Advice on Laptop for Xmas

Macker1

Looking to pick up a laptop for my son for Xmas.

Gaming, General browsing and college work

Budget is around €800-€900

Ideally with a SSD for booting / OS and standard drive for storage

Any options that stick out.

Thanks for help.

Macker1

Any help or advice guys. Not really up to speed with Laptops and I don't want to make a bad choice.

Thanks

Dcully

Im far from laptop expert but personally ive gone right off laptops for gaming, cooling was always a major issue for a gaming laptop.
That was 4 years back however so maybe things have changed.
Does it have to be a laptop? [probably needs it portable for college]
With that budget you would buy a much better desktop that would last the young lad many years.

Id like to think things have improved with gaming laptops cooling over the years.

I spotted this on some random black friday buyers guide , might be worth a look.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-intel-core-i5-gtx-1050-ti-gaming-laptop-1-tb-hdd-10180721-pdt.html?istCompanyId=fbc6ef6d-ab18-45e3-927a-0cb677794424&istItemId=-xxrmrlampt&istBid=t&gclid=Cj0KCQiA28nfBRCDARIsANc5BFB6KANZnKUxWFH3GqarflNZLN4vsd5CdJzq08sQFJh1_vHlQjsc5-IaAqYfEALw_wcB

Macker1

Due to college it does need to be a laptop. I know that gaming on a laptop at this budget is pushing it but. There is a decent pc at home alreay to which he has access to. Thanks for response.

K.O.Kiki

Dcully wrote: »

Im far from laptop expert but personally ive gone right off laptops for gaming, cooling was always a major issue for a gaming laptop.
That was 4 years back however so maybe things have changed.
Does it have to be a laptop? [probably needs it portable for college]
With that budget you would buy a much better desktop that would last the young lad many years.

Id like to think things have improved with gaming laptops cooling over the years.

I spotted this on some random black friday buyers guide , might be worth a look.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-intel-core-i5-gtx-1050-ti-gaming-laptop-1-tb-hdd-10180721-pdt.html?istCompanyId=fbc6ef6d-ab18-45e3-927a-0cb677794424&istItemId=-xxrmrlampt&istBid=t&gclid=Cj0KCQiA28nfBRCDARIsANc5BFB6KANZnKUxWFH3GqarflNZLN4vsd5CdJzq08sQFJh1_vHlQjsc5-IaAqYfEALw_wcB

Nvidia 10xx-series on laptop are the same speed as their desktop counterparts & run quite cool - I wouldn't put it on my lap but they'll be grand on a desk.
The screen won't be amazing, but should be ok.
Review for similar laptop (with better CPU): https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Nitro-5-i7-8750H-GTX-1050-Ti-FHD-Laptop-Review.321110.0.html

Skerries

Ideally you should be looking at one with an i5 7th gen Intel or better with at least 8gb of ram and an Nvidia 1060 or 1050Ti at a push

so check sites like
Amazon Amazon1
laptopsdirect
Currys
Dell

you can see how games run on the 2 GPU's here

Skerries

Dcully wrote: »

I spotted this on some random black friday buyers guide , might be worth a look.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-intel-core-i5-gtx-1050-ti-gaming-laptop-1-tb-hdd-10180721-pdt.html?istCompanyId=fbc6ef6d-ab18-45e3-927a-0cb677794424&istItemId=-xxrmrlampt&istBid=t&gclid=Cj0KCQiA28nfBRCDARIsANc5BFB6KANZnKUxWFH3GqarflNZLN4vsd5CdJzq08sQFJh1_vHlQjsc5-IaAqYfEALw_wcB

Snap! actually just noticed that is configured for Optane which basically turns the 1TB HDD essentially into a 1TB SSD

TerrorFirmer

That is a surprisingly great price for Currys.

I would avoid anything that's not 7th gen i7 or 8th gen i5 at this point, as 7th gen i5's choke badly on some of the very latest games, especially mobile ones.

The Curry's one is pretty much the best value you'll get anywhere for a well-rounded machine. You can get GTX1060 machines for the same price online, but usually in that range they've got 7th gen i5's, which are weaker and struggle a bit in the CPU intensive titles.

K.O.Kiki

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

That is a surprisingly great price for Currys.

I would avoid anything that's not 7th gen i7 or 8th gen i5 at this point, as 7th gen i5's choke badly on some of the very latest games, especially mobile ones.

The Curry's one is pretty much the best value you'll get anywhere for a well-rounded machine. You can get GTX1060 machines for the same price online, but usually in that range they've got 7th gen i5's, which are weaker and struggle a bit in the CPU intensive titles.

I've only found 1 machine with a GTX 1060 for under €900, and it doesn't ship here.

Macker1

Thanks folks.....Plenty to ponder.... Hopefully a few options appear over the coming weeks with Black Friday / Cyber Monday. I may post again if I find something just to get opinions from more knowledgeable people.

TerrorFirmer

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I've only found 1 machine with a GTX 1060 for under €900, and it doesn't ship here.

i5-7300HQ, GTX1060 3GB, 120Hz Screen, 256GB SSD for £749.

Good deal but the i5 will choke on some games, I'd probably prefer the i5-8300H + 1050Ti.

lukie1234

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-intel-core-i5-gtx-1050-gaming-laptop-1-tb-black-10180720-pdt.html?awc=1599_1542664795_79c74107f44440d3791c7589219c1eca&srcid=369&xtor=AL-1&cmpid=aff~HotUKDeals~Communities%20%26%20UGC~47868&awid=47868

Not bad also.

lukie1234

A good trick at the moment would be to buy a laptop that has all you want apart from an SSD as most people will shy away from laptops without SSDs these days. Buy your own SSD as they are very cheap and install it yourself.