Decent Gaming Laptop Upto €850?

Zynks

My 12 year-old has been saving for a gaming laptop for a while. He has a total budget of €850 (he's even selling his PS4). Currently he uses an old Linux PC which is very 'laggy'. He has Steam and wants games medium-heavy on GPU.

The best we found, based on my limited gaming experience, is this ASUS ROG

Any advice appreciated. Does it look like a good buy considering that the budget won't go up? better alternatives?

Thanks

EDIT: budget increased to 900 yo-yos

Zynks

I found a Lenovo Y700 with similar, but probably better specs. Which one looks better? http://www.komplett.ie/lenovo-ideapad-y700-15isk-80nv016smh/80046094/details.aspx

Has anyone bought from komplett recently? They used to be good, but I know there was a downturn years ago, did it pick up again?

Zynks

I am about to buy the Lenovo from Komplett. Am I doing the right thing?

Ivefoundgod

Zynks wrote: »

I am about to buy the Lenovo from Komplett. Am I doing the right thing?

No, at this stage you shouldn't be buying ANY laptop with a 960 GPU in it, the newer 1050 and 1050ti are such a massive jump in power that unless you're getting a huge discount, which you aren't, you'd be crazy to go with a 960. Dell have the Inspiron 7000 for €999. The newer version of that lenovo with the 1050 is also €999 though sold out on the lenovo website now, there's the HP Omen, Acer VX 15 or the ASUS ROG. Just google best laptops under €1000 and you'll find plenty of info.

There are newer versions of both those laptops you've linked and both of those are now overpriced compared with whats available for 1000 or under

TerrorFirmer

I agree, go the extra 10% in budget, the GTX1050 in €999 laptops is about 50% faster than the 960M which is old and outdated at this point.

Jamiekelly

Zynks wrote: »

I am about to buy the Lenovo from Komplett. Am I doing the right thing?

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-960M-vs-GeForce-GTX-1050-Ti-Mobile

I find this to be a great site to compare many different aspects of gaming PC's and Mobile graphics cards. Make sure to have a look as it's quite a complete guide. If you scroll down further you will see an analysis at what each card is better at in specific fields.

My advice is the same as everyone elses here, stay away from the 900M series. They are outdated and still expensive. Always try and get the very latest in dedicated GPU card's when springing so much for a gaming laptop. They can become obsolete a lot quicker than desktop cards due to the bottlenecking on CPU.

DON'T go for the Lenovo. HD mobile chipsets are useless for gaming.

With a budget close to 900 you should not be looking to buy those kind of laptops. They aren't designed for gaming really. Some might claim to but it's not always the case.

Zynks

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

No, at this stage you shouldn't be buying ANY laptop with a 960 GPU in it, the newer 1050 and 1050ti are such a massive jump in power that unless you're getting a huge discount, which you aren't, you'd be crazy to go with a 960. Dell have the Inspiron 7000 for €999. The newer version of that lenovo with the 1050 is also €999 though sold out on the lenovo website now, there's the HP Omen, Acer VX 15 or the ASUS ROG. Just google best laptops under €1000 and you'll find plenty of info.

There are newer versions of both those laptops you've linked and both of those are now overpriced compared with whats available for 1000 or under

I put the order through 2 hours before your post. Thanks for the feedback anyway. We'll just have to live with the not-so-good purchase.

Jamiekelly

Zynks wrote: »

I put the order through 2 hours before your post. Thanks for the feedback anyway. We'll just have to live with the not-so-good purchase.

Is there a cooling off period? If I were you I would cancel it even if it means extra hassle. The PS4 your son sold actually has a better graphics card than the Lenovo you linked to. If your son thinks it might be able to run demanding games then he will be very disappointed.

It would be a big waste of money to buy one straight from the manufacturer at premium prices compared to buying on Adverts for example. I had a look at some in your region last night and there was multiple fully dedicated Alienware gaming laptops in your budget that would have gotten you a lot more value for money.

TerrorFirmer

I think it is a silly purchase given you can get a laptop 50% more powerful for an extra €100, which would have given it a far greater lifecycle.

That said though the Lenovo is fine, there is no game on the market it won't run - similar to PS4/XB1 levels for now in most cases, but in a few years it will be obsolete and poor for games.

If you can cancel I would, considering you can get GTX1050 laptops now for 999, and that card is way, way faster than a GTX960.

It's a 10% saving for a 50% performance loss.

edit: I don't think advising 2nd hand laptops is good advice either though in this case, unless there's a lengthy warranty in place - nobody wants to spend 1K on a laptop for their child only for it to potentially die a month or two later with zero comeback.