Best value VR-ready gaming laptop - UK, 17", £1.4K

[mattdp]

I'm in the market for a new gaming laptop. And yes, I have good reasons to want a laptop so please no-one bother telling me to save money by getting a desktop instead.

I'm more interested in getting best value for money rather than maximum performance.
The important requirements:

I want something future-proof enough to run VR tech. So mininum graphics are the GTX 970 / AMD 290 recommendations from Oculus.

• 
  
  I would like it to have an SSD.
  I also plan on using this for work projects, so a good keyboard is important.
  It does not have to be super-portable: happy to have something heavy and bulky and which has relatively poor battery life.
  
  My budget is about £1400 but value is very important: if I can get what I want for less, that's a big bonus.

At the moment, my top contenders are:

• 
  ASUS ROG G752VT http/store.asus.com/us/item/201510AM090006012
  XMG P706 w/added SSD http/mysn.co.uk/shop/xmg-p506-gaminglaptop.html

XMG also do a 15" laptop with a "basic" 970M equivalent that has half the VRAM and no G-Sync (http/mysn.co.uk/shop/xmg-p506-gaminglaptop.html) - I'd rather a 17" machine, but this could save me a bit of cash. Is it worth considering?

Is there any particular reason to favour one over the other? Are there any other models to consider, or performance/hardware issues I should consider when researching?

 

[hdmark]

The rog doesn't look bad, ive never heard of xmg. I'm not really sure where to send you but keep in mind that VR recommends a GTX 970 desktop. a gtx 980M I believe has less power than a 970 desktop. so when youre looking at laptop's, you'll probably be needing to find a 980 desktop grade card or even a 980 ti laptop

 

[Onefurrybanana]

http/m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834152936&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile-_-pla-_-Gaming+Laptops-_-N82E16834152936&gclid=CjwKEAiAova1BRDS15OXjcug_FMSJACWNAKZHHHrZUm6hgGximChO1b8GqB02uvQ5L0S_8ge9UQo2xoCACPw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
This laptop should be pretty good and around your budget.

 

[mattdp]

I'm not really sure where to send you but keep in mind that VR recommends a GTX 970 desktop. a gtx 980M I believe has less power than a 970 desktop.

Aha, I hadn't considered that.

I thought a 980m was about 20% faster than a 970m, which would put it on a par with a 970 desktop. But it's a moot point because I can't afford one.

Perhaps I'll have to wait for next year's models.

 

[hdmark]

unless you have an immediate need for VR (have the headset ordered) or need a new laptop for work, I would keep what you have. wait for the new generation cards to come to laptops. at least the desktop cards seem to be VERY promising and since they are already putting desktop grade cards into laptop form factors ( I think 980's? not sure about ti's). I would imagine them continuing this with the pascal cards.
but that's of course if you can wait. if not, either of the laptops you suggested should be fine

 

[mattdp]

http/m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834152936&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile-_-pla-_-Gaming+Laptops-_-N82E16834152936&gclid=CjwKEAiAova1BRDS15OXjcug_FMSJACWNAKZHHHrZUm6hgGximChO1b8GqB02uvQ5L0S_8ge9UQo2xoCACPw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
This laptop should be pretty good and around your budget.

Thanks, bur sadly US prices don't translate to UK in terms of dollar to pound ratio. Cheapest I can find that is £1.7k,

 

[mattdp]

unless you have an immediate need for VR (have the headset ordered) or need a new laptop for work, I would keep what you have. wait for the new generation cards to come to laptops. at least the desktop cards seem to be VERY promising and since they are already putting desktop grade cards into laptop form factors ( I think 980's? not sure about ti's). I would imagine them continuing this with the pascal cards.
but that's of course if you can wait. if not, either of the laptops you suggested should be fine

I'm starting to think this may be the best advice. I'd like to buy soon if possible because it would save me a bit of tax, and my current rig is starting to show the strain running recent titles. But it's probably better to pay a little extra tax and put up with the jaggies than drop £1.4k on something that won't actually meet my requirements.

 

[hdmark]

unless you have an immediate need for VR (have the headset ordered) or need a new laptop for work, I would keep what you have. wait for the new generation cards to come to laptops. at least the desktop cards seem to be VERY promising and since they are already putting desktop grade cards into laptop form factors ( I think 980's? not sure about ti's). I would imagine them continuing this with the pascal cards.
but that's of course if you can wait. if not, either of the laptops you suggested should be fine

I'm starting to think this may be the best advice. I'd like to buy soon if possible because it would save me a bit of tax, and my current rig is starting to show the strain running recent titles. But it's probably better to pay a little extra tax and put up with the jaggies than drop £1.4k on something that won't actually meet my requirements.

not sure how exactly tax comes into it. business expense? but yes, I would wait. ive bought too many things that didn't meet my expectation because that's what I could afford at the time, just to sell them and buy the better thing a few months or year later and waste all of the money. id say suck it up for the time being (in the nicest way possible!) and lower your settings if necessary for a year or so and then get the better one

that's also what im doing btw. going to wait a year or two. potentially even till volta (generation after pascal) comes out and then buy that and get into VR a little late in the game but when its more flushed out (although I know people will disagree with this strategy)

 

[mattdp]

not sure how exactly tax comes into it. business expense? but yes, I would wait.

Yes: I'm self-employed so I can count a new machine as a legitimate expense.

I have found a laptop that has a desktop-grade 980 in the build. But not only is it too expensive, I'm wary of the heat/power demands that entails. I presume mobile GPUs get put in laptops for a good reason.

http/www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/octaneII-17-Pro/