Help Me Choose a New $2000 Gaming Laptop

[JC2188]

Hi,

I'm in the market for a new laptop and was looking for some help deciding and customizing, so that I get the most for my money. I am fairly new to PC gaming, so I'm not an expert on which graphics card is best, what processor I'll need to get the most out of it etc. So all your advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been looking at laptops on http/www.xoticpc.com/ and I've found 3 that I think are quite good, I've linked to them further down.

1. What is your budget?

Around $2000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

15"-17"

3. What screen resolution do you want?

Best possible

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

Portable

5. How much battery life do you need?

Standard 3-4 hours will do

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

I will want to play games such as BF4, Skyrim, Shogun, Far Cry 3 etc. All in at least High.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

I will browse the web, university work, programming, streaming movies

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

Ideally 1 TB+

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8255-clevo-p157sm-p-5839.html?wconfigure=yes
http/www.xoticpc.com/force-msi-16f4-54017-770m-msi-gt60-barebones-p-5821.html?wconfigure=yes
http/www.xoticpc.com/force-msi-1763-22002-770m-msi-gt70-barebones-p-5816.html?wconfigure=yes

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

Ideally this should last me through university (3-4 years)

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

I will stream most of the media that I watch/listen too, but I would want a CD/DVD ROM Reader and Writer, and might consider adding blu-ray if it wasn't much more expensive.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

Not really bothered about particular brands

13. What country do you live in?

I live in the UK, but I am currently in New Zealand until April, so I will want it shipped to NZ and I will take it back to the UK.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed:

I have found 3 decent laptops around my budget. All of them come with the GTX 770M, however one has the option of upgrading to GTX 780M for +$350. Would this deliver an improvement in graphics to justify this cost?

Some of the laptops have 8GB of overclocked 2133 MHz RAM, others come with 16GB of 1600MHz RAM. Which would deliver better gaming performance? What about for other tasks such as web browsing etc?

I also have the option of having 120GB of mSATA SSD to improve performance, is this worth it? Is 120GB enough?

For each laptop, I will have a 1TB 7200rpm hard drive.

The processor's are all 4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4700MQ (2.4GHz - 3.4GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache). Is this good enough?

One laptop has a 15" screen and the others a 17" screen, in your experience, does this make a big difference?

I also notice Xoticpc offer addons such as IC Diamond Thermal Compound, COPPER COOLING UPGRADE, Video boost GPU overclocking and Redline boost operating system. Are any of these worth their price? Particularly when I am not going for a top of the line system?

Hopefully you don't get overwhelmed by the number of questions!

Thanks in advance,

Jack

 

[kaswyn]

With a $2000 budget, you've got yourself pretty much covered.

Memory speeds technically speed up a few little things, but overclocked incorrectly, your system will not last as long.

770M to 780M is definitely faster, but probably not worth $300+. Best bang for buck is 770M

mSATA or SATA SSD is 100% worth it. Even if you get a machine without it, you should add it manually.

120GB SSD is plenty. You install OS and apps on it. Videos and pics/docs go on regular drive.

17 inch is better at 1080 resolution.


It's cheaper to buy a good laptop and add more good components. However, if you don't know how or have $$$$$ to burn, just buy whatever you need in a laptop.

Modified searches:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=32&N=100006740%204084%204085%20600003982%20600004378%20600372105%20600440390%20600004748%20600307248%20600440392%20600440391%20600004420%20600440387%20600440388%20600004850%20600059503&IsNodeId=1&IsPowerSearch=1

http/www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100006740%204084%204085%20600003982%20600004378%20600372105%20600004420%20600440388%20600004850%20600059503&IsNodeId=1


Personally, I'd get this if I didn't customize:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834198032

Specs I'd want:

i7 4700 cpu
8GB+ ram
770M or 780M video card
1TB 7200 HHD
120GB SSD