PC gaming help...

*pinkpanther*

Well while I am here, any suggestions on the best laptop for gaming? Hubby usually only gets home at weekends so during the week he uses his laptop for watching films and tv but if he could use it for games as well that will kill some time in the evenings for him.

Thank you.

chezybezy

the single best piece of advice i can give for a gaming laptop is get the best you can afford and ensure it has dedicated graphics.

There is the current trend of hybrid graphics and in theory they are a great idea. This is where they have an integrated graphics then it switches over to the dedicated graphics chip for demanding things such as gaming - the problem with them at the moment is that they generate a lot of heat and many of the laptops with the hybrid chips are poorly designed for airflow resulting in overheating.
So ensure that airflow and cooling are taken into account - which is why its always best to go for a single dedicated graphics card gaming laptop - only due to the fact that if it has been designed from the ground up to be a gaming machine it will have (disclaimer here) adequate cooling. - The problem with that is that gaming laptops are expensive.

To help with costs id contradict myself a little and go for something with hybrid graphics and ensure it has very good cooling - unfortunately i have been out of the loop with laptops so its best i do not offer suggestions. however i speak from experience with my comments.
Remember you can upgrade the ram at a later date and even drop in an SSD if that is the sort of thing yould like however you can not (as a rule of thumb) upgrade the processor or graphics and this is why anyone will say get the best you can for those two aspects even if it means compromising on something else.

Hope this helps - I've tried to explain it rather than throw techy language at you!

just to add a little background - i have commuted a lot so iv had to take the bulk of my gaming on a laptop even though i have a gaming desktop and a console at home.

Percy1983

I would say the AMD APUs are best for mobile gaming, I have a netbook with a C-50 and its amazing what it can do.

I believe the e-350 is good but may have been surpassed as I haven't looked too deeply for a while.

*pinkpanther*

That's brilliant thank you so much for taking the time to explain that for me. So could he go for a hybrid graphics one and get one of those stands with the cooling fan under or do they not make a lot of difference?

jaydeeuk1

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fujitsu-AH532-GFX-15-6-Intel-Core-i3-2-4GHz-NVIDIA-GT-620M-1GB-Win8-Laptop/331059782544?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D11%26meid%3D2614264609568710162%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D1005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D310784533622%26

Was £20 cheaper last week but best I've seen graphics wise for around £350. With xmas coming up retailers don't have much reason to slash prices.

Percy1983

*pinkpanther* wrote: »

That's brilliant thank you so much for taking the time to explain that for me. So could he go for a hybrid graphics one and get one of those stands with the cooling fan under or do they not make a lot of difference?

Depending on the design of the laptop they could make a small difference, but overall I would say don't bother, its mroe the design of the internal airflow which you can't doo much about.

gonzo127

how much are you looking at for a laptop for this, as with everything budget will very much determin capability

for watching videos etc, any laptop will do, but for gaming needs go up rapidly (as does the budget)

at the low end of the budget scale (~£400 or less) the AMD 'A' series chips are usually (baring the odd bargin that comes about) the best bet, avoid AMD E series and C series laptops if gaming is a big part of its need

mid range, (~£500 ish) you should be looking at dedicated graphics card, the 'of the shelf' systems still hold their own in terms of price to performance here and tend to be balanced

higher cost (~£700+) you will defo want dedicated graphics, paired with a intel core i processor, getting into this price range a custom builder usualy starts to pay dividends as you can spec it up as you want it

Percy1983

As per above if wanting gaming I would AMD A8 or A10 dependant on budget, I really wouldn't want to spend more.

I wouldn't discount the E and C series if on a tighter budget, believe it or not I have got crysis 2 playable on a C50 (with a 4GB ram upgrade I admit)