No idea what laptop I need...

[BenB]

I've had the same gaming PC for 10 years now (Q6600 processor, Nvidia 460 something graphics, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD with Windows 7 Student Edition installed). The graphics card has been on its last legs for a while and I think the power supply just packed in.

It's about time I got a replacement. I am no longer interested in PC gaming and want to save some space, I'm wondering if any laptops would be suitable. Pretty much all I do nowadays is browse the internet, occasionally use Microsoft Office and edit videos I've captured from my games consoles.

Ideally I want something as quick and responsive as my PC used to be, minus the ability to play games. Is it recommended to keep and use my SSD & Windows 7 in a new laptop?

I had a quick go making a potential build, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i3 Dual Core Processor i3-7100U (2.40GHz) 3MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR4 2133MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 620 - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive
128GB M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (534MB/R, 150MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery
UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language
14" ULTRANOTE III SERIES 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 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £580.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[keynes]

You wouldn't be able to transfer windows 7 into a new laptop and I don't think the laptop has compatible drivers for windows 7 either.

 

[Oussebon]

That will be barely better than what you have now.

The GPU in your old PC if it's a GTX 460 is much better than the CPU's integrated graphics. While gaming's no longer a factor, if your video editing benefits from GPU acceleration then it would be a consideration. What software do you use?

The CPU's multithreaded performance (which matters for encoding video) is, as far as I can tell, not much better than the Q6600's.

GPU benches: https://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu
CPU cinebench: https://tinyurl.com/mrmkk3t
Q6600 cinebench: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/53?vs=1543

That may not be an issue, but if I were replacing faulty kit 10 years old and finances allowed I would probably look to get a bit of an upgrade at the same time.

I'd also suggest the PM961 over the unbranded SSD since it's overwhelmingly faster for £8 more.

If you can stretch ~£120 further you can get something with a much more powerful CPU:

Chassis & Display
Cosmos 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 Kingston SODIMM DDR4 2133MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 940MX - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive
128GB M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (534MB/R, 150MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 90W 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £696.00 including VAT and delivery

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

As Keynes says, it may not be possible to get your Win 7 to work on that. If it's an OEM licence it may be tied to your old motherboard. And even if it's not, there may be driver issues.

If your video editing does make use of GPU acceleration, the GTX 950M is ~£30 more and twice as powerful as the 940MX. It's still pretty weak by modern standards but is better than just running everything off the CPU for some video editing.

With regards to using your old SSD, it should be possible as long as it fits in the drive bays, since some bays can be thinner than others. What SSD is it? Model and size?
Note that the Ultranote 14 you specced the Cosmos VI in my post only have 1 2.5" drive bay, so if you buy the laptop with an HDD you won't have room to add in any other 2.5" drives.

 

[BenB]

I only use Windows Movie Maker and do pretty basic stuff. I'm not sure if that uses my graphics card.

I was hoping to not be spending that much. How much would the equivalent PC cost instead? Preferably in a small case.

 

[Scott]

In your situation I would recommend an off the shelf Laptop rather than a custom built one. At that sort of price point the mainstream offerings are generally much more cost effective due to mass production.

•Intel Core i7-6500U 2.5GHz
•8GB DDR4 + 256GB SSD
•15.6" FHD + DVDRW
•WIFI + Webcam + Bluetooth
•Windows 10 Pro 64bit


The above can be had for around £550 from a well known brand.

 

[keynes]

At that sort of price point the mainstream offerings are generally much more cost effective due to mass production

I think that's the case with pretty much every well known laptop manufacturer apart from razer I think since the sterling has fallen somehow the cost savings from custom laptops are not as much as it was before.

 

[Oussebon]

I only use Windows Movie Maker and do pretty basic stuff. I'm not sure if that uses my graphics card.

Had a google and apparently it doesn't. Stuff like Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere Pro would.

I was hoping to not be spending that much. How much would the equivalent PC cost instead? Preferably in a small case.

Case
FRACTAL DESIGN NODE 304 Mini ITX Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-7400 (3.0GHz) 6MB Cache

FREE Halo Wars 2 with select INTEL® CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® H110I-PLUS: Mini-ITX, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD + Clear Video HD Technology
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile, Super Quiet CPU Cooler
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £555.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-top-spec-mini-pc/dfx6TQnVd3/

There are a couple of cases that are each about £30 cheaper but they're not in stock until 30th March and 5th April I think, so I put the above in for now. It is a nicer case though.

That's the spec without Windows (+£92) to keep the like-for-like cost comparison the same, and without an SSD but you can easily use your old one and reinstall Windows 10 onto it. It has no dGPU though there is the room for one should you ever decide you want to add one.

The CPU is pretty powerful and should last you a good long while, especially if your needs have been broadly satisfied by that Q6600 for so long.

You could potentially wait for 11th April when AMD releases their Ryzen R5 CPUs that may offer even better performance (in general, and especially for encoding video) for a lower price.