Laptop for Uni/mid tier gaming

[SamBurtoni]

Hey guys, I've been searching the forums for a couple of days now for a laptop that I can purchase for when I move to Uni but can't seem to single one out that i like.

What I'm looking for is a laptop that is portable enough that I can carry around with me (doesn't weigh a ton) and is able to play games well at higher settings. I mainly play things such as arma 2 dayz, dota 2, csgo etc

I was looking at the y50 but I really would like something with an Ssd

Price range is around £1000

Thanks in advance,

Sam.

[seabass9990]

Hey guys, I've been searching the forums for a couple of days now for a laptop that I can purchase for when I move to Uni but can't seem to single one out that i like.

What I'm looking for is a laptop that is portable enough that I can carry around with me (doesn't weigh a ton) and is able to play games well at higher settings. I mainly play things such as arma 2 dayz, dota 2, csgo etc

I was looking at the y50 but I really would like something with an Ssd

Price range is around £1000

Thanks in advance,

Sam.

You can always put an SSD in after you get it

[SamBurtoni]

You can always put an SSD in after you get it

The only problem with the y50 and that is that you would need to replace the hdd in order to put an Ssd in and that's going to cost me a extra couple hundred just for the Ssd with the space I would need for everything. Is there any way around this?

[Swndlr]

a notebook with an 860m would seem suitable if im right

[SamBurtoni]

I've ruled out the origin eon as it's simply too big and yeah I'm looking for 860+

[seabass9990]

The only problem with the y50 and that is that you would need to replace the hdd in order to put an Ssd in and that's going to cost me a extra couple hundred just for the Ssd with the space I would need for everything. Is there any way around this?

clone the hdd to the ssd, i personally dont know how but i can be done

[SamBurtoni]

But again that's going to cost be a bomb, I'd rather buy a laptop with a smaller ssd & a hdd within it.

Anyone else got any suggestions?

[BudgetEngineer]

Msi GS60 Ghost comes to mind. The 007 model has the following specs:

I7 4710hq @ 2.5-3.5 GHz

860m 2gb

750gb hdd

128gb M.2 SSD (and one empty slot)

12gb or Ram expandable to 16gb

1080p matte IPS panel

And all the ports you could ever need. Price is dropping in the US, shop around a bit.

[SamBurtoni]

Msi GS60 Ghost comes to mind. The 007 model has the following specs:I7 4710hq @ 2.5-3.5 GHz860m 2gb750gb hdd128gb M.2 SSD (and one empty slot) 12gb or Ram expandable to 16gb1080p matte IPS panelAnd all the ports you could ever need. Price is dropping in the US, shop around a bit.

Liking the m.2, is it portable enough to take in my backpack for programming etc classes?

[BudgetEngineer]

I take mine every day to and from high school. It's 4.4 pounds (2kg) in weight and 0.78" (2cm) thick. Very portable. Battery life is around 4 hours, can be a little shorter than other ultrabook options. But man can it game...

[SamBurtoni]

Will look into this more then as it seems like the ideal choice ^.^

Edit am I right in thinking that there is no optical drive?

[Scionyde]

Will look into this more then as it seems like the ideal choice ^.^

Edit am I right in thinking that there is no optical drive?

 

Correct, the GS60 doesn't have an optical drive, and neither does the Y50. The Y50 is pretty limited in its storage upgrade options, but I suppose you could try to replace the hard drive with an optical drive and only go off of the mSATA for storage. (Kinda sounds like a hassle).

 

If you're convinced you want a ultrathin laptop, you could try the Gigabyte P35W. It comes with two 2.5" drive bays and spots to install two mSATA SSDs. You could replace one of the 2.5" drive bays with an optical drive. According to Xotic PC, it seems like they send you a Blu-Ray writer with the box to install for yourself in the second drive bay for free. (That would be something I would double-check with them though). The Gigabyte is less...sexy than the MSI GS series, but it's priced a lot better.

 

http://www.xoticpc.com/gigabyte-p35wv2cf3-p-7094.html

[BudgetEngineer]

Correct, the GS60 doesn't have an optical drive, and neither does the Y50. The Y50 is pretty limited in its storage upgrade options, but I suppose you could try to replace the hard drive with an optical drive and only go off of the mSATA for storage. (Kinda sounds like a hassle).

If you're convinced you want a ultrathin laptop, you could try the Gigabyte P35W. It comes with two 2.5" drive bays and spots to install two mSATA SSDs. You could replace one of the 2.5" drive bays with an optical drive. According to Xotic PC, it seems like they send you a Blu-Ray writer with the box to install for yourself in the second drive bay for free. (That would be something I would double-check with them though). The Gigabyte is less...sexy than the MSI GS series, but it's priced a lot better.

http://www.xoticpc.com/gigabyte-p35wv2cf3-p-7094.html

I was considering the P35w instead of the gs60 for awhile, here's why I didn't get it:

P35 weighs a pound more if I recall

Gs60 has better build quality

All the display ports for the gs60 are on the same side

[SamBurtoni]

Correct, the GS60 doesn't have an optical drive, and neither does the Y50. The Y50 is pretty limited in its storage upgrade options, but I suppose you could try to replace the hard drive with an optical drive and only go off of the mSATA for storage. (Kinda sounds like a hassle).

 

If you're convinced you want a ultrathin laptop, you could try the Gigabyte P35W. It comes with two 2.5" drive bays and spots to install two mSATA SSDs. You could replace one of the 2.5" drive bays with an optical drive. According to Xotic PC, it seems like they send you a Blu-Ray writer with the box to install for yourself in the second drive bay for free. (That would be something I would double-check with them though). The Gigabyte is less...sexy than the MSI GS series, but it's priced a lot better.

 

http://www.xoticpc.com/gigabyte-p35wv2cf3-p-7094.html

 

 

I mean it doesn't have to be "ultrathin" but not a pain in the bum to carry around.  I was even considering a macbook first but I don't know, I feel it would be better for the course i'm doing (IT Security and forensics) but it would be nice to play atleast some games on it. 

[Scionyde]

I was considering the P35w instead of the gs60 for awhile, here's why I didn't get it:

P35 weighs a pound more if I recall

Gs60 has better build quality

All the display ports for the gs60 are on the same side

 

Those are fair points. Still, it looks like the price of a MSI GS60 with a 860M is about the same price as a Gigabyte P35W with a 870M. I think I might be okay with taking a heavier laptop with slightly inferior build quality if it meant better hardware. But that's purely personal opinion, the GS60 is quite nice.

 

I mean it doesn't have to be "ultrathin" but not a pain in the bum to carry around.  I was even considering a macbook first but I don't know, I feel it would be better for the course i'm doing (IT Security and forensics) but it would be nice to play atleast some games on it. 

 

Well it looks like the games you're looking to play aren't terribly graphically demanding, so you *could* probably get away with a macbook's integrated graphics. If you wanted to play newer games on it though, I'd think discrete graphics would be better. I think the Gigabyte laptop I suggested is good. If you wanted a more normal-sized laptop, the Sager NP8268-S would probably be good, but we're approaching 7 pounds of weight with that. Sager/Clevo laptops are very good in price/performance, but they don't seem to make many lightweight laptops.

 

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8268s-clevo-p150sma-p-6987.html

[SamBurtoni]

Is it possible to get a macbook with descrete gtaphics or would that be pushing it sky high price wise?

Also sorry to be a pain but do xotic deliver to the UK?

[BudgetEngineer]

Is it possible to get a macbook with descrete gtaphics or would that be pushing it sky high price wise?

Also sorry to be a pain but do xotic deliver to the UK?

Yes, the 2500 dollar and up top end models of the 15 inch Macbook Pro Retina have discrete graphics too.

[SamBurtoni]

OK yeah that's a little too much for me I like the look of exotic but don't believe they deliver to the UK

Do you think a £1000 Mac pro would be able to handle them?

[BudgetEngineer]

You'd need at least the 15" With iris pro graphics... I'm don't think they will do too well unless you turn the resolution down. Maybe look up some benchmarks?

[SamBurtoni]

Looking the £2000 one is the one with a gt750m which I'm afraid, is a little out of my price range

[Norman_the_Owl]

Asus UX303?

 

It has an I5, an SSD, and an 840m. The screen is 3200x1800, which means if the 840m isn't cutting it at that full resolution you can half it to 1600x900

[Scionyde]

Is it possible to get a macbook with descrete gtaphics or would that be pushing it sky high price wise?

Also sorry to be a pain but do xotic deliver to the UK?

 

Apparently they do, but I have no idea what the additional costs might be like. http://xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?11681-Shipping-to-UK

 

Looking at Amazon UK, it looks like the version with the 870M for Gigabyte's P35W is a tad too expensive, being around 1200 pounds. You can apparently get the 14" 860M version for a little under 1000 though.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-P34G-V2-CF6-Notebook-Bluetooth/dp/B00M98GCL2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409603580&sr=8-2&keywords=gigabyte+p34

[BudgetEngineer]

Apparently they do, but I have no idea what the additional costs might be like. http://xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?11681-Shipping-to-UK

Looking at Amazon UK, it looks like the version with the 870M for Gigabyte's P35W is a tad too expensive, being around 1200 pounds. You can apparently get the 14" 860M version for a little under 1000 though.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-P35W-V2-CF1-15-6-inch-Bluetooth/dp/B00K8QZ8YO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409600869&sr=8-1&keywords=gigabyte+p35w

Same price as the 860m gs60 I believe

[Scionyde]

Same price as the 860m gs60 I believe

 

(Edited my original post because I posted the wrong Gigabyte laptop)

 

Well, it seems like it's a difference of 150 pounds, at least from what I see. And for 75 pounds more than the MSI GS60, there's the Gigabyte P35W with the 870M.

 

I suppose it depends if OP's budget is a hard 1000 pounds, or how much he's willing to stretch it.

[AlwaysFlexin]

I've been talking about the Y50 for a bit now because I'm a huge fan of it. Like someone else said, there's only 1 hard drive bay so you would have to replace the one in it now. The Best Buy edition has a hybrid 1TB, which in my opinion is plenty fast and full for a laptop. If you want the Y50, it all depends on how much you value the SSD. Althought I do think that the 4K version might have an SSD in it already.