Lenovo gaming laptop £429.99 Amazon

PyeContinental

Lenovo IdeaPad Z500
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00F93MBXC

£430 = about €537.50 including Irish VAT and assuming a conversion rate of £1 = €1.22

Specs:
2.6GHz (3.2GHz turbo) Intel Core i5 3230
Intel HD Graphics 4000 (Ivy Bridge)
Nvidia Geforce GT 635M GPU
4GB RAM
15.6" 1366 x 768 screen
1TB HDD
DVD writer drive
35Wh battery
Wifi, bluetooth
1 x USB 3.0, HDMI out
SD card reader
3.2 kg
Windows 8 64-bit

Although it doesn't specify what Core i5 CPU in the specs, the i5 3230 is what people have received choosing the exact version at the link I gave above.
The Geforce GT 635M GPU should play most modern games at medium to full settings. From checking comparisons, it should be two to three times faster than Intel HD Graphics 5000 (Haswell GT3).

Possible downsides:
Time on battery may not be great
There may also be issues with the wireless connectivity (possibly fixed with a driver update)
An annoying trackpad where the buttons are part of the pad
Some of the preinstalled software may cause OS issues, but these can be uninstalled.

TerrorFirmer

What are you smoking? GT635 will just about get through new games on low settings. It's nowhere NEAR 2-3 times faster than HD5000.

I've a GT640 which is much faster and I can run BF4 at 720p mostly low settings to get a decent framerate in MP.

PyeContinental

I'm in cowboy country with Marlboro.

Anyway, I've looked at comparisons on a lot of sites like notebook check and game-debate and looked at framerates for various games and 3d mark scores which are generally at least 2 times more.

That was a very short synopsis, but from lots of different sources, I've seen that this Nvidia mobile GPU is a low to mid end chip and represents very good value in this laptop at this price.

FatB

Best value for money gaming laptop out there currently is http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/MSI-CX61-CX61_2OD-225UK_1475353.html

At least in my opinion - the brother in law bought it last week and its very impressive.

£649.97 and another 10 quid for delivery to your door. Yes, I know its about €250 more than the one you linked but I did say best value, not cheapest


Specifications

Processor Intel® Core™ i7-4702MQ Haswell Quad Core (2.2GHz, Intel Turbo Boost Up To 3.2GHz)
Screen 15.6" (1366 x 768 HD Resolution)
Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 64bit
RAM 8GB (DDR3)
Hard Drive 1000GB
Optical Drive DVD Rewriter (Records DVDs 8x & CDs 24x & Dual Layer Super Multi)
Graphics Dedicated (NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M with 2GB Dedicated Memory)
Wireless LAN Wireless (802.11b/g/n Wireless)
Network Card 10/100/1000 Gigabit Fast Ethernet
Integrated Webcam Integrated Webcam with Microphone
Card Reader 3-in-1 card reader (SD™, SDHC,MMC)
USB Ports 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
Speakers Integrated Sound System
VGA Port 1 External VGA Port
Kensington Lock Kensington lock slot
Charge Time 2.5 Hours
HDMI Port 1x HDMI Port
Warranty MSI 1 Year Collect & Return Warranty (View More Information)
Battery Life 3-4 Hours (up to 4 hours with power management)
Weight 2-3 Kg (This Model 2.39 Kg)

TerrorFirmer

GT635 is a low level GPU, will play new games but at low settings at 720p which is the native res, 1366x768. If you look at benchmarks, they are all for old games. If you ran benchmarks for modern games like COD Ghosts, Battlefield 4, Assassins Creed Black Flag, etc, you would see how the GT635 struggles. Like I said I have the GT640 and for realistic framerates playing BF4 online, only low settings really goes, and that's a fair bit faster than the 635m.

So if you were buying this as a 'gaming' laptop, not only would you be looking at playing new titles at low settings, in another year or two, it'd be outdated to the point of new games not working too well.

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-15r-se-7520/fs

i5 3230, 6GB Ram, 2GB HD7730 (decently faster than GT635), €599 delivered.

http://www.misco.co.uk/Product/216157/Sony-Vaio-F1521F4E-Intel-Core-i5-3337U-15inch-4GB-750GB-Nvidia-GT740M-1GB-Windows-8-Pro-Laptop-Notebook-PC

i5u, 4GB, GT740M (way faster than GT635), £529.99

Mountjoy Mugger

This isn't a "BA" thread. This is a "I know more than you do" thread.

ch750536

To be fair the OP potentially had people buying something not suitable. Gaming laptops (IMHO) dont exist sub €1000 and the two words shouldn't really be stuck together.
Heat & upgrading are 2 of the problems, far more hassle & cost than a desktop.

TerrorFirmer

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

This isn't a "BA" thread. This is a "I know more than you do" thread.

Actually, it's a 'don't want people to get caught out' thread. The thread would have suggested to people they were buying a gaming laptop, when that is not the case. :rolleyes:

Burning Eclipse

Here's the truth of it.

Gaming
Laptop
Cheap

Pick 2.

beauf

Good points being made. Its only a bargain if its good value. Though sometimes you have to compromise and go for the cheapest.

Is the Radeon HD 7730M a midrange card then as on the Dell?

PyeContinental

Sorry I have not had a chance to reply until now.

TerrorFirmer, you do make a valid point.
First, we must define what is a gaming laptop, and where do we draw the line.
A laptop that is able to play games is not the same as a laptop that is able to play all or most modern games, is not the same as one that is able to play them at high graphics quality settings and at acceptable frame rates. That's before we define what is a modern game, and what acceptable frame rates are.

Maybe I should have been more careful with the term "gaming laptop" or at least defined what I meant by the term. Very approximately, what I mean is a laptop that has a dedicated GPU which is intended to provide hardware acceleration for games graphics. If I say it's a low-end GPU (not low to mid) and is capable of playing Crysis at medium to high settings at its native resolution comfortably, would you have any problem with that statement? Is that less potentially misleading?

I think we've obviously drawn the line of what constitutes a gaming laptop at different points and are therefore not comparing like with like.
If we are to make meaningful comparisons, we must either have identical hardware and see which costs more, or we must have the same price, and see which is the best hardware that can be got for that price.

With the Dell you linked to, you have given a possible alternative choice of "gaming laptop" (until we can agree on a better term) with a better graphics chip (the AMD Radeon HD 7730M). However, for this the cost is €61.50 more than the Lenovo. I accept that someone may be willing to pay more for this, but we're still not comparing two laptops at the same price point.

FatB, that MSI does indeed look like a nice laptop, and I would agree is good value, but at closer to €275 euro more, it is at a completely different price point, and therefore we cannot make any meaningful comparison between the two.

I do appreciate both of your input though, and I understand that you both have the best motives of trying to help prevent people from making an uninformed decision.

beauf

It used to be a little easier a few years ago. Some laptops had no 3D ability and some did.

These days even the low end laptops have some 3D ability if basic. So its less clear cut.

so what people should do is pick the game they want to play and see what gfx is need to play that at the resolution they want. at the framerate they want. at the budget they can afford.

PyeContinental

There are now 7 left at £409.96 (€509 approx).

FatB

I appreciate your long reply, I would like to add however that a Haswell i5 or i7 would still perform decently on most modern games on its own... With this in mind, finding a laptop at your performance expectations can be done for a cheaper price by looking for a decent deal on a core i5 with a model number starting with a 4xxx, Intel HD 4600 plays most games in an acceptable fps once your not also overloading the processor that is attached to it.

I like you as a poster, I'm not trying to be mean in anyway, I just see a gaming laptop as something that can play the most demanding games at at least 40 fps in its best settings.

I personally still turn most settings down regardless as I'm one that values game play and not graphics itself. Minecraft is one of the biggest games today for example (not my kinda game but still).

I agree, the problem with the term "Gaming laptop" was the expectations of said performance.

beauf

a Intel HD 4600 seems a big jump from the other HD4XXX chipsets. Do you have links to mainstream laptops with HD 4600?

FatB

Sorry, I should have quantified what I meant by that, the HD 4600 seems to perform as well as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M

So you would be as well of just getting the haswell processors by that account alone.

I personally play WoW in pretty much medium settings at about 40fps with the HD 4600 on a laptop I use for DJ'ing, it has the odd slow down to 30fps but that is generally when there is a lot going on. Yes, WoW is not a massively graphic game, but its still one of the most popular games today thats not particularly shy on graphics.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-635M.66964.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4600.86106.0.html

Simi

WOW isn't really a great benchmark for gaming performance, as it's cpu dependent, where as almost all other games are gpu dependent.

The hd 4600 is a big step up, there's no doubt about that. And it comes close to the performance of the cut down version of the gt 635m used in this laptop. However, the gt 635m still beats it in every game test and can be overclocked by 20% to further widen the gap.

For £410 this laptop is superb and offers double the performance of the hd 4000 (~2.5 times if overclocked) you'll find in most laptops at this price point. It hovers around 30fps in Borderlands 2 at highest settings (why it was bought), and Dishonored*. Lower ambient occlusion and dynamic shadows and you can do the same in Bioshock Infinite*.

It has its flaws (dodgy trackpad being the most prominent). But it's thin, light and surprisingly quiet.


(*I should clarify this is with FOV at max, at default FOV you'll get much higher fps).

beauf

PC World have a Lenovo G505S with AMD A8 with Radeon 7640G for €479