New Laptop; So confused:

Hello all, yes it's another laptop thread.

Seen as I practically know nothing about what I'm looking I figured you guys could help out.

Basically I want a laptop that'll play the 3D game engine and a fair few leagues at a fairly decent speed, for example I normally load up about 24 leagues from 13 nations.

Budget is about £500-550, any help is much appreciated.

I'm sure someone more savvy with actual knowledge of brands but some advice from me who knows hardware.

If you're after a laptop, get a decent one because if you go cheaper, you'll only be paying for upgrades or a whole new one sooner or later. Bear in mind that the new FM could require more requirements.

More than 3GB of Ram is my little input for you. I have 2GB of Ram and whilst it's okay to run, I'd like more. I'll be upgrading soon myself.

Cheers for that, i'll bear the amount of RAM in mind.

First question I'd ask is "do you need a laptop, for anything else?" if the answer is no then I'd tell you to buy a desktop, especially if you're running games off of it. They're easier to upgrade, don't get as hot (thus having a longer shelf-life), and tend to be better set-up for playing games. Laptops are work on the go computers.

As Stem said 3GB of RAM is a good idea, a decent graphics card (you're very unlikely to get a good one unless you're building yourself), a processor significantly higher than 2GB (which is the minimum requirement on Vista) and very good batteries (for if you're moving around).

Well tbh, I'd prefer a laptop, I'm on the move alot and generally prefer playing FM when I'm just chilling out, so a desktop is probably a no-no.

So i'm looking for so far 3GB+ RAM, and a processor higher than that, okay, thanks.

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5740G_Laptop_LX.PMF02.061/version.asp

What about this?

Decent performance for price?

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5740G_Laptop_LX.PMF02.061/version.asp

What about this?

Decent performance for price?

I would say so. For the price range that your in, doesn't look that bad a deal to be honest with you.

Cheers, and that would run FM pretty well?

3D pitch included?

Cheers, and that would run FM pretty well?

3D pitch included?

Yes, very well in fact.

Excellent, nice one everyone.

That laptop you posted the link to is the one up from mine(i have the aspire 5735) and mine runs FM quite well so i would definately recommend that Laptop.

I have a good laptop for you but cheaper and everything you want in it, it has a good dedicated graphics 512 card 4gb ram and 320 gb for only £479 and its dell.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/dell-inspiron-1546-black-04927895-pdt.html

I hope i have helped you.

More than 3GB memory is only useful if you're running a 64-bit operating system. A 32-bit OS can only address about 3.2GB

Any one of these would do you just fine.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/195966

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/226389

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/182582

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172289

Thanks for that TJJESSE and danfraser.

How much of a difference does the processor make to the performance? And which is better, an Intel i3 or AMD Turion dual core or an Intel dual core?

And you're saying that if I wanted 4gb of RAM for example, the operating system would have to be a 64-bit to use this much RAM to it's full potential?

Gaz - Here is a really good and helpful website that may give you more answers. I went here when I was deciding what laptop to buy.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/

Thanks mate, i'll have a look in there.

I own a Toshiba A500-1GL laptop.

It has an Intel Core i3 CPU @ 2.13Ghz, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb HDD, nVidia 330m graphics with Win 7 64-bit. 1366x768 resolution.

It runs Football Manager fairly well. Full settings with regards match engine graphics and the game processes all but the most congested fixture lists in a reasonable time with over 25 leagues selected in 13 countries on a large database. Most people would probably want to run a few less leagues though but this game is copied over from my PC.

It will run most other games too on at least mid settings.

It cost me about £550 6 months ago.

It seems a lot of Laptops in the 15" variety have the 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5470 yet this falls in position 101 on that link above. However a 17" Laptop from Dell for about £670 has a Mobility Radeon HD 5650 which is in position 41!

However would either of them be good enough to run the 3D? Im getting a new laptop myself and would love to run all the nifty 3D effects. The thing is, I dont think I want a 17" laptop because the bigger it gets the worse it gets for being portable. So can anyone advise a 15" laptop with the Mobility Radeon HD 5650?

Also confused when you see the graphics card listed as 'Intel HD' with 1800MB Dedicated Memory. Seems like a load of sales speak to me!