Help with Laptop Spec

[oli83 11]

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a new laptop (can't fit a desktop anywhere) here is the spec i am looking at buying. I want to be able to play DayZ on High Settings and have a laptop spec that will last for the next few years. Any advice would be very helpful.

Spec i am looking at getting.

Chassis & Display Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3820QM (2.70GHz) 8MB Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB) Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11 Memory - 1^st Hard Disk

750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

thanks

[suspense 210]

You wont be able to get a laptop that will hold the "next few years" laptops are falling behind on cpu speed these days. The laptop in question, will be able to run ArmA on medium/high as ArmA is CPU intensive, but you will have to lower settings in the future to keep up.

[UndeadAssassin 23]

yes from probably medium to high that will work :)

[Genki Dama 49]

I don't know why people buy laptops for gaming :/ I learnt the hard way myself. They get outdated pretty quickly and they are near impossible to upgrade. If you want to spend a lot of money gaming, just buy a gaming desktop :). That's unless you travel a lot.

Yes the laptop will run the game, but will be able to run the Arma 3 engine when it comes out, as DayZ is going to be using it :)

Edited July 22, 2012 by TheSeriesGamers

[SindreAsus (DayZ) 1]

It will run DayZ on high settings.

[Alopex 46]

Disregard the words of the naysayers, that's a very powerful laptop and you won't have any problems running ArmA 2, and inherently, DayZ.

If you find that the game is performing poorly at any stage, it's most likely a sign that the server that you are connected to is in desperate need of a reboot.

Best of luck!

Edited July 22, 2012 by Alopex

[Genki Dama 49]

Disregard the words of the naysayers, that's a very powerful laptop and you won't have any problems running ArmA 2, and inherently, DayZ.

If you find that the game is performing poorly at any stage, it's most likely a sign that the server that you are connected to is in desperate need of a reboot.

Best of luck!

The laptop is good, but for how long? Once it has trouble playing games, it will become useless, except for surfing the internet and watching videos. He asked "Help with Laptop Spec" and we are giving him the best advice for the long term rather than the short term :)

[Alopex 46]

A GTX675M, 8GB of ram and the latest of the mobile i7 range? It will last him quite a while.

Yes, as with all laptops, it lacks expandability in the CPU, GPU and Mainboard departments, but as a long term (2 - 3 year) mobile gaming rig, that thing will do just fine.

[tliesnham@mac.com 1]

That is the problem with laptops these days I am assuming that that laptop is costing well over £1,000 considering the specs, but you could quite easily get a very nice desktop instead which will play this game and others to come for years to come. You say you don't have enough space for a desktop but really unless you are quite a traveler and game on the move then there is really no point getting a laptop. Granted it will probably play this game on high, but when it comes to Arma III you will probably be looking at playing at medium to low settings and of course if this doesn't bother you then go ahead.

[Genki Dama 49]

A GTX675M, 8GB of ram and the latest of the mobile i7 range? It will last him quite a while.

Yes, as with all laptops, it lacks expandability in the CPU, GPU and Mainboard departments, but as a long term (2 - 3 year) mobile gaming rig, that thing will do just fine.

In another 2 years the next unreal engine will be out haha and most pc game devs are using a lot more tesselation in their games. Im sure that he can find room for a desktop, unless his whole room is completely full. I myself have little room, still was able to fit a full chasis in it xD. For example compare this pc http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/cerberus-extreme-custom-pc-p-139.html with the laptop he is about to buy. This would outlast it for an extra 2-3 years and can still be upgraded :) of course if he wanted he could build this system himself and save even more money.

[oli83 11]

Yeah the spec is going to cost me about £1550 with th inclusion of other bits and bobs. For a few hundred pound extra I can upgrade to:

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Extreme i7-3920XM (2.90GHz) 8MB

&

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

But that pushes the price right up and not sure if its worth it. I have a 2 bed flat with the girlfriend and we just do not have a space for a desktop (plenty of space for her stuff though!!!!!). Id love to have a desktop instead of a laptop but I cant see it happening.

Can laptops not be upgraded at all then in the future??

Thank you so far for all your responses.

[Genki Dama 49]

Yeah the spec is going to cost me about £1550 with th inclusion of other bits and bobs. For a few hundred pound extra I can upgrade to:

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Extreme i7-3920XM (2.90GHz) 8MB

&

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

But that pushes the price right up and not sure if its worth it. I have a 2 bed flat with the girlfriend and we just do not have a space for a desktop (plenty of space for her stuff though!!!!!). Id love to have a desktop instead of a laptop but I cant see it happening.

Can laptops not be upgraded at all then in the future??

Thank you so far for all your responses.

I have heard of them being upgraded, but they cost significantly more than a desktop upgrade. Personally I would go with the one you originally said, the CPU, would only give you a few fps extra and 4GB cards (this is my own research) do not usually give that much performance boost at all. For example I have a gtx 680 2GB on a resolution of 1920x1080, if I had of gotten the 4GB version I would have seen about 1-2fps extra and the only way I would have benefitted would be if I was using 2-3 monitors for 1440P gaming

[entoc 2]

my advise is to make sure that you can upgrade the laptop sager is a good brand and you can upgrade almost every part but the MB they may cost a bit more but if you want something to last and you can upgrade... the laptop does look good but they are right short term its a real good pc but in the long run if you can not upgrade it..it will be nothing more then a expensive web surfer..

[oli83 11]

I don't think i can get sager, Im based in the Uk.

Im looking at using Pc specialist.co.uk who custom build the laptop using various parts like Clevo, samsung etc. They also reckon that most of the parts will be upgradeable but im not sure if everything is.

From looking into seriousgamers info I can def get a more powerfull machine for the money if i was to buy a desktop. So much more power available with a desktop in comparison to a laptop.

[Alopex 46]

Generally, you'll find that in the case of laptops, upgrading is limited to SODIMM modules (RAM), and hard disks/solid state drives.

Also, high performance laptop components draw a lot more power than more economic options (much like a car engine's fuel consumption), so battery life is also quite short compared to most consumer laptops (you may be lucky to get any more than about 2-3 hours out of a full charge, less if gaming). In addition, many high performance components will not operate at their full capacity while running off battery power (underclocking). As such, plugging your laptop in when playing is certainly recommended.

Obviously, you will be paying a lot more for a high performance laptop than you would for an equally powerful desktop system, but these are the trade-offs of portable, comparatively light-weight PC gaming.

The hardware that you've listed is top of the line at the moment, so you can expect it will do the job for some time to come.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Alopex

[oli83 11]

Thanks again people.

From speaking to the company I can upgrade every component. The only thing is the CPU depends on the Chassi so I might not be able to upgrade that in the future, Other wise the graphics card, RAM and hard disc can all be upgraded. The components are more expensive being for a laptop but thats the penalty for going mobile!!!!

From all of your replies and speaking with the sales team online I am confident my selection of laptop will cope with this game and should last at least a couple of years. When the time comes I should be able to upgrade to make it more powerful.

[oli83 11]

Can anyone tell me the pros/cons of going for 2 x 4gb of ram to 1 x 8gb of ram and should i upgrade to 16gb ram (either 4 x 4gb or 2 x 8gb)

sorry for all the questions but I am so out of touch with Pc's

thanks again

[djkling 5]

Laptops can run this game just fine, you just need a good lapto. I run pretty similar specs on my Origin PC and i can max out the game. I have a desktop I use normally (with triple monitors, etc) but when i'm on the road I like to be able to game still.

My recommendation... order from Origin since if you need to upgrade your CPU/GPU/RAM you can just mail it back and pay the difference. Sometimes they will give you some cash for your old gear. I have an older 17" unit which actually fit two 680M's but if i disable one card it still runs super smooth, so I'd say get a 680M. Either CPU is fine.

As for the RAM questin, it only matters IF you have a dual channel RAM, in which case 2x4G >>> 1x8G. It decreases the bottleneck.

If you REALLY want to futureproof your computer, why not get SSD's over a faster processor.

Anyhow, don't believe the naysayers.. I was killing zeds on a hotel wireless connecion with all settings maxed while i was in Vermont...

[hoorah (DayZ) 36]

(can't fit a desktop anywhere)

Where do you live, the bathroom on an airplane?

[oli83 11]

Where do you live, the bathroom on an airplane?

Funny you say that..................