Hi all
I hope this is the right forum to ask this question - I am after advice or recommendations for a decent laptop with the capability of playing games like the Witcher series. I had an alienware about 5-6 yrs ago but don't have it any more and just have a fairly basic lenovo G580 which will only play less demanding games. I wanted to try and get back into some of the huge RPG style games again, but I haven't got a lot of money, so I thought I would ask around to see what kind of spec is needed and if there are any good bargains out there!

Vegpot, I like your location. I'm going to move you to Glitches simply because that is where our techie folks hang out and I see a lot of computer building threads there.

Hi Looney4labs, OK, thanks

Something along these lines ought to get the job done - the specs are on the page below.


ASUS ROG GL551JW-DS71

Yup, that's what a gaming laptop will cost you. If you don't have that much to spend, a laptop will not play the games you mentioned.

I've actually spent much more on gaming laptops and it's all SirDave's fault... with those darn articles he's published

This one caught my eye for several reasons, and it doesn't look too bad for the price. Nice hard drive, Core i7 processor, adequate System Ram, and plenty of Video Ram.

What ever is decided, stay clear of Intel integrated graphics processors (especially those that use your system RAM for video memory). An additional plus is the screen size, larger sizes just aren't meant to sit on anything other than your desk.

That is definitely the cheapest gaming laptop I've seen in a very long time!

Yes, yes, yes to staying away from the video chips integrated into the Intel processors! So many times we see someone who thinks because they have a brand new laptop, it should just play games. But then you find out it has an integrated video processor. They are fine for web browsing, watching videos and playing low requirement games. But for any kind of gaming above that, they simply can't do the job.

Thanks InlandAZ and Draclvr, sorry for delay in reply. I am in the UK so would be looking at UK shops etc. The price does look good, maybe around 7-800 UK pounds, but I don't know if it's available here so would have to check. Are the crucial things the 16Gb memory, and the graphics card? I am looking at second hand alienware laptops on Ebay at the moment, which are very pricey new, so not cheap second hand either

And my previous gaming laptop a few years ago was an alienware MX11 so great at the time, and certainly fast and powerful enough to play the big RPGs then, so I understand that gaming requirements are very different to normal every day computing - I am using a Lenovo G580 for my every day usage and some basic gaming, it plays quite a few less demanding games easily enough, the Nancy Drew types for instance. But no way would it cope with anything really big or demanding!

You'll want to look for a fast processor (a Core i7 type would be nice), with plenty of System and Video Ram (on a non Intel IGP) plus a reasonably fast hard drive (make sure it has adequate capacity - 1 to 2 GB).

And, yes, that graphics card is very important. For instance, these are the minimum system requirements for Witcher 3...

CPU: Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz / AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940
RAM: 6 GB
OS: 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
Video Card: Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 660 / AMD GPU Radeon HD 7870

Thanks to all the experts, I am now better informed as to what to go for!