| My computer is absolutely humped. Should have been replaced many moons ago. So I'm going to buy a laptop. Ideally it would be able to play games on medium settings, but I don't know if that will be possible on my budget. Looking to spend, preferably at the lower end of the scale, between 300 and 500 quid. I have no idea what is decent in the laptop world. Please help. |
Recommend a laptop!
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Kosmoz 8,184 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 14 years ago -
jaangus 5,405 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 14 years agoA lot of companies have stopped selling laptops in the UK due to thr popularity of tablets so your choice is probably quite limited. Unless it absolutely has to be portable you'd probably be better off with a small form factor pc -
MrFlay 4,670 posts
Seen 1 hour ago
Registered 13 years agoLenovo sell directly from their website. They're pretty good value and you can customise to an extent. -
Kosmoz 8,184 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 14 years ago@MrFlay did have a good experience with a Lenovo before, for a job I had. Unfortunately we killed it by using it outdoors in winter in Scotland one too many times. Was the only one with a FireWire that would connect our shitty old camcorder. Shall have a look on their website, cheers. -
THFourteen 54,987 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoPcspecialist? -
Kosmoz 8,184 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 14 years agoI should point out, I would have a good look around the web myself, but I don't have broadband at the moment. Hoping someone who has bought one recently will come along and tell me how wonderful it is and that I should buy it. -
Dirtbox 92,595 posts
Seen 15 hours ago
Registered 19 years ago -
sherpa1984 886 posts
Seen 16 minutes ago
Registered 14 years agoAny interest in a second hand laptop? Mine is 12 months old in perfect nick, only selling it because we're finally getting around to decorating the study so will be getting a desktop.
i7 (or i5, can't remember- can get the full specs if interested) 2GB nVidia card, 8GB RAM, SSD for OS and HDD for games.
I only play Dota 2 on it but for reference it'll do over 60fps at 1080p.
Edited by sherpa1984 at 19:33:47 05-01-2016 -
@Kosmoz
£500 would maybe scrape you a laptop that could play games at medium settings. Well it will do but it all depends on the game and how old/new it is.
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosIV-15/
Pcspecialist are good and very good price wise. Failing that you will have to resort to a used one in your budget as £500 is just below low end gaming for a laptop. Again it depends on what games you want to play. -
Ienjoysquid 375 posts
Seen 12 hours ago
Registered 10 years agoI had this choice lately. I always buy laptops with dedicated graphics cards because, well, why not? Over the years I've always been able to hunt around and find a consumer laptop with fair dedicated graphics for not much more than a normal consumer laptop in whatever cpu class it stands, as long as I haven't tried to stay loyal to one manufacturer.
There was a lot less choice in 2014 than 2010, and much much less last month when that 2014 Toshiba packed up.
Surprisingly armed with a full £488 refund from Amazon for my old 18 month old machine, I couldn't find anything with a gpu for £500 and build quality, keyboard 'niceness' and product range is noticeably lacking now. So it does look like laptops are falling from grace.
After hunting around I found that £600 gets you into GeForce 940 territory with an indifferent 720p screen. Was about to give up on laptop gaming then found this
http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-15-ak002na-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-ram-1tb-15-hybrid-green/p2269674?sku=234873627&kpid=234873627&s_kenid=09260090-c266-4820-a094-df0191181b2a&s_kwcid=402x1479505&tmad=c&tmcampid=73
Beautiful full hd IPS screen, 950m processor, good keyboard, and 3 year guarantee with John Lewis. £200 more than my budget but well worth it.
Just seen they have this Lenovo which would suit your budget. Is apparently about the same as the nvidia 940.
http://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-z51-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-ram-1tb-8gb-sshd-15-6-black/p2279114?navAction=jump
Edited by Ienjoysquid at 01:27:39 06-01-2016 -
Kosmoz 8,184 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 14 years agoThanks for the advice chaps. I think my mum must read eurogamer, she phoned me today and asked if I wanted a laptop. Few hours later my dad has bought me this. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/toshiba-satellite-p50-c-18j-15-6-laptop-brushed-metal-10138287-pdt.html strange coincidence or online stalker? -
Ienjoysquid 375 posts
Seen 12 hours ago
Registered 10 years agoGlad it worked out. Looks like a great machine! -
All_Good 228 posts
Seen 4 years ago
Registered 8 years agoHope you guys can help me out as well as you did with Kosmoz. I am looking for a good laptop for £800 maybe a bit more.... I really want the best graphics card I can find so the laptop will last for a while, where the worst scenario is that it can play new games in medium in a few years time! -
jimnastics 1,893 posts
Seen 13 hours ago
Registered 10 years agoMy parents are looking for a 17"+ laptop with 1080p screen, £800 to spend. Rest of the components just need to be as good as poss. How does this look?
http://www.dabs.com/products/msi-gp72-2qe-061uk-i7-5700hq-8gb-1tb-17-3--dvdsm-9s7-179323-061-BNNM.html?refs=58320000&src=3
Are MSI decent for laptops? Rest of the spec looks decent enough, and can't seem to find as good as for the money from other brands. -
Nazo 1,951 posts
Seen 38 minutes ago
Registered 12 years agoI've got an MSI (different model) and really like it. They are very much setup and branded for gaming though. -
cjb_bjc 2,144 posts
Seen 2 months ago
Registered 13 years agoI'm also in the market and unsure whether to splash out on the xps15 or go for the surface book when that lands in Feb. -
THFourteen 54,987 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoIs the i7-6500U good enough for steam streaming with no graphics card?
My parents need to replace their rubbish laptop so giving them mine and want to get a cheap replacement with a bigger screen than the one I have.
Use mainly for excel, steam streaming and Remote Desktop
Looking at the pc specialist Genesis V with the1080p 15" screen and that cpu. -
Dirtbox 92,595 posts
Seen 15 hours ago
Registered 19 years ago -
Salaman 24,162 posts
Seen 6 days ago
Registered 17 years agoBUMP!
We're looking to replace the gf's aging MAcbook. She'd like a Windows laptop.
Mainly to surf the web, email, office suite and some mp3 manipulation/editing (something akin to using garageband on the mac)
Had a quick browse this afternoon and saw some OK deals on 15" and 17" laptops with an i5, 8gb of ram, 128gb SSD and 1TB HDD.
Anything I should keep in mind before we pick one?
The last site I looked at, I noticed the i5s all had a different number.
i5-4210h
i5-5200u
i5-6200u
I'm assuming higher numbers are better. H is older generation than U? -
Salaman 24,162 posts
Seen 6 days ago
Registered 17 years agoActually ... looking at a few benchmarks, seems the 4210h is quite OK.
6300HQ seems to be better but I haven't seen a build with that one on offer. -
Nazo 1,951 posts
Seen 38 minutes ago
Registered 12 years agoThe first digit represents the generation, so 4th, 5th and 6th.
u means ultrabook, so better battery life but not much grunt, the h is more powerful but uses more energy. -
grey_matters 5,507 posts
Seen 1 week ago
Registered 15 years agoBudget Laptop here.
Crap resolution and probably a bit plasticky. Good everything else though. Not for gaming but good for the price. -
jaangus 5,405 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 14 years agoCrystal at string fellows -
Barrel_Trollz 777 posts
Seen 14 hours ago
Registered 9 years agoBump, I suppose.
In the market for a laptop to give me moderate performance in games, be somewhat portable and light, and fast. Basically, a compromise at the mid-to-upper range (At university away from home, so a desktop isn't feasible, as cool as it would be to have an epic setup to run everything maxed out).
This laptop seems to fit the bill nicely.
Asus Zenbook UX501, with:
i7 6700HQ
Windows 10
16GB DDR4
4K IPS display
GTX 960M
PCIE 512GB SSD
For $1700/£1200
I've nearly settled on it, so, if anybody has any better selections at that price point, I'm open to suggestions. Thanks! -
BigOrkWaaagh 10,554 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 14 years ago@Barrel_Trollz If you're flexible on the SSD you can shave a couple of hundred off with this.
If you're flexible on the screen too you can save even more.
Edited by BigOrkWaaagh at 06:34:55 12-06-2016 -
Barrel_Trollz 777 posts
Seen 14 hours ago
Registered 9 years ago@BigOrkWaaagh Good recommendations!
I'd have to check if the drive in the Dell is upgradeable... Definitely don't want to be stuck with a hybrid. But anything that fits into the enclosure (with a standard SATA interface) would be significantly cheaper than the m.2 drive that the cheaper (ha) Asus offers. I've never been one for 4K, so that's mainly the only concern here (aside from a bit better battery life).
The PCI express drive remains tempting...
Edited by Barrel_Trollz at 15:04:37 12-06-2016 -
Dirtbox 92,595 posts
Seen 15 hours ago
Registered 19 years ago -
@Zidargh to the thread 
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