Gaming laptop choice

[computerwonder]

Been looking through the threads for gaming laptops there either budget or a couple of years old. Im looking for a laptop to run World of Warcraft on high settings aswell as Call of Duty AWF on high settings. New to laptops so just wondering if someone could link me a few decent ones Willing to spend around £1200

Thanks

 

[Solandri]

WoW is easy. Even laptops with integrated graphics can run it well. CoD:AW is tougher. Looks like you'll need a 850m or better to run it on high at decent framerates.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html?type=&sort=&deskornote=0&or=0&search=&month=&benchmark_values=&gpubenchmarks=0&professional=0&archive=1&dx=0&multiplegpus=0&showClassDescription=0&condensed=0&showCount=0&showBars=0&showPercent=0&gameselect%5B%5D=310&gameselect%5B%5D=49&gpu_fullname=1&codename=0&architecture=0&pixelshaders=0&vertexshaders=0&corespeed=0&shaderspeed=0&boostspeed=0&memoryspeed=0&memorybus=0&directx=0&technology=0&daysold=0

I'm not familiar with pricing in the UK. But there are a bunch of laptops with the 850m, 860m, 870m, and some 970m in the dollar-equivalent price range. Unfortunately the 870m and some 860m use the older Kepler architecture which runs a lot hotter (which on a laptop means noisier fan). So avoid the 870m, and make sure any 860m laptop is using Maxwell.

At the low end of the price range, look at the Lenovo Y50 and Acer V15. Both use the Maxwell 860m. Screen on the Y50 sucks, but it's easy and cheap to replace with a much nicer screen.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ideapad-essential/755626-y50-replacement-displays-compendium.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BqVuCKew1E

Otherwise, you need to specify more what you're looking for. 17"? 15"? Smaller? Thin? Weight? Battery life when not gaming? etc.

 

[computerwonder]

thanks for the answer sol, well im getting away from desktop gaming rather be more up and go sort of thing. Honestly I dont really know much about laptops, a 17inch screen would be nice and the battery life im not too fussed about aslong as it will last around 3 hours off charge. Im just looking for the best laptop for gaming for around a £1200 price point. Obviously id like it to be able to run games in the near future aswell.

 

[Solandri]

Up to 17" and 3 hours with your budget is pretty liberal. You have too many choices for me to list here. Look for laptops by Asus RoG, MSI, Gigabyte, Lenovo Y, Dell Alienware (if they ever update it), and Sager/Clevo. The last one is kind of the "bargain" brand - best bang for the buck but many people don't like the appearance or build quality.

For future-proofing, I'd look for something with the new nVidia 970m. It's about 40% faster than the 860m, doesn't draw that much more power, and doesn't cost much more. The 980m is an option too, but it's only about 20% faster than the 970m and commands a much higher price since it's the current top of the line. Unfortunately the 970m is still relatively new, and vendors are still in the process of updating their laptops to use it. If you can wait a couple months, you'll have a wider selection. Here's a spiffy list of current laptops which use the 970m which someone has put together: (Note that the Cyberpower Fangbook is just a rebadged MSI GS60 without the optional 3k screen.)

http://www.ultrabookreview.com/5729-gaming-laptops-nvidia-970m-980m/