Recommend me a good gaming laptop please

AC Mack

Striker
This seems as good a time as any to invest in a new laptop, with potentially plenty of time on my hands. I currently have a Lenovo Yoga 710 and whilst it's a decent little laptop, the graphics card* is poor for what I want and I can't really play games as well as I'd like.

I like my simulation games and I've recently bought Planet Zoo (I already have Planet Coaster). So I basically want a gaming laptop that will play these games well. My budget is less than a grand (preferably around £800 although I've no idea if this is realistic), and I'm happy to buy one from Curry's if needs be - in the past I've had PCs custom built.

*just to clarify, I can't update/improve my graphics card on this laptop and solve some of my problems, can I?
 


ACER Nitro 5 AN515 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, GTX 1660 Ti, 1 TB HDD & 128 SSD

LENOVO Legion Y540-15IRH 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core™ i5, GTX 1650, 128 GB SSD

A couple of examples I've found. Unfortunately a lot of it is Jargon to me. Looking at the processors, they're both i5 and I currently have an i7, so does that mean I'd be downgrading? I'm assuming these graphics are a lot better than my current laptop.
A newer i5 is often better than an old i7.

If this is your current processor you're laughing:
 
A newer i5 is often better than an old i7.

If this is your current processor you're laughing:

Thank you very much. So in a nutshell, those comparisons are telling me that the i5 9300 is a much better processor than the i7 7500 that I currently have? And that's before even considering the graphics card?

What does that mean exactly, though - it'll be quicker and can handle more?
 
Thank you very much. So in a nutshell, those comparisons are telling me that the i5 9300 is a much better processor than the i7 7500 that I currently have? And that's before even considering the graphics card?

What does that mean exactly, though - it'll be quicker and can handle more?
I don't know about much better, it's certainly better though.

Once you get your graphics card in you're laughing. I still run stuff on a 4 year old laptop rocking a 3gig GTX 860 so your GTX 1660 will piss all over anything standard.
 
I don't know about much better, it's certainly better though.

Once you get your graphics card in you're laughing. I still run stuff on a 4 year old laptop rocking a 3gig GTX 860 so your GTX 1660 will piss all over anything standard.

Thanks again. This seems pretty good for me then, would you say?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-nitro-5-an515-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-gtx-1660-ti-1-tb-hdd-128-ssd-10194231-pdt.html

It's a better processor than I currently have, the graphics card seems to get good reviews, and it's within my budget.
 
Thanks again. This seems pretty good for me then, would you say?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-nitro-5-an515-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-gtx-1660-ti-1-tb-hdd-128-ssd-10194231-pdt.html

It's a better processor than I currently have, the graphics card seems to get good reviews, and it's within my budget.

Is this just a mess about laptop are are you hoping to play intensive games for years to come?

An i5 and 8gb of ram aren't great on that laptop unless your a casual gamer or like games that don't require much power.

Graphics card is nice but the ram and CPU will bottleneck
 
Is this just a mess about laptop are are you hoping to play intensive games for years to come?

An i5 and 8gb of ram aren't great on that laptop unless your a casual gamer or like games that don't require much power.

Graphics card is nice but the ram and CPU will bottleneck

I'll only be using it for a couple of simulation games really.

My laptop is from here. No good if you're in a hurry for one like but can customise it however you want.

I've had PCs built from there before.
 



Those will all do what you need although bit overkill if you're just playing sim games really
 
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Make sure you check what thermals they operate at when gaming. Some laptops just can’t handle heat well so end up stuttering all over the place because of the thermal throttling.
 
Thanks again. This seems pretty good for me then, would you say?

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-nitro-5-an515-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-gtx-1660-ti-1-tb-hdd-128-ssd-10194231-pdt.html

It's a better processor than I currently have, the graphics card seems to get good reviews, and it's within my budget.

This is what I have - it runs everything I want it to run decently (mainly things like Civ 6 at silly map sizes to be fair) but it's ugly as fuck and the power pack weighs a f***ing tonne (depends if you want a genuinely portable laptop or not in that aspect). Specs and performance wise I can't fault it, but it's ugly as fuck with the silly bottom corners cut off effect to it and bright red glowing keys.
 
Thank you very much. So in a nutshell, those comparisons are telling me that the i5 9300 is a much better processor than the i7 7500 that I currently have? And that's before even considering the graphics card?

What does that mean exactly, though - it'll be quicker and can handle more?
2 things with the laptop i3/5/7 CPUs.

1 - The generation matters. They are on gen 10 now. The more recent generations are far better, as Intel were forced to add performance to keep up with AMD's Ryzen which was blowing it away.
2 - There are 2-3 versions of each i3/5/7 - high and low power - the low power one uses, obviously, less power and needs less cooling - they are still the "best" in the range, and are expensive in line with the 3/5/7 markings - but a high power CPU will have a ton more performance, despite being "lower" in the rankings.

i.e. a i7-U will almost certainly not be as fast as a an i5-H

Built in graphics on intel CPUs is shit though, pointless for gaming. Ryzen CPUs are vastly better on the graphics front, and about on par for processing too.


And no, unless your current laptop can take a dedicated GPU (<5% of laptops have this option ime), then you won't be able to upgrade it.
Just stuff from hotukdeals


This looks cheap!
 
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Gaming laptops 2021 around the £2k mark, has to be a laptop and i know desktop are more powerful and better value etc


Its predominantly for the kids but i want a bit poke.


Best i can find so far is from pc specialist

    • Intel® Core™ i7 8-Core Processor 10870H
    • 32GB 2993mhz RAM
    • GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q
    • 1TB intel pcie ssd
    • 240Hz FHD Panel (1920 x 1080), 72% NTSC
    • Huge 73Wh Battery
    • Thunderbolt™ 3
    • Multi-Colour Backlit Keyboard
    • Sound Blaster® Atlas
    • SuperSpeed USB 3.2
    • HDMI Output Connection
    • Mini Display Port
    • GeForce RTX VR Ready!
    • 1.0MP Webcam
 
For 2K you get 1080p? That seems a bit tight, you'd expect at least 1440p, especially with a 3080 onboard.
Not sure 32gb of Ram is really necessary. I didn't even notice any difference going from 8 to 16.
 

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