Decent Laptop For Games

[mfnick]

My partner is after a good laptop, it’s for work but she does game on them so needs to be pretty well specced. Budget is about £650. Maximum of £700.

 

I don’t know much about specs, I can figure out small pieces but not sure where limiting factors may be bigger than I realise so after a bit of assistance please.

 

She mainly plays stuff like The Sims but she also does play stuff like GTA V, Sleeping Dogs etc. And wants to be able to play more current and future games at a decent frame rate. Say about 30fps at regular+ settings. A lot to ask for a laptop at that price range I’m guessing but not sure. 

 

Are these 2 any good? If so is the ebuyer one  worth the premium? 
 

https://www.ebuyer.com/1125551-medion-erazer-crawler-e10-core-i5-8gb-512gb-ssd-gtx-1650ti-15-6-30029470
 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/acer-nitro-5-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-gtx-1650-256-gb-ssd-10205931-pdt.html?istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istFeedId=4d7eb93e-055f-499d-8ee5-1cdcc50d67d1&istItemId=irqrqwrix&istBid=tztx&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~0073 (Shopping Ads) PC Gaming HW - BTE 2020~0073 (Shopping Ads) PC Gaming HW - BTE 2020 ad group~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&kwid=GOOGLE&device=m&ds_kids=92700058887941298&tgtid=0073 (Shopping Ads) PC Gaming HW - BTE 2020&&gclid=CjwKCAiAtej9BRAvEiwA0UAWXkjB7NUPHoivkhhN89Op3H82S59oO3ynCK2iD9K3Elv1nHeJjyhaXhoC8nsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Jimboxy]

I would say that either would run most modern titles comfortably at mid-high settings at more than 30fps. It's not going to handle something like RDR2 or cyberpunk terribly well, but then it probably doesn't need to. You'd have no issues with the games you mentioned.

 

The processor in either of them seem decent enough, as does the GPU (the GPU is better than the one I have in my desktop). The main limiting factor will be the amount and speed of the ram and ssd size. I wouldn't worry to much about the ram, with the SSD you won't be able to have too many big titles installed as a good chunk would be used by the OS.

 

The only other things I'd note is that it will get very hot, it's got a lot of power hungry stuff crammed into a small space.

[mfnick]

Thanks for that @Jimbo Xiii, feel a bit more confident about committing to one of these. Would you say the SSD size is the only real difference between the 2? Everything else comparable? Could I plug a external SSD in if necessary? 
 

I also found this one? https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gaming/pc-gaming/gaming-laptops/msi-bravo-15-15-6-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-rx-5500m-256-gb-ssd-10206090-pdt.html?istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istFeedId=2f489429-2329-4fcd-941a-a6a497a10e1d&istItemId=iraartwpx&istBid=t&awc=1599_1606079210_dcaf1135a73b4eafd5b9bd28b0afd95a&srcid=369&xtor=AL-1&cmpid=aff~Genie Shopping~Comparison Engine~259955~Staircase+51+Ltd+(Genie+Shopping)
 

Any good? 

[mfnick]

Also might sound stupid but want to check, is GPU size the one related to the graphics card? Such as 4GB on the Nvidia ones? 

[Sly Reflex]

Yeah, GPU = Graphics Processing Unit.

[Jimboxy]

24 minutes ago, mfnick said:

Also might sound stupid but want to check, is GPU size the one related to the graphics card? Such as 4GB on the Nvidia ones? 

Yep, so the 4 GB will be in addition to the 8 GB system ram. I'd not heard of the make from ebuyer, so might be worth trying to find some reviews or Benchmarks on YouTube. I've never owned an Acer machine so can't really comment on the quality of them, I think everything else was pretty comparable though. Probably good to get a second opinion from one of the other pc nerds on here as well though.

 

Edit

 

The two different processors seem to be pretty comparable high end laptop processors, I'm not sure what AMDs laptop processors are like, but there current desktop processors are pretty awesome. I think MSI Have a pretty decent reputation. In terms you external drive, yeah you should be able to just plug am external USB in, shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Sly Reflex]

The more demanding games would have to be put on lower settings. Anything pre PS4 gen will run like shit off a shovel. PS4 era you might see some issues with the more demanding stuff. 8GB RAM is not a lot really. Rest of the spec is quite nice.

 

It's alright. As long as you're not asking it to do silly things it should be sufficient.

 

EDIT: Don't forget a  control pad and a mouse. You're not going to want to use the touchpad stuff for gaming.

[one-armed dwarf]

It depends on what you want to play I reckon. Gaming laptops are great for online shooters, MMOs, games which are online based and require a decent playerbase (so they have to scale pretty well). They will also fairly well handle current gen stuff like GTA, at console settings probably with decent FPS (RDRII is wicked expensive to run though)

 

The SSD will definitely present problems, all the stuff I see on that site seems pretty storage starved. But you can also replace SSDs as well (but that will be annoying, you will have to reinstall windows or clone the drive). But it's not something too worrying when it comes to picking hardware, storage can always be replaced.

 

It's very hard to predict longevity with gaming laptops cause they don't have an upgrade path, can overheat much more easily and none of us really know what next gen will require, cause no real next gen games seem to exist yet on PC. Just really demanding current gen ones like RDRII and Cyberpunk. I'd say 8GB Ram might be slightly borderline for games now, for PC builds they recommend 16 gig. I've definitely seen games exceed 8 but not come close to 16.

 

I don't really know what a 1650ti (the graphics card in some of those linked laptops) is like but I know I helped my brother spec a build recently with a 1660 super, he is just focused on mid end type gaming at 1080p, it doesn't even come close to maxing out that card at 1080 60 with most of the stuff he plays. Probably a 1650ti is a rung below that, which means it will be more than fine for 1080 30 if that's your goal (but I'm only guessing).

 

I reckon the best PC tech expert is spatular tho

[mfnick]

11 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

1080 30 if that's your goal (but I'm only guessing).

Yea that’s all it’ll be for. I’m not too worried about storage due to being able to plug extra in if needed and the ram says it’s expandable to between 32-64gb on the 2 which are priced at £700 so I could do that in future if required. The Medion (checked reviews, sounds good from what I’ve seen) one at least has a larger SSD too which while small is a improvement. Can’t find any with more than 500gb SSD storage at that price range. 
 

Thanks for the input peeps. I’ll await Spatulars input too. 

[spatular]

 i don't know too much about laptops really, all the ones linked here look to have decent specs for some non-cutting-edge gaming.

 

5 hours ago, Jimbo Xiii said:

I'm not sure what AMDs laptop processors are like, but there current desktop processors are pretty awesome. 

 

did read a bit about the new AMD laptop cpus a bit ago, the 4000 ones are supposed to be really good but apparently some laptop manufacturers cheaped out on cooling for them, so if you're looking at one of those it might be a good idea to check reviews for any heat problems.

 

looks like that medion one might have been cheaper a few days ago so don't know if it might come back down in price

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/medion-erazer-crawler-e10-core-i5-8gb-512gb-ssd-gtx-1650ti-156-win10-home-gaming-laptop-3595249

 

just had a quick look on hot uk deals, didn't find much, this is over budget, looks alright but not an amazing deal, similar spec to the medion one.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/asus-rog-strix-g512li-156-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-gtx-1650-ti-512-gb-ssd-3596107

 

Good luck!

 

 

[merman1974]

Just got my new laptop from www.pcspecialist.co.uk built to order

Intel Core i7 processor

Nvidia RTX 2070 graphics card

16 Gb RAM

1TB + 32Gb Optane SSD

 

Oh, and one of those fancy light-up keyboards...

[Jimboxy]

That must have set you back a bit!! Good specs

[DisturbedSwan]

Lovely stuff @merman1974

[one-armed dwarf]

That's a really good laptop. ?

 

I wonder what it weighs, 2070 should keep up with next gen at sub 4K.

[merman1974]

13 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

That's a really good laptop. ?

 

I wonder what it weighs, 2070 should keep up with next gen at sub 4K.

 

It’s pretty weighty, the surprise for me was needing two plugs/power packs.

[Sly Reflex]

Yeah, this is a nice as fuck laptop. What's you christening it with?

[mfnick]

Seriously impressive. Had a look at that site, some serious money there!! 
 

My partner (actually

my choice) ended up going with the Medion Erazor E10.  Very happy with it. For the discounted price we got it for I couldn’t find anything that quite matched it. Some had a better screen or had a more well known name but with the regular 1650 instead of the ti and half the SSD. So took the plunge after a bit more research into reliability didnt raise any alarms.
 

Had it about a week now. She’s ecstatic. Most impressive thing is just how fucking fast it loads. From off to desktop in literally 5-10 seconds. Incredible! I’ve never used a PC or Laptop that boots up  faster than 5-10 minutes. So it’s a game changer. Actually got me wanting to use it now too. Great for her work and she can run Sims at ultra so she’s happy lol.

 

I may get to play games like Disco Elysium now too ?
 

[Sly Reflex]

SSD are a game changer, quite literally. The only issue is all those loading screen tips need putting elsewhere, as you never get chance to read any of the cunts.

[one-armed dwarf]

Disco Elysium is excellent, it's like a weird drugged out postmodernist novel in video game form. 

 

There's such a great back catalogue on PC as well, it's not just about 4k 60 and ray tracing stuff. I'm trying to get into the Gothic series at the moment, maybe after Cyberpunk

[Sly Reflex]

We should have a hit list for people that are getting laptops or PC's that can run stuff they will have missed due to being console only previously. Maybe have a benchmark so something current off the shelf can run at a good rate.

 

Go play an old favourite modded to fuck and back for example.