My laptop is about to die. The a and b keys don't work anymore, left shift is broken, the gpu (740M) overheats after 10 minutes of use and the hdd is so slow it takes 15 minutes to reboot (100% disk usage making it unresponsive).

I see a couple gaming laptops available at best buy. No clue if good and what the difference is between gtx 1050, 1060 and 1080. I don't care about 4K, just want stable 1080p.

This is what they have on sale atm

Are ACER or Asus any good? is a 1080 worth almost double the price? 3k is too much for me anyway.

Any alternatives? (Canadian prices btw, sucks)

XB1X apparently has 1070 levels of performance, give or take. Also depends on how long you want it to be future proof. I'd say the best price to performance ratio out of those options would be the $1699.99 Acer Predator. It would be somewhat future proof based on the GPU. A laptop with similar specs to it, with a 1070 or 1080, would last that much longer.

Have you looked on https://www.newegg.ca/ ?

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234955R    Asus ROG Strix 17.3", 1070 8GB, Open box though but decent price on sale. $2199

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?reviews=all&Item=N82E16834235012    Asus ROG Strix 15.6", 1070 8GB, on sale. $2219

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234955    Asus ROG Stix 17.3", 1070 8GB, on sale. $2279

There's MSI as well but I've read they generally have lesser build quality than Acer or Asus, but it's hard to say based on all of the available reviews. My brothers work just went with all new MSI gaming laptops this year for their CAD/CAM programming and he says they're great.

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?reviews=all&Item=N82E16834154900    MSI GP 17.3", 1070 8GB, on sale, $1899.

Thanks, they have a good selection there.

I'm thinking 1060 might be enough for my needs as I'm happy with 60 fps, don't really need to go 120 to 144. On the other hand, RTX 2060 laptops are not far off at newegg, perhaps more future proof. Although when I look at this: https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2060-6GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1070/4034vs3609
they seem pretty similar and the higher ram of the 1070 is probably better?

The difference between 1060 and 1070 is far greater than 2060 vs 1070. 2070 is kinda expensive! It all adds up quick with our sales tax added.
Perhaps a simple 1060 locked to 60fps (heck I'm happy with locked 30fps) is enough to last a while. It's a difference of 2 or 3 grand after tax!

For good 1080p gaming in demanding titles, you'll want at least a GTX 1060 Max-Q (a regular 1060 would be better), ideally paired with an i7-8 series CPU, 16GB of RAM, and some SSD storage. Just look for the best reviewed one for your budget around those specs.

Pretty much this. You could probably get away with 12GB RAM if that was an option, and I would suggest getting the 6GB 1060 version.

I like the Razer Laptops. Expensive but good. Had mine the last 2 years never missed a beat gaming. https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops

Extra ram never hurts, although I have 16 now and it rarely gets over 25% used.

As for games I'm interested in, Elite Dangerous, Forza Horizon series, Civilization, Planet coaster, American truck simulator.

And any other xbox games, saving cad 600 on an xbox one x to add to a gaming laptop seems a good idea. At least if the 1060 is capable enough to handle xbox games at 1080p.

I got one yesterday after some feedback from people on this forum.

Went with the MSI GE75 8SF (8sf could be the aus model)
https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Notebooks/Gaming-Notebooks/75557-GE75-Raider-8SF-068AU

The $1699 Acer Predator on sale at BB you posted looks like it checks off all the boxes for what you want right now.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/acer-predator-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-8750h-1tb-hdd-256gb-ssd-16gb-ram-gtx-1060-win-10/12648525.aspx?

Newegg has the same Predator refurbished for $1599.

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834316690

This $1681 MSI GL at Newegg is basically the same thing, or very close in specs anyway. Has a slightly smaller 128GB SSD mainly.

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAH2084E9295

The Predator looks to be the better deal and has the stronger brand name. Either laptop would probably do though.

Out of those in the OP, the Acer Predator seems by far the most worthwhile. The ones with a 1050 are too weak and the two Asus ROG are too expensive for what they are