Other half has fallen under the spell of online gaming, and the odd time she raises her head to speak, it’s to moan about her laptop. Which I need to check the specs of, but it’s just some cheap HP thing, a few years old, under 3Ghz most likely, and I’d say probably 2Gb Ram.

So now it’s Christmas coming up…

Can’t really afford an all out gaming machine off the shelf, so I’m thinking 2nd-hand may be a sensible compromise. But I’ve got no idea what is good value. So I’m hoping the combined knowledge of STW can educate me on what I can reasonably expect for say, £200-£300? Maybe even point out some current deals.

Doesn’t have to be a laptop. I’m guessing a Desktop would provide much better bang for buck, and have the advantage of upgradeability. But she likes the laptop and I don’t want to be kicked off the desktop. Which brings me to another thought… Surely in this day and age you can run a desktop PC like a laptop around the house with a few additional components? Kinda like the idea of the Chromecast. Interested in hearing about any ‘mobile’ setups people have. But yeah, Desktop is definitely an option if it provides that much more power.

The biggest question’s always how big a screen and at what resolution you want to game- this machine’s pretty old, the processor’s 7 years old, the graphics card about 3, but I’m just gaming at 1920×1080 so it’s pretty undemanding. If you want to run a big screen or higher res, or a ton of antialiasing, with modern games you need quite a lot of graphics card. Online games tend not to be massively graphic-intensive in general

The overclockers forum is a good one- it’s basically gamingdesktoptrackworld, so there’s often 2nd tier/slightly outdated kit in their classifieds and it tends to be pretty good builds too.

Didn’t realise higher res made a difference – makes sense when I think about it! But no, no ultra huge, high res stuff. Like I say, she’s on a fairly bog standard, out of date, word processing style setup at the mo. Anything is an upgrade. Just something with a reasonable bit of grunt.

Quite a few on the forum have been quite pleased (my Mrs included) with the refurb Lenovo laptops scan has been selling:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/141-lenovo-4180a32-b-intel-core-i5-2520m-25ghz-8gb-320gb-hdd-dvdrw-bluetooth-windows-7-professional-

It’s no where near as powerful as my desktop PC’s but with an i5 processor and 8GB of RAM its no slouch for most tasks and can handle many older 3D games. What games is she playing?

Define “gaming.” Taking that 2Gb out and sticking 4 or 8 in might fix it if she’s playing Candy Crush, less so if she’s got Elite: Dangerous.

I’m just gaming at 1920×1080 so it’s pretty undemanding. If you want to run a big screen or higher res

That’s a pretty big screen in laptop terms.

What’s she playing?

Steam have been working on their in-home streaming which apparently works pretty well. Game is running on the beefy machine, but displayed/controlled on another – a little PC under your TV, or any old laptop.

Recent generations of Intel’s integrated graphics have got a lot better and can play 3D games OK, especially at normal laptop resolution and if you don’t mind backing off some settings. Something like this with the HD4000 should do OK.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_V5-572_I3_4G_500__15.6__WIN8.1_NX.MA3EK.009/version.asp

Define “gaming.”

World of Warcraft, mainly.

The Lenovo looks decent. I like the idea of buying from a professional outfit too, and having a bit of comeback if it goes wrong, especially as it’d be an Xmas gift.

Cougar – Moderator

That’s a pretty big screen in laptop terms.

I was going with the desktop option because of all the betters.

The Intel HD 3000 graphics in the Lenovo meets the minimum requirements for war-craft. I have no idea if they are better than what she currently has.

Some of the Lenovos have discrete Nvidia cards (in addition to the Intel, which is a bit weird). I’d go that route myself, despite various manufacturer claims I’ve never yet found an integrated video solution that wasn’t pish.

The current laptop probably uses main RAM as video RAM, so with 2Gb the performance is going to be woeful.

I might have underestimated her current laptop. Had a look and it’s a PB ThinkPad with Intel i3 2.4Ghz, and 6Gb Ram. Doesn’t sound too shabby to me, but I don’t really know. I expect it has run of the mill integrated graphics card though, which may be its main downfall?

You want to enable your other half to play world of warcraft?

Do you not like spending time with her?

As a veteran of a five year addiction that consumed my life; let her pc be so shit she can’t help but quit.

I expect it has run of the mill integrated graphics card though, which may be its main downfall?

Almost certainly.

My laptop is a 2008 vintage and it throws WoW around, but it does have a discrete GFX card. Not much you can do about it if that’s the case, they’re rarely upgradable.

Have you considered an nvidia shield tablet?

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/tablet-pcs/nvidia-shield

For WoW?

You want to enable your other half to play world of warcraft?

Do you not like spending time with her?

She plays WoW. I play on my bike. Works for me 🙂

My laptop is a 2008 vintage and it throws WoW around, but it does have a discrete GFX card. Not much you can do about it if that’s the case, they’re rarely upgradable.

I’ve always used Desktops myself, so have very little knowledge of the inner workings of laptops. Do any laptops have upgradeable graphics cards, or are they always integrated? What’s the deal with the Lenovo Nvidia cards?

What’s the deal with the Lenovo Nvidia cards?

It’s a thing called Optimus, for your Googling pleasure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

Just get yourself over to ebuyer, my son uses them for parts to build machines for Bitcoin mining or gaming or whatever teenagers do online. £300 quid will buy you a capable machine maybe even ready built to get started.

my son uses them for parts to build machines for Bitcoin mining or gaming or whatever teenagers do online.

Grot. HTH.

Sounds like you have to get a laptop, I don’t imagine she want’s to set up at a desk somewhere else.

I built a cheap gaming PC for my living room earlier in the year, blogged about it here and may be of use:

Steambox

I discuss how I could’ve done it cheaper too, though with the passage of time kit gets cheaper, the same power would be about £80 less now.

I’m not into WoW at all though, but pretty sure this would’ve handled it. Though as above it may be a laptop is better, though likely tricky in your budget.

The laptop might have a graphics card upgrade option, if it does expect to pay a premium for it. But I’d say go for it if you can, £200-£300 will barely get you anything new and I’d be wary of second hand unless it had a guarantee.