Another gaming laptop advice thread!

Hi all.

Decided I want to upgrade from my Alienware 14 and im in a bit of a dilemma as what to go for.
I've looked at various configs on scan and ************ and also msi models and some others.

Basically my budget is around £1300

I want:

15.6 or 17.3 screen
i7
ssd
8GB ram
970m or 980m if doable

The gpu is my next query. Is the 980m worth the upgrade over the 970m or would I be best just using the cash I'd save on a bigger ssd or more ram.

These are a few I've been looking at.

Competitor link.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-215-AS&groupid=959&catid=1828

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-045-GI&groupid=959&catid=1828

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-183-MS&groupid=959&catid=1828

I run a 980m on the Asus with a 17" screen. Fire strike benchmarks are up with a 780ti and it looks great. There is tearing at times but vsync can fix that.

Sorry no idea on the 970, by the 980 is brilliant.

I am really tempted by the MSI GT72 2QE Dominator Pro-682UK

Hi Guys

Checkt this tread as it has feedback from Manwith Noname who uses the GT72

Great piece of kit

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18673707

If you need any help or advice with MSI notebook, just ask away

Thanks. I'm still undecided. I've been looking at GIGABYTE P35X v3 as well. I'm more torn as to get a 970 or 980 gpu

addyb said:

Thanks. I'm still undecided. I've been looking at GIGABYTE P35X v3 as well. I'm more torn as to get a 970 or 980 gpu

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Hi Addyb,

The P35W v3-CF11 offers excellent value for money within the GTX970M segment..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-031-GI&groupid=959&catid=1828

Only 1 left though !

Notice that this comes equipped with 6GB of vRAM, double that offered by other manufacturers specs.

Also all the P35 and P37 have remove-able, hot swappable Optical Drive, enabling you add additional HDD (upto 2TB, or SSD upto 512GB) - the unit is supplied with the caddy to make this possible.

WOW, OK - I just noticed that OcUK have big discount on the GTX980M version:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-029-GI&groupid=959&catid=1828

This really is great value, and again notice that the vRAM supplied is 8GB, double the specification normally supplied by other brands.

Hope this helps you with your decision

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

Thanks for the replies so far. It's a tough choice. I'll look into both models today and try and decide lol.

So it's the P35x or the G72. Having a hard time deciding I really am. Any owners of either want to chip in here lol.

I don't know how desperate you are to bite the proverbial bullet but I'm gonna throw a spanner into the works and say....

G-Sync

A couple of months ago someone managed to get both DSR and Gsync running on certain laptops by "hacking" the drivers. Just recently, NVidia released new drivers that finally have DSR enabled and for certain laptops will also enable Gsync. Now, these new laptops are endorsed and will have Gsync show up but it is known that it can work on the current panels, at least in the case where the LG IPS eDP displays are fitted. It is however currently locked out for me in the official drivers and will most likely stay that way.

Anyway, along with this will be Broadwell based CPU's too so, while the current line up is very good, shortly, they will be improved.

As for having the extra VRAM. My experience with GTA V is that with a 4GB card, I cannot push to it's VRAM limit unless I want to play at 30fps or below. If you are a 60fps addict, you will likely be dropping below that threshold before 4GB gets used up. Of course, there are other games and not all games are equal. I just use GTA V as an example because it is one of the most recent and demanding titles I own.

I can't emphasise enough if its for gaming spend on the GPU - I've got a Samsung 700G7C which still holds up well CPU and RAM wise (infact puts many a desktop to shame) but the GPU is distinctly holding the rest back now :S (fortunately don't have need of it as my main system at the moment).

Most modern laptops have more than enough CPU horsepower these days and 8GB of RAM is plenty - 16GB nice to have but far from essential.

I am quite desperate to bite the bullet so will be buying one in the next week or so. Tbh they both look great machines for gaming so I'm sure I won't be disappointed. I currently have an Alienware 14 with a 765m and was impressed with that.

So gutted that I missed the weekly deal, I thought it ran Monday to Friday! Grrr.

Blinkz said:

So gutted that I missed the weekly deal, I thought it ran Monday to Friday! Grrr.

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I'm not too bothered. I can get the G72 from elsewhere for £1389 which is a decent price. Just waiting on the funds from my work so I can get it

I've been looking at the G751JY and can't find it in stock anywhere? Is it discontinued? I heard the gsync version will be announced soon. I'm still really torn what to go for. Has anyone any experience with the clevo builds ************.

Yep I'm definitely torn between the G72 and P35x. The G72 has the edge as it's within my budget and the P35x is now £200 over my budget. If I could get that for £1500 or lower I'd swing that way.

addyb said:

I'm not too bothered. I can get the G72 from elsewhere for £1389 which is a decent price. Just waiting on the funds from my work so I can get it

Click to expand...

The price has been slowly rising on that site, so don't hold out too long.

Yeah I guess when your hitting this level of budget I can't imagine being disappointed in any that I choose.

Still undecided I really am. I've decided on a 980m so now it's coming down to which has the best screen for my budget (£1500)

I start thinking 4k screens and then think why as I won't be able to play games on ultra. Then I'm thinking gsync. Grrrr this is seriously hard work for me lol

addyb said:

I start thinking 4k screens and then think why as I won't be able to play games on ultra. Then I'm thinking gsync. Grrrr this is seriously hard work for me lol

Click to expand...

Gsync over 4K