£500 Laptop Unrealistic???

[Jacko85]

I'm looking to buy my first laptop. Have always been into desktops, but the time has come.

I'm going to be away from home for 6 months so i need to make the right decision and buy right the first time.

My budget is £500-550 tops. I need a system that will allow me to skype home to the wife and kids, watch films and play games such as Minecraft, SimCity and Starcraft 2, Sins of Solar Empire, Anno. Those sorts of titles anyway.

Now I realise I'm probably asking the world but am hoping some tech genius out there might be able to recommend a solution for me.

Thanks in advance

 

[keynes]

do you need windows? For gaming the budget seems a bit tight.

 

[Jacko85]

No I can get away without Windows

 

[keynes]

Chassis & Display
SkyFire: 14" Matte HD+ LED Widescreen (1600x900)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-4200M (2.50GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 760M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 2 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
SkyFire 14" Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED 14" MSI UK KEYBOARD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 3.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £571.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/SkyFireIII-14/HLRx8e4qLR/

 

[Genome]

while the above spec would be more than enough its still £21 over the budget you mentioned.

Its worth keeping in mind that if they are the only types of games you want to play You could prob easily buy a laptop for well under £500 with just using the intel HD 4000 (or better) intergrated GPU thats attached to the CPU. I normally wouldn't recommend that but it would def play all those games as long as you dont care about playing in high graphic settings.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html

Starcraft in Low is getting 100fps and 30ish in medium
Sim City is getting 30ish in low
Anno 30ish in low


So while I would recommend the above over this, you could possibly get away with a much cheaper one if budget is a bit issue.

so for example
Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3 Dual Core Mobile Processor i3-4100M (2.50GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
Intel® HD Graphics 4000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB

Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery
UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Keyboard Language
ULTRANOTE SERIES UK KEYBOARD

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)

Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

is £383.00

Get yourself a cool pad to help when gaming.

Now its not a proper gaming PC in any way but you would be surprised what the Intel HD4000 can play these days.

Edit - missed part about needing windows so add £70 or what ever it is to that total. Also if you did go this route it would be worth upping that i3 to at least an i5.