Gaming/Work Laptop for £1800-2000?

Associate
Joined
25 Dec 2019
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50
I'm an absolute laptop n00b (or nob..).

I've never bought/owned a laptop before, as I've always just built my own PC every 3-4 years. So I could really use some advice please!

I plan to ditch my desktop PC, and use the laptop as a permanent static feature on the desk. It'll be connected to 2 x 27" 1440p monitors, and I'll be using an external mouse and keyboard.

The reason for going down the laptop route is that my room is very small and the desk area is not large enough to accommodate a tower case in addition to the 2 x monitors. There's no space on the floor for the case to go either, and I definitely don't want to wall mount.

I'll be gaming (WoW, RDR2, Cyberpunk 2077 - that kind of thing), and also using it as my home office PC (Teams, MS Office etc)

So with the above in mind, what's the best bang for buck? Having an amazing screen isn't really a priority since I'll rarely (if ever) be using the laptop as a laptop. Having a fancy keyboard isn't important either as I have a Corsair mechanical k/b which I'll be using.

I've been told it understand it isn't possible to upgrade the gfx card in a laptop, which is a bummer considering how much more expensive this will be compared to a desktop. So I'm thinking I probably need to go for the best I can afford to 'future proof' myself for as long as possible.

After spending countless hours reading reviews and PC mags, my thoughts are to go with a 3070 build with an AMD 5800H and 16/32GB RAM.

But from the reviews I've read, there seems to be so much inconsistency between manufacturer builds - some builds with the same exact specs vary hugely in terms of noise and thermals.

My max budget is £2000, although I'd feel way more comfortable if I can spend a bit less!

Thanks in advance!
 
Associate
OP
Joined
25 Dec 2019
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Have you considered building an ITX case in somthing like an NZXT H1?

It will have a much smaller footprint than a laptop.

Oh!!

Ok, so now you've gone and thrown a massive spanner in the works! :cry: I hadn't seen the H1 before - that's absolutely tiny and may actually fit...
Now I'm thinking I might need to go back to the drawing board for a rethink before I spend crazy amounts on a laptop!

I was this close to pulling the trigger on one of these this morning
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/gamin...core-i7-rtx-3070-512-gb-ssd-10221518-pdt.html
 
Soldato
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I think you’d be better going for an AMD based system - their offerings are better suited for laptops, due to higher IPC and lower power requirements :)

Also, be careful which RTX card you get - depending on the design/laptop, it may power limited.

E.g. a 70W 3070 may perform the same as a 110W 3060 Ti.

Worth checking reviews for that specific laptop to see how it performs.


Laptops have become very confusing :(
 
Associate
OP
Joined
25 Dec 2019
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50
I think you’d be better going for an AMD based system - their offerings are better suited for laptops, due to higher IPC and lower power requirements :)

Also, be careful which RTX card you get - depending on the design/laptop, it may power limited.

E.g. a 70W 3070 may perform the same as a 110W 3060 Ti.

Worth checking reviews for that specific laptop to see how it performs.


Laptops have become very confusing :(

Thanks that's good to know! And yes I agree - I'm finding this all a bit of a confusing minefield - and I've been building PC's since the mid 90s :(

Is there a way of being able to tell from the specs which RTX card comes in a laptop? All the ones i've seen so far just describe them as RTX 3070 or RTX 3080
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Apr 2013
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3,737
I would say that if it's a permanent fixture on a desk connected to 2 external displays there's no point in buying a laptop IMO.

Maybe the new Intel NUC could also be worth considering as it's really small and has a decent GPU plus you can upgrade the memory/storage if required.


It's a mobile i7 and an RTX 2060 so not as good as the laptop you were looking at but only costs around £1000.
 
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