Looking for a new laptop for university!

[HobbitCraft]

I have just under £1000 to spend on a new laptop for university. I would like it to be a complete replacement/upgrade from my desktop (gtx660, i5-4570, 8gb ram).

Main requirements are:
- Really good graphics card. I will be using this laptop to play any new games I buy on steam.
- 17.3-inch screen
- 1920x1080 or more
- 8+ GB of RAM, or some way of upgrading without voiding warranty
- Ethernet port (Too many laptops I am looking at do not have an ethernet port)

This will be bought in the UK, so please provide UK links (since most of the US links show the laptops as "unavailable" in the UK).

Any suggestions will help! Thanks!

 

[basroil]

Why not just take your desktop and get a portable device for classes like a Surface 3? It's a hell of a lot cheaper!

 

[Chayan4400]

I have just under £1000 to spend on a new laptop for university. I would like it to be a complete replacement/upgrade from my desktop (gtx660, i5-4570, 8gb ram).

Main requirements are:
- Really good graphics card. I will be using this laptop to play any new games I buy on steam.
- 17.3-inch screen
- 1920x1080 or more
- 8+ GB of RAM, or some way of upgrading without voiding warranty
- Ethernet port (Too many laptops I am looking at do not have an ethernet port)

This will be bought in the UK, so please provide UK links (since most of the US links show the laptops as "unavailable" in the UK).

Any suggestions will help! Thanks!

Here you go . Take you pick, all of these are great laptops:

MSI GE62 Apache Pro - Better graphics card (Roughly equivalent to your desktop card.) but smaller screen.

MSI GE72 Apache - Less powerful GPU than your current one, but bigger screen.

ASUS G750JS-T4068H - Older GPU, but a 17.3" screen.

MSI GT60 Dominator - Again, smaller screen, and a good (Again, roughly equal to your desktop card.) albeit older GPU.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to get a laptop that is an upgrade from your current PC, but you can get one that comes close in performance. However, you will have to decide whether you want better performance or a larger screen as only the laptops with 970m or 880m GPUs will perform similar to your desktop, as the laptops with a 960m or 870m will not be able to cope with the same lavel of detail in games as a GTX 660.

None of these laptops will be practical for using for university work, as all of them are quite bulky and are likely to have relatively short run times on battery due to the 1080p display and powerful components.

 

[HobbitCraft]

Why not just take your desktop and get a portable device for classes like a Surface 3? It's a hell of a lot cheaper!

I am not going to be using the laptop much for classes. It is more just as something that is easy to carry with me since I will be going home most weekends by train, and also using it for Lan parties which are around 15mins walk from my accomodation. Also, my desktop would be better used at home by my parents than by me at university if I get a laptop that can replace it.

 

[HobbitCraft]

I have just under £1000 to spend on a new laptop for university. I would like it to be a complete replacement/upgrade from my desktop (gtx660, i5-4570, 8gb ram).

Main requirements are:
- Really good graphics card. I will be using this laptop to play any new games I buy on steam.
- 17.3-inch screen
- 1920x1080 or more
- 8+ GB of RAM, or some way of upgrading without voiding warranty
- Ethernet port (Too many laptops I am looking at do not have an ethernet port)

This will be bought in the UK, so please provide UK links (since most of the US links show the laptops as "unavailable" in the UK).

Any suggestions will help! Thanks!

Here you go . Take you pick, all of these are great laptops:

MSI GE62 Apache Pro - Better graphics card (Roughly equivalent to your desktop card.) but smaller screen.

MSI GE72 Apache - Less powerful GPU than your current one, but bigger screen.

ASUS G750JS-T4068H - Older GPU, but a 17.3" screen.

MSI GT60 Dominator - Again, smaller screen, and a good (Again, roughly equal to your desktop card.) albeit older GPU.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to get a laptop that is an upgrade from your current PC, but you can get one that comes close in performance. However, you will have to decide whether you want better performance or a larger screen as only the laptops with 970m or 880m GPUs will perform similar to your desktop, as the laptops with a 960m or 870m will not be able to cope with the same lavel of detail in games as a GTX 660.

None of these laptops will be practical for using for university work, as all of them are quite bulky and are likely to have relatively short run times on battery due to the 1080p display and powerful components.

I like the look of the ASUS G750, since I believe the 870M is quite a bit better than the GTX660 from the 3DMark benchmarks.
The MSI GE62 Apache only has the problem of it being a 15.6" screen (since I will be moving from a 23" monitor to a laptop screen).
The GE72 version also looks quite good, but since its a used version and has the 960M, i think the GE62 would be better (if its screen was not smaller).

All in all i will definitely check out the ASUS and GE62 laptops! Thanks!

Considering I spent £650 on building this desktop around 2 years ago, I'm quite surprised that you said I would not be able to get an upgrade compared to my desktop for < £1000

 

[basroil]

Why not just take your desktop and get a portable device for classes like a Surface 3? It's a hell of a lot cheaper!

I am not going to be using the laptop much for classes. It is more just as something that is easy to carry with me since I will be going home most weekends by train, and also using it for Lan parties which are around 15mins walk from my accomodation. Also, my desktop would be better used at home by my parents than by me at university if I get a laptop that can replace it.

In that case, a SFF build and small monitor would be just fine for you and probably faster/ cheaper.

You can probably take the 660 you have from that computer to save some money as well (since your parents are unlikely to need a graphics card like that, onboard is more than fine)

 

[Chayan4400]

I have just under £1000 to spend on a new laptop for university. I would like it to be a complete replacement/upgrade from my desktop (gtx660, i5-4570, 8gb ram).

Main requirements are:
- Really good graphics card. I will be using this laptop to play any new games I buy on steam.
- 17.3-inch screen
- 1920x1080 or more
- 8+ GB of RAM, or some way of upgrading without voiding warranty
- Ethernet port (Too many laptops I am looking at do not have an ethernet port)

This will be bought in the UK, so please provide UK links (since most of the US links show the laptops as "unavailable" in the UK).

Any suggestions will help! Thanks!

Here you go . Take you pick, all of these are great laptops:

MSI GE62 Apache Pro - Better graphics card (Roughly equivalent to your desktop card.) but smaller screen.

MSI GE72 Apache - Less powerful GPU than your current one, but bigger screen.

ASUS G750JS-T4068H - Older GPU, but a 17.3" screen.

MSI GT60 Dominator - Again, smaller screen, and a good (Again, roughly equal to your desktop card.) albeit older GPU.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to get a laptop that is an upgrade from your current PC, but you can get one that comes close in performance. However, you will have to decide whether you want better performance or a larger screen as only the laptops with 970m or 880m GPUs will perform similar to your desktop, as the laptops with a 960m or 870m will not be able to cope with the same lavel of detail in games as a GTX 660.

None of these laptops will be practical for using for university work, as all of them are quite bulky and are likely to have relatively short run times on battery due to the 1080p display and powerful components.

I like the look of the ASUS G750, since I believe the 870M is quite a bit better than the GTX660 from the 3DMark benchmarks.
The MSI GE62 Apache only has the problem of it being a 15.6" screen (since I will be moving from a 23" monitor to a laptop screen).
The GE72 version also looks quite good, but since its a used version and has the 960M, i think the GE62 would be better (if its screen was not smaller).

All in all i will definitely check out the ASUS and GE62 laptops! Thanks!

Considering I spent £650 on building this desktop around 2 years ago, I'm quite surprised that you said I would not be able to get an upgrade compared to my desktop for < £1000

Unfortunately, that is the main downside to going with a laptop - they are FAR less powerful than equivalent desktops. In fact, if you take the price of most gaming desktops and double it, that is the price you can expect to pay for a a laptop that is similar in performance.

Of course, as desktops like yours get older it should cost less to find a laptop that performs the same; this is not true due to the UK's high PC component and laptop prices compared to the US, so in the UK you can actually expect to pay around 2.5 to even 3 times the price of a new desktop for a similar performing laptop, which is why you still only get a laptop that is equivalent to your desktop in your price range.

Benchmarks aren't everything. While the 870m may score higher in 3DMark, after watching actual gameplay here are the results:

Far Cry 4 (High settings) average FPS

GTX 660: About 40 - 47 FPS Click here.
GTX 870m: About 36 - 43 FPS Click here.

Crysis 3 (Very High) average FPS

GTX 660: About 30 - 35 FPS Click here.
GTX 870m: About 27 - 32 FPS Click here.

As you can see, the 870m is similar in performance to the GTX 660.