All-rounder laptop required.

[qwerty]

Hi there,

I currently use 5 year old Dell Inspiron 1545 with a dual core, 1.9 ghz Celeron processor and 4GB of RAM. I work away from home quite often so we need an additional laptop (will keep the old Dell for basic things).

I am looking for a machine around the £700 mark. The laptop will be used for Office (self employed, so invoicing etc), email, browsing, watching films, light photo-editing, and a bit of light gaming (e.g. Football Manager 2015 and various classic games e.g. Caesar 3 and Hitman Contracts).

What do you think of the spec? Is the i7 overkill given the 7200rpm hard disk? Any help you can give would be massively appreciated.



Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4712MQ (2.30GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS MEDIA ACCELERATOR 4600

Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

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 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery
UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)

 

[amoshi]

I would go for an i5 and a better GPU, though I'd wait for more knowledgable people to reply.

 

[qwerty]

Thanks amoshi, really appreciate it - so do you think the difference between an i5 and an i7 is negligible given my usage?

I am struggling to juggle the costs as the better GPU requires the Cosmos as the Ultranote only has onboard graphics.


At the moment my spec comes to £674 for:

Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4712MQ (2.30GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS MEDIA ACCELERATOR 4600

Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

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 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery
UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)


If I were to cut the processor down and add a graphics card, it would cost £748 (a bit above budget to be honest).

Chassis & Display
Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-4210M (2.60GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 850M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

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® N-7260 HMC (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Battery
Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)


Are the Intel HD 4600 onboard graphics poor? Have onboard graphics not evolved much?

 

[SlimCini]

Review Optimus for £749?

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/

 

[qwerty]

Hi SlimCini. Sadly the Optimus is over my budget. Ideally would like to stick to £700.

 

[SlimCini]

Sticking to that budget gimps you slightly... is there no way you can save up £50 more? You're right on the edge of a big jump in terms of what a little more spending would get you.

Ideally you want a GPU, an i7 and a scorpio black (or SSHD). You could get all that for £750 if you picked the review Optimus (it's an £805 laptop going for £750 if you don't configure any of it).

If you're going to configure yourself a laptop and not go above £700 then you've got to decide to drop one of those three things. In your Ultranote you've not got a GPU (because you can't have one in that chassis)... this will compromise almost all games you play on it, even Football Manager. If you picked a Cosmos 15" 1080p with an 850m then you're looking at £770.

Basically, you'd be getting a significant jump in laptop 'quality' with that bit more funding. Beyond that it's just bells and whistles which aren't needed. I suppose it depends on your gaming intentions. If it's tetris, hearts and minesweeper go for the ultranote... if it's Football Manager etc then ideally you want a GPU, which really means a £750 budget would be ideal.

 

[qwerty]

Sticking to that budget gimps you slightly... is there no way you can save up £50 more? You're right on the edge of a big jump in terms of what a little more spending would get you.

Ideally you want a GPU, an i7 and a scorpio black (or SSHD). You could get all that for £750 if you picked the review Optimus (it's an £805 laptop going for £750 if you don't configure any of it).

If you're going to configure yourself a laptop and not go above £700 then you've got to decide to drop one of those three things. In your Ultranote you've not got a GPU (because you can't have one in that chassis)... this will compromise almost all games you play on it, even Football Manager. If you picked a Cosmos 15" 1080p with an 850m then you're looking at £770.

Basically, you'd be getting a significant jump in laptop 'quality' with that bit more funding. Beyond that it's just bells and whistles which aren't needed. I suppose it depends on your gaming intentions. If it's tetris, hearts and minesweeper go for the ultranote... if it's Football Manager etc then ideally you want a GPU, which really means a £750 budget would be ideal.

Thanks so much for your thoughts SLIMCINI - they really are appreciated, as you guys don't need to offer up advice to us rookies!

I have already been adding £50 here and there and have climbed massively from my initial budget of £500 a few weeks back so I am not keen to go for the Optimus - I think my wife would kill me if I did!

Back then I was looking at Lenovo Z50s, Asus X550s etc and most have graphics cards like AMD Radeon R7 M265DX, NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M, NVIDIA GeForce 820M etc. I am not sure how these compare with the Intel onboard 4600 HD GPU or indeed the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 850M? Apologies for more naivety! At the moment I play FM with the lowest graphics detail on my 5 year old Dell Inspiron 1545. I am guessing it has pretty atrocious onboard graphics? I take your point though that to enjoy that game fully and indeed others, I might need more punch. I guess it all boils down to money!

 

[qwerty]

One final thing. I think the Optimus models on review are 13" and 17"? I need to balance portability with screen size as also use laptop for films so 15.6" screen is best - apologies should have mentioned this!

 

[SlimCini]

Do you need a 1080p screen?

 

[qwerty]

Do you need a 1080p screen?

Good question - have been wondering myself. I'm getting into photography at the moment, shooting in raw and then editing, so I need a decent screen - whether or not that means I need the IPS is a different matter I guess?

I have read some bad reviews of the screens that the Asus X550 and Lenovo G50/Z50 series employ, so am becoming screen paranoid. I realise of course the Optimus offers a better screen colour-wise than the Ultrabook/Cosmos, but bearing in mind photography is merely a hobby I think that the AUO screen would be an unaffordable luxury.

Basically my problem is I'm really indecisive at the moment, but will try and sit down and be logical!

I'd like to know how similar my Dell Inspiron's onboard graphics are compared with the Intel 4600, as I'd definitely like an improvement! How do I find out what I currently have? All I know it is something Intel onboard and 5-6 years old.

Cheers for your help by the way - much appreciated

 

[SpyderTracks]

If you right click on my computer and select properties, it will show you what processor you have, post back and we can find out what graphics are included.

 

[qwerty]

If you right click on my computer and select properties, it will show you what processor you have, post back and we can find out what graphics are included.

Thanks SpyderTracks.
I have a Celeron dual-core, T3100 @1.9 GHz

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks SpyderTracks.
I have a Celeron dual-core, T3100 @1.9 GHz

So that chip doesn't have on board graphics which means you have a dedicated graphics card. It's probably an entry level card.

 

[qwerty]

So that chip doesn't have on board graphics which means you have a dedicated graphics card. It's probably an entry level card.

Yeah you are right. DXDIAG says I have an Intel 4 Series Express Chipset family GPU. Guessing pretty terrible and that anything is an improvement, including Intel HD4600. I have noticed one can watch Youtube videos of people playing with the 4600 as well as other better and worse graphics cards - that can be quite useful I think, as some FPS benchmarks realised visually are a good guide!