Decent Gaming Laptop?

[Lummex]

Hi Guys,

I'd appreciate your thoughts/comments on the spec below. Price is £1789 from PCSpecialist. I've never had a gaming laptop before, I've always built my own desktops.

Many thanks



Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 880M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Free Item
Free Item
FREE £90 IN-GAME VOUCHER with GTX 650 / 750 /7000M / 8000M Series GPUs

Memory - Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
6x BLURAY WRITER, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7260 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT

Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
2 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor (£55)

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Carry Case
Tech Air 17.3" Classic Backpack (£23)

Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE

Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM

Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)

Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)

Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Delivery
SATURDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 12 NOON) (£19)

 

[Dblkk]

Specs seem great, I have never heard of this company before and don't know the actual laptop chasis itself. If its using a single or dual fan for cooling depends on how hot and how loud it will be while stressing/gaming.

Also im us so don't know your prices converting and stuff. But that build is worth/comparable to a $1800 msi or $2200 asus build. Then add $120 for ssd, and $100 for hhd. SO your American asus/msi brand equivalent would be about $2200-2500.

 

[Traciatim]

Just remember to keep in mind that laptop parts perform much slower than they desktop named matches. For instance the 880m is more like a 660ti or 7950/270x and no where near what you would expect when we get a desktop 880 (or even 780).

Other than that, a gaming laptops is what it is. It's heavy, they run hot, they have terrible battery life, their performance is slow for how much you pay... but if you must have the portability then this is what you have to trade.

If you don't need to play games on the laptop, you'd probably be better off with a mid-range gaming desktop and a really cheap laptop. You'd likely get better performance and far better portability.

 

[Dblkk]

Just remember to keep in mind that laptop parts perform much slower than they desktop named matches. For instance the 880m is more like a 660ti or 7950/270x and no where near what you would expect when we get a desktop 880 (or even 780).

Other than that, a gaming laptops is what it is. It's heavy, they run hot, they have terrible battery life, their performance is slow for how much you pay... but if you must have the portability then this is what you have to trade.

If you don't need to play games on the laptop, you'd probably be better off with a mid-range gaming desktop and a really cheap laptop. You'd likely get better performance and far better portability.

While I agree that for the price, pc tromps laptop. But otherwise, I have the asus g750 jz. My 880m can play any game at ultra settings without a problem. My battery for non gaming lasts 5-6 hours, which you cant really compare since you almost need to plug in for gaming as so with a pc. My laptop is 10lbs yes, but with a backpack I don't even notice it, and when I use it its sitting on a desk or something. My laptop while gaming runs 75c, and full out rendering runs 85-90c. Dual fans on asus has next to nothing for fan noise. It actually renders my videos and 3d animation faster than my $2000 pc (though im in the midst of trying to figure out how that is possible as it shouldn't be). But best of all, I can take it places, a lot easier than my pc. There isn't an aspect on the laptop that I don't like, keyboard is just about as good as my Logitech g710+ gaming keyboard, I can use the same Logitech gaming mouse I use for pc ( I opted for the wireless version to pair with laptop), screen being 17" and the fact the laptop normally sits closer to me actually feels like im sucked into the game more than my 23" pc monitor.

What I mean by this is that laptops have come a very very far way. Before you could barely run a game on a gaming laptop. Now I can run ultra anything on any game and if I use vsync my 80m sits around 60% usage. the i7 4700 on mine is a beast, but you can opt laptop wise all the way to a 4930k. I have 32gb ddr3 1866 ram in my laptop with 2x 1tb Samsung evo msata in raid 0, with a third 2.5" 1tb Samsung evo. With 4 usb3.0 ports and thunderbolt for my externals, and a normal usage laptop battery life around 5-6 hours, it really is just a beast. Its almost the equivalent of my pc, yet extremely portable. And costed about the same, more if you don't factor in all the storage between the two as the ssd and ram I added to my lappy costed me over $1800 alone on top of my $2300 laptop.

But, if you don't need portability, yes a desktop would be your best bet. But if it isn't, just make sure you shop around. The pc you built is good, but you do pay a premium for it that way. Example, the Samsung evo 128gb is only $70, im sure that price to add on to your custimation is closer to the $140 list price of that drive, so double.

 

[Lummex]

Thanks to you both. for your responses. As I said, I've always built my own desktops, but this is my first foray into laptops. Sadly I do need the portability of a laptop, so another desktop is out of the question. Another sad fact is that the prices over here in the UK are way higher than US prices, even without 20% VAT being added on top.

I'm not expecting it to be the fastest machine ever built, but I do expect it to last for a minimum of 3 years at High/Ultra specs. (I mostly play RTS's so don't have the same problam as FPS gamers).

It's built on a Clevo chassis (P170sm) with separate cooling systems for CPU & GPU. I looked at the MSI/ASUS options, and they come in about £70 cheaper, but without the customer service, warranty, and a slightly slower CPU (i4710MQ, not the i4810MQ).

I'm coming from a GTX470 SOC, so from what you've said, the 880M will do fine!

Many thanks for your help.

Lummex