Gaming Laptop Advice

richieffff

Budget: €500 (May stretch a bit more if needed)

Intended use: Gaming (Modern Games playable in medium would be fine), College

Mobility: Not that important

Warranty: Don't want anything extra

What Operating System do you use? Windows OS

I'd really like something with an i5 and a decent graphic's card.
I used the search and saw that amazon.de was a fair bit cheaper and found this
Acer TravelMate 15.6 inch,
Intel Core i5 2450M, 2.5 GHz,
8GB RAM,
500GB HDD,
NVIDIA GT 630M 1GB.
For €580 + shipping (if it ships to Ireland).

Seems to be the best I could find. Not buying immediately will most likey be in January.

Thanks for any help.

richieffff

How's this: http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/novatechnspiren1516.html

3rd gen i3
4GB ram
500GB hard drive
NVIDIA 630M Graphics card

Seems like it would suit my needs and comes to ~520 with shipping.

Does anyone have any experience with novatech?

marco_polo

There is also an Acer 5755G ( i5 + GT630m) on saveonlaptops for around €560 including delivery. Probably worth the extra €40 quid on the i5 for gaming.

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5755G_1201803.html

richieffff

marco_polo wrote: »

There is also an Acer 5755G ( i5 + GT630m) on saveonlaptops for around €560 including delivery. Probably worth the extra €40 quid on the i5 for gaming.

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5755G_1201803.html

Thanks that one looks perfect for my needs.

Marmit3

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-132-SA&groupid=959&catid=1828&subcat=

look on overclockers.co.uk. i think you dont really need an i5 CPU at this budget.

richieffff

Marmit3 wrote: »

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-132-SA&groupid=959&catid=1828&subcat=

look on overclockers.co.uk. i think you dont really need an i5 CPU at this budget.

€620 would probably be a bit too much. Could you tell me what difference two graphics cards would make?

Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7660G & HD7670M

I assume one is for power saving (i.e used when not gaming) and the other for gaming?
Also in the linked one, I see the processor is on par with a 2nd gen i5? I've no knowledge of AMD processors. Is that right?

Thanks

imitation

Have a look at this table for a decent comparison of notebook cards

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

richieffff

imitation wrote: »

Have a look at this table for a decent comparison of notebook cards

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Thanks for this, I found it earlier when looking up info on the cards and the 630M looks perfect, I'd only be expecting games at medium detail and anything higher would be a bonus.

Thinkingaboutit

I have a Dell XPS and it gets ferociously warm. Thankfully I don't have to use it too often. My question is how are these laptops for keeping cool? Would a USB fan be an idea?

Marmit3

most DELL laptops have a tendency to overheat. my work laptop ahs that exact problem. As soon as it touches a textile surface, be it my jeans or the sofa, i can expect it to shut down at any time.

I got a SUB fan "stand" and trained myself never to use it on the lap, and the temperature has decreased by about 10°C on average. So, i would give that a go, sure. they are only about 20-30 quid anyway.

imitation

I think hot and laptop are pretty much hand in hand, especially anything with a decent GPU. That being said I have a Samsung that is perfectly cool when surfing the web and doing lightweight stuff.

When playing games the best you can hope for is a well designed vent that vents it to the side or back rather than it going up through the keyboard or just having a really hot base. GPU's reaching 90C is relatively common at the higher end of things.

Thinkingaboutit

Well then, for this sort of laptop, a cooling fan of some sort is a necessity.

Jarren

GT 640m

http://www.amazon.de/Lenovo-Ideapad-M81J4GE-Notebook-NVIDIA/dp/B009M5E32K/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1355338045&sr=1-3-fkmr0