Need a general purpose / gaming laptop

pavstar

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Jun 3, 2014
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1. What is your budget?
£500 - £800 (I realise this isn't much in terms of a gaming laptop, but i'm not really looking for something completely high end.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.6" is what i'm used to but i'm open to a 17".

3. What screen resolution do you want?
The best i can find with my budget

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
desktop replacement laptop, general purposes including gaming

5. How much battery life do you need?
Not really away from a power source so not a major factor however i would like decent battery

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
At the moment I don't play any games that have high requirements however i'd like to know that i can play games such as Crysis 3 on a decent maybe high settings.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
General uses, watching HD movies, video editing for youtube, multimedia etc.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
ideally at least 500-750GB, I'm not very knowledgable on the different types of hard drives or computer technology in general, however I read that SSD drives are the better ones?

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
No sites in specific however I have messed about with customisation options on the hp website and a few others.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
for the average expectancy which i assume is around 4 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD ROM would be fine as i think any data transfers would be done through a USB and any blu ray disk i can watch on my games consoles.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I've always been familiar and comfortable with HP laptops, I like the sleek look for the HP Envy range. For no apparent logical reason I've never been interested in many other brands due to them usually looking chunky and blocky looking, i realise this isn't really a factor of performance however it's just a asthetic factor, I understand i should prioritise performance definitely however i would like a sleek looking laptop if possible.

13. What country do you live in?
UK

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
On the HP website i've had a mess about with the customisation on a HP ENVY 17t-j100 which i quite like the look of and it comes to around 1100 USD which is about £650 for these specs:

Operating system Windows 8.1 64
Processor 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4702MQ Processor
Included Warranty Services Included 2 Year Warranty
Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M Graphics with 2048MB of dedicated video memory
Display 17.3-inch diagonal Full HD Anti-glare LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
Memory 16GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 750GB 5400 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive
Hard Drive Acceleration Cache NO mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
Office software No Additional Office Software
McAfee LiveSafe(TM) Security Security Software Trial
Primary battery 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Primary optical drive SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Keyboard Backlit Keyboard
Personalization HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Dual Digital Microphone, Fingerprint Reader
Networking 802.11b/g/n WLAN [1x1]


Is this something that is good for the price it is? I apologise for any stupid assumptions I might have made but unfortunately i have a basic knowledge of technology specifics, hence my thread to you good people ^.^

Thank you.
 

pavstar

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Jun 3, 2014
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I wouldn't know where to begin to search or even identify what the fastest onboard graphics I can get in my price range, If you have time to read the specs of the hp laptop i looked at in the last bit of my post, would you be able to give your opinion on it?

 
the problem with that HP envy is that you're using the American site
shipping to the UK alone costs about $100+ so thats another £60
then you have to play import dutues / tax on it, which is another 20%, so thats another £120
so really that HP is pretty useless here

even £600 is a stretch here, £650-700 is like the perfect zone for the best bang for your buck which would be either of these configurations:
15.6' laptop: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/683654/
14' laptop: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/683655/
17.3' laptop: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/683657/
 

pavstar

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Jun 3, 2014
11
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Ah I didn't even consider that, the UK equivalent laptops are so much more expensive. The links you've sent show up as a error for me, probably because they only work on you're side as you've checked out to a basket or quote. Could you post the name and/or specs of the laptops so I could try finding them my self?
 

pavstar

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Jun 3, 2014
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There isn't a Vortex VE listed there?
 
sorry, I always manage to incorrectly remember it's name: its the vortex IV LE : http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexIV-LE/
though that makes your budget quite tight, I would thoroughly recommend any of the optimus series.
 

pavstar

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Jun 3, 2014
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4,560


The The 17.3" Optimus V looks appealing to me, what configurations would you suggest?
Also i've been browsing the utopia website and cyberpowerpc website, what do you think of such laptops like those in the fangbook range?
https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/category/laptop