What gaming laptop should I expect for c. £1k

Bellboy

Bellboy

Bellboy

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After a long while out of gaming, a few recent titles (eg. Starfield) are tempting me to get a semi modern gaming laptop. I've set myself a budget of £1k but am massively out of the loop on things, also seen a few things referenced which I am not sure how important they are. So a bit of general advice on expectations would be great. Also anything in particular I should keep in mind.

Current thoughts are: 16gb ram, 1tb SSD, decent screen (by and large I'd be playing directly on the laptop), and then obviously the requisite decent gpu.
Queries in my head are:
- should I aim for a 4xxx series gpu or 3xxx? I've seen some machines with the 4060 (and good wattage) within budget but not sure how essential that is. Would a 3070 be better? Will I get a decent all round laptop with these cards or should I aim lower?
- I assume wattage is v important, at least from what I've read. Is there a good minimum to expect / want?
- one of the specifics I'm not sure on is reference to dlss improving framerate. Is this important? Is this limited to the 4 series gpus? Does this make older gpus obsolete?
- what should I look for in the screen, within my budget?
- anything else I should have in mind?
- is this as good a time as any to be buying a laptop or is there a good reason to wait for a month or two?

Thanks a lot in advance!
 
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Thanks so much for the advice and thoughts. Couple more queries if I may:
- are radeon gpus worth considering? I did a bit of research as there are one or two floating around on what seem like OK deals (eg. an Asus ROG Strix G15 with a 6800M gpu for under £1k), and got mixed messages - some say equivalent to a 3070/80, others say Nvidia GPUs are just better for gaming.
- is there a way to judge the screen on laptops based on the stats or is it really a case of reading some reviews and see what they say? I've seen some which sound like they have good specs (including the above) but then the reviews suggest it's decent but not amazing.
- should I be worrying much about the cpu? In the past I seem to recall the GPU was always the point a laptop would struggle, so was the priority. But do I need to be looking for a minimum cpu level, AMD or Intel, eg. i7 / 12th series / etc?

Obviously had a look on overclockers as well and they seem to have a few laptop deals with 4060s for £850 upwards. eg. This one (no idea which brands are better, noticed different GPU wattage on some, this one is 140W). Do these compare favourably?

Also seen a Acer Nitro 5 AN515-46 with a 3070ti (150W) for just over £1k, so a little over budget and pricier than the others mentioned, but seems to get good reviews (albeit it is a 2021 laptop as far as I can tell).

​

Thanks again so much
 
So I took the plunge. Managed to get the below for £1040, below £1k if cashback tracks.

Just wondering - is a 4070 gpu worth the extra cost? There are plenty of laptops with 4060 gpus floating around for less than £1k, so just checking I haven't been dazzled by a bigger number.

Does the build overall seem decent?

Product DescriptionAcer Nitro 16 AN16-41 - 16" - AMD Ryzen 7 - 7735HS - 16 GB RAM - 1.024 TB SSD - UK
Product TypeNotebook
Operating SystemWin 11 Home
ProcessorAMD Ryzen 7 7735HS / 3.2 GHz, up to 4.75 GHz / 16 MB Cache
Memory16 GB DDR5 (2 x 8 GB)
Storage1.024 TB SSD - SED
Display16" 2560 x 1600 / WQXGA @ 165 Hz - matte
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (140w TDP)
Video Memory8 GB GDDR6 SDRAM
 
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