Trying to find a laptop for some gaming

shruikan2553

Im getting someone a laptop that can play some games like world of warcraft and prison architect. She doesn't need 60 FPS, full HD and ultra settings but something that will run the games without looking like a slide show. And yes, it needs to be a laptop, I understand perfectly well the pros of a desktop vs laptop when it comes to games but it needs to be a laptop.

Im thinking something with an i3/i5, 4GB+, 500GB+ HDD, 15.6" screen in the region of €400-500. I've been browsing currys and found plenty of laptops within my price range with the above specs but the problem I've been running into is I can't find information on the GPUs. Is it possible to get a laptop in the above price range with a GPU that's a bit better than the crappy Intel GPUs or do you need to be looking at €1000+ laptops before any decent GPUs show up? Where should I be looking for such a laptop?

ObeyTheSuit

Problem is mate, as soon as you mention games the price goes way up even for mid range.
I'm going to be honest with you, I don't think you will get what you want for that price unless you go second hand.

I know you don't want top performance but at the min you will be looking at an i5/8GB/4GB gfx. And when I say a 4GB gfx... well you will probably need a mid range embedded card so ATI / nVidia. Not saying you can't use a cheaper one but quite honestly it wont run the best. I've have a laptop capable of gaming so far and they were both pricey at about AUD $1600 or EUD $1077 and it can run things pretty well on minimal settings.

Things that games perform well on is simply a fast HDD and good gfx card.

shruikan2553

Kind of what I expected, the decent graphics cards are only in the gaming laptops and as you know, we're talking closer to 1000 for that. The current laptop is dying so she needs a new one anyway. She has access to my PC most of the time too so theres not too much pressure on the ability to play games well, she just finds what works on her current laptop and plays that.

Was looking at
http://www.currys.ie/PRODUCT/156-hp-pavilion-15p189sa-laptop-hp/330839/7.36

But waiting to hear back from someone on the other thread here about how it performs.

TerrorFirmer

You can get decent enough gaming laptops for 500-600 easily.

That PC World one isn't going to be good for gaming.

Something like this @ 570 delivered is a better way to go. Would run games like Battlefield 4 and Shadow of Mordor, Advanced Warfare, etc at OK settings, as a yardstick.

But then to be honest Prison Architect and WoW are hardly that demanding either...something like this would also be fine.

That's just from a few minutes looking, shop around.

skankles

Hi I want to play Prison Architect on laptop., I took a chance buying it but unsurprisingly my Dell studio XPS 16 (1645) can't handle it. The system requirements of the game are Processor:Intel Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz or Higher / AMD 3Ghz or Higher Memory:4 GB RAM Graphics:Nvidia 8600 / Radeon equivalent (2009 era) Hard Drive:100 MB HD space...I don't want a high end Alienware etc. any advice on products & sellers much appreciated.

shruikan2553

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You can get decent enough gaming laptops for 500-600 easily.

That PC World one isn't going to be good for gaming.

Something like this @ 570 delivered is a better way to go. Would run games like Battlefield 4 and Shadow of Mordor, Advanced Warfare, etc at OK settings, as a yardstick.

Will probably get that laptop, looking around it seems I'll need to start looking at the 500-600 range for a dedicated graphics card. For 570 Im unlikely to find better.

shruikan2553

Ha, went to order the 570 euro laptop, down about 80 pounds. Amazon said its 490 euro but ordered in GBP so will have to see what I get charged.

skankles wrote: »

Hi I want to play Prison Architect on laptop., I took a chance buying it but unsurprisingly my Dell studio XPS 16 (1645) can't handle it. The system requirements of the game are Processor:Intel Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz or Higher / AMD 3Ghz or Higher Memory:4 GB RAM Graphics:Nvidia 8600 / Radeon equivalent (2009 era) Hard Drive:100 MB HD space...I don't want a high end Alienware etc. any advice on products & sellers much appreciated.

Should be easy enough to meet those requirements. Will try it on my own older laptop today and let you know.

EDIT: Tried it on my celeron laptop and it ran no problem. Have an integrated GPU too so I'd say most modern laptops will have no problem either.

ssmith6287

Does that have an E1 CPU, theyre barely powerful enough to run the OS

ssmith6287

Sorry just realised thats the model number of the laptop

shruikan2553

ssmith6287 wrote: »

Does that have an E1 CPU, theyre barely powerful enough to run the OS

Its a third generation i3. Forth would have been preferable but a dedicated graphics card under 500 euro? I'm willing to make the sacrifice.

ShadowHearth

What about this? About 550eu delivered?

http://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B00KCJAIMO/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/278-4053774-1566529?ref_=psdc1_t1_B00KCJACNY_B00KCJAIMO#productDetails

The only drawback is that it has no os and a German keyboard.

I am looking for laptop myself. Budget is 800eu, but I am finding a hard time finding a good value laptop at that price point.

ShadowHearth

Op, this looks not bad for brick and mortar shop too. 619eu and it will easily run those games.

http://www.pcworld.ie/Mobile/Product/toshiba-satellite-l50b1p1-156-laptop-black/318251/104.10#ctl00_ctl00__nestedContent__mainpageContent_ProductFamilyDetailsView1_liProductDetails

TerrorFirmer

Not bad for PC World but the R7 260M isn't as good as you might think, it's much slower than the GT840. According to benches it's the same as the GT825/GT735.

ShadowHearth

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Not bad for PC World but the R7 260M isn't as good as you might think, it's much slower than the GT840. According to benches it's the same as the GT825/GT735.

Aye, I know. As I said, it's brick and mortar and should be enough to run wow.

Another option would be dell 17inch i5 4210u 8gb ram 1tb 840m for 629eu.

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-17-5748-laptop/pd?ref=PD_OC

shruikan2553

ShadowHearth wrote: »

What about this? About 550eu delivered?

http://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B00KCJAIMO/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/278-4053774-1566529?ref_=psdc1_t1_B00KCJACNY_B00KCJAIMO#productDetails

The only drawback is that it has no os and a German keyboard.

I am looking for laptop myself. Budget is 800eu, but I am finding a hard time finding a good value laptop at that price point.

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Op, this looks not bad for brick and mortar shop too. 619eu and it will easily run those games.

http://www.pcworld.ie/Mobile/Product/toshiba-satellite-l50b1p1-156-laptop-black/318251/104.10#ctl00_ctl00__nestedContent__mainpageContent_ProductFamilyDetailsView1_liProductDetails

Already ordered a laptop but thanks!

Laptop arrived today, turns out it is spanish. Called amazon to see about getting a replacement but his manager said that its best to return it and then order it at a later date again.

Will91w

Last laptop i owned was fairly decent at running games, it was a Toshiba SATELLITE S70-A-11H. It cost around 700 euro but i was extremely surprised at how good it could run most games.

Specs:
Windows 8.1 64-bit (pre-installed)
4th generation Intel® Core™ i5-4200M processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
43.9cm (17.3”) , Toshiba TruBrite® HD+ TFT High Brightness display with 16 : 9 aspect ratio and LED backlighting
Hard disk 1 TB
Ice blue brushed aluminium finish, black keyboard
8,192 (4,096 + 4,096) MB, DDR3L RAM (1,600 MHz)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 740M with CUDA™ Technology and NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology
maximum life : up to 4h00min (Mobile Mark™ 2012)
weight : starting at 2.7 kg
W x D x H : 413.0 x 268.0 x 31.3 (front) / 33.7 (rear) mm

The i5 is the real boost in this laptop, it played any game i threw at it from Assassins Creed to battlefield 4 to fifa 14. All with little to no lag. Would highly recommend this.