Is there such a laptop? mid-range multimedia & light-gaming

Hey guys,

I have pretty specific requirements for a laptop I want to buy. I've been looking around for a while now, but there is always some sort of shortcoming that makes me reconsider.
Please let me know if this laptop exists:


General Questions

1) What is your budget?
£600-700

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
Preferably UK or Europe. But can be US if with delivery/taxes will fit the budget.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: HP, Lenovo, Asus, Toshiba, Fujitsu, MSI
b. Dislike: Packard Bell

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
Yes

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
multimedia, light-gaming (Dota 2, Orcs must Die2, Divinity Original Sin on low/medium settings)

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
travelling with it maybe 2-3x per year. it will mostly be at home used on sofa/bed

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
As mentioned... Dota 2, Orcs must Die2, Divinity Original Sin on low/medium settings

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
with browsing, watching videos min. 3 hours or more

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
online is fine

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (Windows 7 / 8), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
no Mac

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. (Scroll down to see screen resolution information.)
Full HD or higher.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? (Scroll down to see explanations.)
doesn't matter

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
somewhat but not a major factor

15) When are you buying this laptop?
still this year

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
3 years+

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need? Do you want a SSD drive?
min 128GB SSD, preferably 256GB SSD

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD Burner, Blu-ray Reader or Blu-Ray Burner?
not necessary


In short here is my preferred specs:
Screen: 13-15”, IPS, Full HD (or more)
Battery: decent/good, 3+ hours (but rather 4+ hours)
RAM: 8GB or more
CPU: i5 or i7
GPU: Intel HD 530, Intel Iris 6100?, 840M, 940M, Radeon R7 M260 or similar to these
Storage: 128 or 256 GB SSD
Weight: <3kg
Price: =< £700

Have you seen any that would fulfil these requirements?

Any advice is appreciated!

 

The Clevo N155RD might work.

The new Dell Inspiron 7000 (7559) has great battery life, anywhere from 7-10 hours of moderate use.

The MSI GP62 could also merit a look.

I think the Lenovo Y40 is a decent choice, but it doesn't have a backlit keyboard.

 

Hey Ramzay, thanks for the reply.

The Clevo would be an interesting option, but if we put in the 8GB RAM and the SSD it goes over £700, furthermore the 960M is pretty unneeded. If that could be changed to a 940M that would be perfect.

The MSI looks pretty good, is there an SSD version of it? I could not find it so far. Does it have an IPS panel? I've found conflicting information.

On the Lenovo Y40 the display panel seems very weak, and it's not IPS which rule that one out unfortunately. But I am interested if you've seen better feedback on it.

Dell Inspiron 7559: I tried to find it cheaper but all I've seen is above £800. Sad.

Is there is any other I would love to take a look. Thanks for the help so far.

 

You typically don't want to buy a laptop with an SSD already installed, as it's usually cheaper to buy one yourself and install it afterwards.

For some reason I thought the GP62 had an IPS panel, maybe I read the reviews wrong. In that case, it can be ruled out. I didn't see IPS in the requirements you listed. If you can get an MSI GE62, you'll solve the IPS problem, but they're more expensive.

Maybe see if you can get a good deal on an ASUS G551.

I'm surprised you can't get a better deal on the Dell Inspiron - I got it here for around $1000 CAD. Have you called, haggled, tried applying coupons? That being said, the IPS panel on the Inspiron is just ok (200 nits, 45% NTSC).

Maybe an ASUS ZenBook? There are several models to choose from, though the best deal only has an HD 515.

The problem you're facing is that your budget is a tad too small to get all you want.

 

Consider the Zenbook UX303UA (Skylake). I just got mine and I really enjoy it. It has the Intel HD 520, it plays DOTA2 well. I also tried DIRT Rally, 720p, low-medium settings - averaging 35fps. Not bad at all.

 

Hmm, the Dell Inspiron 15" 5000 seems to be decently priced, even when you factor adding in your own SSD.

The AMD Radeon R5 M335 should perform close to a 830M or 840M.

 

Yes, I've been keeping an eye on those ASUS Zenbooks, they look very appealing. The only reason I won't get one is I must have a back-lit keyboard.

 

The UX303UA has a back-lit keyboard. Only the cheaper 305FA/CA doesn't have back-lit keyboard.

 

Good suggestions guys.

I've taken a second look on the Clevo Ramzay mentioned earlier, and it is actually great deal compared to some others mentioned. Great screen, and I will not have nightmares about it having a stronger GPU than I initially thought.

Following that thought I've checked an Acer VN7-592G (Nitro Black edition, Intel® Core™ i5-6300HQ processor, Memory: 16 GB, Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M, Storage: 1 TB & 128 GB SSD)
and you can actually get one around £700. Again a bit more powerful I wanted but seems to be a good option. Anyone had experiences with that device? I generally don't like Acer as a brand too much, but it looked decent in the shop.

In the Zenbook topic I've actually looked at the UX303LN variant:
Intel Core i7 4510 Haswell, touch 13.3 "1920x1080 IPS LED glossy, RAM 8GB, NVIDIA GeForce GT 840m 2GB SSD

Which sounds great but it's availability is very limited it seems. I found a czech site selling it but (£670) but the keyboard is all czech

All the Dell Inspiron 15" 5000s seems to only have i3 CPUs. Are there ones with i5 or i7?

 

You can check the VN7-592G review - it has some thermal difficulties, but you should be better with an I5 (and maybe a little ThrottleStop paint job)