New laptop for Uni - Need it to be GAME-PROOF as well

[Jack-]

So with a budget of between £800 - £900, I expect I'm likely to fall short of the premium laptop range. Nevertheless, I was hoping for some advice on this current spec:

Chassis & Display
SkyFire: 14" Matte HD+ LED Widescreen (1600x900)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 760M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE HYBRID GEN3 SSHD Drive, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 2 in 1 Memory Card Reader (SD, MMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1103 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N NETWORK CARD
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
SkyFire 14" Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED 14" MSI UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 3.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £879.00 including VAT and delivery.


Points of focus:

1) The smaller 14" size was obviously a budgeting decision that would accommodate the 1600x900 resolution, which in turn supports the less than amazing GPU I have listed. Thoughts on that anyone?

2) Resolution aside, is this GPU a worthy option for running current games mid to high and future games medium settings? I'm just assuming the CPU is up to scratch as my current desktop is sitting pretty with an i3 2120 and holds up new games just fine.

3) Windows 7 or Windows 8? After some preliminary googling, I've found little to differentiate the two options. Although I'm more used to Win7, I fear that Win8 would be a better future-proof move perhaps?

4) Any other advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks for all the help in advance, guys.

 

[Yamikotai]

1) Good choice if you're after a 14" screen.

2) A 760M would roughly meet your requirements of current games being mid-high and future ones at medium settings. The CPU is great.

3) I can only recommend to go to Windows 7.

4) Get the 30-day dead pixel warranty, in case it comes with some.

 

[keynes]

1) For your budget you could get the gtx 765m with the Optimus V, just lower the resolution when required
2) Check benchmarks online for games you are interested, whether or not just current desktop is ok with games also depends on the gpu you have and the games you play.
3) Personal choice, either will be fine
4) I would suggest to get the best gpu within your budget or opt for a desktop instead if gaming is the main use.

 

[Jack-]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Were I to lower the resolution of the 15.6" Optimus, would this cost ppi to a noticeable degree do you think? I enjoy the compact size of my old 13" laptop, but I do think it's a bit on the small size. If that's the necessary route to allow for the 765M, which I now see offers a variably decent boost on the 760M, then well so be it.

However, there must be a concession elsewhere to stay below 900- the hard drive perhaps??

 

[Yamikotai]

The fact that these laptops have 1080p available is their greatest draw for me personally - I have eagle eyes and despise anything lower than 1080p. Whether you should drop it depends on how much you would make use of 1080p in terms of user interface (if you do any video/text editing it's especially good) and other draws like being able to play native 1080p content. 1336x768 is noticeably lower than 1080p to even people with bad eyesight. If you decide to stick with 1080p, I would agree that dropping the SSHD to a standard HDD would be the way to do it.

 

[Jack-]

Right- for some reason the Optimus only appears to offer Samsung RAM where the 8GB option is limited to a 1 x 8gb arrangement. 2 x 4gb is surely better (wonder why it's not on offer and why Kingston etc aren't available..)

 

[keynes]

2 x 4gb is surely better

I don't think there is a noticeable difference between the two.

 

[Jack-]

Would this RAM infliction be of any significance? The new spec would read:

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
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
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1103 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N NETWORK CARD
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £911.00 including VAT and delivery.

Where the amendments are in bold.

 

[Jack-]

I don't think there is a noticeable difference between the two.

Oh okay. Thanks for the advice again.

EDIT: My only remaining concern is the performance of the 5400rpm HDD with only 8mb cache. Was quite intrigued by the hybrid option but the trade off for the gpu etc is probably worth it. Any last reassurance/interjections guys?

 

[keynes]

Oh okay. Thanks for the advice again.

EDIT: My only remaining concern is the performance of the 5400rpm HDD with only 8mb cache. Was quite intrigued by the hybrid option but the trade off for the gpu etc is probably worth it. Any last reassurance/interjections guys?

It depends on your budget, the hybrid drive should be better than the Scorpio blue.

 

[Jack-]

Okay, so I halved the space for considerable improvement, going for the 500gb hybrid instead of the 1TB blue. I'll just manage my space and enjoy the upgrade Thanks guys for all the advice. Rep to you both!!