Laptop for mid level gaming and uni work

[Cylar1]

Hey!

Need a bit of advice regarding which laptop is the best to get for my requirements. Ideally I want to spend less than £750, however please tell me if this isn't realistic.

Things I would like:
- Ability to run games such as WoW, GTA V, Overwatch, LoL, etc around the same level on relatively decent graphic levels (Ultra not required)
- Would see 6-8 hours of use everyday on average between gaming and university work
- Capability of running well with this level of use for around two years
- Ideally £750 or there abouts.

My girlfriend is after the same thing buy for a desktop, so will be posting a similar thread in the desktop forum!

Thanks a lot for any help you can give.

 

[Oussebon]

If you can stretch the budget, I would suggest something along these lines:


Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 7300HQ (2.5GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti - 4.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 120W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery
Cosmos VI Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £854.00 including VAT and delivery

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

That's obviously £100 over your budget. The two main reasons for my suggestion are 1) you can't upgrade the CPU or GPU of a laptop; you're stuck with what you buy and 2) cheaper options are much poorer performance per £

e.g. the GTX 1050 (non-ti) in the Optimus is only £35 cheaper. A Cosmos VI with the same spec but a GTX 950M is £772. But it's only half as powerful and is unlikely to handle WoW on particularly high settings in Draenor/Legion zones, let alone future Xpacs. This indicates the rough relative performance of the GPUs above:


So a 1050 non-ti is 4% cheaper for a 25-30% performance loss, while a Cosmos with a 950M is £80 cheaper for a laptop that's less than half as powerful for gaming and would be technically below min spec for some modern releases.

 

[Cylar1]

Thanks again Oussebon, really helpful.

With the build you have linked are you pretty confident it could run Chrome, Spotify and WoW on medium graphics etc at the same time and not be going crazy trying to keep up.
Also, possibly a strange question, but what sort of life expectancy would you expect such a build to get with 6-8 hours or so daily use?

EDIT: After thinking, I suppose what I am trying to say is that this laptop is purely for whilst I am aboard for while. When I return I will use my own desktop and the laptop will probably get rare use. In that sense, I am not so worried with capability for upgrading in the future. I am more concerned with the ability to run WoW, Overwatch etc well for up to two years, and be pretty reliable for that duration.

Would the lack of need for upgrades in future offer a different, cheaper spec? Just basing it on needing it for the next two years?

 

[Oussebon]

With the build you have linked are you pretty confident it could run Chrome, Spotify and WoW on medium graphics etc at the same time and not be going crazy trying to keep up.

Yes

Also, possibly a strange question, but what sort of life expectancy would you expect such a build to get with 6-8 hours or so daily use?

In all honesty I'd just be picking a number at random, since any electronics keep working until one day they don't. But for the sake of argument, I'd be very disappointed by less than around 5 years lifespan, with any laptop.

There's nothing about the Optimus, Cosmos, or any of the others that leads me to believe they're any more or less likely to snuff it earlier than the next model along.

EDIT: After thinking, I suppose what I am trying to say is that this laptop is purely for whilst I am aboard for while. When I return I will use my own desktop and the laptop will probably get rare use. In that sense, I am not so worried with capability for upgrading in the future. I am more concerned with the ability to run WoW, Overwatch etc well for up to two years, and be pretty reliable for that duration.

Would the lack of need for upgrades in future offer a different, cheaper spec? Just basing it on needing it for the next two years?

I would say that:
- nothing less than the 950M could be considered as meeting your needs.
- thus the most you could save would be ~£80
- the 950M is half as powerful as the recommended GPU for Overwatch (GTX 660) and 2/3rds as powerful as the recommended GPU for WoW (GTX 750 ti)

I'm not au fait with Blizzard's plans for the next WoW Xpac but they tend to come out every 2 years or so, Legion's been out the better part of a year, and they keep getting more and more graphically demanding. Therefore even if you're only aiming for an effective 2-year lifespan for the laptop, going with a 950M may not be the best play, if the 1050 ti is an option. Though if you're happy running on pretty low settings it will probably still be fine.

You'll also have seen my post in your desktop PC topic about possibly being able to get Windows for free or heavily discounted via your Uni /college, etc

If you want to spend less you might try hunting around for a pre-built laptop with a GTX 960M and see if you can turn up something around £600 on sale.

 

[Cylar1]

Thanks so much for your help. You explain very clearly and it's great.

 

[Cylar1]

Sorry to keep bothering you - I have another question.
I was sold on the laptop you recommended me and configured, however I thought it best to look at other sites etc.

I found this laptop: [Link removed - no linking to or advertising competitor sites please]

Which offers:

- 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-7300HQ Quad Core (6MB Cache, up to 3.5 GHz)
- 8GB, 2400MHz, DDR4
- 256GB SSD
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 with 4GB

For £849 with the offer. Then £100 cashback also on top of that. Is this machine comparable? The glaring difference to me is the SSD, however its only 256GB? I feel quite clueless with all of this, but is that more bang for my buck or less?

 

[Oussebon]

I believe it's against the rules to give sales advice on non-PC Specialist systems on these forums.

You can try an open forum like Tom's Hardware for advice on which of your options represents better value. (What you'd get here is people's opinions on maximising the best value from available PCS options).

There are also websites like notebookcheck.net that have benchmarks for mobile CPUs, GPUs, and specific laptops, with measurements for things like screen performance, examination of thermal issues, etc.

Obviously a GTX 1050 is not as powerful as 1050 ti (as per the chart above), but after all those discounts it's £100 cheaper. So you'd need to weigh that up, along with any other feature differences.

If you've not explored the free Windows option it's worth doing so, since that would bring the Optimus spec above down by £90.

 

[Cylar1]

Yeah - didn't realise my mistake 'til the mod took it out - my bad!
Brilliant, great advice once again.

Have explored the free windows line... doesn't seem it's available to me, though I can get free MS office so that's something.

 

[Oussebon]

Free MS Office is always handy. If one day you need office software and you can't get MS office for free, there are things like Open Office https://www.openoffice.org/ which offer a very similar feature set to basic MS Office packages. Completely free and open source, and compatible with formats like .doc and .xls. In case that saves you a few quid 5 years down the line...

I guess you need to weigh up the specs and savings. You can check in with other forums for advice on what may constitute best value.

Nobody here would mind if you didn't buy the PCS option, it's not that kind of community, it's just that we can't give opinions on whether Brand A or B is the better buy