17" Gaming Laptop for £2,500?

[monkeycid]

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
32GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2 x NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM, DirectX® 12, G-SYNC
Free Item
FREE RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER with select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Memory - Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 850 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1535-AC M.2 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 4.0
USB Options
5 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 3.1 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Vortex Elite 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,800 mAh/89.21WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 330W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
VORTEX ELITE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,568.00 including VAT and delivery.

I have increased my budget from £2,000 to £2,500 just so I could afford a laptop that uses 980M SLI. They seem so much more powerful than a single 980M and the 980 desktop card. The laptop itself will be used primarily for gaming and be plugged in and stationary at all times. Is this spec the best for such a scenario? I really don't want it to blow up in front of me!

 

[Lez501]

Nice spec

I would drop down to 16GB ram (more than enough for gaming) and swap the 256 GB SATA 850 evo for the 256GB SM951 M.2 drive (comes in at £2,550).

Do you really need the pro version of Win 10 for the extra £30?

 

[monkeycid]

Not really. I lowered the RAM as you suggested and changed to Windows 10 Home.

What is the difference between a memory drive and mSATA?

Edit: Should I choose two mSATA drives over the hard disk drives?

 

[Lez501]

mSATA (speeds the same as sata SSD's) is an older interface than M.2 (much faster speeds utilising PCIe lanes).

I would stick with your new config, maybe up the SM951 to the 512GB variant. Do you have a specific reason for needing a 1TB SSD (a big expense). I would consider a 500GB evo 850 with a 500GB WD black (direct windows to utilise this drive for all your downloads e.g. music, video's documents etc.

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
2 x NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM, DirectX® 12, G-SYNC
Free Item: FREE RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER with select GTX 9 Series GPUs!

Memory - Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD BLACK 2.5" WD5000LPLX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2150MB/R, 1550MB/W)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

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

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
5 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 3.1 PORT AS STANDARD

Battery
Vortex Elite 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,800 mAh/89.21WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 330W AC Adaptor

Keyboard Language
VORTEX ELITE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE

Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM

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

Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time

Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

URL to Build http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexV-Elite-17/

 

[monkeycid]

The smaller drive would be used strictly for Windows and software whereas the second, larger drive would be used for music, videos and games.

 

[jerpers]

The laptop itself will be used primarily for gaming and be plugged in and stationary at all times. Is this spec the best for such a scenario? I really don't want it to blow up in front of me!

If that is the situation you are using it in, is a laptop the best route? You can get a killer desktop for that budget that will far out perform the laptop.

 

[monkeycid]

I wish I had space for a desktop. My desk is barely wide enough for a keyboard and a mouse. To the left of the desk is the door into my bedroom and to the right is a wall so there isn't much room for improvement.

 

[Lez501]

The smaller drive would be used strictly for Windows and software whereas the second, larger drive would be used for music, videos and games.

Then I don't suppose it will make much difference (I would still prefer my second selection, helps with the longevity of the SSD's)