Gaming Specific Laptop. Penny for your thoughts?

Retro_Rob

Hi all,

End of November coming i am planning to get a laptop for gaming.

Specific games will be World of Warcraft, CS:GO and CS:Source.

Now i have looked around a good few different sites and for my budget (strictly €1100 or less) this is the best i've found.

I'd really appreciate any input you can give (preferably positive!!)

Laptop is from pcspecialist.co.uk (Best value i have seen.)

Here is the spec and thanks in advance!

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 6300HQ (2.3GHz, 3.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD BLACK 2.5" WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY (9.5mm)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7265 M.2 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 6 DAY DELIVERY TO EUROPE (COUNTRY DEPENDANT)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: €1,081.00 including VAT and delivery.

Zillah

Is there a reason it needs to be a laptop? You'd get an absolute monster of a PC for 1,100. Bigger drive, twice as much RAM, better processor, a gaphics card that's five times more powerful (literally, this card scores 1572 on benchmarks, the very affordable GTX 970 gets 8030).

Laptops cost twice as much for half the power. There isn't really such a thing as a gaming laptop, you lose so much for saving size and weight.

Retro_Rob

Yeah I know a desktop would be WAAAAY better than a laptop for the same money. Here's the problem...

I have an old (3-4 years) alienware laptop which still runs warcraft fine. The thing is my wife now plays too so we need a second machine. And the reason it HAS to be a laptop is that we are living between both out parents houses so a few days in one then a few in the other so portability is a must.

I would love to have a desktop for the power but it's just not feasible at the moment.

With that in mind any input on the spec of that laptop?

And thanks for the reply!!

Raging_Ninja

Get more than 8GB RAM - 12 or 16 would be better.

Got mine from pcspecialist as well and am very happy with it.

Retro_Rob

I would get more RAM. But what do I sacrifice to get it? As I said I can't afford to go over €1100. So If that goes up something else needs to go down...

And someone else had told me 8gb was enough for gaming. Why do i need more? (Question is genuinely out of ignorance!)

moc moc a moc

Personally, I'd be saving my money to rent a place of my own instead of playing games on an expensive laptop in my parent's house.

Retro_Rob

Oh, hello Mr. Troll. Welcome to the party. And thank you for your enlightened input.

Zillah

lol it's a good point though.

The graphics card is horrible, but that's going to be the case with pretty much any laptop. Then again if all you plan to play is WoW and CS then it should be fine. Not sure what your frame rate will be like for CSGO but it'll run.

TerrorFirmer

Retro_Rob wrote: »

I would get more RAM. But what do I sacrifice to get it? As I said I can't afford to go over €1100. So If that goes up something else needs to go down...

And someone else had told me 8gb was enough for gaming. Why do i need more? (Question is genuinely out of ignorance!)

There is no need for more than 8GB for gaming.

There laptop is pretty good, you can customize laptops on PC Specialist so it should be possible to get a GTX970 for a little bit more, which is a big improvement on the 960.

960 is still pretty OK though, should be able to run a lot of popular games like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty at 1080p high settings.

If you're playing Warcraft and CS: GO then it won't break a sweat at ultra.

TerrorFirmer

Zillah wrote: »

lol it's a good point though.

The graphics card is horrible, but that's going to be the case with pretty much any laptop. Then again if all you plan to play is WoW and CS then it should be fine. Not sure what your frame rate will be like for CSGO but it'll run.

That's ridiculously sensationalist. It will run CS: GO at ultra effortlessly and as mobile graphics cards go, it is good.

My laptop has the older GTX860M and I can run Battlefront Beta/Battlefield 4 at 1080P high settings perfectly.

Skerries

8gb is way more than you need as game makers reckon 4gb is enough

Retro_Rob

Ok, I was feeling a bit defeated there for a while but the last two or three posts are a bit positive at least. I'm not looking for the best system ever as I know it would cost a fortune to get in a laptop or a desktop.

I just want to know simply will it run those games ok. Feeling a bit more hopeful now that they will

Retro_Rob

How about this one. It goes over my budget a bit but I could live with it. Sacrificing the SSD plus a good bit of hard drive space and my 17"screen tho

Chassis & Display
Proteus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 4 in 1 Card Reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (€13)

imitation

If you want to play cs go and Wow you don't need a 970m or even a 960m. You could probably get by just fine with 940m or 750m and save the money for a desktop in the future.

Retro_Rob

So you think keep the 960m in the 17" with the 240gb SSD and 750gb HD?

Zillah

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

There laptop is pretty good, you can customize laptops on PC Specialist so it should be possible to get a GTX970 for a little bit more, which is a big improvement on the 960.

960 is still pretty OK though, should be able to run a lot of popular games like Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty at 1080p high settings.

960M, completely different kettle of fish. The 960 is four times as powerful on benchmarks as the 960M. There is a reason laptop cards get a special designation, a laptop can't put out the power needed to drive the regular versions, nor could they dissipate the heat if they could.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That's ridiculously sensationalist. It will run CS: GO at ultra effortlessly and as mobile graphics cards go, it is good.

I said I don't know how well it will run, as in literally.

TerrorFirmer

Clearly I was talking about the 960 mobile variant and it's actually quite evident that I was, I even used the term 'mobile card'.

The 960M, as in the mobile card, can run games like Battlefield 4 at 1080P high settings perfectly. CS: GO would run at ultra settings at about 80-100FPS.

Claiming that it's a 'horrible' card is just unfounded - it's a good quality mobile card that lies in the upper mid range in the mobile hierarchy.

It's not fair on people to post advice about stuff you don't really know much about.

To answer your question to the buyer, yes, the GTX960 will blitz those games at ultra settings perfectly fine.

Zillah

I did say if he's only playing those games he'll be fine. But if you compare it to the non-mobile hardware he can get for the same price the M-variants are horrible. Look at the stats yourself:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+960M

960M - 1572
960 - 5992

That's about 1/4 the performance.

TerrorFirmer

But that's the stupidest yardstick ever. Desktop cards are more powerful ergo mobile cards are 'horrible'?

If someone wants or needs a laptop they want or need a laptop; regaling them of tales of how much more powerful desktop hardware is, is entirely pointless.

You can't carry your desktop under your arm. You can't pop it into your backback. You can't use it on the bus, the train, the plane, in a car. The list is endless. If you want a laptop for reasons of portability as has been clearly outlined here, a desktop is of no use.

Also, Synthetic benchmarks are pointless, real world gaming tests are what you should be looking at.

GTX 960 Desktop : Battlefield 4, 1080P, Ultra, 52FPS
GTX 960 M: Battlefield 4, 1080P, Ultra, 30FPS

The Desktop GTX960 is 75% faster, which is about right, and not 400/500% as you've said. That is why synthetic benchmarks are pointless, they can be chosen to misrepresent any number of factors with regards GPU/CPU.

moc moc a moc

Retro_Rob wrote: »

Oh, hello Mr. Troll. Welcome to the party. And thank you for your enlightened input.

I'm not trolling. You're married for Jaysus' sake, time to grow up and get your priorities straight. Living in your own home as an adult should take precendence over playing WoW or whatever with high graphics settings.

SeantheMan

Do laptops have space for 2 HDD's ? I don't think so.

Why feel defeated ? everyone commented saying your laptop would run the games you wanted to play

EoinHef

The laptop in the OP is perfectly adaquete for the games your looking to run on it. Terrorfirmer is spot on.

As for the life coach advice,id ignore that! Seriously guy asked about opinions on a laptop not personal opinions on how he lives his life ffs

Skerries

SeantheMan wrote: »

Do laptops have space for 2 HDD's ? I don't think so.

mine does, well a 128gb ssd and a 500gb hdd

Cravez

Mine has space for 3 hard drives (currently has 2 SSD's and a HDD). Although one of the SSD's is non remove-able. If I replace the Optical Drive with a caddy and put a drive into that I can make it have 4 hard drives if I wanted.

15.6" laptops usually have a spare slot for an additional hard drive. 17.3" Laptops could have 2-3. Any laptop can have an additional hard drive if they replace the optical drive with a caddy.

BTW my laptop has near or around the same graphics benchmarks as the 960M and it runs newish games on Very High (sometimes Ultra depending on the game) settings 1080p 60FPS. The 960M will run games fine