Someone build me a laptop spec

my budget is £1500
i'm a engineering student
Will be doing some gaming in my spare time
p.s i want a beast

was thinking in getting a dell xps 15 or will a pc spec laptop be better value ?

The defiance 17 in the review section for £1350 would be better value for money and a better spec than a dell xps

Chassis & Display Defiance Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD SLIM BLUE WD10SPCX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
RAID NONE
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive NONE
2nd mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
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
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 4 x USB 3.0 PORTS (1 x POWERED, 1 e-SATA COMBINED)
Battery Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language DEFIANCE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
DVD Recovery Media Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Carry Case NONE
Laptop Cooling Stands NONE
Stand-Alone Monitor NONE
Additional Keyboard NONE
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
External Speakers NONE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation NONE
Dead Pixel Guarantee NONE
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Promotional Item FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £1,230.83
Price £1,477.00

What sort of engineer applications do you intend to use?
Im assuming only light work if you were orginally looking at the Dell xps.
If thats the case the above spec would handle that with ease! Plus the GTX980 will be able to handle any game you throw at it for a good year on high/ultra settings.

If you're not a serious gamer, guess you could get away with a cosmo or optimus. But best to know the programs you intend to use first

little advice ?

hello i am in need of new laptop for university (civil engineering). I am slightly confused because i dont really play pc games so is it pointless in getting laptop from pc specalist.
I have been looking at dell precision laptops and macbook pro. I was also thinking precision laptops such as m6800 might be a waste as it will be my first year at university. I have seen that macbook pros arent suitable for engineering students. Would love to get some advice, been searching for a laptop for over a month still confused [Also my budget is around 2k mark.]

p.s sorry for the long message

hello i am in need of new laptop for university (civil engineering). I am slightly confused because i dont really play pc games so is it pointless in getting laptop from pc specalist.

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Not all laptops sold by PCS are for gaming. I am afraid it is not allowed to give advice on other retailers in the forum since it belongs to PCS who sell desktops and laptops

A laptop that is good for gaming will likely be good for any other applications you want to throw at it too (except for more specialised activities) - As mentioned above if you can tell us the programs you're planning on using then we can tailor the advice to your needs

no idea

badal786 said:

no idea

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You've no idea what programs you're wanting to use? It's going to be difficult to give advice without anything to go by

badal786 said:

no idea

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NVIDIA Quadro GPU's are best for the engineering CAD/render work compared to the GTX GPU's you will find in the PCS laptops, but these are for serious work...and i mean large, complex models where you would need to render.
This is not to say the GTX GPU's are no good for CAD and engineering tasks. I have the Optimus 13" with the 960m and that gets me through light autocad and inventor work.

I'd suggest finding out exactly what sort of work is required for your course before commiting to buy (maybe other students or course director could help you out with this?). I wouldnt of thought the requirements would that high being a student and you may be able to get away with speand half as much on either the optimus or cosmo.

You can configure the Octane with Quadro cards.

SpyderTracks said:

You can configure the Octane with Quadro cards.

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Nice! Didnt realise it was possible to have quadro in the laptop range

jacmur692 said:

Nice! Didnt realise it was possible to have quadro in the laptop range

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Pretty sweet, eh? desktop gpu and cpu, beastie!!!