Work, Gaming, Content Creation - Laptop Needed - £1,000 Budget

[Mister K]

As the title says, I am looking to get a Laptop on top of my Desktop this Christmas however not exactly sure what to go with.

UPDATED:

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/saved/997048
However 970m might be hell of an overkill for Dota, CSGO, Overwatch @ 60fps/1080p.
Also 500GB x1 Samsung SSD vs x2 Kingsom 240GB in raid 0.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigab...lt-058-gi.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-g...lt-208-ms.html

From http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

Diamond II option - £1056 no OS
Octane II option - £1354 no OS
___________________________

Requirements:

• Price Range (cheaper the better, up to £1,200) / could SLIGHTLY stretch
• SSD - 128GB+
• GPU - 2GB+
• IPS if possible, not required
• OS is irrelevant
• Does not need to be a Beast, but below games to be run on at 60fps would be nice
• Portable/Aesthetic
• Backlit/LED Keyboard
• Battery life, at least 1 hour while gaming, 4+ while general idle (this mostly irrelevant)

Software/Games that will be run:

• Dota 2
• CS:GO
• Rocket League
• Overwatch (I know, no specs atm/beta)
• Adobe Creative Suit (mainly, Illustrator, Photoshop).

Not sure when it comes to Laptop however I can assemble it on my own if required.

So far I have seen an Acer laptop which had a decent portability factor/aesthetics. Another which caught my eye was this one - Acer Nitro (has Acer improved over the years or still something to stay away from?). The MSI Laptops seem SUPER bulky however.

Brands I trust, Asus, DELL, MSI. However, I can overlook the branding, as long as it packs what it needs to.

Any help would be ideal
Many Thanks,
~K

[Artorius]

It's hard to recommend anything different from the Surface Book, but I don't know if MS is selling them at the UK. Dell XPS 15 with 960M is also a solid choice. Other than that there's a 15" Macbook Pro which come with a R9 M370X.

It's hard to find a decent laptop for cheap, most of the Windows OEMs are using very cheap parts in order to bring the price down. It doesn't matter if the system has a great CPU and GPU, if the display for example is horrible, the experience is dragged down considerably.

[Mister K]

It's hard to recommend anything different from the Surface Book, but I don't know if MS is selling them at the UK. Dell XPS 15 with 960M is also a solid choice. Other than that there's a 15" Macbook Pro which come with a R9 M370X.

It's hard to find a decent laptop for cheap, most of the Windows OEMs are using very cheap parts in order to bring the price down. It doesn't matter if the system has a great CPU and GPU, if the display for example is horrible, the experience is dragged down considerably.

Surface? Isn't all the touch screen "stuff" kind of adding on top of the price? If you were to choose the price range, what would be a good range to begin with decent hardware? I have my main machine (sig) for heavy duty work however on the go, the performance isn't required to be beastly.

Fast & Responsive with good quality screen, semi decent portability is something I am looking for. With 960M, I suppose 2GB might be little "low", I guess 4GB is something I should aim of. Mate had a MacBook Pro, never going down that route (friend had it, performance was lackluster). While OSX would be nice to have since its a Solid OS, it would be more pricey to add Windows on top of that.

Edit:

I guess anything long the lines of:

8GB RAM, 3GB+ VRAM 960m or greater, i7 with 3Ghz+ clock, SSD, IPS Display is a good start.

Thanks for the reply.

[Deleted]

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-g...lt-216-ms.html

or

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigab...lt-062-gi.html

The 2nd option has a better gpu but the first option has a slightly better CPU.

[Deleted]

I would pick the second one out of those two options.

[Mister K]

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-g...lt-216-ms.html

or

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigab...lt-062-gi.html

The 2nd option has a better gpu but the first option has a slightly better CPU.

Sweet, the Gigabyte version matches more of the specs. The 4GB extra VRAM is a huge difference. #yayforscreensize

- - - Updated - - -

I would pick the second one out of those two options.

Will most likely. Damn VGA, what is it still doing on Laptops...

Also the keyboard seems to be harder to type on (I love bulkier keys, but nothing I can get accustomed to).

If there are any more suggestions Id appreciate it.

Thanks for the replies guys! :*

EDIT:

For the Gigabyte version, quick scroll through some Youtube comments, apparently it runs hot? As long as its not degrading hardware or possibly setting my balls on fire, then all good.

[Lathais]

I don't really get your obsession with more VRAM. 2GB of VRAM is more than enough for a 960. Nothing it is capable of needs more than 2GB VRAM. You're not gonna be doing 1440 or 4K resolutions with a 960, especially not a 960M and especially since laptops resolution is typically 1080p. For 1080p, 2GB is plenty. Just looking at benchmarks for desktop 960s, the 4GB version does not perform any better than the 2GB version. In some of the benchmarks out there it may appear to, but that is because the 4GB versions they are testing are OCed and the 2GB versions are not, lolz. Of course the OCed one runs faster, it's OCed, has nothing to do with the VRAM.

[Artorius]

Surface? Isn't all the touch screen "stuff" kind of adding on top of the price? If you were to choose the price range, what would be a good range to begin with decent hardware? I have my main machine (sig) for heavy duty work however on the go, the performance isn't required to be beastly.

I don't know really, I find most of the "gaming laptops" (with the exception of the Razer Blade, but it has a horrible display) to be super bulky, big and heavy. And most ultrabooks don't have a dedicated GPU, so it's complicated...

Fast & Responsive with good quality screen, semi decent portability is something I am looking for. With 960M, I suppose 2GB might be little "low", I guess 4GB is something I should aim of. Mate had a MacBook Pro, never going down that route (friend had it, performance was lackluster). While OSX would be nice to have since its a Solid OS, it would be more pricey to add Windows on top of that.

You can stick with the 2gb version, more memory is only useful if you're going to play at higher resolutions. I mean, most decent laptops are using QHD/UHD or some other not that usual resolution that has more pixels than FHD, like the 3000x2000 of the Surface Book or 2880x1800 of the 15" Macbook pros. It could be useful, but then the GPU is still not strong enough to sustain gaming at those resolutions anyway so more memory is irrelevant.

I guess anything long the lines of:

8GB RAM, 3GB+ VRAM 960m or greater, i7 with 3Ghz+ clock, SSD, IPS Display is a good start.

Thanks for the reply.

Keep in mind that some mobile i7s are dual cores with HT just like the mobile i5s, so the main difference would be their clocks. Useful for some games, like WoW, but not really important for most of them. And 2gb is enough for the 960M.

Sweet, the Gigabyte version matches more of the specs. The 4GB extra VRAM is a huge difference. #yayforscreensize

It actually isn't, you most likely won't notice the difference if playing anything at 1920x1080.

For the Gigabyte version, quick scroll through some Youtube comments, apparently it runs hot? As long as its not degrading hardware or possibly setting my balls on fire, then all good.

They don't have decent cooling systems, those laptops are super generic. So yeah, it might go as high as 90ºC but the hardware is made to support it.

I don't really get your obsession with more VRAM. 2GB of VRAM is more than enough for a 960. Nothing it is capable of needs more than 2GB VRAM. You're not gonna be doing 1440 or 4K resolutions with a 960, especially not a 960M and especially since laptops resolution is typically 1080p. For 1080p, 2GB is plenty. Just looking at benchmarks for desktop 960s, the 4GB version does not perform any better than the 2GB version. In some of the benchmarks out there it may appear to, but that is because the 4GB versions they are testing are OCed and the 2GB versions are not, lolz. Of course the OCed one runs faster, it's OCed, has nothing to do with the VRAM.

Most common users don't know how Graphics cards work and only have the memory number to differentiate them. If you ask some random dude what is better between a 4gb 8400GS or 1gb HD7770, he'd almost certainly answer 8400GS.

[Mister K]

I don't really get your obsession with more VRAM. 2GB of VRAM is more than enough for a 960. Nothing it is capable of needs more than 2GB VRAM. You're not gonna be doing 1440 or 4K resolutions with a 960, especially not a 960M and especially since laptops resolution is typically 1080p. For 1080p, 2GB is plenty. Just looking at benchmarks for desktop 960s, the 4GB version does not perform any better than the 2GB version. In some of the benchmarks out there it may appear to, but that is because the 4GB versions they are testing are OCed and the 2GB versions are not, lolz. Of course the OCed one runs faster, it's OCed, has nothing to do with the VRAM.

I think part of the obsession is the mindset within the desktop environment, high textures, preloading data into VRAM (3D rendering, mine usually does not require whole ton) and resolutions. You are right, it makes sense not to get anything higher than 2GB considering the resolutions will be at 1080p anyway and the cards can't handle higher workload regardless of the VRAM.

I guess it's like Megapixels in the Mobile world kind of idealogy.

Founds this - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-g...lt-208-ms.html
Higher screen size, 2GB 960m and 5700HQ i7 which is the same as the first Laptop linked above. That said, 1TB HDD is included which is useless to me, so I guess (depending on the difficulty) Id put another SSD in (256GB).

The great benefit of the Gigabyte laptop is that the front tray can be replaced with additional drive for possibility of raid.

We have Black Friday sales coming in, matter of days so who knows what kind of discounts will be floating about.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't know really, I find most of the "gaming laptops" (with the exception of the Razer Blade, but it has a horrible display) to be super bulky, big and heavy. And most ultrabooks don't have a dedicated GPU, so it's complicated...

You can stick with the 2gb version, more memory is only useful if you're going to play at higher resolutions. I mean, most decent laptops are using QHD/UHD or some other not that usual resolution that has more pixels than FHD, like the 3000x2000 of the Surface Book or 2880x1800 of the 15" Macbook pros. It could be useful, but then the GPU is still not strong enough to sustain gaming at those resolutions anyway so more memory is irrelevant.


Keep in mind that some mobile i7s are dual cores with HT just like the mobile i5s, so the main difference would be their clocks. Useful for some games, like WoW, but not really important for most of them. And 2gb is enough for the 960M.
It actually isn't, you most likely won't notice the difference if playing anything at 1920x1080.


They don't have decent cooling systems, those laptops are super generic. So yeah, it might go as high as 90ºC but the hardware is made to support it.

Most common users don't know how Graphics cards work and only have the memory number to differentiate them. If you ask some random dude what is better between a 4gb 8400GS or 1gb HD7770, he'd almost certainly answer 8400GS.

1) The Surface Book looks magnificent and I actually would ignore my budget and get it. However the 940m with 1GB VRAM is just not enough. Photoshop on it's own at times can be using close to its top margins.

2) You are right, 2GB is fine, I forget desktop/laptop market is whole lot different.

3) I will most likely not be WoWing it up on the Laptop. Just Dota 2, CS:GO, Rocket League, Overwatch and maybe WoW/GTA 5 in very rare occasions.

4) Yeah I will probably keep a super close eye on the temps and have a personal thresholds.

5) Yeh matter of ignoring resolution has a lot to do with it (together with architecture, clock speeds etc). At times the extra VRAM is required in the professional scene, however researching deeply into Adobe CC, usually the VRAM does not exceed 2GB anyway, so yeah pointless /epeen flex.

[Artorius]

1) The Surface Book looks magnificent and I actually would ignore my budget and get it. However the 940m with 1GB VRAM is just not enough. Photoshop on it's own at times can be using close to its top margins.

3) I will most likely not be WoWing it up on the Laptop. Just Dota 2, CS:GO, Rocket League, Overwatch and maybe WoW/GTA 5 in very rare occasions.

It's not a 940M, it's a custom chip that performs like it.
My opinion, if I'd buy a laptop today I'd buy a Surface Book. This is just too good.

Dota 2 seems fine:


CS:GO also seems fine:


Rocket league also fine as long as the settings aren't that high:


Not a decent video for Overwatch but it looks smooth enough:


GTA V:


If this post it too long with too many videos, I'll edit them into links D:

[Mister K]

It's not a 940M, it's a custom chip that performs like it.
My opinion, if I'd buy a laptop today I'd buy a Surface Book. This is just too good.

-snip-

If this post it too long with too many videos, I'll edit them into links D:

Still 940m with GDDR5 instead of GDDR3.

Thanks, Il give it a look once I am at home.

PS: Post is fine, thanks (for your time too).

Also

GE72 2QD-238UK 17.3" FHD IPS, not sure the difference but on Ebuyer it's £100 cheaper (not looked at the specifics).
[Ebuyer] - [Overclockers UK]

Ah, reading it now, seems quite obvious. One is IPS the other isn't?

Edit:

Il try and wait patiently. As soon as more info comes in for Surface Book UK, Il make my decision. I am just not fan of the dGPU, it's just, slightly under from what Id ideally want, specially at that price range. It's an amazing machine nevertheless.

Usually first gen wave has still issues. So I will probably get SB when the second gen comes out.

Edit 2:

I really want the Surface Book now haha

[Artorius]

I want one since I saw it's unveiling at the last Microsoft's device event. This thing has a water-cooler inside it's thin chassis and since the GPU is located at the base, while most of the hardware stays behind the display, it doesn't heat anywhere as high as other ultrabooks. Also doesn't throttle for temperature reasons which shows how efficient this split hardware solution is.

Also has a PCIe NVMe Samsung SSD for ridiculous storage speed, it's literally the best Windows laptop you can buy right now.

Only thing that I didn't like was the Nvidia choice for the dGPU, but Microsoft wants to sell and Nvidia's marketing is way better.

[Mister K]

I want one since I saw it's unveiling at the last Microsoft's device event. This thing has a water-cooler inside it's thin chassis and since the GPU is located at the base, while most of the hardware stays behind the display, it doesn't heat anywhere as high as other ultrabooks. Also doesn't throttle for temperature reasons which shows how efficient this split hardware solution is.

Also has a PCIe NVMe Samsung SSD for ridiculous storage speed, it's literally the best Windows laptop you can buy right now.

Only thing that I didn't like was the Nvidia choice for the dGPU, but Microsoft wants to sell and Nvidia's marketing is way better.

I might get a £1000 to £1100 Laptop and then sell it later on (5-7 months time) and upgrade to SB. Will see, gutted it's not out in UK till next year April.

Are you going to opt in for the top end version or? I will try and save up for the i7, 512GB SSD and dGPU. We'll see... :'( #waitinggame

[Artorius]

Not really going to buy one unless I go to the US in the near future, BRL is currently very low and the USD is way higher than normal.

2 years ago we had a 2BRL=1USD conversion, it got to the point of being 1.6~. Now the conversion skyrocketed to 4BRL to 1USD and since the country is going downhill with it's current corrupt government all the taxes are also super high.

It's prohibitive to buy it here, for comparison purposes the minimum wage is 788BRL, the 15" MacBook pro with AMD GPU is being sold for 23,499BRL at Apple's website, which is the price of 0km common cars, lol.

[Mister K]

Not really going to buy one unless I go to the US in the near future, BRL is currently very low and the USD is way higher than normal.

2 years ago we had a 2BRL=1USD conversion, it got to the point of being 1.6~. Now the conversion skyrocketed to 4BRL to 1USD and since the country is going downhill with it's current corrupt government all the taxes are also super high.

It's prohibitive to buy it here, for comparison purposes the minimum wage is 788BRL, the 15" MacBook pro with AMD GPU is being sold for 23,499BRL at Apple's website, which is the price of 0km common cars, lol.

Ah that sucks, could always get it imported but that could be risky with (import taxes and damages). Wow, that is suepr expesive for the MBK Pro.

I will probably wait for the 2nd Generation of Surface Books to arrive and most likely do a purchase then and hopefully sell the Laptop I will be purchasing soon.

_____________________

The choice:

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/saved/997048 - Grand Total: £1,181.46 (no OS, + 3% Discount)
However 970m might be hell of an overkill for Dota, CSGO, Overwatch @ 60fps/1080p.
Also 500GB x1 Samsung SSD vs x2 Kingsom 240GB in raid 0.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigab...lt-058-gi.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-g...lt-208-ms.html

PcSpecialist Defiance II

Product Category Product Description

Chassis & Display Defiance Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTM i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM) 8GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12

1st Hard Disk 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)

Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND

Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3

Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11BGN) +

USB Options 4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)

Power Cable 1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor

Keyboard Language DEFIANCE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

DVD Recovery Media NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED

Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE

Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM

Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

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

Delivery PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON

Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days

Price Ex VAT £880.00

Price £1,056.00

Quantity 1

Total Order Price EX VAT £880.00

Total VAT Amount £176.00

Total Order Price £1,056.00

BLUETOOTH

Thoughts?

[Mister K]

Bump any thoughts on the final build? PcSpecialists worth it at all or still better to get a premade from Overclockers?

[Denpepe]

It looks pretty decent spec wise, no idea about the brand itself, would not consider the 970m overkill, don't forget laptop GPU's are up to 30% slower then their desktop counterparts.

[Mister K]

It looks pretty decent spec wise, no idea about the brand itself, would not consider the 970m overkill, don't forget laptop GPU's are up to 30% slower then their desktop counterparts.

Fair enough. Now I am so stuck after watching some videos on the Razer Blade with the great aesthetics and overall nice finish and the custom build from PCS. However Razer Blade is just ludicrous when it comes to price, I guess I would be stupid enough to pay for that.

PCSpecialists build or Razer Blade or the former and get a Surface Book next year :3 baaa ... #decisions

[Artorius]

As far as I remember the Razer blade has a very bad display. But it could be last year's model or something.

I doubt that they'd bother using a good one anyway, so it's probably still bad. Still the almost only "gaming laptop" that is thin, lightweight and pretty so it has it's merits.
Even if it's a black themed Macbook pro clone

[Mister K]

As far as I remember the Razer blade has a very bad display. But it could be last year's model or something.

I doubt that they'd bother using a good one anyway, so it's probably still bad. Still the almost only "gaming laptop" that is thin, lightweight and pretty so it has it's merits.
Even if it's a black themed Macbook pro clone

Just read that as well in another Article which puts me off and of course the price is little suicidal but to heck ... However, damn Youtube and all its information but just came across the Dell XPS 15, wowza! Stunning. I am just somewhat being vary of PCSpecialists, so much components for just about the right price.

I guess it comes down to.

Wanting top aesthetics, great screen, customer support, windows vs half decent aesthetics, no customer support, no windows (i opted in for blank drive to save money) and tons of horse power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXuqBzBA-qk

I am one indecisive person...

PS: While watching Linus review, that's exactly what I thought *cough* :X