Gaming laptop decisions

Speedy1989 · 19 Mar 2014 at 13:44

MNO said:
Do you need a blueray drive? Personally I don't use CD's. I mean, on the odd occasion I have to for studies I can just as easily throw it into my PC and drag it into Dropbox if I really want it on my laptop.

Another thing to consider is the keyboard of the MSI which is Steelseries and IMO probably going to be way better than the standard stock keyboard Gigabyte threw into the P35k.

They both look nice though, I think it'd probably come down to preference in looks honestly as they're so similar in spec.

Yeah you're right, I'd probably only use the blu-ray a few times a year. If you have fully decided on not getting the P25W it really does come down to 17" vs 15". The extra 2" could be really nice for productive work (like snapping two windows side by side). However it's is bigger to carry around, not just the weight but the physical size.

Also the MSI has now gone back up to £1099. However the P35K-CF2 is has gone down to £1039.99 in the weekly sale.

Bug One said:
What I mean is, doesn't your work provide you with the equipment to do your job?

And for the majority of things I'd call work, what on earth would you need all that power for? If you work in production studio, then yes, you need power. But for word processing, email, access, coding?

The advantage of these laptops are they light and and powerful, so they serve as a laptop for work (lower end stuff) and then a multimedia/gaming powerhouse for your personal use when at home/away.

MNO · 19 Mar 2014 at 14:12

Bug One said:
What I mean is, doesn't your work provide you with the equipment to do your job?

And for the majority of things I'd call work, what on earth would you need all that power for? If you work in production studio, then yes, you need power. But for word processing, email, access, coding?

Well I'm an intern currently working with startups, it's helpful to be able to work wherever, and be able to travel to events with it and do some stuff on the go. I also have to use photoshop and video editing software like Vegas so the power isn't wasted work-wise.

Plus as the others say, it's overall just a well built laptop that is slim, looks great and should last a long time for work alone if not maybe 3 years for gaming on low settings.

Yea speedy, the P35k is looking more appealing with the smaller screen thus smaller form, but I really like larger screens and the keyboard on the MSI sort of has its hooks in me. I've never been good at spending a lot of money! I fret far too much.

Speedy1989 · 19 Mar 2014 at 14:39

MNO said:
Well I'm an intern currently working with startups, it's helpful to be able to work wherever, and be able to travel to events with it and do some stuff on the go. I also have to use photoshop and video editing software like Vegas so the power isn't wasted work-wise.

Plus as the others say, it's overall just a well built laptop that is slim, looks great and should last a long time for work alone if not maybe 3 years for gaming on low settings.

Yea speedy, the P35k is looking more appealing with the smaller screen thus smaller form, but I really like larger screens and the keyboard on the MSI sort of has its hooks in me. I've never been good at spending a lot of money! I fret far too much.

Exact same problem here, I do far too much research and worry over things I end out not even caring about once I have the product. Thing that has really put me of the MSI now is (from what I can see) the RAM is not upgradable without voiding your warranty.

MNO · 19 Mar 2014 at 14:44

Speedy1989 said:
Exact same problem here, I do far too much research and worry over things I end out not even caring about once I have the product. Thing that has really put me of the MSI now is (from what I can see) the RAM is not upgradable without voiding your warranty.

Is that a big issue for you? I've never considered more than 8GB RAM to be much of an upgrade.

Speedy1989 · 19 Mar 2014 at 14:50

MNO said:
Is that a big issue for you? I've never considered more than 8GB RAM to be much of an upgrade.

I want to keep it for a good few years and using game creation tools with other things open I worry that it might not be enough.

tom_e · 19 Mar 2014 at 14:52

It's not the voiding your warranty that is the real issue it's getting the ****ing motherboard out to turn it over to get to the RAM slots which is the real pain in the arse, can you tell I didn't notice that had to be done until I'd cracked it open

Speedy1989 · 19 Mar 2014 at 15:01

tom_e said:
It's not the voiding your warranty that is the real issue it's getting the ****ing motherboard out to turn it over to get to the RAM slots which is the real pain in the arse, can you tell I didn't notice that had to be done until I'd cracked it open

Yes I watched a video of it and it looks a right pain. That's something I wouldn't really want to do. I assume you are happy with the laptop otherwise though?

tom_e · 19 Mar 2014 at 15:09

Yep love it even sat and done some OCing of the 765m last night just to squeeze some more performance out not that it needs it but I'm a fiddler and to be honest I didn't really need 16gb RAM but I picked an extra 8gb up cheap so thought I'd slap it in anyway, but chickened out when I realised I'd have to deal with disconnecting and reconnecting lots of little fragile ribbon and pin connectors on a 5 hour old £1,000 laptop so left it as it was

Speedy1989 · 20 Mar 2014 at 14:38

tom_e said:
Yep love it even sat and done some OCing of the 765m last night just to squeeze some more performance out not that it needs it but I'm a fiddler and to be honest I didn't really need 16gb RAM but I picked an extra 8gb up cheap so thought I'd slap it in anyway, but chickened out when I realised I'd have to deal with disconnecting and reconnecting lots of little fragile ribbon and pin connectors on a 5 hour old £1,000 laptop so left it as it was

Yeah definitely. For everyday use and gaming 8GB is more than enough but for my uni work I'm not sure. I was using 7GB today on my PC.

MNO · 20 Mar 2014 at 15:10

I folded and ordered a GS70 today, I'll let you know. But I think 8GB will be fine aslong as you keep it free of bloatware.

MNO · 20 Mar 2014 at 23:07

The only thing I'm worried about currently, is whether the Aorus or the new GS70 Pro will be down to the same price point in 6 months and giving twice the graphical performance.

Spending money, hate it. I'm so tight.

Speedy1989 · 20 Mar 2014 at 23:17

Yeah, but that is half a year. Can you really wait that long? Also by then the new Intel CPU's might be on the way so you could be saying the same thing about them. That's the problem with technology though. I bought an iPad 3 on launch and a newer faster model was out before I blinked..

MNO · 21 Mar 2014 at 00:20

Speedy1989 said:
Yeah, but that is half a year. Can you really wait that long? Also by then the new Intel CPU's might be on the way so you could be saying the same thing about them. That's the problem with technology though. I bought an iPad 3 on launch and a newer faster model was out before I blinked..

If I knew for sure, I could wait that long. And maybe so, but I'm doubtful that the next round of Intel CPU's would almost double FPS performance like having two 765's or an 880 pretty much does.

Aaaagh

tom_e · 21 Mar 2014 at 09:11

That's the joys of buying pc kit, there's always the what if the next gen lives up to the hype and walks all over the kit I've just spent mega money on.
You won't be disappointed though it's a great bit of kit.

ARJIBEAR · 21 Mar 2014 at 10:57

GS70 is a BOSS. My friend has one

- Steelseries is MUCH better than the standard KB's most laptops have!

Meaker · 22 Mar 2014 at 23:01

It's kind of hard to justify anything without either a 860m/870m/780m/880m at this point.

Speedy1989 · 23 Mar 2014 at 10:28

Meaker said:
It's kind of hard to justify anything without either a 860m/870m/780m/880m at this point.

Most of the 8 series is not out so that's not really an option and the 780m is only put in very expensive laptops that are quite thick and not portable.

Speedy1989 · 23 Mar 2014 at 10:29

Double post.

Raz · 27 Mar 2014 at 23:09

So what's the GS70 like? I'm looking for a laptop as well and am stuck between this or the P35 but I'm not sure now...

RichDuffy · 28 Mar 2014 at 08:58

kevpuk said:
Well, for me, I usually need to supply my own equipment - I work via my own Ltd as a Consultant and some Clients require own kit.
Sure, don't need all the power all the time, but I currently use a VMWare environment running for connection into Client's network, CITRIX for other things and, of course, my own Windows install ticking over underneath. If nothing else, a decent CPU with multi-threads and virtualisation is a boon along with the 16GB RAM.....means resources can be split out nicely
And then, of course, I can get a little gaming in whilst away from home during the week....

Still, it is horses for courses - for me, the cost is offset by the VAT not being a direct cost to me also....

I'm in very much the same position as this... except the VAT thing - I should have stayed off the flat rate scheme until after I'd bought all the company's startup equipment, but you live and learn...

I can't speak for how good the P35K is just yet, as I only bought it this week. It was chosen as a business machine though, whilst also to be capable of moderate gaming whenever I'm staying away from home.