Advice on a gaming laptop

DarkAngel · January 24, 2016, 02:35:47 PM

First of all hello everyone, its been too long.

I currently don't have a system, I live in London and a desktop machine is just not an option. Therefore as I have been out of the game for too long I would like some advice on what is a good laptop gaming system.

I have been looking at www.pcspecialist.co.uk/, prices seem competitive. What are your take on their devices?

Any advice would be greatly received.

Currently looking at this model.

Penfold · January 24, 2016, 03:31:58 PM

Hey hey it's DA.

Hope all is well Dom

DarkAngel · January 24, 2016, 03:39:32 PM

Hey! All is well thank you

. Just wanting to get a half descent laptop to try some occasional gaming. I have a wedding in July so can't go over 1k

.

RogueTaylor · January 24, 2016, 03:41:04 PM

A nice looking model with a good graphics card, I have always liked the idea of getting a gaming laptop as a back up or to use when I am away from home so am quiet Intrested in what people think

RogueTaylor · January 24, 2016, 03:41:34 PM

Congrats on the wedding

DarkAngel · January 24, 2016, 03:58:51 PM

Yeah, its a good spec without going to crazy on the funds.

Thanks!

GhostMjr · January 24, 2016, 04:24:27 PM

Pc specialist is what I will go for next. Don't buy anything second hand although the price can be tempting it doesn't work out better in the long run. My Asus laptop is slow and was used for 6-8 dmw LANs and as a 24/7 media centre. It was about Â£1500 and can't play any new games anymore due to the gpu being out of date. Pc specialist allow you to buy a chassis laptop and then upgrade it as and when you want to as they have the same standard chassis's. This does depend on chosen model. No peanuts and chaos both have them. I would swap out your 960 for a 980 though as I had a 460 and this could have lasted a lot longer. Also pop out the 240gb ssd and get something bigger. Remove the 5400 rpm drive these are too slow either go for a higher rpm or just get an external drive instead.

Chaosphere · January 24, 2016, 04:26:55 PM

I have had 2 Laptops from PCS and highly rate them. 1k may be a struggle though... it is difficuly to compromise with a gaming laptop, it sets you back in 1-2 years if you do.

That said, you can assemble one with and 970M, 120gb SSD for OS and 1TB HD for storage for Â£1,150, that would be a competent machine for a good few years, if your budget can stretch that little bit above 1k that is.

I would not go for anything below the 970M, I think you will only regret it in a couple of years time.

DarkAngel · January 24, 2016, 05:20:13 PM

Thanks for all the responses.

Currently looking at this model price Â£1279.00

[TABLE=width: 100%, align: left]
[TR]
[TD]The 17.3" Defiance II[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

IntelÂ® Coreâ,,¢ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
NVIDIAÂ® GeForceÂ® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectXÂ® 12
32GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
120 SSD
1TB Hard Drive

smite · January 24, 2016, 06:11:05 PM

Quote from: DarkAngel;409318Hey! All is well thank you . Just wanting to get a half descent laptop to try some occasional gaming. I have a wedding in July so can't go over 1k .

Noticed the good news on FB, congrats again mate

I recently purchased a desktop from PCS and i'm very impressed with it. The 250GB SSD quickly ran out with only 7 games installed.

RogueTaylor · January 24, 2016, 06:13:40 PM

Another nice model there only thing that got me was the ram only having 4gb, but then it depends know what you play games like Arma and ark or any game like this will run maybe a bit slow or not as smooth but like i said it depends on the games you play. 500gb should be great and I can't see you wanting any more unless you getting a crazy amount of games and dlc for them if so you could always get a external hard drive for it if it comes to that

Gone_Away · January 24, 2016, 08:31:55 PM

Quote from: Penfold;409316Hey hey it's DA.

Hope all is well Dom

Damn Right all is well!! Dom's engaged.. and get this: IT'S TO A REAL GURL!!

TeaLeaf · January 24, 2016, 08:56:59 PM

Quote from: DarkAngel;409312I have been looking at www.pcspecialist.co.uk/, prices seem competitive. What are your take on their devices?

Any advice would be greatly received.

Currently looking at this model.

Quote from: GhostMjr;409323Pc specialist is what I will go for next.

I've had experience of 3 desktops and 2 laptops from pcspecialist over the past few years, the laptops within the past 18 months. Whilst I'd recommend the desktops, I would NOT recommend the laptops.

The chassis used are relatively cheap Clevo ones, plastic and way too flexible. They seem to flex a lot and ultimately this leads to failures of the motherboard connections or screen. Even if you buy an extended warranty, it will take you a month to get the laptop there and back (as we experienced). Both the laptops bought (15.6") suffered almost identical failures, both were quoted the same type of turn around time for repairs and both failed for the first time during the initial 12 months. The problem was, that in both, the problem re-appeared within 6 months and then were out of warranty. The other major annoyance (as reported by the users) was that the fan kicked on quickly, often and was loud. Loud the point of being a noisy distraction when working.

For a laptop that size I'd be looking for higher quality or metal chassis, or you're just wasting money.

To balance GM's comments about ASUS, I bought a Â£700 ASUS 17" and it has been going to LANs with me almost 4 years and been gaming at 1080p quite happily. It's now showing it's age, but the N55SF has performed brilliantly for the money.

A possible alternative might be to try and build a MicroATX system perhaps?

DarkAngel · January 24, 2016, 08:57:21 PM

Thanks! I know and i didn't have to force her into it either... A lot to do as i'm sure you all know!

I've purchased that system with 32GB of Ram should be future proof for i hope 2-3 years!

DarkAngel · January 24, 2016, 08:58:09 PM

Wow, now you tell me.... Argg...