FM24 - PC/Laptop advice thread *** PLEASE READ OPENING POST BEFORE POSTING ***

[jamieshattock1]

Any help/advice would be appreciated, looking for a better laptop to run fm23. My current has become very slow running fm now and is now time for an upgrade 500 is probably my budget. I like to play low graphics sometimes 2d and like to have a lot of leagues 12+ with a medium database running. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by jamieshattock1

[kevhamster]

20 hours ago, Dmays99 said:

Hi all,

I am looking to buy a laptop for FM only (game wise) & streaming, browsing and work.

my current laptop is very slow with FM but is fine for work as I login to an online portal.

my budget is between £750-£850, I would like to be able to simulate quickly, with multiple leagues and nice graphics, any suggestions?

I should mention, I had a look in store today (I’m based in the UK) and since I don’t play other games I’m not really a fan of the colourful keyboards etc, as this is also a work laptop id like a more professional feel to it. However if there’s a clear deal or gulf in quality I’d be tempted to go for it!

Thanks a lot for your help,

Dan

Based on what you've said, I'd go for this: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-tuf-dash-f15-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-3050-ti-512-gb-ssd-10234447.html

[kevhamster]

17 hours ago, FM-Lee said:

I have a 32GB M1 Max MacBook Pro. Towards the end of FM22 I was having some issues with the smoothness of the match engine, particularly after updating to Ventura. The only fix was to play in Windowed Mode, it was noticeably smoother then. 

I downloaded the demo of 23 and it ran fine in standard mode, so I bought the game and it was running fine, until it randomly went back to being choppy and stuttering for no apparent reason. Yet again, the problem improves in Windowed Mode, however, that’s not how I like to play the game. 

I’ve tested it on the highest graphics and the lowest graphics and its the same for both. 

Can anyone help as the Mac was very expensive and FM is my favourite game, and to be put off playing it is a massive shame. 

I certainly want to keep the Mac and not have to change already, but this issue needs to be fixed. 

Thanks

This is more a support for Sega question than something we can help with here.  It may be that you need to persist with windowed mode for now.

[kevhamster]

13 hours ago, jamieshattock1 said:

Any help/advice would be appreciated, looking for a better laptop to run fm23. My current has become very slow running fm now and is now time for an upgrade 500 is probably my budget. I like to play low graphics sometimes 2d and like to have a lot of leagues 12+ with a medium database running. 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/asus-vivobook-15-m1502ia-15.6-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-512-gb-ssd-blue-10241281.html

With this, you will need to switch Windows out of S mode to install Steam/Epic and FM.  Here's a guide for that: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/switching-out-of-s-mode-in-windows-4f56d9be-99ec-6983-119f-031bfb28a307

[colzinho]

so I'm looking at laptops for my kids as I'm tired of letting them use my laptop all the time when I want to be on FM!

 

not looking to spend too much, they'd mainly be watching youtube videos and playing a bit of Minecraft (as well as FM obviously!). Would this one me adequate?

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-3-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-ssd-black-10242976.html

[kevhamster]

9 minutes ago, colzinho said:

so I'm looking at laptops for my kids as I'm tired of letting them use my laptop all the time when I want to be on FM!

 

not looking to spend too much, they'd mainly be watching youtube videos and playing a bit of Minecraft (as well as FM obviously!). Would this one me adequate?

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-3-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-ssd-black-10242976.html

This one for the same price would be better: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-3-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-ssd-black-10242976.html

[colzinho]

Sorry, is that not the same one? Did you mean to link this one?

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-3-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i3-128-gb-ssd-black-10242974.html

[kevhamster]

5 hours ago, colzinho said:

Sorry, is that not the same one? Did you mean to link this one?

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-3-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i3-128-gb-ssd-black-10242974.html

Copy and paste let me down.... 

I meant to post this one: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/samsung-galaxy-book2-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-ssd-silver-10237747.html

 

[colzinho]

6 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

Copy and paste let me down.... 

I meant to post this one: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/samsung-galaxy-book2-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i3-256-gb-ssd-silver-10237747.html

 

no worries.

I'm having a mare also! the one i was looking at is collection only and the closest is a 2 hour drive away! Looked at the Samsung one and that is out of stock - not surprised as it looks like a great deal!

I'll keep looking!

[kevhamster]

39 minutes ago, colzinho said:

no worries.

I'm having a mare also! the one i was looking at is collection only and the closest is a 2 hour drive away! Looked at the Samsung one and that is out of stock - not surprised as it looks like a great deal!

I'll keep looking!

If you don't mind going up to £350, this is a really good deal: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1134377?clickPR=plp:7:120

[EssexHammer22]

Afternoon people. Work have banned me playing FM23 on the company laptop so I'm on the hunt for a refurb. 

Can someone advise me if the below spec will suffice 

Gaming laptopClevo 
i7-6th generation processor 
4 core (8 logical core) @2.60GHz
16GB DDR4 Ram
256GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics card

Thanks in advance

[kevhamster]

3 hours ago, EssexHammer22 said:

Afternoon people. Work have banned me playing FM23 on the company laptop so I'm on the hunt for a refurb. 

Can someone advise me if the below spec will suffice 

Gaming laptopClevo 
i7-6th generation processor 
4 core (8 logical core) @2.60GHz
16GB DDR4 Ram
256GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics card

Thanks in advance

Yep, it'll certainly play the game - but without knowing how much you're paying for it and exactly which CPU is in there it's hard to know if you're getting a good deal.

Can you post a link to the machine you're looking at please?  It may be that there's a better option you could go for.

[TMitC]

Hi all, I just bought FM23, having been running FM21 fine on my macbook, but 23 just launches to a black screen and I've tried everything to get it to work, without success.

Is my Mac just not up to it?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB

Thanks for any help

[kevhamster]

5 hours ago, TMitC said:

Hi all, I just bought FM23, having been running FM21 fine on my macbook, but 23 just launches to a black screen and I've tried everything to get it to work, without success.

Is my Mac just not up to it?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB

Thanks for any help

What version of MacOS does your laptop have running?  FM23 requires MacOS 11 or newer.  Anything older than MacOS 11 and FM23 simply won't launch.

[Junkhead]

Just wanted to thank @kevhamster& @Smurfagain for all the advice they give on this thread.

Santa bought me a Huawei Matebook 16 and it is absolutely flying on my FM22 save with 100 countries and 220 odd leagues active. Can't recommend it enough.

[jonnyholden1987]

Hi there. Been trawling through this thread all day but still can't quite decide what to do. I love a journeyman save with all the major leagues (plus 1 or 2 leagues below in each country) and an extra 5-6 additional leagues to mix things up. Probably 80-90k database is ideal and would love something that could run at least 3.5/4 star 'performance' (FM calculated speed on new save creation).

I initially hoped I could do this for £400 (not tech savvy and have managed to lose my laptop so didn't want to burst the bank), but starting to think it might need at least £700-750? Laptop will only be used for FM so £750 initially felt steep, but if needs must.

Would appreciate your help in deciding whether I need to go to the larger budget?I'm quite happy running 3D match engine on lower quality or even the 2D match engine.

Thanks so much in advance!

[kevhamster]

58 minutes ago, jonnyholden1987 said:

Hi there. Been trawling through this thread all day but still can't quite decide what to do. I love a journeyman save with all the major leagues (plus 1 or 2 leagues below in each country) and an extra 5-6 additional leagues to mix things up. Probably 80-90k database is ideal and would love something that could run at least 3.5/4 star 'performance' (FM calculated speed on new save creation).

I initially hoped I could do this for £400 (not tech savvy and have managed to lose my laptop so didn't want to burst the bank), but starting to think it might need at least £700-750? Laptop will only be used for FM so £750 initially felt steep, but if needs must.

Would appreciate your help in deciding whether I need to go to the larger budget?I'm quite happy running 3D match engine on lower quality or even the 2D match engine.

Thanks so much in advance!

You should be fine within the smaller budget.  This one would be fine: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/lenovo-ideapad-3i-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i5-256-gb-ssd-blue-10242283.html

Or if you're happy to go up to £500:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-14sdq2514sa-14-laptop-intel-core-i7-512-gb-ssd-silver-10222235.html

 

 

[jonnyholden1987]

27 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

You should be fine within the smaller budget.  This one would be fine: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/lenovo-ideapad-3i-15.6-laptop-intel-core-i5-256-gb-ssd-blue-10242283.html

Or if you're happy to go up to £500:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-14sdq2514sa-14-laptop-intel-core-i7-512-gb-ssd-silver-10222235.html

 

 

Thanks so much for your help. I've gone with the £500 option and will hopefully collect it tomorrow! 😀

I did buy the below....but have given up on it after 3 days and will be sending it back to Amazon!

Deal: SGIN Laptop 15.6 Inch 12GB RAM 512GB SSD, Laptop Windows 11 Intel Celeron N5095 Processor(Up to 2.9GHz), FHD 1920x1080 Notebook with 2xUSB 3.0, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, 512GB TF Card Expansion (Gray) https://amzn.eu/d/a9dhUJB

 

Thanks again, you're doing an important job for untechy FM players and I'm so grateful!

[kevhamster]

13 hours ago, jonnyholden1987 said:

Thanks so much for your help. I've gone with the £500 option and will hopefully collect it tomorrow! 😀

I did buy the below....but have given up on it after 3 days and will be sending it back to Amazon!

Deal: SGIN Laptop 15.6 Inch 12GB RAM 512GB SSD, Laptop Windows 11 Intel Celeron N5095 Processor(Up to 2.9GHz), FHD 1920x1080 Notebook with 2xUSB 3.0, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, 512GB TF Card Expansion (Gray) https://amzn.eu/d/a9dhUJB

 

Thanks again, you're doing an important job for untechy FM players and I'm so grateful!

Yeah.... that Amazon one will have been pretty bad.  Celeron processors are terrible.

And you're welcome. 

 

[bcfcjacko]

Looking for some (updated) help if possible. Posted in this sub a few months back but didn't end up purchasing straight away - now ready to do so.

Budget is around £500 - £600, laptop will be mainly for FM and general browsing.

Would this be a good option? https://www.box.co.uk/S413EA-AM1887W-ASUS-VivoBook-14-Intel-Core-i5-16GB-RAM-_4089273.html - Box seem to offer a decent 3 year warranty for an additional £70 too compared to £180 on Currys.

Thanks!

Edited January 3, 2023 by bcfcjacko

[kevhamster]

2 hours ago, bcfcjacko said:

Looking for some (updated) help if possible. Posted in this sub a few months back but didn't end up purchasing straight away - now ready to do so.

Budget is around £500 - £600, laptop will be mainly for FM and general browsing.

Would this be a good option? https://www.box.co.uk/S413EA-AM1887W-ASUS-VivoBook-14-Intel-Core-i5-16GB-RAM-_4089273.html - Box seem to offer a decent 3 year warranty for an additional £70 too compared to £180 on Currys.

Thanks!

Yep, that's pretty decent and should be good for medium to high settings on the 3D graphics.

[Pamp]

Hi im looking to get a laptop to play solely fm22-fm23 and ive got a budget until 550-600€ and ive been looking thru this 2 websites but i dont know much about whats the best to get in my budget and help would be much appreciated by people who are more expert than me

Unieuro: 

https://www.unieuro.it/online/Computer-e-Tablet/Computer-Portatili/Notebook

Mediaworld:

https://www.mediaworld.it/it/category/notebook-200101.html

[kevhamster]

1 hour ago, Pamp said:

Hi im looking to get a laptop to play solely fm22-fm23 and ive got a budget until 550-600€ and ive been looking thru this 2 websites but i dont know much about whats the best to get in my budget and help would be much appreciated by people who are more expert than me

Unieuro: 

https://www.unieuro.it/online/Computer-e-Tablet/Computer-Portatili/Notebook

Mediaworld:

https://www.mediaworld.it/it/category/notebook-200101.html

I'd go for this one: https://www.mediaworld.it/it/product/_hp-15s-fq5022nl-156-pollici-processore-intelr-coretm-i5-intel-iris-xe-16-gb-ssd-512-gb-182913.html

[Pamp]

4 minuti fa, kevhamster ha scritto:

I'd go for this one: https://www.mediaworld.it/it/product/_hp-15s-fq5022nl-156-pollici-processore-intelr-coretm-i5-intel-iris-xe-16-gb-ssd-512-gb-182913.html

Did some research and people recommend getting amd over intel or in this case does intel surpass amd?

[kevhamster]

20 minutes ago, Pamp said:

Did some research and people recommend getting amd over intel or in this case does intel surpass amd?

Based on the models that were there in the price range, I recommended the one with the highest scoring CPU on https://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmark-List.2436.0.html?

Although, there's not a huge amount in it, so if you prefer AMD then one of the ones with the Ryzen 5 5500U would also do a decent job for you.

[Adzke]

My current laptop is getting a bit long in the tooth, and I am considering buying a Lenovo Slim Yoga 7 Pro 14ACH5. It has the following specs:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600H Processor (6 cores)
16 GB DDR4 RAM
512 GB SSD

It's £650. Would I regret buying that?

EDIT: I am also looking at a ASUS R565JA-EJ4056W at £790. Would that be a better option. I am only using them for FM, and I only watch games in 2D:

Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7
16 GB RAM
512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD

Edited January 4, 2023 by Adzke

[kevhamster]

49 minutes ago, Adzke said:

My current laptop is getting a bit long in the tooth, and I am considering buying a Lenovo Slim Yoga 7 Pro 14ACH5. It has the following specs:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600H Processor (6 cores)
16 GB DDR4 RAM
512 GB SSD

It's £650. Would I regret buying that?

EDIT: I am also looking at a ASUS R565JA-EJ4056W at £790. Would that be a better option. I am only using them for FM, and I only watch games in 2D:

Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7
16 GB RAM
512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD

Go for the first one out of those two.

Although, here's another suggestion with the CPU in the list above which slightly scores above the Ryzen 5 5600H: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-5-15.6-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-512-gb-ssd-grey-10239504.html

 

[Steely1980]

On 02/01/2023 at 19:13, jonnyholden1987 said:

Thanks so much for your help. I've gone with the £500 option and will hopefully collect it tomorrow! 😀

I did buy the below....but have given up on it after 3 days and will be sending it back to Amazon!

Deal: SGIN Laptop 15.6 Inch 12GB RAM 512GB SSD, Laptop Windows 11 Intel Celeron N5095 Processor(Up to 2.9GHz), FHD 1920x1080 Notebook with 2xUSB 3.0, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, 512GB TF Card Expansion (Gray) https://amzn.eu/d/a9dhUJB

 

Thanks again, you're doing an important job for untechy FM players and I'm so grateful!

Thank you to all involved here, I was seconds away from buying this laptop (reduced from £1000+ to £299, steal of the century!) solely for FM before I thought I'd have a quick check and reddit led me here. Jimmy and Kev, you've saved me a lot of time and hassle of getting this and ultimately returning it. Thanks lads, great work 👍

[SLHammer]

After 9 years of service my current laptop is finally dying on me!

 

I am looking for a new laptop that can play FM comfortably with lots of leagues loaded for the next few years. Probably it will be used for a handful of other games but primarily FM as well as general browsing and Netflix etc.

 

I am able to get deals on HP laptops through my employer's benefits scheme, so was primarily looking at HP, although I don't know whether HP are considered good for gaming laptops.

 

Which HP gaming laptop would you recommend with a budget of £1000?

 

Thanks,

[phnompenhandy]

I might be coming into some money and might upgrade my 12-year-old PC. I've always had to run FM match graphics on the lowest setting and have been very limited in how many leagues I can load.

What do I look for specifically for high level graphics - can an integrated video card do the job, or must it be a specialist graphics card? I'm limited in the choice of models as I'm in Cambodia, but if I know the key specs, I can figure out the rest.

 

Thanks in advance

[kevhamster]

2 hours ago, SLHammer said:

After 9 years of service my current laptop is finally dying on me!

 

I am looking for a new laptop that can play FM comfortably with lots of leagues loaded for the next few years. Probably it will be used for a handful of other games but primarily FM as well as general browsing and Netflix etc.

 

I am able to get deals on HP laptops through my employer's benefits scheme, so was primarily looking at HP, although I don't know whether HP are considered good for gaming laptops.

 

Which HP gaming laptop would you recommend with a budget of £1000?

 

Thanks,

Will it need to be purchased directly from the HP store? I'm assuming so but wanted to check before I looked. 

[kevhamster]

1 hour ago, phnompenhandy said:

I might be coming into some money and might upgrade my 12-year-old PC. I've always had to run FM match graphics on the lowest setting and have been very limited in how many leagues I can load.

What do I look for specifically for high level graphics - can an integrated video card do the job, or must it be a specialist graphics card? I'm limited in the choice of models as I'm in Cambodia, but if I know the key specs, I can figure out the rest.

 

Thanks in advance

You will need a dedicated graphics card to absolutely guarantee playing at the highest graphical presets, but some of the current integrated graphics will be fine for medium to high settings. 

[phnompenhandy]

10 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

You will need a dedicated graphics card to absolutely guarantee playing at the highest graphical presets, but some of the current integrated graphics will be fine for medium to high settings. 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. 'Medium to high' would still be a huge improvement on my experience of the last 25 years playing this game though!

[kevhamster]

5 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. 'Medium to high' would still be a huge improvement on my experience of the last 25 years playing this game though!

Basically, if you're looking at laptops, you should look ideally for 11th generation or newer i5 or i7, or 4th generation or newer Ryzen 5 or 7 CPU's for a decent performance and decent integrated graphics.

[phnompenhandy]

11 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

Basically, if you're looking at laptops, you should look ideally for 11th generation or newer i5 or i7, or 4th generation or newer Ryzen 5 or 7 CPU's for a decent performance and decent integrated graphics.

It's for a PC, big monitor. I've currently got a 2nd hand HP All-in-One, but a standard separate-tower PC will do fine. Should I still aim for i7?

[SLHammer]

3 hours ago, kevhamster said:

Will it need to be purchased directly from the HP store? I'm assuming so but wanted to check before I looked. 

Thanks for your reply!

Yes it will unfortunately. I can also get discounts on the Lenovo, Acer and Apple stores, so if there is a better option from any of those brands for a similar price then that'd be great too.

 

Thanks!

[kevhamster]

4 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

It's for a PC, big monitor. I've currently got a 2nd hand HP All-in-One, but a standard separate-tower PC will do fine. Should I still aim for i7?

I'd say the guidance to go for i5, i7, Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 still applies, or if you can afford them consider i9 and Ryzen 9 as well,  If you have a few you're looking at, feel free to post links or specs here and we can give you a suggestion of which one to get.

[phnompenhandy]

5 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

I'd say the guidance to go for i5, i7, Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 still applies, or if you can afford them consider i9 and Ryzen 9 as well,  If you have a few you're looking at, feel free to post links or specs here and we can give you a suggestion of which one to get.

I will. Thanks a lot 

[kevhamster]

1 hour ago, SLHammer said:

Thanks for your reply!

Yes it will unfortunately. I can also get discounts on the Lenovo, Acer and Apple stores, so if there is a better option from any of those brands for a similar price then that'd be great too.

 

Thanks!

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-gaming-laptops/ideapad-gaming-3-gen-7-(15-inch-amd)/82sbcto1wwgb1

I'd go for the above and use the "build your PC" button to upgrade the RAM to 16GB.

[Adzke]

22 hours ago, kevhamster said:

Go for the first one out of those two.

Although, here's another suggestion with the CPU in the list above which slightly scores above the Ryzen 5 5600H: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-5-15.6-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-512-gb-ssd-grey-10239504.html

 

Thanks a lot! Would I be sorry going for a Ryzen 5 and not a i7, or is it not as simple as that?

[kevhamster]

4 hours ago, Adzke said:

Thanks a lot! Would I be sorry going for a Ryzen 5 and not a i7, or is it not as simple as that?

That benchmark scores the Ryzen 5's in these examples higher than the i7's. They're all decent, though I'd definitely avoid the bottom one as the 10th gen Intel laptop CPU's weren't that great. 

[Smurf]

On 04/01/2023 at 20:16, kevhamster said:

Go for the first one out of those two.

Although, here's another suggestion with the CPU in the list above which slightly scores above the Ryzen 5 5600H: https://www.currys.co.uk/products/acer-aspire-5-15.6-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-512-gb-ssd-grey-10239504.html

 

Yeh I would agree with Kev here.

 

The 5600H is better. The 5825U is probably a thin and light laptop designed for portability - U being the clue - as it will be designed for lower TDP meaning during high intensity use it will stay at lower speeds to maintain battery - this is known as throttling.

 

If it's just sitting on the desk or around the house plugged in - then the H processors are much better and don't throttle. 

even the one linked by Kev has the U processor - I'd still go for the H processor based on the no-throttling.

[SLHammer]

On 05/01/2023 at 13:56, kevhamster said:

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-gaming-laptops/ideapad-gaming-3-gen-7-(15-inch-amd)/82sbcto1wwgb1

I'd go for the above and use the "build your PC" button to upgrade the RAM to 16GB.

Thank you. I have done that and can get that laptop for £945.

 

I can also get https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=6P0X2EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB 

for £997.49

 

Is there much in it between these two?

 

Thanks, much appreciated!

[kevhamster]

1 hour ago, SLHammer said:

Thank you. I have done that and can get that laptop for £945.

 

I can also get https://www.hp.com/gb-en/shop/product.aspx?id=6P0X2EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB 

for £997.49

 

Is there much in it between these two?

 

Thanks, much appreciated!

Data on the new Ryzens is fairly limited at the moment in terms of number of benchmarks, but even so I'd go with the HP of the two. 

[SLHammer]

3 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

Data on the new Ryzens is fairly limited at the moment in terms of number of benchmarks, but even so I'd go with the HP of the two. 

Thanks!

 

I have ordered it, excited to receive it when it arrives next week!

[HyväSuomi]

I play FM only in 2D but with large databases (100k or so players/multiple leagues) but don’t plan to use my laptop for much else. With a budget of £300-350, would this be an acceptable purchase? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B5H8DCBS/?coliid=IS9V654Q4MS4D&colid=1X56MPSCUPALH&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

[kevhamster]

On 07/01/2023 at 16:01, HyväSuomi said:

I play FM only in 2D but with large databases (100k or so players/multiple leagues) but don’t plan to use my laptop for much else. With a budget of £300-350, would this be an acceptable purchase? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B5H8DCBS/?coliid=IS9V654Q4MS4D&colid=1X56MPSCUPALH&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

Based on the deals I can see in this price range, and looking at the benchmarks above, I'd go for this: https://www.box.co.uk/AVITA-LIBER-NS14A8UKV542-SG-AVITA-Liber-V-14-Pro-AMD-Ryzen-5-8GB-RAM_3355400.html

Or, if you're happy to go with a refurbished model, this is quite a bit more powerful in terms of the CPU: https://www.laptopstation.co.uk/deals/dynabook-c50-j-129-intel-core-i5-ssd-windows-15-6-ips-fhd-screen-laptop/

[Enos]

I'm about to get back into FM after a 2 version hiatus.  I haven't played since FM21.  I'm in an interesting situation.  I can get a "free" laptop from work, but it's unlikely to be very powerful.   All I do is run web based apps, spreadsheets and I'd like to play FM when I'm not working.  I'd like to run as many leagues as possible  with a very large database (maybe everyone if possible) and also put all of my 3d graphics on high.  The company has defaults to Macbook Pros/Airs, but will make exceptions for the occasional Lenovo X1.  These are typically configured at a pretty low level without high end graphics cards.  Any idea on what the minimum specs should be to get me where I want to go?  Otherwise, I may just need to buy on my own -- which I have no problem doing.  What ever I get, I would like to avoid the fans buzzing all the time.  I'm in the USA.

 

EDIT:  Here are my available options to choose from:

Lenovo	Apple	Lenovo	Apple	Lenovo	Apple	Apple
Model	X1 Carbon, 9th Gen	MacBook Air	T14s	MacBook Pro 13"	P1 Gen 4	MacBook Pro 14" *	MacBook Pro 16"
LCD Size	14"	13.3"	14"	13.3"	16"	14.2"	16"
Memory	32 GB	16 GB	32 GB	16 GB	64 GB	32 GB	32GB
Storage	512 GB SSD	256 GB SSD	512 GB SSD	256 GB SSD	1 TB SSD	512 GB SSD	512 GB SSD
Weight	2.4 lb / 1.09 kg	2.8 lbs / 1.27 kg	2.81 lb / 1.27 kg	3.0 lbs / 1.4 kg	3.99 lbs / 1.81 kg	3.5 lbs / 1.58 kg	4.7 lbs / 2.13 kg
Ports	- (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 - (2) Thunderbolt 4 - HDMI 2.0	-(2) Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports	- (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 - (2) Thunderbolt 4 - HDMI 2.0 - Ethernet extension connector	-(2) Thunderbolt / USB 4	- (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 - (2) Thunderbolt 4 - HDMI 2.0 - SD card reader - Ethernet extension connector	-(3) Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC card	- (3) Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC card
Processor	Intel Core i7-1185G7 vPro (3.0GHz, 12MB)	Apple M1 (8 core CPU)	Intel Core i7-1185G7 vPro (3.0GHz, 12MB)	Apple M1 (8 core CPU)	Intel® Core™ i7-11850H with vPro™ (8c, 24MB)	M1 Pro: 10-core CPU: 8 performance, 2 efficiency	M1 Pro: 10-core CPU: 8 performance, 2 efficiency
LCD Resolution	1920x1200 (Non-touch)	2560-by-1600	1920x1080 (Non-touch)	2560 x 1600	2560 x 1600	3024-by-1964, Up to 1000 nits sustained (full-screen) brightness, 1600 nits peak brightness	3456-by-2234, Up to 1000 nits sustained (full-screen) brightness, 1600 nits peak brightness
Graphics Card	Intel Iris® Xe Graphics	Apple M1 7-core GPU	Intel Iris® Xe Graphics	Apple M1 8-core GPU	Intel UHD Graphics	Apple 16-core GPU	Apple 16-core GPU

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Enos

[kevhamster]

20 hours ago, Enos said:

I'm about to get back into FM after a 2 version hiatus.  I haven't played since FM21.  I'm in an interesting situation.  I can get a "free" laptop from work, but it's unlikely to be very powerful.   All I do is run web based apps, spreadsheets and I'd like to play FM when I'm not working.  I'd like to run as many leagues as possible  with a very large database (maybe everyone if possible) and also put all of my 3d graphics on high.  The company has defaults to Macbook Pros/Airs, but will make exceptions for the occasional Lenovo X1.  These are typically configured at a pretty low level without high end graphics cards.  Any idea on what the minimum specs should be to get me where I want to go?  Otherwise, I may just need to buy on my own -- which I have no problem doing.  What ever I get, I would like to avoid the fans buzzing all the time.  I'm in the USA.

 

EDIT:  Here are my available options to choose from:

Lenovo	Apple	Lenovo	Apple	Lenovo	Apple	Apple
Model	X1 Carbon, 9th Gen	MacBook Air	T14s	MacBook Pro 13"	P1 Gen 4	MacBook Pro 14" *	MacBook Pro 16"
LCD Size	14"	13.3"	14"	13.3"	16"	14.2"	16"
Memory	32 GB	16 GB	32 GB	16 GB	64 GB	32 GB	32GB
Storage	512 GB SSD	256 GB SSD	512 GB SSD	256 GB SSD	1 TB SSD	512 GB SSD	512 GB SSD
Weight	2.4 lb / 1.09 kg	2.8 lbs / 1.27 kg	2.81 lb / 1.27 kg	3.0 lbs / 1.4 kg	3.99 lbs / 1.81 kg	3.5 lbs / 1.58 kg	4.7 lbs / 2.13 kg
Ports	- (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 - (2) Thunderbolt 4 - HDMI 2.0	-(2) Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports	- (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 - (2) Thunderbolt 4 - HDMI 2.0 - Ethernet extension connector	-(2) Thunderbolt / USB 4	- (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 - (2) Thunderbolt 4 - HDMI 2.0 - SD card reader - Ethernet extension connector	-(3) Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC card	- (3) Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC card
Processor	Intel Core i7-1185G7 vPro (3.0GHz, 12MB)	Apple M1 (8 core CPU)	Intel Core i7-1185G7 vPro (3.0GHz, 12MB)	Apple M1 (8 core CPU)	Intel® Core™ i7-11850H with vPro™ (8c, 24MB)	M1 Pro: 10-core CPU: 8 performance, 2 efficiency	M1 Pro: 10-core CPU: 8 performance, 2 efficiency
LCD Resolution	1920x1200 (Non-touch)	2560-by-1600	1920x1080 (Non-touch)	2560 x 1600	2560 x 1600	3024-by-1964, Up to 1000 nits sustained (full-screen) brightness, 1600 nits peak brightness	3456-by-2234, Up to 1000 nits sustained (full-screen) brightness, 1600 nits peak brightness
Graphics Card	Intel Iris® Xe Graphics	Apple M1 7-core GPU	Intel Iris® Xe Graphics	Apple M1 8-core GPU	Intel UHD Graphics	Apple 16-core GPU	Apple 16-core GPU

 

For a freebie, I'd probably be inclined to go for the Macbook Pro.  My understanding is that the M1 Pro will handle 3D graphics at the higher presets, where as the ones with Iris XE graphics may need to turn it down a notch or two.

[Enos]

45 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

For a freebie, I'd probably be inclined to go for the Macbook Pro.  My understanding is that the M1 Pro will handle 3D graphics at the higher presets, where as the ones with Iris XE graphics may need to turn it down a notch or two.

Thank you!  If the M1 can handle the 3D graphics at the higest settings I'll save my money and just use the company laptop.  As long as I don't game during office hours I'm good!