Gaming Laptop Under/Around £1000

[grec]

Hi all,

Ex-gamer here making a semi-comeback to the gaming arena.

Things have moved on a long way since I last bought a gaming PC, but my circumstances have also changed thus the requirement for a laptop over a dedicated tower. I’ll be travelling a fair bit around the UK for work so while I understand a laptop isn’t the best bang for the buck by a long way, it’s a necessity.

With the above said, I’d like something similar to this:

[Link removed as links to competitors' stores aren't allowed; spec i7 8750H, 8gb RAM, GTX 1050 ti, 15.6", 128gb SSD, 1TB HDD, Win 10 home - £999]

Is that a decent spec, or can I get way better value for money by building?

Any advice is hugely appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg.

 

[Oussebon]

Welcome to the forums.

I took the liberty of removing the link as links to competitors' stores aren't allowed. But kept the core spec so people could see what you were looking for.

In terms of options from PC Specialist, possibly something like:

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 120Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 9750H (2.6GHz, 4.5GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 - 4.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1200 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 120W AC Adaptor
Battery
Optimus X Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
MULTI COLOUR 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
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo NH55RAQ (4GB GTX-1650, i7-9750H, 120Hz N4)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,021.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/optimusX-15/kHr8J8rzbU/

The 1650 gives a decent bump over the 1050 ti it replaces:

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Laptop GPU Performance Review

Notebookcheck.com reviews the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 laptop GPU. The chip succeeds the GeForce GTX 1050 and is part of Nvidia's Turing generation of cards.

www.notebookcheck.net

16GB RAM could be useful for some titles, and especially if you multitask while playing games. Also if it's 2x8gb vs 1x8gb, it's giving dual channel RAM, which some games and non-gaming uses like.

Also 250gb SSD as 1) they tend to be faster than 120gb SSDs of a similar model due to how they're made and 2) 120gb is annoyingly small where games are concerned.

As the forums belong to PCS we can't comment on competitors' specs - either for or against them - but we can present options to try to get you the best value for money from PCS's stable - and you can think about those versus any other options you might be shopping for!

 

[Oussebon]

If ~£1050 is fine you could drop the HDD and get a 1TB SX6000, More SSD space for games, and the 2.5" bay is kept free for future upgrades e.g. an HDD for mass storage, a Sata SSD, whatever you like..

 

[phitol]

Yeah, the competitors laptop spec is lob-sided, a 9750h with the 1050ti is not a good match, the 1050 ti will struggle in a lot of modern games even at 1080.

An alternative view is to spend the £1000ish on getting the base hardware to maximise performance for the money, and have the view to then upgrade the HDD's and even RAM over subsequent months.

In this case the Optimus iX with 60hz 72% NTSC display (much better colours) pairs beautifully IMO with the 9750h/1660ti on the basis the getting solid 1080p60 v-sync gaming with high settings is better than trying to get 120hz with low settings with tearing.

See this video:

comparing 1650 vs 1660ti
[edit] - Updated this as I selected 8GB (1 x 8GB single channel) which would be wrong, so went for 8GB (2 x 4GB dual channel)

Spoiler: 9750/1660ti/8GB RAM/480GB SSD /60Hz 72%NTSC - £1110

Chassis & Display

Spoiler: 9750/1660ti/8GB RAM/480GB SSD /60Hz 72%NTSC - £1110

Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 60Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 9750H (2.6GHz, 4.5GHz Turbo)

Get Total War: Three Kingdoms & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
480GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 150W AC Adaptor
Battery
Optimus X Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
MULTI COLOUR 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
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo NH55RCQ (6GB GTX-1660 Ti, i7-9750H, 60Hz N7)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,110.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/optimusX-15/HSY9zvMRtg/

Over time you can add more HDD's (M.2 etc) and always go for more RAM (although 8GB is just enough for gaming)

This is just an alternative view, all those above are preferable to the OP's competitors example.

 

[Oussebon]

If the OP's happy to go to £1100 then I'd agree with the above.

One tweak I'd suggest is to not get the SU630 SSD, which is a 2.5" SSD. The SX6000 SSD from the M.2 Menu has 2 advantages. 1) it's faster 2) it's M.2, not 2.5"

The Optimus has 1 2.5" bay and 2 M.2 slots. Going with the SX6000 leaves open the choice of adding another m.2 SSD, or an HDD/SSD in the 2.5" bay without needing to replace anything.

 

[grec]

Firstly, thank you both for the very quick replies, I appreciate it!

Secondly, apologies for posting the competitor link, I should’ve checked the terms before I posted.

Really appreciate it guys, will have a play around with my budget and see if I can stretch to the £1.1k build as like the idea of future proofing!

Cheers,

Greg

 

[barlew]

Definitely don't get a GTX 1050 TI if you can afford to get something better. I am upgrading from a 1050 now and it really is at the end of its life in terms of being able to play modern games.