Advice for New Laptop...

andrewjames

andrewjames

andrewjames

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Joined
28 Apr 2012
Posts
6
Hi chaps,

apologies for just swinging by expecting advice from the members here, i am however i have been a loyal customer at Overclockers for many years :)

I've always been a desktop man, however i found myself in the need for a laptop... the amount to choose from is so overwhelming that any one brand / make or model has not managed to stand out to me over the past few days of intense research.

i know you guys are more clued up with wants and needs so maybe you lot can point me in the direction for the best my budget can buy?

my wants and needs aren't much but I'm most afraid the budget wont cut it.
budget is £400.00 give or take 50 or so...

i will be using the laptop for pretty much everything, gaming however isn't likely with my budget as the only game i play is bf3


- Ideally i want something portable in the region of 14-16" screen

- i already have a nice Kingston SSD V+ 128 to go in as soon as it arrives so I'm not really after hard drive space at all (i have a desktop as my work horse)

- from the research i have done an i5 doesn't seem unrealistic

- excuse my ignorance here "id like to have a laptop with space for an upgradeable GPU just in-case i can play bf3 on-line? (less graphic card intense?)"


ive seen a HP Pavilion G6 Laptop, Intel Core i5, 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD with integrated graphics intel 3000 gpu (the gpu puts me off somewhat as i cant install a dedicated one if required) however this package comes in at £399

looks wise doesn't really bother me to much though i probably would prefer a glossy screen


looking forward to hearing back
Andy.
 
Thats a tough ask! I know you said you wouldn't be gaming? But, do you expect to try BF3 on this machine? The official recommended specs for BF3 are beyond a £400 laptop. However, looking in the real world on youtube there are examples of machines in this bracket getting playable results:-

Medium setting, texture high, 38 fps avg without fraps on a Dell Inspiron 15R:-
Intel Core i3 - 2.1ghz
4gb RAM DDR3 1333mhz
Nvidia GeForce GT 525M

And on a machine with an Intel i5 Core Processor
NVIDIA GeForce 525M 1GB Graphics card
4GB RAM
Summary:
Ultra - 10-20 (Essentially not playable)
High - 15-25 (Playable but not great)
Medium - 20-30 (Playable)
Low - 25-30 (Playable)

In your price range now are these two new machines
£404 - Dell Inspiron 15
Intel Core i3 2350M 2.30GHz
15.6" High Definition Glossy (1366x768) WLED
4096MB
640GB
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 525M
DVD Writer

£458 - as above but with Intel Core i5 2450M 2.50GHz

You won't generally get a laptop with capability to upgrade the GPU, they're not made with this in mind, unlike PCs that have cards you can slot in and replace, laptop GPUs are chips soldered or glued onto the motherboard.

Irrespective of BF3 your options on graphics will be HD3000, which is built in to the i3 or i5 chip and uses some of your general machine RAM, a fine way to go if your not playing games, or, the examples above with a dedicated graphics chip, generally better overall irrespective of what you do with the machine, pushes the price up a bit though.

Of course all this is on the Intel side of the fence, AMD do very similar though.

So the HP you've identified won't do well with BF3 at all, but it is a very nice general machine. There probably are HP equivalents of those Dells if you take a look.

I notice you said "portable", the machines above are, but you can go slimmer and lighter in your price bracket too:-

£432 - Dell Inspiron 14z
Intel Core i3 2350M 2.3GHz
14in HD WLED (1366 X 768)
4096MB
500GB
DVD Writer
Intel HD 3000

And just a note on that SSD, by cracking open your new machine you are at risk of voiding the warranty (check its wording), but many people are doing this irrespective.
 
Lowrez, thanks you so much for your indepth response to my question, on further review i think you are perfectly right in what you suggested about the gaming etc...

i would love to be able to get some gaming on the go however i do have a desktop to be doing that with aswell.

i found the following laptop in relation to your last response, was wondering if you could give me some details about it,

in particular the graphics card and the processor.. are they any good?

thanks again
Andy.


Base Inspiron 15R - N5010
Processor Intel i5-480M(2.66GHz) Mobile CPU
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Memory 4 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Hard Disk Drive Hard Drive : 640GB Serial ATA (5400RPM)
Media Bay Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
NoteBook Screen Display 15.6in HD (1366X768) WLED with TrueLife
Video ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650, 128-Bit, 1GB, DDR3 64Mx16x8pcs
Software English Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 Bit)
Network Interface Card Wireless : Europe Dell Bluetooth 365 Card
Wireless : Dell Wireless 1501 (802.11 b/g/n 1x1) Mini Card
Laptop Battery 6 Cell Primary Battery, 48W
Adapters 3 Pin 1M 90W AC Adaptor
 
Hi Andy,

That machine is a nice find, its on a par with the i5 option I listed above, the processor is a year older than that machine, but still good, it'll turbo boost up to 2.933GHz, the graphics card is in fact a little better, and that's what counts more than the CPU at this level for gaming, so it should get similar, potentially slightly better results than the ones I listed above.
 
lowrez said:
Hi Andy,

That machine is a nice find, its on a par with the i5 option I listed above, the processor is a year older than that machine, but still good, it'll turbo boost up to 2.933GHz, the graphics card is in fact a little better, and that's what counts more than the CPU at this level for gaming, so it should get similar, potentially slightly better results than the ones I listed above.
Click to expand...

thanks again for the advice buddy,

i decided to bite the bullet and go for it.. i have read its gets a bit hot when gaming but i do have a laptop cooler if need be XD

i will report back when it arrives..

Andy.
 
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