New laptop help (Work/Photos /Games)

[chrism_scotland]

Folks I'm looking for a little laptop advice.

I'm moving flat and needing to slim down my kit so I'm going to be passing on my current desktop rig to my parents, I'm really looking for a laptop that I can do some work on(self-employed) but also for photo editing and some gaming.

Portability isn't a massive issue although potentially I'd want to pickup an external monitor anyway for days I'm working at home/gaming.

I'd be looking to play most of the games I already have on Steam on my current rig which is almost 3 years old now anyway with an AMD Phenom II 3.2 GHz CPU and an Nvidia GTX460 1GB card which aren't exactly cutting edge now anyway!

The most intensive games I'd be looking to play are probably BF3 and I'd have liked to give Simcity a go.

Not looking to spend more than £1000 but suggestions would be appreciated as I'm a bit out of touch with what kit is good/bad!

Chris

 

[neil_g]

I've got a dell precision m6600, i7 8gb ram twin intel and nvidia gpu. Pretty good, plays Diablo 3 with no bother. Haven't tried bf though.

It is a bit of a beast though.

 

[chrism_scotland]

Thanks Neil will take a look.

Ideally I'm looking at a 15-16" screen although theres probably not much size difference between that and just going whole hog to a 17".

I've taken a look at a few gaming laptops, the MSI ones look good as do Alienware but they come at a price!

 

[neil_g]

remember alienware is just a dell in a pimped case, youre essentially paying for the name in most instances

 

[chrism_scotland]

The Alienware ones have a better spec of graphics card than any of the Dell's which would be handy.

Noticed however that you can get custom gaming laptops for a similar spec but much cheaper than Alienware too.

 

[GeForce Junky]

A base spec Alienware m17x + screen upgrade then add aftermarket ram, ssd and blu ray upgrade is not that bad value if you buy when dell have a 10% offer on. I use my m17x R4 to play DayZ and the 660m is really only just good enough. Overclocked a bit it sits at 100% usage managing 40-60 fps. Wouldn't really want anything less than a 660m for BF3 I don't think.

 

[chrism_scotland]

Are the Alienwares easy enough to add things onto after you buy? I think for BF3 I'd be looking potentially at the ATI 7970M which is an add on.

I've looked at the Clevo custom PC's which seem good value but they're not meant to be as well built as the Alienware ones

 

[chrism_scotland]

Anyone?

 

[chrism_scotland]

Well I've been swithering between an Alienware and the Clevo based laptops from PC Specialist or OCUK and it would appear to make sense to go for a Clevo, it does appear to be much better value for money.