Any tech gurus on here?

[FurrySlipperBoots]

Who'd like to advise me on which new laptop to choose? It MUST be HP with a 17.3 screen. My budget is £1000-1500. Any more than that would be pushing it but could possibly stretch to £1800 or so for absolute pure perfection.

These are the specs for my current one:

support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c04536941

It has memory problems (besides multiple other issues) and my games are struggling to run, so the new one needs to be a huge improvement in that area. I gather it's not all down to how many GB of memory it has but there are other factors too? I don't know. Anyway, gaming is what I'll primarily use it for so it needs to be better spec than my current one as far as games are concerned, including being able to cope with the thousands of custom content internet downloads I use for sims etc. I don't want a hideous clunky black 'gaming' laptop though. I'd like it to be as slim and lightweight as possible so I can lug it around all over the place when I'm travelling for work etc. It needs to have a disc drive for DVDs and game cds.

If anyone is really bored and can recommend the best one for me it'd be hugely appreciated!

Well if it must be HP and 17.3" screen between £1000-1500 if say those are pretty good features to filter by on a website like Currys... maybe if you're so "into gaming" you might take an interest in your pc and learn how it works and which specs to concentrate on?! I mean the only game you've given is Sims. You do realise it varies massively on a game if it's CPU or GPU intensive right?! Like there's no point getting a i7 processor for a game that doesn't utilize virtual cores and like wise a fancy gpu for a game that doesn't use it. I think, given you're spending hefty cash you should probably spend sometime doing some research... oh and btw why HP?! It's such a silly thing to rule out brands like that. Fair enough apple/Not apple but otherwise if you don't know much about the machines then why limit brand for a w10 or Linux pc?!

You do realise it varies massively on a game if it's CPU or GPU intensive right?!

No, I don't! I don't even know what that means. I have no knowledge on the subject, or interest in learning if I'm honest. Hence asking for advice from people who do!

I'm stuck in my ways with HP! I've always had HP laptops and want to stick with them.

I've tried looking on Currys, but they only have a one that meets my specs. The HP website has more variety but, as I say, I don't know what I'm looking for.

I don't think my games are particularly demanding (Sims 2, Anno, Farming Sim, 2 Point Hospital, Unravel, Need for Speed and Planet Coaster mostly, with some older games like Zoo Tycoon and Europa 1400) but still my current laptop is finding it hard to cope. Particularly with Sims which crashes fairly often under the weight of the downloads. I like to be able to play something on Youtube or on DVD in the background while gaming and I guess this adds stress to the system too!

With the specs on your existing laptop you shouldn't really be struggling to run stuff like Sims 2. Was it coping before and has since slowed down? You might just have way too much memory-hungry stuff running in the background.