Laptop needed, advice appreciated

K

KJK

Member
Good morning!

My old laptop has died yesterday and, since it was rather ancient and battered, I am not going to attempt resurrection. I intend to get a new one, but I need some advice.

It will be used for work, which consists of reading and writing, and for that purpose I need 17 inches and x900 res (ideally x1080). This is non-negotiable.
Apart from that I will use it to play some strategy games, like Crusader Kings 2 and, soon, Europa Universalis IV (which will be on the same gfx engine if I'm not mistaken) and maybe, just maybe, some Diablo III.

I do not want to spend a lot of money, but I want it to run as smoothly as possible. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
Chris
 
P

paul1224

Well-known member
If you are looking at 17 inches and on a budget then probably the Voyager would be a starting point and an idea of a spec is below:

Chassis & Display
Voyager: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£49)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3230M (2.60GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 645M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
250GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD2500BEKT, 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
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + 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
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £625.00 including VAT and delivery.

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

If you have a higher budget you could go for the Optimus IV or could just increase the spec of the above in the main key areas.

You could technically downgrade the above spec as well in some areas like just having the integrated GPU, the standard Hard Drive, etc but as you have mentioned wanting to play some games the dedicated graphics may be worth the slightly extra money.
 
K

KJK

Member
Thanks for that paul1224.

Your configuration is very reasonable and I would have chosen it if it was not for my annoying inner voice. It tells me to go mad and to get a very basic version of 17.3" Vortex III in order to be able to upgrade it in the future if necessary. I tend to have my laptops for at least 4 years so there is some vague sense in my reasoning, since most probably I would have that Voyager laptop replaced after 2 years in order to keep up with technology. And lets not forget about Vortex's Backlit Keyboard, which is SHINY!
 
kruppsy

kruppsy

Master
You could price up a Skyfire chassis? You wave goodbye to the backlit keyboard :( but it gets the price down and keeps the upgradeable GPU facility.

If the inner voice wins out you will be more than happy though.
 
P

paul1224

Well-known member
KJK said:
Thanks for that paul1224.

Your configuration is very reasonable and I would have chosen it if it was not for my annoying inner voice. It tells me to go mad and to get a very basic version of 17.3" Vortex III in order to be able to upgrade it in the future if necessary. I tend to have my laptops for at least 4 years so there is some vague sense in my reasoning, since most probably I would have that Voyager laptop replaced after 2 years in order to keep up with technology. And lets not forget about Vortex's Backlit Keyboard, which is SHINY!
Click to expand...

If you can afford to go mad then go for it!

Certainly I can appreciate wanting to go for a better spec with upgradable options, I was thinking more of the pennies and to get the minimum price for a spec that should do the basics you need, good luck in what you choose!
 
K

KJK

Member
paul1224 said:
If you can afford to go mad then go for it!

Certainly I can appreciate wanting to go for a better spec with upgradable options, I was thinking more of the pennies and to get the minimum price for a spec that should do the basics you need, good luck in what you choose!
Click to expand...

Your point is absolutely valid, but there are more factors for me than just the price.

I am still agonising about what choice to make. It seems to me that spending between £800-900 at this time is unavoidable.

For about £870 one can have a very nice 17.3" Optimus IV with i7-3630QM, GTX660M and 16GB of fast RAM, but this is a lot of money for a set that cannot be upgraded - especially in the GPU department. If I get that set I will find myself with a capable processor (score 7700 on PassMark) and a less-than-capable graphic card (1599) in about 2 years time.

For the same money one can get a very basic 17.3" Vortex III with i3-3120M (score 3501) and GTX670M (1931). Yes, the processor is quite bad, but it will do for now and there is always an option to upgrade to i7-3940XM (score 10490) and GTX680M (3703) when necessary (and for a smaller price, since it will go down in time). Also, it has got a really shiny keyboard.

I am on the fence on this one.
 
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