Advice About Gaming Laptops Please

[DaftMaul]

Can anyone help?

Ds(13) is keen to get a laptop that he can play his games on. He uses our current one but it is old and a couple of games he has bought (Plants vs Zombies and something from Steam) have just not worked on it - something to do with the video card?? He also needs to use it for school work and may or may not need to take it in to school.

Having had a quick google, it seems that there are many laptops which would work but they are ££££! I don't want to spend huge amounts of money - he's 13!

Can anyone give me any suggestions of laptops that would be suitable? Or at least what a laptop has to have in order to support gaming.

Many thanks

www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/asus-x550ld-15-6-laptop-grey-10011040-pdt.html#cat-0

Do you think that would be better than the Acer I linked below? This is only intelcore i5, the Acer is i7. The price is obviously better!

I would say the processor is faster on the Acer but the graphics card is better on the Asus.

Ok so gaming, in general gaming laptops are more expensive than gaming desktops. Also you are some what restricted when it comes to upgrades and keeping up with current technology. So unless you are certain that a laptop is required for mobility purposes I would suggest you look at deaktops.

If you want to go for a laptop then you do have to fork out the extra £££. Alienware laptops are good, DH bought one last year however you can buy cheaper if you go for other brands.

If you don't mind or can't afford a gaming laptop you can buy a gaming desktop for around £500 and up. The benefit of a desktop is that providing you buy something with reason parts you'll be able to upgrade components over time like the graphics card/processor etc. Which will boost the performance and spread the cost and longevity of the setups life span.

You can spec up a desktop with Dell or other resellers, or buy off EBay from a store that builds to order. Or of course buy the parts to do it yourself.

If you do want a laptop for your DS then you'll have to pay quite a premium. Lots to contend with (heat, space, etc)

mobile.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/laptop/3467286/12-best-gaming-laptops-2014-2015-uk/

Here's a link to some of the top gaming laptops, if you buy a cheap gaming laptop you will only be disappointed.

Ignore the link, I see it's already been posted.

The Asus linked is basically just a standard laptop with a graphics card ok for watching media.

That is what I thought you would say chockbic

Thanks siarie, definitely not getting a pc.

Another one here coming on to say there is no chance of getting a cheapish gaming laptop - gaming PCs are cheaper to buy, upgrade or fix - if one component breaks down you can replace that part whereas with a laptop, the whole thing is pretty much buggered.

I'm hedging my bets

Not an expert by any means, just have used both Medion and Asus for gaming and found them to run well.

Having had an Alienware I would say they are definitely not worth the money, especially if they're going to be getting heavy use.

I've got an Alienware M17x and I wouldn't bother buying one again. For starters it's huge and incredibly heavy. It weighs almost 6kg (not including the power brick which is pretty much the exact dimensions of a house brick) so it's really not portable in the same way a standard laptop is.

Just over a year after I bought it (so just outside the standard warranty) it started overheating. My research suggests this is a pretty common issue with them which is fixable by applying fresh thermal paste but if you're not confident doing it yourself it costs to get it fixed.