Advice on laptop please

[matbir]

I have been considering a new laptop for some time. Ive previously had great advice from forum users like Keynes regarding desktops in the past. Laptops are different beasts however and I'd appreciate some help once more.

My budget will be approx. £800.
Mainly gaming: Cities Skylines, Fallout, Skyrim for example. Some general internet browsing but not much else.

Having spent a while playing around, I came up with this build. Can anyone offer any advice on possible upgrades or removal of un-needed components? Or even a completely new build altogether? (So long as its within budget!)

Also, would I be better getting rid of the disk drive and adding an SSD for the O/S?

Thanks in advance.

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 6300HQ (2.3GHz, 3.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk
1TB WD BLUE 2.5" WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
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 Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £722.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/optimusVII-15/7ArovPy6L8/

 

[Stephen M]

If you are OK with 814, go for a 750GB WD Black 7200rpm HDD, it is a fast standard drive, great for storage and reliable and a 240GB Kingston SSDNow m2 drive for your OS and main programmes.
Do you want/need a DVD drive, if no there is another option. A 240GB Kingston Hyper X and the 750GB WD Black but to this you have to drop the DVD drive and have it replaced with a drive caddy but doing this drops the price under 800.

 

[matbir]

Thanks for the reply Stephen. I assume that this would mean a faster boot up of the O/S and any programs installed. I like the idea of that. The disk drive isn't really an issue so can go. Pretty much any game ill be playing is available on Steam anyway.

I would ideally look to stay within 800 so option 2 is great.

Other than that is there anything else you might advise? Or do you have a better option using a different chassis?

Thanks

 

[Stephen M]

That looks fine, don't think you could get any more on that budget. The main thing with games is the GPU and the only way to up that is going way above budget. I have a cheap USB optical drive although I admit I hardly ever use it but it is handy at times, if you look about they are easy to find. The SSD/HDD combination works well, as you said with speeding boot and load times,

 

[matbir]

Well I think that's it then Thanks Stephen. Ill order today.