Help buying a new laptop to suit my FM needs!

Jimmy_x_

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
1,548
Reaction score
2
Points
38
Hi all,

I am looking to purchase a new laptop for Christmas as my current one is now a few years old, massively slowing down and quite literally falling apart. I only have a slightly above basic understanding of computers and would be really grateful if anyone could offer assistance in finding a laptop suitable for my needs.

Generally the laptop will be used for word processing, browsing the internet, watching films, listening to music and some casual gaming (FM and Fifa). That said, I require a laptop that can run multiple applications without slowing down or overheating, store a large amount of media files and display the level of graphics necessary for games like Fifa and FM in 3d match mode without being jittery. I am willing to spend up to £750.

From a quick google search and some assistance from the tech guys in PC World, I have been informed that I should be looking for about 6+ GB ram, i5 + and a dedicated graphics card.

Here are some I have picked out, so if you could have a look and see if these are laptops that match my needs as listed about i'd be very grateful.

HP Envy:


1. HP ENVY 17-n060na 17.3" Laptop - Silver Deals | PC World

2. HP ENVY 15-ae065sa 15.6" Laptop - Silver Deals | PC World

ASUS K501UB


1. ASUS K501UB 15.6" Laptop – Dark Blue Deals | PC World

2. ASUS K501UB 15.6" Laptop - Black Deals | PC World

Toshiba Satellite

1. TOSHIBA Satellite P50-C-18J 15.6" Laptop - Brushed Metal Deals | PC World

Acer Aspire v3574t

1. ACER Aspire V3-574T 15.6" Laptop - Silver Deals | PC World

Also just a few more questions:

1. What is the difference and significance between SSHD and normal storage capacity?
2. Does FM require a dedicated graphics card of do the intel integrated graphics cards suffice?
3. When it comes to gaming is it best to keep away from 2 in 1 laptops (tablet and laptop)? I ask this because i've noticed that none of these 2 in 1 laptops have dedicated graphics cards or they have the intel iris
4. Is the intel iris a good graphics card compared to the NVIDIA graphics cards? What even is it ? lol

Thanks for your assistance!
 
Last edited:
1. For the Hard-drive you have three choices: SSD, SSHD and HDD. The hard-drive determines how fast your computer can access stored data and will impact how long it takes to boot-up your PC, load applications and transfer files from one area to another. It will not impact gaming performance (although it might affect loading screen times). SSD is the fastest and one I would recommend - once you've had an SSD you will NOT want to go back to a HDD - as well as making your PC feel a lot quicker in general it is silent, uses less energy and runs cooler (all things you want in a laptop). The SSHD is somewhere in between an SSD and a HDD - you will definitely notice an improvement over the HDD but may be a little slower overall than the SSD

2. A dedicated GPU will help for FMs 3D pitch view and you will need one to play FIFA anyway

3. Yes, 2 in 1 laptops are designed for portability and do not usually have the best design for cooling and airflow (both critical when it comes to gaming)

4. Iris 6100 isn't bad but the 940m would be a little better (maybe 25%? not really sure)

One important thing not yet mentioned is the Processor - the laptops you have picked out are good but have a intel's U version CPUs. These are designed for increased battery life, if you want high performance with multiple applications loaded I would recommend the i5 6300hq which is a quad-core processor (the U versions are dual-core).

I recommended a custom build on pcspecialist to another user which would also meet your requirements:

Chassis & Display Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor 6300HQ (2.3GHz, 3.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 950M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive 120GB KINGSTON SSDNow M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (550MB/R, 520MB/W)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11BGN) +BLUETOOTH
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)Power Cable 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language COSMOS SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & LicenceDVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 YearLabour)

Total Order Price £709.00

This has a 120GB MSATA SSD for the operating system and other applications and a 500GB HDD for games - but you could go for a single 500GB samsung 850 SSD, which would come to £699.
 
Top