Complete laptop noob - advice needed.....

[StevieP]

I've long been a believer that laptops were a massive waste of money and couldnt understand why anyone would choose one over a desktop PC...... until I had a young son and found out that it wasnt so easy to just pop up to the top room and do a bit of gaming!

Anyway, long story short, I'm in the market for a decent(ish) laptop that I can have lying in the living room while the little 'un is led on his play mat!

Not got a huge budget, maybe £400, but would like something that will play movies comfortably and ideally do a bit of gaming! Now I'm talking a bit of Company of Heroes and maybe the odd stint on Titan Quest - I dont need to be able to play Crysis at 10,000 fps!

My question is, is it possible to get a passable "gaming" laptop in my budget and if so, what are the best options out there in terms of graphics cards and CPU's?? (or what to avoid!)

Thanks for any suggestions and advice guys - not a lot to play with but it would appear that kids arent cheap!!

 

[BobbySixKiller]

Dell Inspiron 15R

# Intel® Core i3-380M 2.4GHz processor
# Genuine Windows® 7 Premium 64-Bit
# 3GB Memory
# 320GB Hard Drive
# Radeon HD5650 Graphics
# Hi-def content on the 15.6" HD widescreen LED display (1366x768)

£339 cant post a link but its from another well known online company

 

[StevieP]

Thanks for the reply!

Looks pretty good - is there anything else out there to compete with this at that kind of price point??

 

[Scrutinize]

Thanks for the reply!

Looks pretty good - is there anything else out there to compete with this at that kind of price point??

nope, same price as they are on the dell outlet and nothing with that quality of gfx this side of £450-£500. you can get the same processing power but with integrated graphics, the 5650 will play modern games without issue on medium / low detail. unless you dont want to game the 5650 or nvidia 525m are the minimum level of graphics you want.

whether it is what you want is another question. have you tired an inspiron 15r? battery life is 1.5-2 hours or less unless you are only doing minimal tasks. build quality is average.

mind you at this price its hardly worth worrying about although having had a lenovo anything with keyboard flex annoys me since even the basic lenovo range is so solid you may as well be typing on bricks lol.

 

[StevieP]

Battery life isnt really an issue - as per my OP, the use will generally be in the house so plugging it in isnt too much of an issue!

The only thing thats holding me back is the outlet deals that seem to be superb! (well, some anyway!)

•XPS L702x
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
•Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M (2.10GHz, 3MB cache, Dual Core)
•320 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
•3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (3 DIMMs)
•8X DVD +/- RW DRIVE
•17.3in HD+ WLED True-Life (1600x900) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
•Graphics : 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M Graphics Card
•Battery : Primary 6-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
•Silver Anodized Aluminum
•Back Up Media Not Included

£356 for this spec with a bigger screen and a better gxf card doesnt seem bad!

How can I tell if the Core i3 is "1st" or "2nd" generation and what does that mean exactly??

*edit* ignore me, the £356 is ex. VAT!