Newbie speccing up a laptop, any advice would be welcome!

Hi all!

I have been looking into getting a dedicated gaming laptop for a while now and like the idea of speccing my own, so pcspecialist seemed a good place to go to configure one and have a look at some options. My knowledge of computers is limited so all advice is welcome!

I work away often hence looking at a laptop, and i like my gear to be as future proof as poss! It would be used mostly for gaming (some sims and fps) and bit of office work. I have a macbook i use for music production so this wouldn't need massive amounts of ram. I'm not too sure how much storage i'd need (obv more is better but my wallet isn't endless, and i'd rather spend big on gpu) and also the choice of SSD/HD. As for GPU and CPU im guessing its the top one within budget.

As i said my knowledge is limited so not sure what else i should be prioritising!

Thanks in advance

P.s. if there is a better place to ask all this, please direct!
 
The usual lol! As little as poss!

But seriously I know if I’m going to be looking at 1080 and an i7, il be looking near £2500. I’m happy with overkill as I would rather have a machine that can cope with anything I throw at it in the next few years, but if I’m only getting 2% performance improvement for hundreds of ££ then I can probably do without, if you get my drift!

Thanks for the swift reply!
 
Similarly if I’m not going to notice much difference at the top end (esp coming from consoles) maybe an upgradable unit with a 1070, under £2000 would be a better option?
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
maybe an upgradable unit ,
There's no such thing.

Only the Octane series of laptops have removable graphic cards. And there's no absolute guarantee that future generations of GPU will work with the chassis. They may require BIOS updates (possibly unofficial ones?) and will be extremely expensive to order. A desktop GTX 1080 is ~£450. A laptop one is closer to £1000. My point is that you should never, ever buy a laptop on the assumption it will definitely be possible to upgrade it. It's not a like a desktop where you'll always be able to swap out with a new GPU in a few minutes and carry on.

If you're coming from consoles, already a GTX 1060 should give you a lot of freedom for games settings. A GTX 1070 is a very generous level of performance.

Also remember that some PC games are poorly optimised / have certain placebo settings that aren't worth using. e.g. Mafia III runs pretty poorly on a lot of hardware, while Deus Ex Mankind Divided will max out a desktop GTX 1080 at 1080p with some of the really dumb and pointless shadow settings turned up. So don't expect any PC you buy to automatically run any game at 60fps with all the settings maxed out. Some settings just don't play nice, which is the game's fault more than the hardware...



Chassis & Display
Proteus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
---FREE PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 & More! w/ select Intel CPUs!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3400MB/s R | 2500MB/s W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x Proteus Series 230W AC Adaptor
Battery
Proteus V Series Lithium Ion Battery (7180mAh)
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 3.1 Type C PORT AS STANDARD
Keyboard Language
PROTEUS SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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 (Operating System Required)
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 720P 30 FPS 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 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,426.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/proteusvi-15/NNnKHKS7wQ/

I'm not sure there's much point spending more than the above. You could go with a Defiance for the g-sync screen, but it's larger and people have complained of thermal issues. The Octane is larger and heavier still and you're paying a huge premium for a desktop CPU, which most games will not care a great deal about at all.

It's futureproof in that a 1070 is more than enough for 1080p gaming at very high settings in most titles, and it saves you £1000 for your next purchase. Since there's only so much you can futureproof any PC, let alone a laptop.
 
Last edited:
wow! great feedback, thanks!!

So nice to hear some useful info rather than someone trying to sell me things im not sure i need. I would like a 17inch screen however, but i can configure that with the rest of the info u have supplied. The price shown is where i was looking at first, but could push further if it would be worthwhile etc.

I thought as much with upgradeable units, but as long as this would be good for maximum settings for a few years thats fine with me. Who knows where tech will be by then!

Cheers
 
and speccing a 17.3" i have realised why my budget was pushed over £2k! Reading up on some of the threads about the heat issues don't inspire too much confidence :eek:
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
A 17.3" Defiance should not cost you over £2k or anywhere near it.

Don't go for the i9 Defiance, or select the 8850H in the other the defiance. The 8750H is more than enough for gaming and already difficult for the chassis to keep cool in some instances.


Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
---FREE PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 & More! w/ select Intel CPUs!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3400MB/s R | 2500MB/s W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Battery
Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (66WH)
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + Sound BlasterX® Pro-Gaming 720˚
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 1 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Keyboard Language
RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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 (Operating System Required)
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 2.0 MEGAPIXEL 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 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,633.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/defiancev-17/p90Wv78kXf/
 
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