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moremoney

moremoney

moremoney

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I am looking for a laptop for my daughters birthday in Feb.

It must be good enough to play most games, maybe not crisis and a few that are as demanding, but you know what i mean.

The Dell deals end on the 30th of this month, and i need to know what to buy, i have a limited knowlege of laptops (but it is improving by the day with googles help), which is why i am asking for help.

My budget is, £600 to £1000.:)

Please please please please help me choose a decent laptop for her.:)
 
Thanks for your i don't know replys.

Now i am going to have to up my buget to £1500.

If you lot are not tech savy i can always go to guru3d and ask for help there.
 
As you mention a daughter, the HP Envy 15 was on sale for £999 recently (not sure if its still there or not). Its got the new mobile I7, 4GB RAM and a mobile 4830. This isn't the best mobile GPU going, BUT its perfectly capable for some gaming if she's not a maximum settings lady which is implied, and should play games quite fluidly at lower settings/resolutions.

The reason I mention the Envy is the capable spec, but also the looks, it's very mac-book esque so it may well appeal to here.

Sorry you've not had more responses, it is the xmas period though, so a lot of people probably aren't on as much, the same applies to a lot of other forums as well, not just this one, and this isn't really a laptop orientated forum in the most part, despite some of us being interested in it :)

Alternately as mentioned there are the Dell models, if you can find one an Advent 7555GX (not 8555) would be very suitable with the 4850Mobile GPU which was reduced to clearance at 699/799. Alternatively you've got the likes of Clevo from Kobalt et al, but it sounds like you need something sooner.
 
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What he said. Now your daughter might be different, but the majority of the ladies I know like something to look good as well as work (often more emphasis on looks than working haha).

The Envy is a very good machine anyway. The Clevo 860 is a little better in the same size chassis but costs more (better GPU, same processor and RAM), I think she would be VERY happy to recieve the Envy as a present, especially if unexpected or she was expecting something more from the likes of the basic Toshiba/HP/Advent etc. IIRC battery life was reputed to be good on the Envy as well, as it opts to use an external DVD drive, leaving more for the battery and cooling, which again may suit the user.

hp-envy-15-13-laptops-1.jpg

hp-envy-15_3.jpg


Hope that helps.
 
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Alexrose1uk said:
What he said. Now your daughter might be different, but the majority of the ladies I know like something to look good as well as work (often more emphasis on looks than working haha).

The Envy is a very good machine anyway. The Clevo 860 is a little better in the same size chassis but costs more (better GPU, same processor and RAM), I think she would be VERY happy to recieve the Envy as a present, especially if unexpected or she was expecting something more from the likes of the basic Toshiba/HP/Advent etc. IIRC battery life was reputed to be good on the Envy as well, as it opts to use an external DVD drive, leaving more for the battery and cooling, which again may suit the us

Hope that helps.
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I have taught my girl that style is ******** comprared to substance.

So please start again with around £1000.

She likes to game.
 
Amen to substance over style.

That's still the best machine all-rounder around that price if its still on sale at the price however. The Dell machines are weaker for gaming, the Advent is slightly faster in the GPU department, however has a weaker CPU and is hard to get hold of now (although is much cheaper and recommended if you can find one!). The Clevo 860 is again I7, configurable memory, GTX280m, about 1.2-1.3 for one of those (sold by several brands, I'd recommend Kobalt but there's a backlog which is to be considered as you sound like you want the laptop *soon*).

The ball is in your court here, the UK laptop market is unfortunately not really that well equipped unlike the US one, and offers much more limited selection for non-work related use, especially around the £1k mark. :)

Anything at this price with a GTX260/280m or an ATI 4830/50 are going to be the amongst the best gaming laptops you can buy right now at this price range. (They're in a similar performance region to the desktop 9800GTX/GT, roughly performing in this order 4830m<GTX260m<4850m<GTX280m)

New ATI cards are due in a couple of months, but you want to buy now, making this irrelevant. Buildwise both Clevo and HP are decent brands if you're not buying rock bottom budget, which you're not, the Advent is reasonable as an MSI, but not quite a good.

The HP is more stylish, the Advent 7555 has a better GPU (its an MSI GT725 under the repackaged skin). The Clevo has I7 as well, but will take much longer to arrive, costs more and performance difference over the advent is not huge (~5%).


Most other laptops in this price region in the UK use a weaker GPU, and wont be of interest to you.


Sorry if my advice has come off the wrong way, I've not based this all around style, just tried to incorporate what you might think is important, and trying to look at a wider picture. As I have no idea what she uses to game right now I've got no performance guage to try and judge how she would find a machine based around these GPUs anyway.
 
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You really are an old fart aren't you. You've asked for advice, got some pretty good advice (that HP is good and on top of that it looks good) and still proceed to bash everyone about.

I feel sorry for your daughter.
 
Alexrose1uk said:
Meh, I work on phones, guess Im tolerant given some people I have to deal with as part of my job (very wealthy ones at that).
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I have followed your post here and elseware, and i am sorry if i came across wrong.

It was my fault.

I would like some help choosing a laptop.

You are the most helpfull person on here.

And i know s***.
 
Hi again, no worries.

I still think the Envy 15 might be your best choice, the best price I've seen it at now the sale has passed is about 1.2k, but that came with a 2 year warranty which can be quite handy with a laptop. Performance is decent, and battery life and weight are all rather good for a laptop of the performance class.

The Advent 7555s seem to have all gone, and the replacement 8555 has a weaker 4670 GPU. The Kobalt G860 has a faster GPU (about 20=25% faster than the 4830), but the machine is heavier and the battery life is lower, and that GPU power will cost you about £1400 for the machine. (with roughly the same specs, although upgrades are reasonable value, as are the lengthened warranties so you have more customisation options)

Unfortunately they had a reduction in price on them previously which has now gone, which is why the cost has gone up by about £100.

Unfortunately the options above are more expensive, and as its gaming prowess you specifically mention I think these are going to be the best in your budget.

Several other companies sell the same Clevo model as Kobalt, but they're more expensive,and whilst Kobalt will take a while to get the machine to you (and communication can be quite lax in this area as they're pretty overrun right now), customer service and warranty is good.

Your choice here I think, power vs weight and battery (and looks).

Both are good choices, and use the I7. Some new GPUs have been announced at CES now, but they're not going to make it onto the UK market for a couple of months.

Oh the Kobalt has a higher res screen, meaning more desktop area, but the GPU will be stretched further if settings are turned up.
 
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