Laptop for science and a little gaming

[gwk]

Looking for a new laptop ahead of my postgraduate course starting in about a month. In addition to the Windows system, I'll be using a Linux distro (either via a dual boot or external live drive) to do most of my scientific work - mainly coding in Python. My main decision is whether to pay the extra ~£100 to go full HD 1080p (with the 950m GPU instead of 940m) or whether to go with the same 1366x768 that my current setup has. I will probably be using the Windows side for some gaming (eg. Cities: Skylines) and general browsing. Any other recommendations welcome too!


Chassis & Display
Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-4210M (2.60GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 940M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
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
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7260 HMC (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
COSMOS SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £583.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/cosmosIII-15/AIcIHrWn_4/

 

[SpyderTracks]

The gt940m is not a gaming card and hence would struggle with most games, and certainly wouldn't be very future proof.

What's your max budget? For coding work you'd benefit greatly from a quad core i7, remember that mobile chips aren't as powerful as desktop equivalents, so there's an enormous difference between the top of the range i5 and a quad core i7 with multithreading.

 

[gwk]

I can probably go up towards £700, which is why the full HD/950M setup is tempting.

I'm not all that bothered about extra processing speed, since I will have access to more powerful setups on campus for really intensive scripts. Of course, money no object, I'd love to go quad core, but I'm not sure my budget will stretch quite that far.