Gaming Laptop under £800?

A

ata

Member
Hey guys, looking to buy a new laptop that can run StarCraft 2 really well (it's really the only game I play on my computer). On a budget of about £800 and looking at the Optimus II, how does this build look:

Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

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

Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

For £785 including VAT and delivery. Any comments or suggestions would be really appreciated.

Thanks.
 
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L

LightningMat

Active member
Consider the extra £9 for the thermal paste too. Other than that, looks like a good spec.

(I have just received my new Optimus II and I would definitely recommend!! :):):)
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
Thermal paste is applied between the surfaces of the heatsink/cooler & processor it increases the heat conductivity by filling microscopic air-gaps present due to the imperfectly flat and smooth surfaces of the components helping to stop the processor from overheating.
Some thermal pastes are better than others,hence the extra cost.
 
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A

ata

Member
Ok thanks, another noob question though: Is the paste applied during the building process and lasts forever?

:stupid:
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
ata said:
Ok thanks, another noob question though: Is the paste applied during the building process and lasts forever?

:stupid:
Click to expand...
Yes it's applied during the building process,nothing lasts forever,some enthusiasts change it every year or so I think,
but not something I would bother about,unless I was having overheating problems.
 
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A

ata

Member
Ok thanks a lot for answering, I think I'll add the Arctic MX-4 thermal paste then if it's only £9.

Thanks again.
 
A

ata

Member
Another question: Is the i7-2670QM processor good for gaming? I was told somewhere else that the i7 is better for multi-threaded tasks and i5 is better for threads that aren't well multi-threaded (not too sure what this means) like gaming. Also, 2.20GHz doesn't seem that fast.

Thanks and sorry for all the questions.
 
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
its because its a quad core, which is probably better than the i5, if you cant afford it though, the i5 shouldnt be a problem as it has hyper threading
 
A

ata

Member
Is quad core really that much better than dual core? The i7-2640M dual core has a clock speed of 2.80GHz and a 4MB cache, and i5-2520M dual core has 2.50GHz and 3MB cache. The processor I was going to get was the i7-2670QM quad core @ 2.20GHz and 6MB cache.

Does the fact that it's quad core and has a larger cache outweigh the relatively slow clock speed?

I worked out that the dual core i5-2520M (2.50GHz, 3MB) costs £108, the dual core i7-2640M (2.80GHz, 4MB) costs £154, and the quad core i7-2670QM (2.20GHz, 6MB) costs £142. So they all cost pretty much the same and price isn't an issue between these 3 processors.
 
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
quad core is best for more intense tasks although if you dont do much on your laptop that will cause your laptop to struggle a dual core will be better, although id recommend the quad anyway
 
T

Tehmoe

Gold Level Poster
+1 for the quad core, these days clock speed doesnt matter as much and theres a whole lot of other crap going on that makes the bigger difference. Also more and more games are moving towards use 4 cores now and more should join suit hopefully so they you will feels a even bigger benefit.
 
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