New Laptop Spec

[Dolleeh]

I'm fairly new to all this laptop building stuff, in the past I've just been lazy and bought a normal ready built one so I would appreciate some help and advice.

I will be using this laptop for gaming, mainly Call of Duty and Battlefield 3, and research has shown that Battlefield requires quite high specs, so if anyone knows what kind of performance this laptop will manage I'd appreciate you letting me know

Also, I'll be doing a little bit of video editing using software such as Sony Vegas, After Effects and Cinema 4D. Mainly under 10 minute projects at 720p.

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2760QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 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
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - 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 BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,375.00 including VAT and delivery.

I am pretty much at the top of my budget so I won't be able to add any crazy expensive stuff like SSDs, although if you think I need any upgrades I would still like to have your opinion. Also, any areas where you think I could cut costs would be helpful.

Main things I am unsure about are the CPU and RAM. Would it be hugely noticeable to drop the CPU down to an i7-2670QM from the 2760QM? And also, would it be noticeable if I dropped the RAM down to 8GB at 1333MHz from 1600Mhz.

Thanks!

I won't be buying the laptop for another 4 months probably, is there likely to be any significant change in price/technology which will allow me to cut costs or upgrade and keep within my budget?

 

[mantadog]

Knock the CPU back to the i7 2670QM, it is only 10% slower and will cope with gaming and video editing no problems. The i7 2760QM isn't really worth the money to upgrade as for most people you would never notice even when video editing. Even video editing you would be hard pressed to notice. Something that previously took 1 hour, now takes 1 hour 6 minutes. Hardly that significant, and especially on 10 minute clips you should have no issues with this CPU.

Also the ram downgrade will lose you no performance, well no performance you would veer be able to detect without benchmarking software. Depending on the applications the faster RAM will give between 0% and 3% for the majority fo things according to what i read on the subject anyway - with most things being nearer 0% than anything else.

The GPU will play all the latest games no problems.

Now, i should have probably ready your last question before replying....

As of today ivy bridge launches, which is the new CPU from intel. So any laptop you buy from PCS in 4 months time will probably use that chip, and no doubt their will be more launches in the 4 months between now and when you buy. Best thing to do is post back nearer the time you intend to buy and you will get more specific advice

 

[Dolleeh]

Thanks for the reply! Sorry to waste your time, I didn't realise things moved so fast!!

I will be sure to post back nearer the time

 

[mantadog]

No wasted time here, thats why the forums are a great thing. Better to ask and find out rather than just walk into a highstreet store and be sold the last generation of tech with no explanation of whats round the corner.

Be sure to come back and ask nearer the time.

 

[Daymos]

The 2670QM does not support 16gb of ram

That's something to think about if you feel you may want larger ram in the future

I would get the 2670QM but the configurator brings up the compatability error message saying only 27XXQM will work with 16gb

 

[Daymos]

The configuration does not bring up the compatability error anymore on the vortex 3?

 

[mantadog]

The configuration does not bring up the compatability error anymore on the vortex 3?

Yeah strange, was coming up only a few days ago as i remembe replying to a post about it. Possibly just a glitch, you could call in to double check but it seems to be fixed now.

 

[Dolleeh]

I see that the Radeon HD 7970M is available for pre-order on the Vortex 3 and is £20 cheaper than the GTX 675m.

From looking around on forums people have said that the 7970M will be much better so would be the sensible option. Why is it cheaper? But then the GTX 680m is coming out in a few months, will this beat the AMD? Ugh, this stuff confuses me!!

Sorry if I sound stupid, I'm no expert

 

[Daymos]

So the question is if I can use 16gb ram with the 2670QM

If so then this will save me money now and I can upgrade CPU in a year or 2