Xenon Laptop for gaming

[jjo]

Hi

I am looking to get a new laptop, I'm unsure about exactly what I want the laptop for, which is really unhelpful when looking to buy one! Basically I am looking for it to be lightweight and fairly mobile as I need to move it around a lot. Performance wise I will be running some CAD programs as well as some light programming, so nothing too taxing. However I would probably like to use the laptop for gaming, but I don't think the graphics card will be up for running most new games, also due the small screen it may not be worth it. I was thinking that if the graphics card is not up to job then 8GB of RAM and a 2.80GHz processor is overkill! Here is the spec I have gone for:

Chassis & Display
Xenon: 14.1" Glossy HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Dual Core Mobile Processor i7-2640M (2.80GHz) 4MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)


Price: £600.00 including VAT and delivery.

Would it be better to have a slower processor and abandon the gaming for this laptop? As most games reccommend 2.60+GHz, although would the extra RAM work in my favour? Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance

 

[Wozza63]

you wont do anything for gaming here, you'll just about manage minecraft


Chassis & Display
Enigma III 540: 15.6" Glossy FHD LED (1920x1080) (Special Offer)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2430M (2.40GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M - 2GB 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
Integrated 3 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS)

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
ENIGMA GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 3.0

USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery
Enigma III Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,100/5,200 mAh)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

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)

Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days

This should do great on games

 

[PCS]

Welcome to our forums

As wozza has stated, the Xenon is not really designed for gaming. Yes you can play games on it, but it's not going to play high performance games on high settings or anything like that.

A fast processor and 8GB of RAM will make the laptop super fast and able to perform demanding tasks with ease, but for more basic usage 4Gb of RAM is more than enough.

 

[Music Guy123]

Ok, this is basically an improvement to Wozza's spec, the processor will help your CAD work a lot more and the programming but it may be a little out of budget, anyway here it is:

Chassis & Display
Enigma III 540: 15.6" Matte HD LED Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC, MS)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
ENIGMA GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Enigma III Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,100/5,200 mAh)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £642.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[jjo]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll probably abandon the gaming, as it's more important that I have a laptop that is easy to move around. I think I'll go for an i3 processor with 2.20GHz and 4Gb of RAM, this should easily handle anything I throw at it.

 

[Music Guy123]

I am sure your laptop will be fine, I'd just though I would put this together though! Your choice whether you want it or not, this is still a very powerful laptop, a lot more powerful than what you would find on the high street, especially for the price!

Chassis & Display
Xenon: 14.1" Glossy HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2430M (2.40GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB
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)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
3 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Xenon Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W 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
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)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £539.00 including VAT and delivery.