Laptop for Son

wayhav

Member
Hello

Please help, i am after a replacement laptop for my son, he used to have a laptop with a GeForce 9800M GTX in it from 2009, it has finally burnt out, graphics card goosed.

I'm after something that can play modern games on average settings, his old one managed it just....

I'm looking at the following, any suggestions comments.......

Cheers

Chassis & Display

Optimus 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 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk

500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 3 Gb/s, (7200rpm)**SPECIAL**
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
Bluetooth & Wireless

GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options

2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery

Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor

1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software

FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus

BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language

INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse

INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam

INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty

3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee

30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance

1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery

STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time

Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £859.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
That should be perfectly fine for modern games at average settings and probably even high settings. You can check here ro see the framerates of some given games: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-650M.71887.0.html

As you can see, the XMG A502 laptop, which has the same graphics card, ram and cpu as the your specs runs Crysis 2 on high settings as 61.3 frames per second. You may not be able to run some games smoothly with totally maxed out settings but it should be great for high and below.
 

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
That looks absolutely fine to me. The only thing I will mention is if you would like more space, the 750GB black scorpio is the same price as the hybrid. So if you doont mind sacrificing some speed. Or, here is a new idea! Because this laptop has two hard drive bays. Maybe consider just getting an ssd then put your old hard drive from the old laptop in the second bay for storage. Anyway, just an idea, what do you think?
 

wayhav

Member
Thanks for the Idea Music Guy, the disk in his old Laptop is only 250GB and also 5400 rpm, i think 500GB should be enough storage. He seems to play Skyrim mainly and he has mentioned Guildwars 2, should it be ok for that, do you know if it would be powerful enough to run it in the native resolution (sharper) ?

Cheers
 

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
I don't know I'm afraid because I am not a gamer! I think it should be able to run Skyrim well though. Well, there is nothing wrong with 5400rpm drives, the WD blue scorpio 5400rpm 2.5" drives are actually shown in several cases to be faster than seagate's 7200rpm 2.5" drives! Fair enough with the space requirements. However, you may as well slip the old drive in with the new one, there is a spare HDD slot that won't be used, you can put the old drive there!
 

wayhav

Member
Perhaps gold warranty to cover parts for 2 years as opposed to 1 under silver warranty.

Yeah not a bad idea for 60 odd pound, Anybody know if its worthwhile getting a cooling stand, how hot will a 650m get, its not that hardcore is it ?
 

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Yeah not a bad idea for 60 odd pound, Anybody know if its worthwhile getting a cooling stand, how hot will a 650m get, its not that hardcore is it ?

If you are gaming for a few hours it would get hot, I believe PCS are now offering cooling stands.
 

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
It should be fine as long as you keep it on a flat surface but a cooling stand would always be a good idea, it will increase the lifespan a little!
 
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