Forum

Alright, I figured it’s been a while since the last laptop thread and I need one desperately, so here we go.

Basically I want a laptop around the 500-600€ mark (possibly more expensive as I might find something on the post-christmas sales) which can hopefully handle TF2 without major problems, and since I’m going to use it for Uni I’d like it to be fairly small and portable, not much bigger than 14″. Does anybody have a recommendation, or should I just head straight to the store and get fooled once more?

Quoted from AnimaL

14″, cheap and gaming? pick two

Well, the idea is that it’s primarily a school laptop, but for example I’d like to be able to play TF2 when I go home (without pc) for 3 weeks over christmas, and also I’d like to be able to map (which means also run around in maps) on it. So, if I can play TF2 at 60 fps with some fps config, that would definitely do.

Essentially size > cheap > hardcore mlg 360 gaming.

Quoted from AnimaL

13″ http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=765693#extra

gimme proper cheap swedish shop ill look something up, this one seems to be at least 100 euro more expensive than my shops

I have a good experience with komplett (look for “bärbara datorer”), and they typically have a great post-christmas sale.

EDIT: oh. try http://www.inet.se

Yeah, I just want to make sure I don’t get something that starts giving 10 fps after two months; I might be able to add some to the price in that case. In general, what brands do I want to be looking for? If something is renowned as crap, I think I’d prefer paying some more for something more reliable. I can also imagine going up in size slightly if it means more secure fps.

You mean this one? http://www.dell.com/se/p/inspiron-15z-5523/fs (leftmost one)

Quoted from taro

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/notebook-computers/high-performance/NP700Z3C-S02UK

IDK if this laptop is available in your country, but I’m sure someone will be selling one on ebay with international/european shipping.. infact here’s one i found with a quick search: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-Series-7-NP700Z3C-14-750-GB-Intel-Core-i5-3210M-3rd-Gen-6GB-GT-630M-/321038384772

Other option is the XPS 14z: http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-14-l421x/pd
But I think you get more performance for your money with the Samsung.

Yeah, they look great, but ~1000€ is a bit outside my budget. Since it’s mainly for backup gaming, I hope to be able to keep the price down around 500-600€.

Quoted from taro

[…]

The smaller the laptop the more expensive, because it costs more to get high quality components in a smaller space than a bigger space. If you want even mediocre gaming performance at that price you will have to look at 15.6″ laptops.

BTW those Samsung and Dell laptops are the only 14″ ones I could find that have dedicated GPUs. There is probably an ASUS laptop out there somewhere that fits your needs for cheaper but good luck finding it. Other options if you really want a powerful portable laptop are Ultrabooks, but because of the price I don’t think you’d be interested. The Dell XPS 14 and Samsung 7 series 14″ seem to do a good job of both worlds, ultrabook portability with 15.6″ laptop performance.

There are probably other options out there so keep looking and try to keep an open mind, finding good laptops at a good price has and always will be a very difficult task.

Alright, well if that’s the situation can you give me a suggestion on a 15,6″ one which would handle TF2? I’m not ruling it out; I used to be used to carrying a 17″ one (a big one at that) everywhere, so a slim 15,6″ might not be a bad option.

Quoted from taro

[…]

There are loads to choose from, just go on all the main manufacturers websites and have a look yourself. Good companies to start with: Dell, Samsung, Lenovo, Sony and ASUS.

Companies to avoid: Acer, Compaq, HP, Philips, Toshiba.

Also check out places that do their own: scan.co.uk and overclockers.co.uk (I only know about these UK based ones but I’m sure there are more, EU, based ones).

Make sure you get a laptop with a dedicated GPU from Nvidia or AMD, avoid the ballshit that is Intel HD graphics. This chart gives you an idea of performance of all the cards: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html – all numbers ending with the letter “M” are laptop GPUs.

GL&HF! lol

Thanks!

Alright; since this one seems to have as good specs as my current PC (or better), you think it would be a good buy? http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=761564#extra I’ve made some adjustments to my budget considering the circumstances, but this looks like it could suit well.

Quoted from AnimaL

its decent, but for tf2 id recommend normal i5 “M” instead of this U thing since tf2 is all about cpu… the U letter in cpu name means its underclocked(aka ultra low voltage) to meet much lower power requirements and in general increase battery time instead of give u better cpu performance

you can get good i5 3210M with nvidia 620 or 630 for about 500-600 euros and with fps cfg you should be able to get even 120fps on those

http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=761825 wont even need fps config with this :D

Looks interesting, the only difference being it’s Acer and lacks SSD. I’m not sure what difference this makes.