17" 1080p Laptop £500

chocky909

chocky909

chocky909

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I'm looking for a half decent gaming laptop but the emphasis is on having a decent screen, preferably not glossy. I suppose I could go lower resolution if the screen is good enough. I'd prefer a 16:10 but that's not going to happen.

I've been looking on the Outlet for a 1080p XPS L702x with GT 555m but it's a bit more than I really want to pay really.

The laptop needs to run Visual Pinball smoothly and be a good all rounder. Bluray would be nice but not essential.

I'm just scared of getting a crappy screen really and I'd appreciate any general advice.
 
you would probably have to be very lucky in order to find one like that , maybe scratch and dent but a refurb with those specs would probably be in the £600's :(
 
sorry, but for your budget there isn't anything with a 17" and 1080 screen unless you go second hand (not worth risk imo) or get very very lucky on the dell outlet but I haven't seen a 1080p 17" come in under £650 inc vat and delivery.

You could get a 15" for circa £400 and then an external monitor as a good 22" can be had for under £100?
 
The 1080 screen isn't vital so long as it is of a good quality with nice wide viewing angles, which I hear the 1600x900 Dell screens aren't (the L702x and the N7110). I'd also rather not have a glossy screen but that's pretty hard to come across these days too.

I am willing to spend a little more (keep it under £700 mind) so I suppose I'm wondering what is out there that meets my requirements?
 
With a matte 1080p, GT555m, 17" chassis, Core i3, 1x4gb RAM and no OS you can make it for £700 , check out pc specialist (google it)

I haven't bought from them but their feedback is good.

It's actually a "rebranded" Clevo W170HR if you want to look up reviews

They (clevo) have a fairly good reputation and I was alllmost going to buy their highest end 15" machine, but went for a Dell instead.
 
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That might work actually. I was thinking of installing XP anyway and I have a spare copy also. Still a bit more expensive than I was expecting. I think I would be happy with a 1600x900 matt screen if it was good.
 
You cannot get money for nothing, or in your case, quality laptop components for nothing.

Either suck it up and pay for something decent (which is very different from overpaying!) or get something cheap and tacky(?) and deal with it.

Price per good-component, your two options are Dell Outlet deals or Clevo, basically.

HTH
 
qpop said:
With a matte 1080p, GT555m, 17" chassis, Core i3, 1x4gb RAM and no OS you can make it for £700

It's actually a "rebranded" Clevo W170HR if you want to look up reviews

They (clevo) have a fairly good reputation and I was alllmost going to buy their highest end 15" machine, but went for a Dell instead.
Click to expand...

can you remove the link in your post please as this is a competitor to ocuk in the UK. Dell is allowed as are direct sales from manufacturers like Lenovo. However other reselllers like the one in your link arn't.


chocky909 said:
The 1080 screen isn't vital so long as it is of a good quality with nice wide viewing angles, which I hear the 1600x900 Dell screens aren't (the L702x and the N7110). I'd also rather not have a glossy screen but that's pretty hard to come across these days too.

I am willing to spend a little more (keep it under £700 mind) so I suppose I'm wondering what is out there that meets my requirements?
Click to expand...


the dell XPS 17" L702 are good machines and come with 1 year next day on site warranty. Viewing angles and screens are fine, heck most notebooks will struggle with off centre viewing angles when compared to a desktop monitor unless you want to spend ££££, the clevo will be no different albeit matte.

XPS L702 i5, GT 550m, 4GB ddr @ £699 inc vat and delivery sys code N00X7M03 then a further 10% off code at the checkout VH6BXP5R$TW2V5 (valid till 31/08). you can also get 8% cashback from top cashback on this if you link through from them. putting up with a glossy screen is a small compromise for getting this system for under £600 after all the discounts. oh and it comes with Win 7 Home Premium x64 already installed.

saving more money, then go for the i3 (sys code N00X7M01) with 2GB memory @ £599 - 10% - 8% cash back so reaches your £500 budget thereabouts. Upgrade the memory yourself as kingston 4GB sticks of DD3 1333 are only £16 ish atm.

chocky909 said:
That might work actually. I was thinking of installing XP anyway and I have a spare copy also. Still a bit more expensive than I was expecting. I think I would be happy with a 1600x900 matt screen if it was good.
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thinking of putting XP on the clevo, will it even support it driver wise, I suspect not otherwise they would probably offer it?? and more to the point why would you want xp over Win 7 x64 these days???

to spec one of these up to compare to the dell in win 7 os and warranty, you are talking £800 (i3)-£900 (i5)
 
It was because I was mainly going to use the machine for Pinball emulation with a 37" screen as the playfield and XP is the OS that people use in their custom cabinets. Anyway, I've been running Visual Pinball and Future Pinball without problems on this W7x64 PC so I guess that'll be fine.

Well, after about 2 weeks of waiting there was finally some 1920x1080 XPS L702x put up so I nabbed one.

Intel Core i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz
3GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M Graphics Card
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (1 DIMMs)
500GB Serial ATA II (7200 RPM) Hard Drive
17.3in Full HD WLED AG (1920x1080)
8X DVD +/- RW DRIVE
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth
Certified Refurbished

£663.72 inc VAT and DEL

More than I was planning to spend but my bank statement arrived yesterday and I had more than I thought so... treat myself!

I think the glossy screen isn't such a problem where I'll be using it 99% of the time and it does make the colours deeper. I might add another 4gb RAM too if it's easy enough.

I think I'll be looking for a tilting cooling stand to go with as I think the 555 and i7 will run quite hot on my new table. Any recommendations?
 
My brothers' keeping an eye on these as he's after a decent machine to take to Uni, without having to spend a bomb. Saw an absolutely perfect one the other day, at a really good price, but someone else had it out from under our noses.

Whats the best GPU anyone's seen in a sub-600 inc laptop on there with a semi decent CPU?
Best I've seen recently has been the GT540m in the 15" or the 550 in the 17" XPS, as least within budget.
 
I hope that someone wasn't me!

The XPS 701x comes up regularly for less than £600 (I think) with the GT 555m if you don't mind a 1600x900 screen or an i5 processor. Mine was only £660 and I got an i7 and a 1080p screen.
 
He's got a hard budget of 600 or less inc vat and delivery which makes it more challenging hehe
He's adapted to having a lower res screen (1366 or up in the 15"), would like to get an I7 in where possible though.
 
My XPS L701x arrived today and to my surprise it has a matte screen! I had no idea Dell did them! I'm also pleased to discover that my model has the illuminated keyboard so I'm very happy. I'm very impressed by the inbuilt sound too - probably the best laptop sound I've heard.

I just need to setup the laptop now so I'm wondering if anyone has a link to recommended settings for a Dell such as which programs to uninstall, patches to control fan speed etc?

Thanks for all the advice guys.
 
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