Gaming Laptop Advice

[jamie_H]

I am currently in the market for a new Gaming laptop with a budget of around £1000. I would like to play games such as Battlefield 3 and Diablo 3 comfortably on medium-high settings.

The two models that are currently standing out are: the Skyfire II with these specs:

Chassis & Display SkyFire:17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670M - 1.5GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Integrated 4 in 1 Card Reader (SDXC/MMC/MS/XD)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & INTEL WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 3 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery SkyFire Series 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Laptop Cooling Stands NONE
Laptop Security NONE
Carry Case NONE
Monitor NONE
Keyboard & Mouse INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Speakers NONE
Webcam INTEGRATED 720P 30 FPS HD WEBCAM
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Home Installation NONE
Dead Pixel Guarantee NONE
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Charity Calendar NONE
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £860.00
Price £1,032.00


And the VortexIII with these specs:

Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670M - 1.5GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE NONE
1st 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
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ULTIMATE-N 6300 (450Mbps)
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing 1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Laptop Cooling Stands NONE
Laptop Security NONE
Carry Case NONE
Monitor NONE
Keyboard & Mouse INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse LOGITECH® OPTICAL USB MOUSE (£5)
Speakers NONE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Headsets (VOIP) NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Home Installation NONE
Dead Pixel Guarantee NONE
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Charity Calendar NONE
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £950.83
Price £1,141.00


My questions are:

a) Will the gtx 675 gfx card vastly outperform the gtx 670?
b) Will the 1920 x 1080 reso look good with a 15.6 widescreen laptop or would it be better suited for the 17.3 laptops?
c) Are the above specs on the two laptops suited for my gaming needs?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[ArcusSpartan]

The GTX 675 I think out performs the 670 by about 25% to 30%, how ever if you can wait 2 weeks you can upgrade the Vortex 3 with an AMD HD 7970M which should be about 30% better then the 675M. While it doesn't have PhysX which can make (what little amount of games support it) look quite more interesting. It has also got AMD's Version of Optimus called "Enduro" This allows the Graphics card to Power down when 3d applications are not in use to get better battery life and keep the laptop from becoming needlessly hot, but for now we don't know if it will be supported on the Vortex 3.

And on my build, the AMD only seems to increase the price by £10, so I would recommend it.

EDIT: Here is a little more information on the Chip. http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970M.72675.0.html

 

[PCS]

Welcome to our forums

1. Answered above.

2. In my opinion is looks equally good on both 15.6" and 17.3" and the clarity/size looks almost identical.

3. Absolutely - these are very powerful specs and ready for gaming straight away.

 

[jamie_H]

Ok thank you to all who've contributed thus far. My only concern is as I am on quite a tight budget of just over £1000, a good build for a Vortex III with the AMD 7970, would be closer to the £1300-£1400 mark.
Also this laptop would need to be fairly all rounded, as it will be used just as much for university work as it will for gaming and I have heard negative things about the AMD with heat/noise when not gaming.

I guess a follow up question would be, will the gtx 670 run games such as Diablo 3 and battlefield 3 comfortably, and how future proof is that card?

 

[timabb]

If i was you mate i would not get a laptop for gaming they heat up and overheat to easily. Go for a desktop

 

[jamie_H]

If i was you mate i would not get a laptop for gaming they heat up and overheat to easily. Go for a desktop

I've heard of the issue with laptop gaming, but to be honest getting a desktop is not feasible for me as I travel around frequently. So it has to be a laptop

 

[timabb]

It looks good and i have a laptop for gaming. Its good just been having some problems but good site and got mine in like a week after oredering.

 

[PCS]

I guess a follow up question would be, will the gtx 670 run games such as Diablo 3 and battlefield 3 comfortably, and how future proof is that card?

The GTX 670M is a rebaged GTX 570M (the GTX 675M is a rebadged GTX 580M) - it will be more than capable of playing the games you'd like. In terms of "future-proofness" it will certainly last you a good few years, but it depends on how demanding new games are and whether you wish to play them on medium or high settings...you can cartainly upgrade to a 675M or even 680M in future should you wish.

 

[Rudlin]

I've heard of the issue with laptop gaming, but to be honest getting a desktop is not feasible for me as I travel around frequently. So it has to be a laptop

I've had MSI FX 600 laptop for around two years now, everyday use includes some really demanding games like starcraft 2 and oblivion 4 (for my computer) and I can assure you I've never ever had any issues with overheating no matter how hot it is outside or how long I play games.

Myth busted

 

[marvir]

I've had MSI FX 600 laptop for around two years now, everyday use includes some really demanding games like starcraft 2 and oblivion 4 (for my computer) and I can assure you I've never ever had any issues with overheating no matter how hot it is outside or how long I play games.

Myth busted

Agree with this. I've had nothing but laptops the past 5 years, and have never really had any problems with heat as long as you're smart about it (don't use it for hours flat on a carpet like I did my first laptop, for instance). The only reason I would question getting a laptop over a desktop is the price-performance and value for money you get. A desktop for the same price as the laptop I've ordered (more or less £1800) could get me a system that is pretty damn high end (ie GTX 675M vs. GTX 680.. ouch). The performance difference is actually quite painful to think about, but as my situation doesn't allow for me to have a desktop at the moment, so I gotta bite the bullet.

So I'd say set a maximum budget, stick to it, and get the best that you can for your money, as laptops are incredibly limited to the upgrades you can do with them (another pitfall for laptops).

 

[jamie_H]

Ok thanks for the feedback guys. Basically what it falls down to is whether the 675/7970 is actually worth the £100-200 more than the gtx 670.

Aside from that what is the difference between the Skyfire II and the Vortex III, other than the finger print scanner, is it just aesthetics? and is the Vortex worth the extra £100 over the Skyfire.

 

[marvir]

Based on gaming benchmarks, the difference between the 670 and 675 is roughly a 20% performance increase, so it is significant, but I wouldn't call the 670 a slouch either. I currently have a laptop with the 480m, which was quite disappointing when it came out to be honest, but still, it can handle most games around medium to high fairly easily. It just depends now if you can afford to stretch that much more for a 20% increase on the 675, or from what other people have been saying, 40+% with the 7970M when that releases, although nothing is official.

I think the main difference of the Skyfire and Vortex is the actual chassis, and I guess that would limit what components can go into it, including future upgrades (the Skyfire doesn't have either of the video cards you mentioned).