Just for a change... blinded by choice for new laptop

Stevolution · 19 Jul 2015 at 15:01

Hi all

Looking to spend pennies on a laptop. I am not a huge gamer, but I keep my machines for a reasonable length of time and will be doing some gaming, so it makes sense to get something with a bit of wallop.
Budget... £1500- ish.

I also want a large external monitor.... suggestions there would be great (otherwise its another post in the monitor forum). 29" or larger... wide screen would be nice.. <£500.

So .. back to the laptop.

Originally was looking at this:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-180-MS&tool=3

Out of stock at the moment.... but in stock (and quite a lot cheaper) elsewhere... will O/C pricematch?

Would love to go up to this...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-199-MS&groupid=959&catid=1828

I like the spec and the blu-ray writer.... but then no pennies left for the monitor (I write software, and the larger external screen is useful).

I sort of decided I liked the look of MSI... bit then found this today at a good price...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-217-AS

So now, I am just lost in the woods of choice.

Is there really much to gain between the Nvidia GTX980M and the 970M? (as in... is it worth the extra)

Definitely want an ssd to boot from and a 1TB 7200 drive. Most seem to have that anyway. 17"+ screen is also a must

Any recommendations greatfully received!

edit.... arrghh

Just found this (although out of stock)...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-055-GI&groupid=959&catid=1828

Doogles · 19 Jul 2015 at 18:03

Does it have to be a laptop? If you are using it for the heavy stuff at home why not get a desktop with more power for £800 then get yourself a laptop for £500? It would leave you lots of money left for whichever monitor you choose.

Stevolution · 19 Jul 2015 at 20:04

We have a pretty awesome gaming rig (build from O/C parts) in the living room, set up on the 60" TV. However it is mainly for my uber gaming mad wife Tara.

However... as you can see, I have better things to play with than just the gaming rig

My laptop lives on the dining room table, and therefore I like the laptop format.
Plus, even though I know gaming laptops are are hefty, I do take it about with me sometimes.

My first point I suppose is what is better make wise? MSI or Asus. I like the look of both of them and spec wise?... pretty similar

Kohaashi · 20 Jul 2015 at 08:20

I got the G751JY a couple of months ago and I am very happy with it. It is very quiet when gaming which was one of my primary concerns as a lot of gaming laptops can sound like hairdryers.

Stevolution · 20 Jul 2015 at 16:16

Well the first thing I will probably do is put Windows 10 on it. I hate 8.
If I could, I would have it supplied with Win 7 on it.
Just hope sticking Win 10 on doesn't cause a whole load of issues.

It think its down to the G751JY or the MSIGT72 2QE. I can ge the MSI for nearly the same price as the Asus elsewhere.
Less memory on the MSI and a smaller SSD (connected in a different configuration?), but the Asus has a blu-ray and more memory.

Mmmm

Kohaashi · 20 Jul 2015 at 18:53

The Asus is supposedly quieter when gaming, but the MSI is supposedly quieter when idle. The Asus is super quiet though, I wouldn't need it any more quiet when idle than it is. Both are probably just as good as each other.

Stevolution · 20 Jul 2015 at 19:33

I think my laptop is likely to be at idle more than purring away under load gaming.
I emailed OC to see if they would pricematch the MSI to the other online sites... wait and see.
I also asked if we could upgrade the ssd on the MSI to a slightly larger one (although I could do that myself TBH).
Only thing that concerns me a little is upgrading to Win10. Will it all just work afterwards!
I do like the fact that the MSI has the GTX980M. 4gb video memory will be fine for what I need. 8gb DDR3 Memory will also be fine I imagine.
A blu-ray would have been nice, but you can't have everything!

thepharcyde · 21 Jul 2015 at 19:19

Refurn Alienware 17R2 all the way with 980m. CPU temp >70 fans kick in lower and it's silent.

Richdog · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:41

Stevolution said:
We have a pretty awesome gaming rig (build from O/C parts) in the living room, set up on the 60" TV. However it is mainly for my uber gaming mad wife Tara.

However... as you can see, I have better things to play with than just the gaming rig

Jesus, does she have a license for those kahoonas? :eek:

Stevolution · 23 Jul 2015 at 21:45

Yes fully licenced... and I inspect the goods for damage daily

Richdog · 24 Jul 2015 at 06:16

Stevolution said:
Yes fully licenced... and I inspect the goods for damage daily

Wait, wait... just noticed those pointy elbows. Definite deal-breaker.

However to answer your thread on-topic, yes there is a huge difference between the 970M and the 980M... I have the latter in an ASUS G751 and it is an absolute beast, not to mention VERY cool and quiet in this chassis, you barely feel any warmth with your hands on the keyboard. You made the right choice, and yes 4GB of VRAM is plenty for a 1080p screen... only when you go for 1440p and above may it be an issue in newer games, but probably not for a while and you will likely run out of GPU horsepower before you hit a VRAM limitation.

Stevolution · 24 Jul 2015 at 18:57

Mmm. I can't see an Asus with a 980M in it on O/C. Did you spec that yourself, or is it something O/C don't stock?

If I go MSI, then my only option with a 980M iis the two top of the range ones.
I really need a wide screen to go with it, so I am going to bash £2,000 - £2,500 on the head which is a lot of shiney pennies.

Thing is... I really am not a hard core gamer. In fact, I don't game that often (although I was hoping to get back into it). Am I going for 2k's worth of shiney MSI just because its got the 980M in it.
I would probably be more than happy with a £1,200 Asus or something.

clockwork.satan · 27 Jul 2015 at 08:56

I got an Asus G751JT recently (with the GTX970m) and can honestly say that it's amazing. I couldn't really justify spending £400 extra for the GTX980m which does apparently have quite a significant performance increase over the 970m.

It plays every game I've thrown at it so far smoothly at maximum settings and stays very cool and quiet all the while. Very impressed with it.

Richdog · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:03

Stevolution said:
Mmm. I can't see an Asus with a 980M in it on O/C. Did you spec that yourself, or is it something O/C don't stock?

If I go MSI, then my only option with a 980M iis the two top of the range ones.
I really need a wide screen to go with it, so I am going to bash £2,000 - £2,500 on the head which is a lot of shiney pennies.

Thing is... I really am not a hard core gamer. In fact, I don't game that often (although I was hoping to get back into it). Am I going for 2k's worth of shiney MSI just because its got the 980M in it.
I would probably be more than happy with a £1,200 Asus or something.

I live outside of the UK so didn't order from OCUK, but the 980M is a common option in the ASUS G751 range.

If you aren't a hardcore gamer then feel free to go for a 970M, just be sure that it will last as long as you need it to. I'm not a "hardcore gamer" any more either, but I know the 980M will last me a good while and not struggle with what I throw at it. For me, that was worth the expense.

clockwork.satan · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:07

Richdog said:
If you aren't a hardcore gamer then feel free to go for a 970M.

It is possible to hardcore game on a 970m! For many it's a case of what they can afford or justify the expense of, as it was for me.

Richdog · 27 Jul 2015 at 09:17

clockwork.satan said:
It is possible to hardcore game on a 970m! For many it's a case of what they can afford or justify the expense of, as it was for me.

Of course you can game hardore on it, but it will get older quicker than a 980M which is overall around 30-40% faster... that's the point of the discussion about justifying the expense.

A 970M gets less than 30fps on GTAV and The Witcher 3 at 1080p and max details http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-970M.126694.0.html

clockwork.satan · 27 Jul 2015 at 15:11

But does that really matter? Until I got my G751 I was gaming on a 5 year old Sony VAIO with a GT330M GPU (and we are talking hardcore, as I was in a full-time raiding guild in WoW) and was able to play more recent games such as Tomb Raider and Bioshock: Infinite with the resolution and settings dialled down a bit, but it didn't really spoil the gameplay.

Graphics aren't everything - while it's nice to experience games on 'Ultra' with everything maxxed, as long as the core gameplay isn't affected I expect I'll still be happily gaming on my lowly GTX970m for the next 3-4 years.

Stevolution · 27 Jul 2015 at 16:26

Well I have researched it to a point where I don't know what I am doing!
I am sure a 970M will do me fine, but I can afford a 980M, so I will probably go for that.
I don't get a new laptop that often, so a 980M would be nice.

I see the MSI GT72 2QE Dominator Pro-682UK is back in stock today, but at the same price it was - which is a shame.
I can get it elsewhere and get a free upgrade to 16gb memory + games + MSI bundle (headphones, keyring, + extra years warranty).

However, I now see that MSI are upgrading their CPU's to i7-5950HQ.
Would be nice to wait for that.

However... saying that... I am finding any kind of communication with MSI almost impossible. Their entire website lacks any kind of email address with which to enquire about the expected arrival dates of the CPU upgrades, and what Blu-ray do they recommend for the above laptop.
I did call them, but it just rang.
Starting to think that perhasps an Asus is a better bet. Shame... like the look of the MSI.