher budget but some things changed in my finances and I can't really splurge as much as I wanted to. I guess I could just eat mayonnaise and bread for a month and have a really badass laptop.

 

It depends on the kind of license, if you got a sager/clevo it's likely retail meaning you can transfer it to a new machine.

 

Well at least you know your tendencies and limitations!

Overall the 6700HQ will handle everything that you are going to throw at it (from the sounds of your post). I wouldn't complain about the higher end options but for mainly gaming, you really just want a 980m and any i7 will suffice. If you think you may be doing more demanding computing in the near future that is not graphics based, that's why the better processor would really help. However for gaming the most important is the GPU, so i'd say go with the NP8658-S