Wombat Jr has asked for a gaming laptop for a combined Christmas and Birthday present (and will be ponying up a contribution from his savings).

As he’s wanting to play the new Star Wars Battlefront game on it so I thought I’d use that as the guidance for the spec to look for.
My Googling suggests that the spec(s) he needs is shown below.

I know little of the technical specs of computers so can anyone assist in finding a suitable machine. Refurbished is OK providing it’s a Grade A/B refurb.

Minimum PC System Requirements
•OS: 64-bit Windows 7 or later
•Processor (Intel): Intel i3 6300T or equivalent
•Memory: 8GB RAM
•Hard Drive: At least 40 GB of free space
•Graphics card (NVIDIA): Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB
•Graphics card (ATI): ATI Radeon HD 7850 2GB
•DirectX: 11.0 Compatible video card or equivalent
•Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection

Recommended PC System Requirements
•OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later
•Processor (Intel): Intel i5 6600 or equivalent
•Memory: 16GB RAM
•Hard Drive: At least 40 GB of free space
•Graphics card (NVIDIA): Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB
•Graphics card (AMD): AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
•DirectX: 11.1 Compatible video card or equivalent
•Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection

I can’t help you much, so perhaps think of this as a free ‘bump’.

We’ve not built many gaming machines in work, 10 PCs maybe they’re pretty easy once you learn the basics – lots of fashion in the gaming world which means lots of expense of tiny gains. So one will tell me I’m wrong in a moment.

As for laptops we’ve only supplied 2 and they were both MSI and very well made and ran beautifully with very high-end screens but they’re very expensive – Alienware are meant to be good too, but half the young lads on the helpdesk like them, half don’t.

I’m told the problem with gaming laptops is they’re hard to upgrade PC gamers suffer as much from upgradititus as us.

Thanks P-Jay

Workmate has an Alienware from the dell outlet store – worth a look, significant savings to be had. The lenovo y500 (off the top of my head) is supposed to be a decent mid range effort too.

Gaming Laptops are super expensive, loud, rubbish battery life & expensive, they really are just a small PC, not really portable. You need a power supply, it needs to be on a flat hard surface for cooling and for it not to burn your legs. A tower equivalent will be cheaper, quieter and probably faster if the same spec.

When looking for a PC for gaming, think of the “Recommended PC Requirements” as the minimum requirements. As in a years time those recommended requirements will probably be the minimum for new games.

I have an MSI gaming laptop…for work?. It is super quick, super loud when doing GFX intensive stuff and gets super hot and the price reflects this. Feels well built, battery life is 40m ish, for surfing internet, I wouldn’t run a game/video package without it plugged in.

As said above, its a whole lot easier and cheaper to upgrade a desktop, buy a decent desktop and the only thing your kid will be hassling you to get him in a year is a graphics card which will be twice the amount you are willing to pay, but at least its cheaper than buying a whole new gaming laptop.

GeekIT: IF you already have a decent PC that can handle it, you could use NVidia GameStream or Steam In-Home Streaming. This enables you to remotely play games on your PC on another computer/screen in the house. EG I have a gaming PC upstairs & a Raspberry Pi in the living room. I can play my PC games in the living room through the Pi. It is only using the Pi to display the game, all the GFX and inputs is handled by the gaming PC.

I’d expect a laptop of that spec to carry a four-figure price tag. How much pocket money has he saved?

If you want a gaming rig, you’re much better off with a desktop PC (or an Xbox / Playstation).

I’d expect a laptop of that spec to carry a four-figure price tag

Hmm, yes, I’m just discovering this.

Virtually nothing under the £500 mark.

If you want a gaming rig, you’re much better off with a desktop PC (or an Xbox / Playstation).

This too.

Looks as though a PS4 might be a better bet.

As mentioned, gaming laptops are pretty poor value for money and suffer a lot of constraints – unless theres a really good reason for getting one, then don’t.

A PC tower will be a lot less for the equvelent spec so you can pick up a hefty 27″ monitor and a good keyboard/mouse/speakers to boot.

If a PS4 is practical, why not a desktop PC? they dont all come in huge towers, you can get some with pretty compact cases and blutoot mouse/keyboard, and work with xbox control pads for a lot of games.

I’d personally just get a cheaper laptop and a games console, as mentioned above. If it must be a laptop though I’ve had a few from the Dell outlet:

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh&brandid=7&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

All come with warranty. I’ve had an old XPS 17 inch and a new slim little XPS 13, both came as new. The XPS 17 I actually sold for a profit after keeping it for 2 years, the 13 I still use now. New stock comes in every few days, good things come to those who F5.