Is this a good budget laptop for gaming?

Willbbz

I'm ordering this later on today but thought I'd get a second opinion before doing so

http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/15_16_inch/80008303/asus_15_6_r500vd_sx198v_i7_3610qm_6gb_750gb/details.aspx

For 700 EUR is seems like the best laptop around for that figure as it sports an Ivy Bridge i7 processor even though CPUBenchmark ranks it the lowest of this i7 series

I'm looking to use this for college so it's reasonably portable. I also wanted it for playing games such as BF3, Skyrim, Just Cause 2, GTA IV etc. I'm not too picky about playing on the highest settings but would prefer a smooth gameplay of at least 30 FPS

Think I'm getting the best bang for my buck or is there something else out there I should know about?

Specifications
Part No 90N8DE115H524AVL133
Model Name Asus R500VD-SX013V
Processor & Cache Memory 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM, 2,3 GHz
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium (64bit)
Main Memory DDRIII 1600 6GB
Display 15.6" LED-backlit TFT LCD Display resolution: HD 1366x768 / 16:9 Display type: Glare
Video Graphics & Memory NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 610M 2GB
Hard Drive 750GB 2.5" SATA 5400 rpm
Optical Drive Super Multi 8x with Double Layer
Video Camera 0.3 Mega Pixel web camera (Fixed type)
Interface 1 x Microphone-in jack 1 x Headphone-out jack 1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor 3 x USB 3.0 ports /USB 2.0 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert 1 x HDMI
Audio Built-in microphone Altec Lansing® speakers Built-in speaker Sonic Focus
Keyboard QWERTY Seamless Chiclet Toetsenbord, met integrated Numeric Keypad
Battery Pack & Life 50 WHrs , 4700mAH, 3S2P, 6-cell Li-ion Battery pack
AC Adapter 90W AC Adapter Output : 19V DC, 4.74A, 90W Input : 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
Dimension & Weight 25.1(W) x 37.8(D) x 2.55 ~ 3.19 (H) cm 2.52 KG (with 6 cell battery)
Software OFFICE 2010 STARTER pre-loaded Trend Micro Internet Security (30 day Trial) Power2Go GamePark Console Intel Turbo Boost Technology Monitor
Lan 802.11n

Eboggles

I highly doubt it's going to run any of those games at 30fps; the GT 610 isn't really a gaming card. Also, the system's going to be pretty slow as you only have a mechanical hard drive. If you could, try and get a desktop instead? I know you said you're using it for college, but you'd get a much much much better system for €700 with a desktop.

ShadowHearth

OP, you better off looking at APU CPU crossfire laptops. 700eu should be enough to get one.

ShadowHearth

here, this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-NP355V5C-SuperMulti-Graphics-Premioum/dp/B008EJGJHC/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1351939123&sr=1-3


cheaper too?

Willbbz

Eboggles wrote: »

I highly doubt it's going to run any of those games at 30fps; the GT 610 isn't really a gaming card. Also, the system's going to be pretty slow as you only have a mechanical hard drive. If you could, try and get a desktop instead? I know you said you're using it for college, but you'd get a much much much better system for €700 with a desktop.

I will probably be upgrading the HDD to a 128GB SSD myself and caddying the 500GB that comes with this.

I Would have preffered to have gotten a desktop but i do need something I can take in and out of college

@ShadowHearth

I'll look into them now, thanks!

ShadowHearth

Willbbz wrote: »

I will probably be upgrading the HDD to a 128GB SSD myself and caddying the 500GB that comes with this.

I Would have preffered to have gotten a desktop but i do need something I can take in and out of college

@ShadowHearth

I'll look into them now, thanks!

have a look at the one i posted above. dual gpu, which will run over 610M.

Willbbz

Looks good also works out to only be 630.

I'll have to look up some reviews this evening on that particular model. I'd be concerned how the AMD chip stacks up against the Intel one

Monotype

Graphics processing power is far more important than the CPU in a gaming system. That i7 quad core will do you feck all good when you want to play games. The nVidia 610 is quite dreadful and I don't know why they even bother with it when it's only as powerful as the integrated graphics from Intel.

The one posted by Shadow would be far better at the task. It's got a weaker CPU but the graphics capability is far stronger with the HD7670M. If the game supports the crossfire feature, you'll see better performance again. As drivers evolve, you can probably see more gains:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7660G-HD-7670M-Dual-Graphics.81173.0.html

A slightly more expensive laptop would be the fairly customisable Clevo ones:
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/genesisIV/

When you throw in the 640M, a 2.5GHz i5 and a 1920x1080 screen, you're sailing above the €700 budget... you could bring it into view again if you have a copy of Windows... do you happen to be studying a computing course?

imitation

Yeah, stay away from the 610m, if you want to play games at medium-high (and future games at all) you will at least a Nvidia 640m or amd 7670 (the Nvidia has the edge though). I think a base build of one of the machines on PC specialist would be the way forward.

Willbbz

Wow thanks for that link! Got a much better build for just 15 euro more than my initial budget. Removed the operating system as I can just put a Unix based OS like ubuntu on this for the mean time and put my own partition of Win8 64 bit at anytime.

What do you think of this for a build? I opted for an SSD which hasn't much storage but I think I'll get more use out of it as opposed to the 250GB HDD

Genesis IV: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1920x1080) (£35)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3210M (2.50GHz) 3MB
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
128GB KINGSTON V200 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (300MB/R, 190MB/W) (Special Offer)
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Genesis Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (£19)
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days

Has anybody ordered from here and have any good or bad words about them? Also can I upgrade these clevos as far as graphics card myself at anytime?

And to answer your question I'm not doing a Computing course but I am doing Networking Technologies which is more so based around computer and network hardware and engineering. I do my own programming as a hobby so I'm sure this machine will be pretty decent for it.

EDIT: I've opted to remove the optical drive and stick a 3rd HDD bay in there. Price went form 715 down to 694. Bay will probably go unused but it might make the lappy lighter and I also can't see me using discs too much in the future

Monotype

I don't know if 128GB is really enough for today's needs by itself. I'd say you'd really be needing 256GB. It would be nice if you could ask for no hard drive and put in your own.
I think the kingston RAM is cheaper than the Samsung.

It's hard to say whether you can upgrade the graphics or not. In general, you can't, and I don't see enough information around on the model to say otherwise.
pcspecialist are sort of rebranding the laptops as their own and I'm not sure exactly what model it corresponds to. Possibly W251xxQ, where x is uncertain.
The Clevo site themselves don't have a lot of information, but it looks like in many models that they appear to be mini-PCI-E cards, which is good since that would mean that they're upgradable - assuming the power draw doesn't increase, that is.
http://www.clevo.com.tw/en/products/item.asp?procatalogID=7

A good few people have ordered from this group on the laptops forum. Everything seems to go well but there is usually a few weeks wait on account of big demand, and I suppose that they have to build according to your specs as well.

I was asking if you were doing a computing course, as you can often get a free or cheap Windows from the college if you are.

Edit: What about the 500GB Hybrid for £11 more?

Willbbz

Just saw switching from Samsung to Kingston RAM takes 6 pound off the price so might swell go for that assuming the differences between them are the same as Nike and Adidas

I think I'll stick with the 128GB and stick a 250GB HDD in one of the bays at a later date that I can use just for zipping games and storing them on that disc.

I'll look into that about the OS but the way it looks I'll be installing the operating system from a disc image rather than a CD but this is fine regardless

Thanks for your help!

marco_polo

Pretty sure you can upgrade the GPU on most of their stuff, although the ultranote could well be fairly limited as to what you can do with it, compared with some of their bigger models.

Haven't seen reports from anyone who has got one yet so don't really know tbh.

Edit: misread thread you're getting Genesis so should be able to upgrade I think. Have a look on their forums to be sure.

Monotype

Someone asked on the forums if the graphics can be upgraded. No answer now but hopefully they'll get a reply soon.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?20499-Genesis-IV-vs-UltraNote

Willbbz

Ordered!

This waiting is going to be killer