The best gaming laptop for £1000 (UK)

SSDs only improves load times because the have faster read/write transfer times than HDDs. It is possible for a Win 8 laptop to boot to the login screen within 15 seconds. However, this does not improve frame rates in games.

Gaming laptops tends to run hot. I have read many reviews of 14" and 15.6" laptops and under gaming conditions the CPU temps are typically between 90C - 94C. When I played GTA 4 on my Lenovo Y470 (i5-2410m and GT 550m) the CPU actually hit 99C and started to throttle down; all other games only caused the CPU temps to be in the range I stated before.

Turning off Intel's Turbo Boost I was able to keep the CPU temps to max of 88C when playing games; GTA still hit 92C though. Turbo Boost is found in all Core i5 and i7 CPUs; it overclocks the CPU as long as it is not too hot. Core i3 CPUs do not have Turbo Boost. The nVidia GT 550m never went past 75c from what I remember.

If you want a gaming laptop then you need to accept high temps when playing. The Lenovo Y510p is generally a popular choice in the US and it maxes out your budget. However, the GT 755m is not exactly a good match for a 1080p screen. It should allow you to play nearly all games on medium graphic quality. Using high graphic quality will make the laptop struggle in graphically intensive games. For high quality graphics at 1080p I would recommend at least the GTX 770m. However, that is likely out of your budget.

http/shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/

I like MSI. I purchased an MSI GT680R in January of 2011 and it has been great. One problem with the power adapter, but MSI fixed it in 3 days.

It has 2 drive bays so this year I got a 256GB SSD and a 750GB hybrid drive and it really screams.

I just wish I could update the video card!

So MSI has been a good laptop for me. YMMV

Ray

I play CIV V which is very GPU intensive and it doesn't get too hot.

No problem with GAL CIV 2 and others. I've played a bit of Battlefield 2 with no problem, but I'm more into the strategy games.

Ray

All gaming laptops tends to get hot. I have read many laptop reviews and from personal experience it seems that when playing games the CPU temps tends to be around 89c to 94c. The GPU tends to be around 65c - 75c. One way to lower the temps for the CPU is to disable Turbo Boost (Intel) / Turbo Core (AMD).

What you say is possible, but you need to read reviews to find out what people say. For example, the 15.6" Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 has basically the same specs as my 14" Y470, the difference is the larger screen which leads to a larger chassis which generally means better airflow and larger heatsink. Based on personal experience and many reviews the i5-2410m in the Y470 hit's 90c - 92c when playing games. However, all reviews of the larger Y570 points to the fact that the i5-2410m only goes as high as around 76c when playing games.

That implies larger laptops can offer better cooling. It makes sense due to possibly a larger heaksink and maybe better airflow. But... reviews of the 14" Lenovo IdeaPad Y410p and 15" Y510p points to both laptops having very similar temps for the CPUs; 90c - 94c.

An SSD is not necessary, but it will make your system seem like the best in the world!

Boot times will be cut by a lot, maybe as much as 90%. Load times will be quicker, but your games will run the same off of a slow 5400 rpm drive after they load into memory.

Depending on when you are going to buy, prices are changing rapidly.

Good Luck!

Ray

A good compromise might be to go for an sshd. It won't quite have the speed of an ssd, but it definitely speeds things up.