Laptop Recommendations (£750 budget)

Hey guys

Wondering if you can help me out.

Looking to buy a new laptop due to mine being on it's last legs and tbh I can't enjoy FM anymore because it's slow and I can't even browse the net at the same time without FM crashing so I have a budget of £750 and I want a decent laptop that will allow me to load a large number of leagues and play fast whilst being able to multi-task (browse internet and HD streaming at the same time etc). I might also use the laptop for photoshop etc.

I looked at some Novotech gaming laptops etc but it's probably overkill considering the only game I will be playing is FM.

Would appreciate any recommendations

Do a search, plenty of advice! Take a look at the benchmarking thread too.

General rule is get more processing power, min 4-6GB ram and no need for more than onboard graphics for 2k i series processors and above (ie i3/i5/i7).

Anything else spec wise is what ever good deal you can afford or what you need for alternative games, just avoid paying for things you do not need ie blu ray drives. The market is so fluctuating that one day a laptop can be a good deal and a few weeks later it can be a poor choice.

My suggestion is browse around, find what you can get for your money across the major shops and online retailers.

I's say that you should look for a minimum of 6GB ram, this will allow FM to use up it full addressable allocation & still leave enough left over for you to do other things while the game is processing.

I found this the other day in pc world http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pavilion-dm4-3002ea-Entertainment-Beats-Edition/dp/B007G97HSQ/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1339932032&sr=8-10

Decided to wait and buy in a couple of weeks once I have the money seems good for football manager and more.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5755G_15.6_HD_Ci7-2670QM_6GB_750GB_DVD_6-cell_CAM_WiFi__GT540M_LX.RPX02.037/version.asp

This one?

Thanks for the replies...

Been looking at some Acer laptop's namely the Aspire 5755G and the Aspire V3-5710G but been reading about over-heating issue with Acers and also that general reliability is poor? Is this true?

Also has anybody tried any products from Gigabyte?

Utterly no point in 6Gb of RAM. It won't be running dual channel mode so you'll lose some performance. 4 or 8.

Budget laptops all have issues. At £750 you shouldn't be running into issues with build quality.

You said you want HD streaming so of course that requires a screen that has a 1920x1080 resolution - no one has linked a machine that has this yet.

And I say this in every thread - does it have to be a laptop?

This is what you should be looking at;

Chassis & DisplayOptimus Series: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU) / Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3320M (2.60GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM) / 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card / NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk / 500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive / 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader / Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste / STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card / Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless / GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options / 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

BatteryOptimus /Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)

Operating System / Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

Keyboard LanguageINTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

Notebook MouseINTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE

WebcamINTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM

Warranty3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Price: £748.00 including VAT and delivery

You will save some money there if you dont need a Win 7 DVD.

I seriously considered getting a PC but the problem is I move around quite a lot and don't know yet where I'll be in a few months time so unfortunately a laptop is the only viable option. I completely agree with what you said regarding the quality of a £750 machine as this is quite a lot of money.

If you have any recommendations for any laptops I'd gladly hear from you as you seem to know your stuff. Thanks

what make is that?

what make is that?

Mine? Custom build from PCSpecialist.

You may be able to beat the price on that if you find a special offer somewhere, but it's not always possible.

I seriously considered getting a PC but the problem is I move around quite a lot and don't know yet where I'll be in a few months time so unfortunately a laptop is the only viable option. I completely agree with what you said regarding the quality of a £750 machine as this is quite a lot of money.

If you have any recommendations for any laptops I'd gladly hear from you as you seem to know your stuff. Thanks

See above, I edited a laptop into it.

See above, I edited a laptop into it.

Brilliant, nice one. So would you say an i5 is sufficient and will be able to see me through for a few years?

Also which laptop did you configure to get that price?

Brilliant, nice one. So would you say an i5 is sufficient and will be able to see me through for a few years?

For gaming, most definitely.

Also which laptop did you configure to get that price?

Custom High Spec I think it's called.

Custom High Spec I think it's called.

Brilliant, had a look at it. I found the Novotech Nspire 2670 black edition for roughly the same price, which would you say is better?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/nspire2760-blackedition.html

Brilliant, had a look at it. I found the Novotech Nspire 2670 black edition for roughly the same price, which would you say is better?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/laptop/range/nspire2760-blackedition.html

It's not as good.

The screen is not HD resolution.

The graphics chip is not as good.

No OS installed.

The processor is better, but for gaming an i7 QM is overkill - to the point where a lot of the extra power will never be used and so it becomes a waste of money.

It's not as good.

The screen is not HD resolution.

The graphics chip is not as good.

No OS installed.

The processor is better, but for gaming an i7 QM is overkill - to the point where a lot of the extra power will never be used and so it becomes a waste of money.

Cheers man, I noticed the screen wasn't HD which is a shame. So just one last question, in your opinion is the set up you posted worth paying an extra £1 - 200 rather than get an Asus or HP for example with slightly less performance?

Hmm..

Well the one I posted has a 3rd gen processor in it which will be more powerful but they can run a bit hotter. Is it worth it? It's up to you really. I think the HD screen is awesome, and when I have to use a laptop I really struggle with smaller resolutions now. I think if you were to try and find a machine with a HD screen, you'd be hard pressed to get it for the same price with a similar spec.

Hmm..

Well the one I posted has a 3rd gen processor in it which will be more powerful but they can run a bit hotter. Is it worth it? It's up to you really. I think the HD screen is awesome, and when I have to use a laptop I really struggle with smaller resolutions now. I think if you were to try and find a machine with a HD screen, you'd be hard pressed to get it for the same price with a similar spec.

Thanks for the info man, it's been very helpful. I suppose I'm just gonna shortlist 3-5 laptops and choose from between them, really don't want to rush the decision as I need the laptop to last a while. Thanks again

Bought this recently... http://www.laskys.com/computing/laptops_and_pdas/laptops/asus_x53sd_sx189v.html

Runs FM like a dream but maybe it just feels that way because my old laptop could barely run a league. But seriously that laptop is great for the price.

Wakers, do you think it's worth an extra £12 to get the i7-3610QM?

I think if you were to try and find a machine with a HD screen, you'd be hard pressed to get it for the same price with a similar spec.

Indeed that's the impression I get through searching online. The reviews for pcspecialist are amazing.

Is it very easy to install aftermarket blu-ray players do you know? and how easy would it be to install an SSD in future?

If the i7 is only £12 extra, then yes that's worth it.

Aftermarket blu ray may or may not be doable. I don't know how PCSpecialist assemble their laptops so I can't really comment. Same with an SSD. What I can say is that they seem to add quite a bit on for adding an SSD, as I tried to configure that in your build.

Also, I don't know what's going on with doubleton there, but I think he's a spambot he copied one of my posts and then tried to add a pic afterwards?

If the i7 is only £12 extra, then yes that's worth it.

Aftermarket blu ray may or may not be doable. I don't know how PCSpecialist assemble their laptops so I can't really comment. Same with an SSD. What I can say is that they seem to add quite a bit on for adding an SSD, as I tried to configure that in your build.

Also, I don't know what's going on with doubleton there, but I think he's a spambot he copied one of my posts and then tried to add a pic afterwards?

I'll probably give them a call to ask tomorrow before going ahead and ordering as I'd probably like to add a blu-ray player in future and defo also want and SSD as the performance will be much better and faster with one.

LOL yeah I think I just got played by a spambot lol

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5087059/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/2%7C14418968%7CLaptops+and+netbooks%7C14419039/c_3/3%7Ccat_14419039%7CLaptops%7C14419040.htm

£649 i5 2.5gb 8gb RAM 1tb hdd

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5087059/c_1/1|category_root|Office%2C+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/2|14418968|Laptops+and+netbooks|14419039/c_3/3|cat_14419039|Laptops|14419040.htm

£649 i5 2.5gb 8gb RAM 1tb hdd

Intel graphics and non-HD screen.

I bought a Dell from their concession store. Its not advertised but you can search for it via google. They are laptops returned by companies who ordered too many or in the vast minority ones that didn't work out the box and have been cured by Dell techs. I spent around £500 and everything on it was next level, sometimes two levels up and I'm very pleased. You can't pick and choose spec but from the list of computers available. Have a look, save yourself a bundle.

While this thread is about, my mate told me windows 8 is upcoming is this true?

Because like the OP I am thinking of getting a new laptop though my current one runs FM pretty good, if windows 8 is upcoming I would rather just wait and see what sort of reaction it gets.

I bought a Dell from their concession store. Its not advertised but you can search for it via google. They are laptops returned by companies who ordered too many or in the vast minority ones that didn't work out the box and have been cured by Dell techs. I spent around £500 and everything on it was next level, sometimes two levels up and I'm very pleased. You can't pick and choose spec but from the list of computers available. Have a look, save yourself a bundle.

Is that the same as the outlet store (which I know of)? If not, can you link me please because I can't seem to find it.

While this thread is about, my mate told me windows 8 is upcoming is this true?

Because like the OP I am thinking of getting a new laptop though my current one runs FM pretty good, if windows 8 is upcoming I would rather just wait and see what sort of reaction it gets.

Yeah I think Windows 8 is coming out soon and it is meant to have touch screen capability but personally I would steer well clear because it will have issues which will take a while to sort out. Stick to windows 7 I think, you can always upgrade the OS later.

Got a couple of questions regarding the set-up from pcspecialist:

1- Apparently the speakers are on the bottom of the laptop which is really stupid in my opinion; anyone tried the sound quality on them?

2- Also been reading that there are some major issues with the optimus feature on the Nvidia graphics card; apparently it sometimes refuses to switch to the dedicated graphics card for some games or even HD streaming etc?

Hey Jud,

Yes it is the outlet store though they don't seem to have stock atm.

@judicious Optimus works fine, it's been around for a while and the majority of complaints about it are by people that don't understand how it should work or have messed and disabled it.

Speakers on the bottom shouldn't be an issue, in fact it should stop them from sounding annoyingly tinny.

I was just concerned with the speakers being covered by a hard surface or my lap or the bed etc? will that not affect it at all in your opinion?

I was just concerned with the speakers being covered by a hard surface or my lap or the bed etc? will that not affect it at all in your opinion?

If they're actually on the very bottom it will, but that would be really weird. From my knowledge of laptop design, I would imagine that they're under a sort of lip and aren't actually covered by the surface. Or it could be that the laptop has pretty high standoffs.

If they're actually on the very bottom it will, but that would be really weird. From my knowledge of laptop design, I would imagine that they're under a sort of lip and aren't actually covered by the surface. Or it could be that the laptop has pretty high standoffs.

Yeah i'll double check that before proceeding although most of the time I use headphones and if I ever needed to use the speakers I suppose I could just attach external speakers so it's not a deal breaker.

I would recommend a custom laptop from PC Specialist, if you do a bit of research for around £750 you can put together a very nice laptop.

It takes a little bit longer to get it but its well worth it, mine is really fast after 6 months runs the game like a dream, does HD video really well and has plenty of file storage.

I would recommend a custom laptop from PC Specialist, if you do a bit of research for around £750 you can put together a very nice laptop.

It takes a little bit longer to get it but its well worth it, mine is really fast after 6 months runs the game like a dream, does HD video really well and has plenty of file storage.

That's what I've been looking at it. Been configuring the Optimus III laptop and looks good. Which laptop did you get from them and do you have an HDD or SSD installed?

Also which Processor and GPU?