Medium gaming laptop
- Thread starter Buggaton
- Start date
I've been looking at the Sony Vaio as well. For £709 (£719 if you want a shiny one) you could get:
Processor: i5-520M
RAM: 4gb 1066Mhz DDR3
Gfx: HD 5650 1gb
HDD: 320gb 5,400rpm
Screen: 15.5" 1366x768
Supplied with Windows 7
However I have found another laptop for a similar price of £750. The 15.6" Enigma, it's specs are:
Processor: i5-540M
RAM: 4gb 1333Mhz DDR3
Gfx: HD 5650 1gb
HDD: 160gb 7,200rpm
Screen 15.6" 1920x1080
Supplied without OS.
This system can be built with the same i5-520M as the Vaio for £714.
I wonder which is the better value for money and what the performance difference between the two are. Naturally the main saving on the Enigma is the lack of an OS, Sony don't seem to give you the option to supply the Vaio with no OS. Of the two, if it came to a wire, the Vaio is prettier with those colour options
.
EDIT: hadn't noticed someone has already mentioned a higher specced Enigma, I guess I jumped the gun on it a little. Perhaps this is still a good comparision for a slightly tighter budget?
Processor: i5-520M
RAM: 4gb 1066Mhz DDR3
Gfx: HD 5650 1gb
HDD: 320gb 5,400rpm
Screen: 15.5" 1366x768
Supplied with Windows 7
However I have found another laptop for a similar price of £750. The 15.6" Enigma, it's specs are:
Processor: i5-540M
RAM: 4gb 1333Mhz DDR3
Gfx: HD 5650 1gb
HDD: 160gb 7,200rpm
Screen 15.6" 1920x1080
Supplied without OS.
This system can be built with the same i5-520M as the Vaio for £714.
I wonder which is the better value for money and what the performance difference between the two are. Naturally the main saving on the Enigma is the lack of an OS, Sony don't seem to give you the option to supply the Vaio with no OS. Of the two, if it came to a wire, the Vaio is prettier with those colour options
.EDIT: hadn't noticed someone has already mentioned a higher specced Enigma, I guess I jumped the gun on it a little. Perhaps this is still a good comparision for a slightly tighter budget?
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Actually I specced that for someone else.
Given that I'm the topic starter and asked the question in the first place AND didn't even bother to look at the Enigma spec for MY budget your comment's actually damned useful. Thanks!
I'm a hilarious cretin sometimes XD
Faster RAM and HDD probably make it worth the extra money and loss of 160GB for me (I don't store any media... no need for HDD bigger than that). I'll be considering this closely :S
It's the choice I'm trying to make at the moment. The Enigma is the front runner in terms of performance though I wish they didn't look so dull. Guess I need to stop fussing over aesthetics and remember it's what is under the hood that matters. I'll only regret it if I don't eke every ounce of performance from my budget =P.
Anyone have any opinion on whether the i5-540M is worth the extra £46 over the 520M? You're looking at an improvement from 2.40Ghz to 2.53Ghz, the tubo-boost on the 540M pushes it over 3.00Ghz if i remember correctly wheras the 520M doesn't. Both have the same 3MB cache and bus speed.
Anyone have any opinion on whether the i5-540M is worth the extra £46 over the 520M? You're looking at an improvement from 2.40Ghz to 2.53Ghz, the tubo-boost on the 540M pushes it over 3.00Ghz if i remember correctly wheras the 520M doesn't. Both have the same 3MB cache and bus speed.
there is very little real world difference between the 520 and 540. I only chose my 540 over 520 as they were the same price at the time (on dells m15x)
The 540m will never hit over 3ghz in reality as it you always have background processes spread over the cores stopping the full turbo for 1 core on single threaded apps.
The 540m will never hit over 3ghz in reality as it you always have background processes spread over the cores stopping the full turbo for 1 core on single threaded apps.
If he's going to have no additional cost to himself in the difference between 540 and 520 I think it's safe to say that the 540 is better. If it were actually costing him the additional £50-£60 I wouldn't advise it but since he's being funded up to £1000 and spending anything less would, effectively, be a waste then I think this is a good choice.
However, with that said, perhaps there are some peripherals you might want to consider that would complement the system for that £70 which you could include in the order. Consider that. ^^
Only question now then, before I murder my bank account. Is that the best deal around? I feel like I've pretty muched scraped every last bit of performance I can for my budget but I'd kick myself if i found a better deal shortly after buying it. Though naturally it won't look like such a great deal 6 months down the line when everything is even cheaper =P
Associate
The two Vaio's I ordered arrived yesterday, glossy black for the gf and glossy white for me, have to admit I was worried about ordering the white one, but it looks great is more of a white / silver blend than plain white but most importantly cant see finger print smudes
Build quality is rock solid cant find any flex anywhere, the glossy finish looks great, outside of game you simply cannot hear this laptop its silent, in games the fan kicks in but unless you have the game muted you wont notice it. The non fullHD screen looks great in 15" as I hoped glad I went with it, had heard complaints about the speaker sound quality but I dont know why they seem perfectly fine to me.
Cleaned up some unwanted bloat on the black one and left all the sony software on (she only plays a few games and likes some of the sony stuff), completely wiped my one and did a fresh windows 7 install with the latest ati drivers and left the sony stuff off.
Overclocked (using ati overdrive with catalyst 10.4) the core to 650hz and memory to 850mhz no problems, played Just Cause 2 for about 2 hours last night with all settings on high (SSAO off) and 2 x AA, the palm rest barely warmed any more than heat my own hand was generating and was getting 30 - 40fps in game which played great.
Going out today so leaving steam downloading my other games that I can test out later, Dirt 2, LFD2, GTA4, AvP, CoDMW 2, and DA:Origins. If anyone thinking of ordering this Vaio wants results from any of those games just say.
Build quality is rock solid cant find any flex anywhere, the glossy finish looks great, outside of game you simply cannot hear this laptop its silent, in games the fan kicks in but unless you have the game muted you wont notice it. The non fullHD screen looks great in 15" as I hoped glad I went with it, had heard complaints about the speaker sound quality but I dont know why they seem perfectly fine to me.
Cleaned up some unwanted bloat on the black one and left all the sony software on (she only plays a few games and likes some of the sony stuff), completely wiped my one and did a fresh windows 7 install with the latest ati drivers and left the sony stuff off.
Overclocked (using ati overdrive with catalyst 10.4) the core to 650hz and memory to 850mhz no problems, played Just Cause 2 for about 2 hours last night with all settings on high (SSAO off) and 2 x AA, the palm rest barely warmed any more than heat my own hand was generating and was getting 30 - 40fps in game which played great.
Going out today so leaving steam downloading my other games that I can test out later, Dirt 2, LFD2, GTA4, AvP, CoDMW 2, and DA:Origins. If anyone thinking of ordering this Vaio wants results from any of those games just say.
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Soldato
Jonny: how are the laptops going now? still strong I hope looking to order a similar spec to yours soon 
did they come with the windows 7disk? And is the power adapter fairly compact, does it use the standard mickeymouse type power cord?
Cheers!
did they come with the windows 7disk? And is the power adapter fairly compact, does it use the standard mickeymouse type power cord?
Cheers!
Associate
Laptops are great, playing a lot of Dirt 2 atm game runs great everything high, 2 x aa, dx11 mode.
No idea what the term is but only a double loop instead of triple like the micky mouse style, the box is slightly smaller than my old HP one was, there were no discs with the laptop tho, I had bought my own copy of windows 7 when prices were stupidly low on preorder around £40.
I've been quite impressed with the batetry life, general web browsing unplugged has been getting 3 hours easily, for curiosity sake I unplugged mine but left power set at max and played Modern Warfare 2, got 45 mins before it died on me, I honestly thought you would only get about 20.
The games I mentioned in the last post all run flawlessly, so overall very happy with the purchase since its doing what I want and physically looks great, would also recommend a "Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000" to pair with the laptop altho thats just me being picky about having a usb stick hanging out the side all the time, one of the main things I like is the fact the palm rest area simply doesnt heat up every previous laptop ive owned the palm rest would get really hot, but they seem to have manage to contain all heat to the bottom left of the base and even that doesnt get very hot.
No idea what the term is but only a double loop instead of triple like the micky mouse style, the box is slightly smaller than my old HP one was, there were no discs with the laptop tho, I had bought my own copy of windows 7 when prices were stupidly low on preorder around £40.
I've been quite impressed with the batetry life, general web browsing unplugged has been getting 3 hours easily, for curiosity sake I unplugged mine but left power set at max and played Modern Warfare 2, got 45 mins before it died on me, I honestly thought you would only get about 20.
The games I mentioned in the last post all run flawlessly, so overall very happy with the purchase since its doing what I want and physically looks great, would also recommend a "Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000" to pair with the laptop altho thats just me being picky about having a usb stick hanging out the side all the time, one of the main things I like is the fact the palm rest area simply doesnt heat up every previous laptop ive owned the palm rest would get really hot, but they seem to have manage to contain all heat to the bottom left of the base and even that doesnt get very hot.
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Caporegime
u can get that vaoi with a i3 for less.. also there are a few acers knocking around with GT240M or similar for less than £600~
Associate
You dont like the 330M card?
Im in a similar position to the OP - and Im about to buy the F11 you have linked there. Seems like good bang for buck.
How does the 330M stack up to the 5650?
Was also looking at Gen 1 HP Envy 15, and the XPS 16, but they apparently both have heat issues (and are pretty expensive).
Really lame the Gen 2 Envy 15 is not available here - the yanks get that with a 1GB HD 5830 for about £800.
Yup the HP envy would be good but is just too expensive for me.
I am far from an expert but from my browsing I think the 5650 is a better card than the 330, certainly it is DX11 rather than Dx10 but i'm not sure how much of a performance difference that makes.
From someone who knows I would be very interested to hear about any performance differences between the 330 and the 5650. Also how they would perform with an i5 fast processor and 4gb compared to a desk top with a Q6600 overclocked a bit with a 9800gt and 2gb.
Yup damn those yanks, but we did get the better speed limits......
I am far from an expert but from my browsing I think the 5650 is a better card than the 330, certainly it is DX11 rather than Dx10 but i'm not sure how much of a performance difference that makes.
From someone who knows I would be very interested to hear about any performance differences between the 330 and the 5650. Also how they would perform with an i5 fast processor and 4gb compared to a desk top with a Q6600 overclocked a bit with a 9800gt and 2gb.
Yup damn those yanks, but we did get the better speed limits......
Caporegime
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650.23697.0.html
3DMark 06:
min: 6101, avg: 6921, max: 7870 Points ... More Details
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-330M.22437.0.html
3DMark 06:
min: 5382, avg: 6492, max: 7553 Points
3DMark 06:
min: 6101, avg: 6921, max: 7870 Points ... More Details
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-330M.22437.0.html
3DMark 06:
min: 5382, avg: 6492, max: 7553 Points
Soldato
ordered one last night:
# Intel® Core(TM) i5 Processor i5 430M
# Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
# Glossy white
# 500 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
# 4 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
# ATI MobilityRadeon HD5650 1GB
# 39.4 cm LCD, 1920x1080, webcam
# DVD disc drive
went for the bigger screen as it will be for work so a lot of time in excel, and if the res is too high for gaming I'll connect to to monitor+keyboard+mouse to make it a desktop replacement for the home too. Hope it arrives soon, need it in 5 weeks max!
# Intel® Core(TM) i5 Processor i5 430M
# Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
# Glossy white
# 500 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
# 4 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
# ATI MobilityRadeon HD5650 1GB
# 39.4 cm LCD, 1920x1080, webcam
# DVD disc drive
went for the bigger screen as it will be for work so a lot of time in excel, and if the res is too high for gaming I'll connect to to monitor+keyboard+mouse to make it a desktop replacement for the home too. Hope it arrives soon, need it in 5 weeks max!
Associate
Cool, hope you like it.
Have you seen the glossy white in a store or pictures online anywhere? I couldn't find any while I was waiting for mine to be built and delivered can take a few pics of this one if your curious.
Have you seen the glossy white in a store or pictures online anywhere? I couldn't find any while I was waiting for mine to be built and delivered can take a few pics of this one if your curious.
Soldato
had a quick 30second look at one in JL a while back, put it on the 'do more research list' as it was the only one they had with a half decent GFX card. Wasn't to sure on the trackpad but the gf said it would be ok!