Entry Gaming Laptop 400 delivered (Amazon.de)

cherryghost

Picked this up last week as its currently reduced.

Specs:
Core i3 4010U
4gb RAM
500gb HD
Nvidia GT 840M 2GB
1080p screen

Doesn't look like much but the 840M seems to be the DDR5 model judging by my benchmarks. Playing most modern games on medium settings without issue. Also 1080p screen instead of the standard 768p on laptops these days, its a great all rounder. The i3 is only dual core but has 4 threads and is more than capable of hacking it with entry AMD desktop processors. It's also incredibly light and slightly thinner than the average laptop at similar prices. Honestly could not find a cheaper laptop for such performance. Battery life is around 5-6 hours of light browsing/office work.

There's a warehouse deal also for about 370 delivered (I got this one). Really excellent value.

Only downside is it comes with DOS hence the low price. Easy to install Windows on it though as Lenovo include all the required drivers for a Windows install with it.

Durz0 Blint

Out of curiosity have you tried to run Rome 2 on this?

cherryghost

I have not. More of a shogun 2 man :P 60fps on low-med on that one. I can do a Rome 2 test later and let you know.

The_Conductor

The Core i5 version here is only another 30 quid (@399).

The big difference- if the Core i5 has extra onchip cache, think its the same speed- and a dual core chip- but its a good deal more powerful from the extra cache......

Note- both laptops are supplied without operating systems........

mayordenis

The_Conductor wrote: »

The Core i5 version here is only another 30 quid (@399).

The big difference- if the Core i5 has extra onchip cache, think its the same speed- and a dual core chip- but its a good deal more powerful from the extra cache......

Note- both laptops are supplied without operating systems........

That's pretty different, intel onboard graphics and a non 1080p screen.

The_Conductor

mayordenis wrote: »

That's pretty different, intel onboard graphics and a non 1080p screen.

You're right.......
Doh- thought it was too good to be true.......

TerrorFirmer

It is a very good price, but just be aware that the processor is a bit of a bottleneck. I had a ULV i3 with a GT740 at one stage and it was incredibly disappointing, a lot of games were cpu bound. I switched to a regular non-ulv i5 and another GT740 and it was so much better.

The GT840 is a good entry level card but it will be held back by the CPU in a lot of games.

Still a great deal though.

Simi

Perfect for those who like to do a bit of light gaming on their laptop, without having to lug around a 3kg behemoth. Great deal.

cherryghost

Durz0 Blint wrote: »

Out of curiosity have you tried to run Rome 2 on this?

I played the Carthage historical battle on medium at about 35fps, dropping to 25 in large scale fights

Dravokivich

Simi wrote: »

Perfect for those who like to do a bit of light gaming on their laptop, without having to lug around a 3kg behemoth. Great deal.

3kg is heavy?

Rucking_Fetard

Dravokivich wrote: »

3kg is heavy?

p4xel

What keyboard layout does it come with? If it's german QWERTZ then it will be a pain to use.

Fnz

Another downside might be the keyboard layout.

If not specified Otherwise in the item name or description, you will receive this product with a German layout (QWERTZ)

cherryghost

It's QWERTZ, easy to swap out the keys with a small flathead

p4xel

cherryghost wrote: »

It's QWERTZ, easy to swap out the keys with a small flathead

It's not as easy as swapping Y and Z, there's a lot of special characters and german accented keys that will not match US/UK layout. You can get some US/UK key-stickers but it looks terrible and wears pretty quick. Last option is eBay (get some UK keyboard) but then it's not such a great bargain after all.

solomafioso

p4xel wrote: »

It's not as easy as swapping Y and Z, there's a lot of special characters and german accented keys that will not match US/UK layout. You can get some US/UK key-stickers but it looks terrible and wears pretty quick. Last option is eBay (get some UK keyboard) but then it's not such a great bargain after all.

Is it not a case of just changing locale / region settings / keyboard layouts?

Skerries

yeah but the symbols will be different on the physical keyboard

eoin1539

Looks like a pretty good gaming laptop I'm sure you'll have no problem running the likes of Battlefield 4 on maybe high or medium graphics.

TerrorFirmer

eoin1539 wrote: »

Looks like a pretty good gaming laptop I'm sure you'll have no problem running the likes of Battlefield 4 on maybe high or medium graphics.

Totally untrue.

As I said before. I have owned a laptop with a ULV cpu and GT740. The GT840 is significantly faster; yet even with my GT740 I was being bottlenecked by the ULV badly.

Battlefield 4 online was playable with my i3 ULV and GT740, but the framerate was all over the place, often dipping into the teens.

Once I bought a new laptop with a regular mobile i5 and the same GT740, it was totally smooth at 720p medium settings.

Bottom line: GT840M is going to be badly bottlenecked by a ULV cpu like this one.

Does it make it a bad deal? No. Is it a good deal? Absolutely!

But if you're basing your gaming expectation on the GT840, you will be sorely disappointed, because the CPU can't keep pace.

However all considered, this is still a bargain alert because it is good value.

eoin1539

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Totally untrue.

As I said before. I have owned a laptop with a ULV cpu and GT740. The GT840 is significantly faster; yet even with my GT740 I was being bottlenecked by the ULV badly.

Battlefield 4 online was playable with my i3 ULV and GT740, but the framerate was all over the place, often dipping into the teens.

Once I bought a new laptop with a regular mobile i5 and the same GT740, it was totally smooth at 720p medium settings.

Bottom line: GT840M is going to be badly bottlenecked by a ULV cpu like this one.

Does it make it a bad deal? No. Is it a good deal? Absolutely!

But if you're basing your gaming expectation on the GT840, you will be sorely disappointed, because the CPU can't keep pace.

However all considered, this is still a bargain alert because it is good value.

Yea I meant for the value it's not bad, I have a 670M graphics card and I can play Battlefield 4 on Ultra no problem, I haven't really had any experience with the GT series but somebody told me they were good, must have been wrong my apologies.

cherryghost

BF4 is clearly CPU limited. Low/Medium I hit around 45-50 fps, only reducing the resolution down from 100% to 85% do I get almost 60fps consistantly. Still very playable though on full res and completely surprised me.

eoin1539

cherryghost wrote: »

BF4 is clearly CPU limited. Low/Medium I hit around 45-50 fps, only reducing the resolution down from 100% to 85% do I get almost 60fps consistantly. Still very playable though on full res and completely surprised me.

As long as you get 60 fps upwards then that's the main thing, at least you can play it :P

The_Conductor

Its a Lenovo- so you should be able to swap out the processor for a better one- with Intel down the road there are lots of engineering samples to be gotten in the area. Don't swap out any other components though- Lenovo whitelist components at a BIOS level.

Curious Geroge

Unable to order. Ireland and UK both show

"This item can not be shipped to the selected address. Learn more . You can either change the shipping address or delete the item from your order. You can also see if these items for shipping to your address through a different dealer is available. "

Tar.Aldarion

Really nice deal if any gamer wanted a laptop.