First time buying a laptop.

Associate
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I'm looking to spend under £1000 on a laptop with the following specs:

15" screen, 1080p is a must,
3rd gen i5 or i7,
designated graphics.

The Dell Inspiron 15 SE and the XPS 15 both fit the bill, but are there any other competing laptops from other makes?
 
Soldato
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Assuming part of the laptops intent will be to play games, what games, and what quality do you expect to be able to play at? This will be a large factor in what people recommend :)
 
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OP
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I will do some light gaming, but nothing hardcore - I have a desktop for that. I will probably only play Kerbal Space Program if I'm honest...

I want designated graphics in case I do find myself gaming in the future on it. I'm open to the idea of discreet, I guess..
 
Associate
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If you're quick, its on sale this week (as of writing)
OcUK Extreme P150EM
Get an i7-3630QM and 8GB RAM + Intel 6235 + Samsung 840 = £1026

Whilst it is not under the 1k you said, it is probably the best performance laptop youll get, with the CPU being on par with desktop i5-3570 and the 7970M being a mini 7850 (or 7870 depending on OC)

However, if that is too much or just miss the deal, you're gonna have to do a huge step down GPU wise, and I would go for the OcUK Gamer W350STQ

Stick 8GB RAM + Intel 6235 + Samsung 840 = £996

Whilst the 765M isn't slow by any means, it is just not on the level of the 7970M, however the i7-4700QM is a tad stronger, being on par with the i7-2600
 
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Soldato
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I would stay as far way from the XPS15 as I can. I have just seen endless issues with Wifi, throttling and over heating with my friends.

You could take a look at the dell outlet, found this

Inspiron 15R - 7520
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3632QM (2.2GHz, 6M cache)
Windows® 8
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz Memory (2 DIMMs)
1 TB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Optical Drive : Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
Display: 15.6in Full High Definition (1080p) WLED with AntiGlare
Graphics: 2 GB AMD Radeon HD 7730M Card
Back Up Media Not Included
Windows® 8 64bit (Englilsh)
Wireless : Intel Centrino Advanced-N 2230 (2x2, a/g/n) + Bluetooth
LCD Back Cover : Aluminium
LCD Back Cover : Aluminium
Battery : Primary 6 Cell 48W/HR
Internal Qwerty Backlit Keyboard

For £520, could just stick in a SSD and call it a day.
 
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Associate
OP
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Surrey, UK
I'll be sure to check it everyday. I've found a well known brick and mortar shop whose website offers some good savings on laptops and ultrabooks, however hardly any of them are 1080p.
 
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