Buying new gaming/school notebook soon, need help/advice please! :)

[aoussar123]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy a new notebook and have some questions. I would be a really happy chap if you would take your time to help out!!

Anyways, here goes:
I am looking at buying a 2500 US dollar gaming notebook with the flowing specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4700MQ

GPU: Nvidian GeForce GTX880m

Screen: 15.6" 1920x1080p anti-glare LED

Memory: Kingston 16gb DDR3

Samsung 500gb SSD drive.


It is worth the money? And do you think it will run WoD on ultra with max resolution with the new models and all?

And a game like Battlefield 4?

Also, how important is the RAM? I have an option to get 32 GB Kingston DDR3 if I want, but that would bump the price up to 2700 US dollars. How important are Ram for gaming, and is it worth going from 16 to 32 in your opinion?

Thank you so much!!!!
Aoussar123 )

[SylarAC]

What are you going to be using it for in school?

[Deleted]

You certainly dont need an i7 to game or 32GB ram or even 16GB. For gaming the latest hasswell i5 chip and 8GB ram are more than plenty.
Now you say school too. If that doesn't involve any kind of heavy 3d rendering then you got answer already

[aoussar123]

You certainly dont need an i7 to game or 32GB ram or even 16GB. For gaming the latest hasswell i5 chip and 8GB ram are more than plenty.
Now you say school too. If that doesn't involve any kind of heavy 3d rendering then you got answer already

Thanks mate! I can't deselect the CPU, but maybe I won't go with the 32gb ram though. But why is it offered on high-end gaming pcs if it hardly makes a difference?

Oh, I see I was a bit vague on the school thing. I don't need it for anything special other than MS Office. What I meant was that I could choose between 17.3" or 15.6" and went with the latter cause it's easier to carry around

[SylarAC]

If that's the laptop you're getting, and you're only using it for MS office, then Kostattoo is on point.

[aoussar123]

If that's the laptop you're getting, and you're only using it for MS office, then Kostattoo is on point.

All right mate, happy to hear it!!

So, games like WoD and BF:4 won't be a problem on ultra settings with max res you think?

And thanks for all the answers!

[Deleted]

I'm not sure about BF4, you will be able to play it on ultra but how many fps... i wouldnt expect more than say 50-60 but that its a wild guess. WoD and ultra and omg 100fps on 25hc aint gonna happen. Cause simply it can't happen no matter what hardware you got and your cpu has a far greater impact on mmo's than your gpu.

[Vermicious]

You could get a laptop to do what you need for a lot less money... most students I know are looking to save money

[aoussar123]

I'm not sure about BF4, you will be able to play it on ultra but how many fps... i wouldnt expect more than say 50-60 but that its a wild guess. WoD and ultra and omg 100fps on 25hc aint gonna happen. Cause simply it can't happen no matter what hardware you got and your cpu has a far greater impact on mmo's than your gpu.

Ah, I see, thanks! Found this chart too:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-....107622.0.html

Which shows that BF4 will run pretty good. I'm guessing I will get a few less fps, since I have less processing power, but the same ram power or did that not matter? You can see what I'm referring to if you scroll down on the link provided )


Why can't high-end computers run wow in 25-man environments? I mean, even desktops? Is it just poorly optimized or?

I run MoP on my 4770MQ + GT765M at Ultra without a problem (at 1920x1080). Actually, I should clarify I run with Shadows on low, but that's more of a personal choice, but the performance gained is a bonus. I expect to be able to completely run WoD on it without a problem.

I do run BF4 on it, but it absolutely can't handle Ultra, at least not on 64-player. It certainly handles low without a problem, and it doesn't look that bad either. I've certainly enjoyed playing BF4 without the noise of my full system, and can appreciate the game even at low settings.

Regarding RAM, unless you're absolutely 100% sure you'll be running Virtual Machines, or doing heavy rendering, stick with 16GB. I'd say even that's overkill as 8GB is sufficient, but if you're choosing between 16 and 32 and price is a concern, stick with 16. I run VM's on my laptop from time to time (Ubuntu Server LTS for example), but there's no need for massive amounts of RAM for just 1 of those (and again, VM's are something only a minority of people use).

As a comparison between us, where you might be focused on gaming and school work (e.g. office applications, perhaps some image editing), mine is focused primarily on coding, VM, DB management and some general browsing, but with some focus also on gaming. Your requirements are higher for gaming (at least if you want to run BF4 on ultra) so the 880M would be a good choice, while mine are focused more on memory heavy situations, and 8GB is plenty.

Also consider that you can always add more memory later - laptop's tend to have the area where RAM is situated easily accessible. Save money now and if you find you absolutely need more later (again, I highly doubt you need it right now), then it's easy to add more.

Thanks for the help man! I'm more confident about it now. I'll stick with 16GB ram for sure now !

I'm not sure about BF:4, but after doing some research (like the link above), I think I can run it on a mix between high and ultra, or if I get ~45 fps like in the chart, I could live with that. I'm kinda disappointed that the fastest mobile gpu on the market can't do better though, still, I'll be more than happy with this choice though, I think