Lightweight laptop for *some* gaming and video editing?

lotny

Active member
Hi there. I hope this is the correct place for my thread. If not, could you please move it?

I am moving abroad and need a lightweight portable laptop that will do everything I currently do on my PC. I want it to be not too big (13/15 inch screen) and light (no more than 2kg). I dont know if it’s possible but I’d love for it to be quiet too/ without a stupid fan. I was attracted to MacBooks bc of that but they are too pricey for their specs.

Main uses:
- light editing in adobe premiere. No special effects just cutting, adding music, adding lower thirds, etc.
- picture editing in photoshop
- gaming: mainly league of legends but would like the ability to play some RPGs too (i dont mind low to medium settings) like guildwars2 for example.

I’m ready to spend up to £700-800 for it but would prefer something like £500. Is this possible? I would appreciate examples of what to look at!

Edit:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/enigmaVIII/

I was looking at this. Nice size & lightweight. Will the i5 dual core processor deal with what i want?
 
Last edited:

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
but would prefer something like £500.
You won't get a custom laptop for this. Not one worth buying anyway.

- gaming: mainly league of legends but would like the ability to play some RPGs too (i dont mind low to medium settings) like guildwars2 for example.
You will want a dedicated graphics card. Ideally a GTX 1050 ti. Integrated graphics should run these games, but will not give a particularly satisfactory experience.

PCS's laptops that have dGPUs aren't especially thin. They're not beasts, but they will be 2kg or over.

You could try and find a lightweight off-the-shelf laptop with a GTX 1050 in it for ~£800. Maybe there's such a thing.

The CPU in the engima are ultra low power CPUs of the kind you might find in a tablet. They have very low frequencies and only "burst" up higher quite briefly. Furthermore, dual core i5 CPUs are made majorly obsolete by Kaby Lake Refresh /8th Gen CPUs like the i5 8250U which has twice as many cores and threads.

You could wait and see if PCS offer any laptops with a Ryzen APU (Raven Ridge). These are very new and only just coming out. But they offer similar CPU performance to an 8th Gen Intel CPU, while packing much better onboard graphics. And because they're onboard graphics they should be a good deal cheaper than a laptop where you buy a CPU and a dGPU.

Or if Clevo and therefore PCS don't offer any Raven Ridge laptops, you can always shop other brands.

So, recommendations:
1) Avoid the Engima
2) Go for Intel 8th Gen or AMD Ryzen Raven Ridge
3) If gaming on very low settings / being unable to run some games at all is OK, go for the Ultranote (14" Ultranote = 1.8kg inc battery)
4) If ~2.5kg is OK, go for the Optimus VIII
5) Consider looking at ultrathin options from other vendors with a dGPU
6) Consider a laptop Raven Ridge, which may let you forego a dGPU
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
For an Ultranote spec:


Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 14" Matte Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-8250U (1.60GHz, 3.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 610/620/630 (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Battery
UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
14" ULTRANOTE III SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1

Price £651.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/ultranoteiv-14/RMqxNWwN7m/
 

Takingthemike

Active member
A slower laptop might struggle with video editing, especially if you are editing 4K video. However you can always try using proxy editing or transcoding your footage. Something worth reading up on if Premiere Pro is lacking.
 

lotny

Active member
Ok I didn't know the difference between dGPU and GPU and now I'm catching up lol. I can see the problem between gaming and weight now.

I guess a reference point is a PCS PC I have right now. It is old and was never high-end but it did the job. Right now it really doesn't let me play anything apart from League of Legends and using Adobe Premiere or Photoshop is slow. These are the specs:
View attachment 11415

- I can't say this meets my needs anymore, but it might be a useful reference for what I need? Something better? Would the thin laptops w/o dGPU be not much better than what I currently have?

- Are release dates for the Raven Ridge laptops known? I need to have something before August 2018.

- What are some other vendors similar to PCS? All I know is Curry's and PC World...

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
According to 3dMark: https://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu
The 6670 in your old PC is a tiny bit better than Intel integrated graphics.

Although the Intel CPUs would be much better than your existing CPU for just about anything, it's not going to be much/any better overall than what you currently have for gaming. If you want a better gaming experience, you need a dedicated GPU, or maybe Raven Ridge.

- Are release dates for the Raven Ridge laptops known? I need to have something before August 2018.
Some are out already, although not via PCS yet. They're still quite new. There'll surely be more options on the market before August.

- What are some other vendors similar to PCS? All I know is Curry's and PC World...
Since the forums belong to PCS we can't advise on other vendors. I'm just telling you that there are other vendors and you will want to shop around, as with any big purchase, to make sure you're buying the best fit and best value. :)
 

Takingthemike

Active member
If you are doing work in Premiere Pro and Photoshop you might be better staying with Nvidia as these both support CUDA, which is a NVIDIA exclusive
 
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