Do laptops have enough horsepower?

[PoorOldSpike]

Hi, PC dummy here, I currently play all my high-end wargames and flight sims on my big high-end PC, but of course it's much too big to cart around on holiday or wherever, so I'm thinking of getting a laptop.
Question- can laptops play high-end games like that?
Money's no object (I'm a single man thank god) so if I waltz into my local computer shop to buy a laptop off the shelf what sort of specs should I be looking for?

[zakblood]

an I7
with plenty of fast ram, 8 to 16GB is more than another
a SSD not a hard drive about 1TB, yes you will pay more, but 512GB is ok for less games installed and more than enough for most, but 256GB is somewhat on the ok side if not

and a 8 GB VGA card, not a onboard cutdown bolted on on die CPU addon

imo

but for that you will be paying in £1500 to £2000 inc

[zakblood]

Chassis & DisplayDefiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)Processor
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[zakblood]

17" screen, as why go for smaller
I7 CPU, as gaming is all about speed
memory, well throw in as much as max you need
video, well no war game would need to this sort of power, but why not, you play play other game which will love it
SDD, why go for anything slower, speed is everything

Warranty, i'd take out 3 years tbh for hardware and pay a bit more, as again, why not protect it,...

either off the shelf or get a custom built one, there's plenty of UK makers who will build something for you, or one of the shelf, where then you go for the bits which they think are better, either way your call, your money

[PeteMitchell]

I agree, I am looking right now myself... I guess order of importance will be GPU, CPU, RAM, SSD...

Maybe compare here (or similar) for some background: https://www.wepc.com/tips/cpu-gpu-bottleneck/

[zakblood]

no not really

it's bottom up, not top down

for me the most important, is laptops tend not to be able to be upgraded much if at all, so apart from taking out slower HDD and replacing with SSD etc and adding more memory, that's about your lot, so for me, the basic's need to be there to start off with,

so little point in having the fastest GPU in there if the memory speed of the system ram doesn't match eg keep it feed with information, same as SSD speed, stick in the best card out there atm and then not pair it up with slower system ram and a slow HDD, and you will get a bottleneck, so a good GPU needs a fast system ram and also a fast hard drive, and that's why for me, a solid state drive performs best, as it's way quicker than any Hard drive.

so for me it all depends on what a user wishes the end product to be mainly used for, if gaming,

then overall all systems need to be running at around the same speed.

so a mid priced system and high end system would use different parts,

so, for a mid priced pc, you can cut corners and use a I5 for a cpu with 8GB of slower and cheaper ram and a 4GB mid ranged GPU with a smaller cheaper SSHD Hybrid Drive, but cutting corners too much and a 7200 RPM or slower 5400 speed HDD, is for me, a cut too many.

with a high end pc being a I7, 8 to 16GB of faster ram, a 6 to 8GB faster GPU, and a larger pure SSD

[PeteMitchell]

Oh sorry, I agree on an overall well balanced PC, optical HDD is not an option for me anymore. I was actually more thinking on the type of SSD... (i.e. M.2 vs. SATA)...

[PoorOldSpike]

Thanks guys I'm copying and saving all your replies, and can I toss another question into the playpen?-

My current gaming machine is a big desktop PC but it's far too heavy to carry into town for the occasional upgrade / modification/ repair, so I have the hassle of having to get a taxi (I don't drive because I've never really wanted or needed a car).
When I asked the shop to build me a high-end gaming PC 4 years ago that's what they came up with, I remarked to them at the time that the case looked a bit too big and heavy, but they said something like "It HAS to be big and roomy so it won't overheat", so I went with it.

My question is therefore this- if I decide to buy a new desktop PC from them as a backup / spare, could I insist on a smaller case, or is there still a danger of overheating even with today's more modern components?

[PeteMitchell]

Well, I guess I would say it depends a bit (i.e. for the most part) on what GPU (less so CPU) you will want/need (for which games)... in combination with the overall air (or water) cooling system (i.e. fan setup/airflow)...

Do you have any specs of the current and/or envisioned system, or maybe at least the games you want to play?

[PoorOldSpike]

Thanks, new games are coming out all the time, so I just want the most powerful PC I can get so that it'll be able to handle anything I throw at it..

[zakblood]

plan for today and this year at best, and planning for tomorrow (next year) is a waste, as every 6 months or so, something new comes out, making what you bought out of date, so get a budget for now and spend it, then in a years time or 2, replace, spend no more now than you need to spend for the games your playing now, buying the best which is out now, will be cheaper in 6 months or so or quicker will be out, making what you thought was the best, somewhat old school and out of date, so in other words, don't get burnt with items you don't need, power your not using atm, or faster parts which will be cheaper at a later date or replaced with ever faster parts, for me middle of the road means in the long run, you can change it and keep the difference

[PoorOldSpike]

Yes Zak, but I'm a total PC dummy, so what I usually do is just walk into my local computer shop and tell them to build me a high-end desktop computer that can handle high-end games and flight sims etc, and I have to trust them, and it's worked fine so far.
When I go in for a laptop i'll tell them the same thing and see what they say..

[zakblood]

good luck then, and hope there honest and not just after a quick sale, research is power, and with knowledge comes understanding and more to the point savings

[PoorOldSpike]

..good luck then, and hope there honest and not just after a quick sale..

As a safeguard, I firstly ask the shop to give me a written quote and a list of the components they intend putting in it and tell them- "Then I'll post it in gaming and techy forums to see if people think the specs and price will be fine".
That way, they'll know thousands of people in internetland will be seeing their quote so they'd better keep it "clean"..

[zakblood]

well when you have it, post it, always good to compare those who think they have a clue with those who really do, no idea now days what side of that coin i'm still in tbh, so at least you can let me know, lol

[PoorOldSpike]

well when you have it, post it, always good to compare those who think they have a clue with those who really do, no idea now days what side of that coin i'm still in tbh, so at least you can let me know, lol

Yes, about 25 years ago I signed up for a free computer course run by the Jobcentre, about 30 of us turned up but when the tutor began by saying- "Today we're going to learn about data and spreadsheets" I felt myself slowly going insane with boredom so I walked out but the tutor began chasing me, so I locked myself in the toilet for a while, it was like trying to escape from Colditz, and I waited til he'd buggered off and then slipped out to make a home run..

[PeteMitchell]

Yeah, post it here once you have it...

[PoorOldSpike]

Incidentally, on a scale of '1' (simple arcade games) to '10' (big complex strategy games/flight sims), where would OOB rank?

[zakblood]

4 for difficulty and 3 to 4 on the power rating imo so more of a GPU side not CPU rated

[PoorOldSpike]

4 for difficulty and 3 to 4 on the power rating imo so more of a GPU side not CPU rated

Thanks, so would I only need to buy a mid-range laptop to play OOB?
I wouldn't need to buy a more powerful laptop would I?

PS- and whatever laptop I buy I wouldn't use its screen, I'd plug it into my 27" monitor, there'd be no problem doing that would there?