help choosing between two laptops?

[tazzz96]

Hi, I'm going to university in september and I need to choose between these 2 laptops.

http/www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Satellite-C55-A-1N1-15-6-inch-i5-4200M/dp/B00H7911TQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400059104&sr=8-1&keywords=toshiba+satellite

http/www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/CB-CZ5850-641KD-Cube-Chameleon-Cz-5850_1635713.html


I'm mainly going to be using it for movie watching and light light gaming (mostly just FIFA games, so needs to be able to run FIFA 15, whatever its requirements will be). Does having a GTX850m justify the £70 increase? Plus would the chameleon be reliable, seeing as Cube is a brand I can barely find any reviews on?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Agera One]

!! The Cube has GTX 850M 2 GB !! It's a beast..

 

[Beezy]

yes the 850m is worth it since you wont be doing any gaming at 1080p with intel HD graphics (Toshiba) but one problem is no operating system on the CUBE...

 

[tazzz96]

Cheers guys will probably get the cube then, is it definitely worth the £70 difference?

I know it says no operating system, but in the overview it says it has windows 8 so I've emailed them to see what it actually is.

 

[Agera One]

Cheers guys will probably get the cube then, is it definitely worth the £70 difference?

I know it says no operating system, but in the overview it says it has windows 8 so I've emailed them to see what it actually is.

The cube is more than 70 Euros worth when compred to gaming (i.e. GPU)..

 

[1shado1]

yes the 850m is worth it since you wont be doing any gaming at 1080p with intel HD graphics (Toshiba)...

I'm betting the Toshiba only has a 720p display. At least the Cube has a 1080p display.

 

[Beezy]

yes the 850m is worth it since you wont be doing any gaming at 1080p with intel HD graphics (Toshiba)...

I'm betting the Toshiba only has a 720p display. At least the Cube has a 1080p display.

yeah but if he wanted to hook it up to a 1080p monitor/TV externally (VGA or hdmi)...even at 720p i dont know if integrated graphics cuts it for AAA titles

 

[dasulman]

http/www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosII/
this is the same laptop as the cube - except you can change the configuration to anything you like
for example, the cube laptop spec comes to £539 on that site - so pcspecialist is cheaper.
and if you're worried about pcspecialists reliability - it's now a supplier for pcworlds gaming laptops.

 

[tazzz96]

http/www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosII/
this is the same laptop as the cube - except you can change the configuration to anything you like
for example, the cube laptop spec comes to £539 on that site - so pcspecialist is cheaper.
and if you're worried about pcspecialists reliability - it's now a supplier for pcworlds gaming laptops.

would you reckon it'd be better to use pcspecialist, and with the £10 saved, have Arctic MX-4 extreme thermal conductivity paste instead? Also I would just buy windows separately because I'm a student so can get it discounted.


Cheers

 

[dasulman]

well yes, but if you're going to game, then i definitely recommend 8GB of RAM. its not a pricey upgrade and its well worth it

 

[tazzz96]

Sorry for all the questions, but i've just realised that on pc specialist there isn't an option for 1tb 7200rpm HDD, as there is on the cube. The only way its £539 is with 500gb at 5400rpm. This isn't too much of a big deal though, I suppose.

Also, would having an i3- 4110m make much of a difference compared to the i5? Because I'd be saving £32

 

[Beezy]

Stick with the i5

 

[dasulman]

there isn't much difference between the I3 and I5.
and honestly I doubt you'd fill 1TB, you can easily get away with 750GB. Heck i've been gaming for a long time and have never filled 250GB (though I keep my drive clean)

 

[tazzz96]

dasulman - ok thank you I will probably go with PC specialist then.

Frank - that website is USA based so I'd have to end up spending an extra 20% on import tax etc, so it's not worth it, even though the options are great.

 

[dasulman]

Frank your website needs a lot more products... you've barely even touched i'd guess about half the options.

 

[JimmyBoyUK]

I bought the cz-5850 Cube Chameleon and had it delivered today.

It's build quality is fantastic for what I would call a non-brand machine. The GtX-850m is a beast and i basically only play Fifa games. With only 4gb ram it has played everything ive thrown at it in 1080p all be it with some newer titles without ambient occlusion and with low tesselation.

Installing Windows 8 was a breeze. Took 10 mins max to first boot.

The only con is the non-ips display however I see this as a non-issue as I only ever need the screen in one position.

The colours are a little washed out unless the gamma is slightly reduced.

All in all I think 550 quid with the parts included and a 2 year warranty is definitely worth the price.

I'm glad I took the plunge. This coming from a person who tried 6 laptops in the last 4 weeks from Toshiba, Lenovo, Hp and Acer.

 

[tazzz96]

I bought the cz-5850 Cube Chameleon and had it delivered today.

It's build quality is fantastic for what I would call a non-brand machine. The GtX-850m is a beast and i basically only play Fifa games. With only 4gb ram it has played everything ive thrown at it in 1080p all be it with some newer titles without ambient occlusion and with low tesselation.

Installing Windows 8 was a breeze. Took 10 mins max to first boot.

The only con is the non-ips display however I see this as a non-issue as I only ever need the screen in one position.

The colours are a little washed out unless the gamma is slightly reduced.

All in all I think 550 quid with the parts included and a 2 year warranty is definitely worth the price.

I'm glad I took the plunge. This coming from a person who tried 6 laptops in the last 4 weeks from Toshiba, Lenovo, Hp and Acer.

Wow that all sounds great man, how is the battery life? Would it last me a day at university? (probably with low brightness, bluetooth off and wifi turning off and on during the day)

I think I've probably decided on that laptop, and I will probably buy the cube as opposed to the pcspecialist one, because for £10 more the Cube has a 1TB HDD with 7200rpm. Although it also uses more battery, which is a little important to me, so I might go with pcspecialist so I can get better thermal glue in it.

Im so indecisive.

 

[Beezy]

I bought the cz-5850 Cube Chameleon and had it delivered today.

It's build quality is fantastic for what I would call a non-brand machine. The GtX-850m is a beast and i basically only play Fifa games. With only 4gb ram it has played everything ive thrown at it in 1080p all be it with some newer titles without ambient occlusion and with low tesselation.

Installing Windows 8 was a breeze. Took 10 mins max to first boot.

The only con is the non-ips display however I see this as a non-issue as I only ever need the screen in one position.

The colours are a little washed out unless the gamma is slightly reduced.

All in all I think 550 quid with the parts included and a 2 year warranty is definitely worth the price.

I'm glad I took the plunge. This coming from a person who tried 6 laptops in the last 4 weeks from Toshiba, Lenovo, Hp and Acer.

Wow that all sounds great man, how is the battery life? Would it last me a day at university? (probably with low brightness, bluetooth off and wifi turning off and on during the day)

I think I've probably decided on that laptop, and I will probably buy the cube as opposed to the pcspecialist one, because for £10 more the Cube has a 1TB HDD with 7200rpm. Although it also uses more battery, which is a little important to me, so I might go with pcspecialist so I can get better thermal glue in it.

Im so indecisive.

almost all college classrooms have easily accessible outlets to charge your laptop, some even built into the desks now. i wouldnt worry too much about battery life, with laptops you know its going to be a certain way (trading portability for other conveniences)

 

[JimmyBoyUK]

I bought the cz-5850 Cube Chameleon and had it delivered today.

It's build quality is fantastic for what I would call a non-brand machine. The GtX-850m is a beast and i basically only play Fifa games. With only 4gb ram it has played everything ive thrown at it in 1080p all be it with some newer titles without ambient occlusion and with low tesselation.

Installing Windows 8 was a breeze. Took 10 mins max to first boot.

The only con is the non-ips display however I see this as a non-issue as I only ever need the screen in one position.

The colours are a little washed out unless the gamma is slightly reduced.

All in all I think 550 quid with the parts included and a 2 year warranty is definitely worth the price.

I'm glad I took the plunge. This coming from a person who tried 6 laptops in the last 4 weeks from Toshiba, Lenovo, Hp and Acer.

Wow that all sounds great man, how is the battery life? Would it last me a day at university? (probably with low brightness, bluetooth off and wifi turning off and on during the day)

I think I've probably decided on that laptop, and I will probably buy the cube as opposed to the pcspecialist one, because for £10 more the Cube has a 1TB HDD with 7200rpm. Although it also uses more battery, which is a little important to me, so I might go with pcspecialist so I can get better thermal glue in it.

Im so indecisive.

I bought the cz-5850 Cube Chameleon and had it delivered today.

It's build quality is fantastic for what I would call a non-brand machine. The GtX-850m is a beast and i basically only play Fifa games. With only 4gb ram it has played everything ive thrown at it in 1080p all be it with some newer titles without ambient occlusion and with low tesselation.

Installing Windows 8 was a breeze. Took 10 mins max to first boot.

The only con is the non-ips display however I see this as a non-issue as I only ever need the screen in one position.

The colours are a little washed out unless the gamma is slightly reduced.

All in all I think 550 quid with the parts included and a 2 year warranty is definitely worth the price.

I'm glad I took the plunge. This coming from a person who tried 6 laptops in the last 4 weeks from Toshiba, Lenovo, Hp and Acer.

Wow that all sounds great man, how is the battery life? Would it last me a day at university? (probably with low brightness, bluetooth off and wifi turning off and on during the day)

I think I've probably decided on that laptop, and I will probably buy the cube as opposed to the pcspecialist one, because for £10 more the Cube has a 1TB HDD with 7200rpm. Although it also uses more battery, which is a little important to me, so I might go with pcspecialist so I can get better thermal glue in it.

Im so indecisive.

almost all college classrooms have easily accessible outlets to charge your laptop, some even built into the desks now. i wouldnt worry too much about battery life, with laptops you know its going to be a certain way (trading portability for other conveniences)

No powerful laptop us going to last you all day at this price. The Cube one is worth it. Stick it on low brightness and power saving at uni and youll get around 4 ish hours

 

[tazzz96]

Hi guys quick update, for anyone who cares

I've decided on the PCSPECIALIST SkyFire IV 14" Laptop.

For £506, I can have

i5-4210m
GTX-850m DDR5 (better than the DDR3 850m in the cosmos)
4gb RAM (will upgrade to 12gb myself)
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK 7200rpm drive
900p screen (in all honestly I dont care about resolution, the 1366 x 768 on my 15.6" HP pavillion is fine for me)
No DVD drive (saves like £20, dont use DVD drives, if I did, I have a usb one at home anyway)
No OS (can get it cheaper as a student)

And then I can save £23 by having an i3-4110m, bringing it to £483 (probably wont do this)
Can save £10 by having 5400rpm drive as opposed to 7200rpm (not sure yet, still looking)

Or I can actually have a 500gb SSHD drive instead, for an extra £19, bringing it to £525

What do you guys reckon on the HDD/SSHD front? Should I plunge an extra £19 for an SSHD, save £10 for a 5400rpm, or just have the 7200rpm HDD? (all 500gb)