Advice on gaming laptop

[Leeuk13]

Hi all,

Below is what I am thinking of purchasing, mainly to play WOW, Overwatch & Fortnite. The laptop I currently have is really old (GPU - GT940M). I will also want to play some AAA titles on it, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance ect.

Is the below a good all round performer for my needs or is there any changes that you would recommend. Is the QHD screen a must have or would a 1080p work just fine without much difference?

I dont really want to spend more than £1700 but any feedback on this would be very helpfull. Thanks.

Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte QHD 120Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (2560x1440) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
1TB SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 200W AC Adaptor
Battery
Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (66WH)
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + Sound BlasterX® Pro-Gaming 720˚
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1550 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 5.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 1 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Keyboard Language
RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,695.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[Oussebon]

Looks great. regarding the screen resolution, that's up to you. But if you have the budget, 1440p means much higher pixel density and should give a sharper image. I'd probably go with the £5 warrant upgrade. And probably the dead pixel guarantee.

 

[Leeuk13]

Thanks

Thank you for your quick response and thanks for the advice.

So when talking about sharper images, would it potentially be worth it to choose the Defiance V and go for the 4k (3840x2160), or would that be wasted with a GTX 1070? Of course the Defiance V 4k screen does not have G-sync.

Also, just for re-assurance, would this set up easily handle all of the current AAA games on high/ultra graphics settings? Sorry if they sound like stupid questions, I just want to be sure before I purchase. Thanks.

 

[Oussebon]

A GTX 1070 is not ideal at all for 4k gaming. Furthermore, you lose out on gsync, and also the faster refresh rate. And there also comes a point where your eyes stop really being able to get the benefit of sharper images on (relatively) small screens too, apparently: https://www.techradar.com/news/mobi...gorgeous-but-they-re-not-worth-it-yet-1291430

Also, just for re-assurance, would this set up easily handle all of the current AAA games on high/ultra graphics settings?

Yep.

Some settings are particularly demanding (Hairworks in Witcher 3, anyone? - or those silly shadow things in Deus Ex Mankind Divided), while some games aren't necessarily very well optimised, and have performance dips (apparently including Kingdom Come Deliverance). And if you run WoW with SSAA 4x, which at 1080p would be rendering the game at 4k and then downscaling, you'll hit performance issues.

But yes, high-ultra is very realistic. Plus gsync synchroniees the refresh rate to your framerate, smoothing out FPS dips below 60. Unlike with regular 60hz monitors where you get that stuttery effect. Or tearing if you don't use vsync.

Games like WoW, Overwatch, and Fortnite should run very well indeed and probably at quite high framerates. Assuming you don't apply some of the most extreme settings e.g. SSAA in WoW, or set View Distance 10 and get CPU bound or something, ofc.

And not at all, these are very valid questions.

 

[Leeuk13]

Thanks again for your quick reply. Very helpful!

I just have one more question, I can probably guess the answer but I will ask anyway.

Could I stream using this system?

Many thanks.

 

[Oussebon]

Probably, yes.

It's a 6 core CPU with 12 threads. As long as you manage your streaming settings appropriately I expect you can.

 

[Leeuk13]

Thanks for your help!

 

[Leeuk13]

**BUMP**

Sorry to re-ignite this thread. I have one more question.

Is it worth upgrading the above spec to include a 230W power supply instead of the 200W?

What are the pro/cons of doing this if any?

Thanks.

 

[Oussebon]

The 230W PSU is for the GTX 1070. 200W is for the GTX 1060.

They cost the same afaik.

 

[Tony1044]

Just one word on the 4k screens - I bought my Defiance II with one and wish I'd never bothered.

The screen itself if lovely, make no mistake, but Windows - even 10 - handles high DPI scaling pathetically.

Now, I'll caveat that by saying it's a couple of releases back since I had the screen running at its native resolution so it's possible that it's improved since then but some examples would be VLC media - all of the control would be tiny, whilst the the rest of the screen would be fine. Remote Desktop (yep, Microsoft's own software) would randomly give a screen that was fine or one that had, for example. a minute task bar with icons that were so tiny as to be all but invisible.

And so on with other applications - Greenshot (screen capture) would have randomly sized icons.

Although many things could be sorted with workarounds, in the end, I just dropped the resolution because it was such a pain in the backside and so random.

As I say, it may be better now, but it might be worth doing some research first, to check.

 

[Leeuk13]

Thanks both!

One more thing, I have struggled to find the answer to this anywhere, even on the intel website.

What is the difference in the wireless/bt card options offered here?

I know the Killer is a no go but there is 2 intel options and I have no idea which is better or which one I should choose. Any advice would be well received. Cheers.

 

[Oussebon]

There are 2 Intel cards. AC 9260 and AC 8265. The AC 9260 is newer, faster, cheaper, and has a more modern version of Bluetooth.

The AC 8265 has Intel vPro. If you don't need this, don't buy that card. If you don't know what vPro is, you probably don't need it As I understand it, it's for remote PC management as you might get in a business environment.

 

[Leeuk13]

Thanks again mate! Very helpful!

 

[Tony1044]

I hate the Intel cards with a passion. Poor driver support and they removed the option to change MAC addresses.

 

[Leeuk13]

Hi again, I have posted this question on another thread but I thought I might as well try here too.

Is this display IPS or TN? Also, what sort of MS will it have?

Cheers.

 

[Oussebon]

MS? You mean response time?

I'd suggest phoning PCS to ask about TN/IPS and response time.

 

[Leeuk13]

Ok, cheers.