Help configuring a decent/cheap gaming laptop :)

M

matt nelson

Member
hello fellow pcspeacialists i was wondering if anyone could take the time to configure me a nice gaming laptop that is worth the price to pay if at all possible between the ranges of £600-800.

Post all specs here thanks :D

PS. if you feel the price range is impossible to work with im open to suggestions as long as its cost effective thanks you :)
 
T

tom6561

Gold Level Poster
Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3320M (2.60GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
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
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)


Price: £776.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/optimusIV-15/och5hJ8_wM/

You could upgrade the CPU to the i7-3630QM if you so wished, may or may not be useful in the future for games utilising more than two cores. Also you can easily change the size of the hard drive and when you have the money spare I'd say definitely get an SSD and install that yourself.
 
K

Koronaris

Member
Just in case if you will decide to configure your laptop by yourself and if your budget is limited, I would recommend you do not spend to much money buying the things you can easy to upgrade or add later, for example:
- you can buy less RAM, so it's not a problem to add more RAM later if you need so;
- save some money buying the standard HDD not SSD, you won't notice a big difference when gaming but definitely notice a price difference when paying, but they're getting cheaper anyway;
- think if you need Bluray drive, maybe a standard DVD is enough for you and you can spend the difference on faster WIFI card or even better CPU.
Also consider what games you're going to play, looks like the latest ones getting more to support quad core processors, so maybe worth to save money on some things but go for better CPU or GPU.

That's my spec below I ordered, to be honest I didn't consider mine to be the gaming laptop, but I think (hope:)) it can handle the recent games if I want to play some:)


Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 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
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Price (excluding VAT) £685.00
Price £822.00
 
Iroquois Pliskin

Iroquois Pliskin

Enthusiast
matt nelson said:
awesome thank you i cant see a problem with this build at all and its very reasonably priced thanks :)
Click to expand...

I like Tom's proposed config, and was about to suggest a 11.6" Inferno, but not knowing your preferred form-factor, decided not to.

Can't beat Optimus IV with GTX 660M in the £700-800 range.
 
M

matt nelson

Member
Iroquois Pliskin said:
I like Tom's proposed config, and was about to suggest a 11.6" Inferno, but not knowing your preferred form-factor, decided not to.

Can't beat Optimus IV with GTX 660M in the £700-800 range.
Click to expand...

i cant argue with ure choices there buddy but i would personally like a screen bigger than 11.5" im used to 17+ or there abouts.

@ Koronas i like the idea of saving money on things like bluray players etc as i use steam and its all digital games i really dont need a disk drive at all lol. plus the idea of later upgrading is also a great idea however is laptop upgrades not harder than desktop upgrading???
 
K

Koronaris

Member
Normally it is harder with laptops or sometimes even not possible to upgrade some of the parts (usually GPU and sound card integrated into the motherboard or motherboard itself, speakers, etc), however in our days it is not a big problem to add more RAM (max size depends on motherboard), add an extra HDD or SSD into a second slot (17" or greater laptops) or replace DVD drive by HDD bay adapter, upgrade CPU (if not built in), upgrade WiFi card (if not built in).
So as I've said the problem can be with the built in parts and more likely it will be GPU, so if you are PC gamer better use GPU as the start point in your configuration, as you won't be able to upgrade it later, however I found some of the latest laptops support GPU upgrade.
 
M

matt nelson

Member
thanks Koronaris youve been an exceptionally great help think im going to work on some configurations :)

Ps. what was the link to your configuration Koronaris????
 
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M

matt nelson

Member
hows this by the way?

Chassis & Display
Voyager: 17.3" Glossy HD LED Widescreen (1600x900)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD7500BPVT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
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
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Laptop Cooling Stands
Zalman ZM-NC1500 Ultra-Quiet Laptop Cooler, upto 17.3 inch (£25)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 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 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £806.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/Voyager/RhczvIDVNo/
 
W

Wake

Silver Level Poster
You can log on the Comet website input a voucher and get a 15.6 inch Acer for £564. Not brilliant but certainly cheap. It has an I7, 8 GB RAM and a GT 640. Screen resolution isn't great but it plays WoW in ultra and build quality is ok. Keyboard is great and it runs cool. Two months ago they were £900.

I was going to buy one this Sunday just gone but decided on the Optimus IV 17 inch screen here. I did actually buy a Samsung for £699 on Saturday with a GT 650 - nice machine but the Bluray disc didn't work and the vent was left of your tab key and it ran very hot.

I will be using the Optimus when I travel (frequently) - it is marginally larger than the Asus (15.6 inch) I am typing on atm (in size and weight).

Good luck with it though.
 
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