Is there such a thing as a Gaming Laptop for 800?

Generic Dreadhead

Hi All,
I'm actually asking for my friend and not for me
I understand "Gaming Laptop" is a bit of a contradiction in terms but it's worth a shot.
So he's looking to spend £600-£700 (he's based in the UK).
It would need to be reliable, good HDD/SSD space and be able to play games like C&C3, Starcraft 2, Total War series etc comfortably.
Can someon give me some advice?
Laptops are not my thing TBH.

BloodBath

Gaming and laptops don't really mix. Overpriced, underperforming and battery eating.

He would be better off with a gaming desktop and a basic laptop/tablet.

Monotype

You can run C&C3 and starcraft 2 on fairly basic graphics. Not sure about total war; iirc they were CPU heavy.

You can get a laptop with a GTX660M for just over the €800, which is a decent GPU. You'd want to bump up the CPU and the RAM on this. Price climbs quickly, but if you can source your own OS for cheaper, you can save with that.
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/optimusIV-15/

Gumbi

You want a third gen i3 minimally for SC, though, if you're playing on a laptop. It's quite the CPU bound game in the mid/late game, and doesn't have proper multi-core support (utilises 2 cores at best).

Jaafa

Just to give you an idea of what you need to be aim for I can tell you I have an i5-2430m processor and a Gt635m GPU with a 1600x900 screen on my laptop. It runs shogun 2 on high settings at about 40 FPS. It would max out the likes of Command and Conquer 3. As for Starcraft I don't know for sure, but I'd expect around medium setting.

So something like the 660m mentioned above would do very well for your needs. So yeah going by the link Monotype posted, bump up the cpu to an i5, the RAM to 6-8Gb and the hardrive to whatever you need. Choose no OS and source it yourself somewhere cheaper, and that should come out to about 800.

That said I'd still recommend a desktop if thats in any way an option.

TerrorFirmer

I always find on this forum that people instinctively think high end performance when they think of 'gaming' laptop, whereas in reality, someone with a budget like that probably more so means a laptop that can play modern games reasonably well, which is perfectly within the budget given.

Bloodbath's comment is not off - he could, for 700 sterling, build a budget gaming PC that would outclass a laptop on the entire budget and buy a cheap, basic laptop. But if he's deadset on a laptop, for the budget, he can afford a decent gaming laptop that would run most modern games comfortably at decent settings. The 660M and an i5 fit into that budget and would make a very capable gaming laptop.

Generic Dreadhead

Cheers guys,
So lets say I'm going for a GTX660M, with 8GB 1600Hz Ram, And a 120Gb - 250Gb SSD, delivered to the UK.
Than is the Optimus IV the best bet?
I know "Gaming" and "Laptop" don't really mix.
But trust me, he won't get a desktop, he moves around too much.
Also it doesn't need to play games on Top/Ultra/High graphics or Crysis 3 or anything. Something thats Value for money for £700 is all he needs.

jonno208

I am getting a laptop soon to and kinda want it to play some games(Already have a gaming desktop). I was looking at this one and it fits in your budget http://www.hardwareversand.de/17+-+17.9+inch/75794/MSI+GE70-i560M287FD.article Problem is it might have a german keyboard!

Has an i5, 660m, 8gb of ram and 750gb so imo its a pretty good deal

Generic Dreadhead

jonno208 wrote: »

I am getting a laptop soon to and kinda want it to play some games(Already have a gaming desktop). I was looking at this one and it fits in your budget http://www.hardwareversand.de/17+-+17.9+inch/75794/MSI+GE70-i560M287FD.article Problem is it might have a german keyboard!

Has an i5, 660m, 8gb of ram and 750gb so imo its a pretty good deal

It looks like it has a QWERTY keyboard from the pics any way.

BloodBath

I wouldn't take the pics as confirmation of keyboard layout. You should email them or phone them.

Monotype

I think it's an US keyboard in the picture. That's actually worse because if you set it to Irish layout, you're a key short and don't have backslash! At least the German one would have everything in the right place even if there's more strange symbols on there.
BB's right though, that the pictures don't mean anything really and they're usually just to give you an idea of what you're buying. How many hard drives are sold open as shown in the pictures?! :P

Edit: Hold on a sec, I don't think this has Windows on it!

mad turnip

People who buy gamging laptops deserve to be shot.

People that are told not to buy gaming laptops and still do should be shot twice.

IT JUST DOESN'T WORK, I bang my heads when friends tell me there plans on doing this and you warm them and they go ahead and still make the stupid decision of buying one!!!!!!!

BloodBath

True, gaming cpu's and gpus do not compare to their desktop counterparts at all, but for some people a desktop just is not viable.

Generic Dreadhead

I know what you're saying. But he moves around a LOT and he doesn't have space for a Desktop in his flat.
He'd only really want something for C&C, middle of the road kind of job

Jaafa

Cormac... wrote: »

I know what you're saying. But he moves around a LOT and he doesn't have space for a Desktop in his flat.
He'd only really want something for C&C, middle of the road kind of job

Go for the optimus with the specs I recommended and he'll be happy. The one from Hardwareverands has a german keyboard, no OS and a 17 inch screen, too big to be carrying around IMO. In fact if he wants even more mobility he could go for this 11'6 model, though the small screen and slightly weaker GPU might not suit him.

Jaafa

Heres a good site to check out the benchmarks for the cards and see what kind of setting you can get in different games.

glynf

Cormac... wrote: »

Hi All,
I'm actually asking for my friend and not for me
I understand "Gaming Laptop" is a bit of a contradiction in terms but it's worth a shot.
So he's looking to spend £600-£700 (he's based in the UK).
It would need to be reliable, good HDD/SSD space and be able to play games like C&C3, Starcraft 2, Total War series etc comfortably.
Can someon give me some advice?
Laptops are not my thing TBH.

Check out pcspecialist.co.uk, They do a lot of re-badged Clevo machines, solid enough performers, 700 Stg. should easily get him a 15.6" Optimus IV or similar with an i5 3340m, 1080p & 2GB 660M.

Good thing about Clevo laptops is the RAM & HDD/SSD can be upgraded.

Give a look on notebookforums.com as well.