Gaming Laptop 550 EURO max (Help Needed Badly)

AaronGallagher

I have a budget of 550 euro and i am looking for a laptop for College but can alsocould run games like dayz and battlefield. It doesnt have to be anything incredible just something that will allow me to play these games. I know laptops arent ideal for gaming but i start college in september and need a new laptop for that aswell so i said id try get both into one.

All help would be appreciated as this will be my first gaming pc/laptop and i am not very tech friendly!

Thanks!

Torqay

Acer Core i3, 4 GB RAM, Nvidia GT 640M, 24/500 GB SSD/HDD combo drive, £429 (€500) at SOL.

Leaves you with some spare cash for a memory upgrade.

GPU review here. Don't expect to play your games in highest details, the requirements for that would be well beyond your budget, a GT 640M is probably as good as it gets for 550 yoyos

TerrorFirmer

I have that exact laptop, was 399 when I got it though! The GT640M handles most modern games OK at 720P and low-medium settings, though the i3 2377 is a bit on the weak side. You'll be able to play those games fine though.

AaronGallagher

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I have that exact laptop, was 399 when I got it though! The GT640M handles most modern games OK at 720P and low-medium settings, though the i3 2377 is a bit on the weak side. You'll be able to play those games fine though.

Where did you get yours TerrorFirmer?? I have heard dayz is really cpu intensive though are you sure this will be able to run it? And is it a good laptop? I have heard acer is cheaply made :eek:

AaronGallagher

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00B2HVYT6/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computers#productDetails

I am about to buy this do you reckon i could run dayz on this?

Torqay

Good allrounder but...

Unlike the GT 640M, the GT 635M is not a Kepler-based GPU and thus a fair bit slower... still the FPS rate at low settings should be acceptable.

Some BF3 benchmarks here

GT 635M:



GT 640M:

BobCobb

http://www.amazon.de/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Notebook-NVIDIA-64-bit/dp/B00B7BZAGU/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377463900&sr=1-3


German amazon is cheaper than uk one.

i5, 645m for 560 euro.

AaronGallagher

Perfect thanks for the help! I already purchased it bob!

BobCobb

Sh1te, sorry.
I just spotted it there and remembered seeing this thread earlier today.
That german one would take a few weeks to ship anyway it seems.

BobCobb

Actually you could possibly cancel your order if it hasn't shipped yet (probably hasn't on a Sunday).

The German one would have a slightly different keyboard layout though and you' d have to change W8 from german to english (I don't know how easy or not that would be).

Crapbag

Torqay wrote: »

Acer Core i3, 4 GB RAM, Nvidia GT 640M, 24/500 GB SSD/HDD combo drive, £429 (€500) at SOL.

Leaves you with some spare cash for a memory upgrade.

GPU review here. Don't expect to play your games in highest details, the requirements for that would be well beyond your budget, a GT 640M is probably as good as it gets for 550 yoyos

Since you posted this they no longer stock that model. Any ideas on alternative model for about the same money and purpose?

Looking at this one with a GT710M

Acer Aspire V3-571G on SOL at £430

Seems to do ok for the price on notebookcheck . Slightly out performs the GT620M by the looks of it for the same money.

Also any advice on the extended warranty from SOL. Was thinking of adding the acer 3 year extended warranty here

Only thing is that it brings it out of the budget range. I can stretch but perhaps someone can think of a better combo?

Torqay

Crapbag wrote: »

Looking at this one with a GT710M

It's a joke, even Intel's on-chip graphics is faster. The new Haswell HD4600 graphics (the line-up should be completed with the Core i3 processors in September) is on par with the GT 635M. Dedicated entry- and even some mid-range GPUs will be obsolete. Anything less than a GT 745M is hardly worth the money.

Crapbag

Torqay wrote: »

It's a joke, even Intel's on-chip graphics is faster.

Really? Perhaps im not looking at the benchmark correctly

Torqay wrote: »

The new Haswell HD4600 graphics (the line-up should be completed with the Core i3 processors in September) is on par with the GT 635M. Dedicated entry- and even some mid-range GPUs will be obsolete. Anything less than a GT 745M is hardly worth the money.

So is there anything on SOL that comes close to reasonable for that price do you think? I was sticking to dedicated cards and always avoided the integrated. Im just browsing through them now and don't see that much in that price range

Torqay

Crapbag wrote: »

Really? Perhaps im not looking at the benchmark correctly

The first Haswell Core i5 are already available, Core i3 shouldn't be too long (release date September 2013). Right now, I'd rather wait than buy an Ivy Bridge laptop.

Crapbag

Ha, didn't spot that one.

It pains me not to press the big red button but perhaps you're right. I'll leave it a week or two

Torqay

Here is the review, there isn't really anything you can't play with HD 4600 graphics. If you want medium ot high detail settings with the most demanding games, you'll need a GT 650M or better.

The benefits are obvious. You'll get better battery life without another 45W TDP device in the laptop. Cooling is not so much of an issue either.

Crapbag

So you're expecting a price drop when they move to i3... I've been looking at the GT650M and they are pretty far out of the price range. Even the GT635M is still beyond the price range on i3 machines

Torqay

I seem to have mislaid my crystall ball so I'm not expecting anything.

All I'm saying is, if you're not in an awful hurry, wait for the first mainstream Haswell Core i3 laptops to arrive... can't be that long (HP just rolled out their first ultrabook with a 4th gen Core i3 ULV processor), you'll be getting a graphics performance similar to that of a GT 635M for less than you're paying for a laptop with a shabby GT 710M.

Crapbag

Alright Alright, you win :-)

Nothing worse than rubbing your hands ready to buy something and someone comes along with a logical argument. (shakes fist)

I shall heed your advice and possibly poke you further in a few weeks if thats ok?

Torqay

I'm somewhat surprised that Intel has reserved HD 5200 (or Iris Pro or GT3e) for a few selected Core i7 processors. This baby is a match for Nvidia's GT 650M and paired with a Core i5 it would make for formidable and yet affordable gaming solution and probably selling like hot cake, whereas gamers who invest in a Core i7 laptop are likely to pay more for a high-end GPU anyway.

Maybe they're thinking, HD 4600 is going to hurt AMD and Nvidia enough already.