Processor Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad Core (2.6GHz, 6MB Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Up To 3.5GHz)
Screen 15.6" (1920x1080 Full HD Resolution)
Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
RAM 8GB (DDR3)
Hard Drive 8GB SSD + 1000GB (Hybrid)
Optical Drive Not Included (Designed To Be Thin & Light) - External Optical Drive Available Seperately for £29.99
Graphics Dedicated (NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M with 4GB GDDR5 Dedicated Memory)
Wireless LAN Wireless (802.11ac Wireless)
Network Card 10/100/1000 Gigabit Fast Ethernet
Integrated Webcam Integrated HD Webcam with Microphone
Card Reader 2-in-1 card reader ( SD, MMC )
USB Ports 3x USB 3.0
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
Speakers Integrated Sound System
Charge Time 2.5 Hours
HDMI Port 1 x HDMI Port
Backlit Keyboard Backlit Keyboard
Warranty Dell 12 Month Collect & Return Warranty (View More Information)
Battery Life 3-4 Hours (up to 4 hours with power management)
Weight 2-3 Kg (This Model 2.6 Kg)
Product Type Gaming Laptops
Keyboard Type Laptop Keyboard
Colour Black
Top comments
greysquaill to krisward7955
2 Mar 1611#3
Yes, but it has a 960M graphics card. I think you'll be hard-pressed to find another laptop with the same card at this price with the latest gen of i7 processor.
Also, I'm sure the 8gb ram is upgradable if you really needed to whereas a laptop graphics card is not usually upgradable.
I'm tempted but I don't need one (or have too many £700s spare).
nomnomnomnom
2 Mar 164#36
"Wayy better" - ermmm, no.
Worse CPU
Lower GPU memory
Worse network card
DDR4 is great for marketing in a laptop, but no real difference.
Impossible to get spares for
MSI has notorious build quality
Have you ever used Scan for a laptop RMA? They will try and push you to the manufacturer and not claim responsibility - been there already with them.
A m2 128GB ssd is around £35 quid if you want such a low drive.
If anything goes wrong with a Dell out of warranty, at least you can ring up with the part number (PDF service manuals online) and order a new part.
Not even close to being "way better" - nevermind 50 quid more.
naivri
3 Mar 163#51
Have one of these (£692 from Dell if you haggle with them online)
Added a 128Gb m2.ssd for £30ish quid from amazon. Took seconds to install. Downloaded the Samsung SSD software to mirror the drive. Runs fantastic.
Never seen any of the windows 10 errors reported here, probably due to faulty mirroring to the SSD. Try a full restore.
Only complaint I have is its a standard windows 10 touchpad driver which is pants. Downloaded a proper driver for it from Dell and it works like a dream.
Plays Overwatch at 60fps on Ultra so will do me nicely.
No complaints, a solid 5/7 from me
nomnomnomnom to krisward7955
2 Mar 163#10
Can you please link a latest i7 generation HQ series laptop, with a full HD display, a 960GTX or above, a 1TB + flash cache HDD and 16GB RAM for the same (or close) price?
Not that many users even come close to needing 16GB, but I'm just curious as to why this is "pretty low".
Latest comments (96)
Rathore
4 Mar 16#96
bought from dell.co.uk for 731 including 2 year NBD warranty. will be upgrding to m.2 ssd and 16 gb ram.
moneyforme
3 Mar 16#95
In theory it should be faster, however I have never owned one.
The drive uses the fast SSD Cache to do the work, I believe they typically have 8GB of Cache. So it depends on how intensive your work is, 8GB of Cache is large enough for normal use.
happenstance
3 Mar 16#94
I'm not saying your a liar, but I checked dell outlet every Tuesday / Monday for about two months. And nothing decent ever poped up. Dell outlet used to be good years ago.
Why would they put a few up much higher Discounted and sell out quijcky?
A 980 alienware 17" is always over 1k. I think I'd rather this for 700.
sat384
3 Mar 16#93
Thanks for the great advice in the thread.
Any idea how this compares to the Lenovo X1 that was on here a few days ago?
Cheers Moneyforme so is there much difference speed wise between this hybrid and a regular 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive?
minhp
3 Mar 16#91
Every week mostly and they are not second hand. Almost all are those laptop returned under Distance Selling Regulation and Dell cannot sell them as brand new. I have 3 bought 3-4 years ago at extremely cut price (during shares buy back) and now I am looking to upgrade.
I won't be using it for games (well only Football Manager or Cities Skyline when i get some free time) but could possibly use it for video encoding. I'm considering this Asus as a way of future-proofing with the DDR4 memory and USB-C/3.1 though admittedly, I have no real life knowledge of whether these features would actually make a significant difference. Is the Asus worth an extra £150 over the Dell? Your advice would be appreciated!
ThatTechGuy
3 Mar 16#89
If you need more than this from a laptop then you should consider a desktop. Or at least wait until proper laptop external gpu support become available ( which should be coming within a year or two now.)
ganon
3 Mar 16#88
So you need to check it daily and they are 2nd hand?
ganon
3 Mar 16#87
How are they on returns policy?
kieranlewis11321
3 Mar 16#86
Got this laptop a couple of months ago for university and gaming. I can run many games with an ease even the division in low settings at a solid 40-60 fps. It's a great laptop all i would say they're abit weak in my opinion i've not dropped it or anything but my subwoofer on the bottom has gone weird (cuts off and on) Still need to contact dell but overall it's a great laptop for the price.
GS01
3 Mar 16#83
What do you y'all think?
Build quality?
How many ram slots are empty?
I'm looking for i7 6700HQ + GTX 960M or better + 12GB+ ram + 256GB SSD + 1tb hdd. Got a budget of around £1000, shall I go for this and upgrade ram+SSD?
Crazygooner1 to GS01
3 Mar 161#84
From my use it has been brilliant. Good battery life, no colour bleeding, feels as if it is built well, easy access underneath and decent sound quality where many laptops do suffer.
Not sure if these graphic cards can over overclocked? I don't know enough about all of this.
I wil be playing The Division on PC. It recommended I play the game on low settings. I changed it up and ran The Division at 28-30fps on medium settings. A little disappointing.
How do these settings compare to console?
naivri to GS01
3 Mar 16#85
There is one spare RAM slot
waynefarrow35
3 Mar 16#82
Just ordered online using thanksmum for £50 discount and paid by paypal
nomnomnomnom
3 Mar 16#81
No it's not - it's latency, which is far more important than read / write speeds.
moneyforme
3 Mar 16#80
The only difference is read and write speeds.
The Samsung 950 pro has read speed up to 2,500 MB/Sec and write up to 1,500 MB/Sec.
Dell fitted the slowest Nvme drive in the XPS which is only about 1.5 to 2 times the speed of SATA, saying that for my needs so far it is flying.
minhp
3 Mar 16#79
For Dell outlet, the stock fluctuate and first-come-first-serve basis i.e. whoever buy first got it. I'm looking for a 17 inch. The 2 15 inch I saw were 16gb ram and gt960m as well - one of them touch screen. Last Tuesday, a 15 inch Alienware powerful than this at the same price. Check them out yourself.
Update: someone just got the Alienware 15 - R2 with GT970M £724 (included VAT) at time I wrote the above.
naivri
3 Mar 16#78
From what I had read from other sources, the real life usage difference is negligible between these.
moneyforme
3 Mar 16#77
How to what?
The price was on a 10% deal when in stock.
The laptop, well the build quality, size and specs.
*15", 100% Adobe RGB, 4K touch screen
*NVME M.2 SSD
*Thunderbolt / USB C / USB 3.1
*Slim Aluminium design, 15" in a standard 14" form factor.
There is no comparison with my plastic Toshiba.
naivri
3 Mar 16#76
Never had an issue with the integrated graphics
Only issue I have had is that with the World of Warcraft Legion Alpha, I need to tell it to use the Nvidia graphics chip as opposed to the integrated one. Would imagine this is just a driver setting though
philb100
3 Mar 16#66
What is the 8GB ssd for on these , windows wouldn't fit on it would it?
naivri to philb100
3 Mar 16#75
The 8gb SSD is integrated into the 1Tb main drive. Its not a separate drive, I think it works like a cache to improve the performance.
Will this laptop run at 60hz via hdmi on a 3440x1440 monitor
nekoangel
3 Mar 161#72
to give some feedback on the device:
overall im very happy with it, build quality seems fine and everything works ok. ive ordered a 128gb ssd which is 80mm for this, yet to arrive.
on the games front ive yet to strain it but ive played blade and soul on max graphics and get constant 60fps, other than that im playing card games like hex and HS.
screen is a little lack luster for colours but good for angles etc, i get 5 hours of normal use out of the battery and about half that gaming.
integrated graphics is fine, it uses it mainly for desktop then switches to gpu and no fails here for me.
if anyone wants to know something specific just yell and ill try to help.
mouphi
3 Mar 161#71
So close to getting this. Looks like it has a spare M.2 slot on the bottom, but is SATA not PCIe
Nice specs. I would buy it straight away if it was 17 inch. Dell Outlet deal much cheaper (saw 2 last week at £580 included VAT pre-discounted) than this price especially with their regular 10% discount promo or 10% if you're a student
happenstance to minhp
3 Mar 16#70
I doubt they even compared with this.
naivri
3 Mar 163#51
Have one of these (£692 from Dell if you haggle with them online)
Added a 128Gb m2.ssd for £30ish quid from amazon. Took seconds to install. Downloaded the Samsung SSD software to mirror the drive. Runs fantastic.
Never seen any of the windows 10 errors reported here, probably due to faulty mirroring to the SSD. Try a full restore.
Only complaint I have is its a standard windows 10 touchpad driver which is pants. Downloaded a proper driver for it from Dell and it works like a dream.
Plays Overwatch at 60fps on Ultra so will do me nicely.
No complaints, a solid 5/7 from me
kavakava to naivri
3 Mar 16#52
Good to know you can install an SSD easily. What's the laptop like in terms of fan noise and sound quality?
nekoangel to naivri
3 Mar 16#63
Could I get a link to the driver you used for the touch pad please?
happenstance to naivri
3 Mar 16#69
Does the integrated graphics ever fail on yours?
I'm just going to complete gta5 main missions then start again with this lappy
JayGreenspan
3 Mar 16#68
Nice price, but personally I'd go with a certified refurbished Dell Outlet deal where you can get a 4k screen and bigger SSD for the same sort of cash.
T3chnoGuy
3 Mar 16#67
Dont understand why posting it again tho:@
Marko69
2 Mar 16#20
Bought This last month for £750, one screw to stick in the ssd. Been running really well. 960m seems reasonable enough for mobile use, I've got the desktop for the proper gaming.
Crazygooner1 to Marko69
3 Mar 16#64
Which SSD please mate??? I want to add one in mine.
Good laptop for the price. I expected the 960M to perform a bit better though.
I stuck an extra 8GB ram in.
gangstabwoiiwill
3 Mar 16#56
Guys if you want this laptop for £699 delivered, all you have to do is start a dell chat and ask if they can do it any cheaper than the advertised price of £749. Can't guarantee this will work for everyone but worth trying before thinking of buying elsewhere. I bought it and have installed a samsung m2 ssd to boot from and its extremely quick. Definitely better than buying the more expensive option as the ssd really is very easy to install, and this is coming from someone who has never opened up a laptop before.
Rathore to gangstabwoiiwill
3 Mar 16#62
use code THANKSMUM £50 off so same price
Rathore
3 Mar 16#61
dell.co.uk is offering it for same price 699 using code THANKSMUM and also free delivery. so I would rather got to manufacturers website.
naivri
3 Mar 16#60
I'm no expert on it, however some games like GTAV will let you select higher options/textures based on the amount of VRAM you have. As I recall it tells you how much VRAM is required for your settings and can shuffle around. That was at 1080p.
blueice_ron88
3 Mar 16#59
For this specs, price is very good!!
naivri
3 Mar 161#53
Sound quality is OK, has a small subwoofer underneath. Sound isn't too bad, there are two fans underneath and 3 radiators. There is an audible fan noise when its working hard whilst gaming. I've heard noisier though (like my last Acer Aspire).
The two fans, memory, SSD etc are accessible via one screw on the bottom so they will be easy to air duster/WD40.
kavakava to naivri
3 Mar 16#58
Good to hear, thank you!
gangstabwoiiwill
3 Mar 16#57
Just seen Naivri has already posted this. Apologies.
mattym129
3 Mar 16#55
My manager has an Inspiron 15 as a works laptop. I haven't used it, but it looks a little cheap and plasticky. The red accents (Dell logo, around the trackpad, CPU cooler fins) are a bit like Marmite. It certainly isn't as well built as some machines, but it is on par with the other brands.
Excellent spec for the price however. If you are careful with it, you will do well with this machine.
ThatTechGuy
3 Mar 16#54
VRAM doesnt really affect performance until resolutions above 1080p are used...
greysquaill
3 Mar 16#50
Well like for like, if you configure the PC Specialist Optimus laptop to have the same processor, same RAM, 1tb hybrid SSD drive and add in Windows 10 then you get a quote of £826. I know you can remove the OS for £79 but the other parts are needing to be reconfigured to match the spec on this Dell.
However I agree, you could perhaps save a bit if you managed to reconfigure to only what you need then buy the extra bits yourself to upgrade.
krisward7955
2 Mar 16#1
16GB ram would make this a nice laptop. I think 8GB is pretty low for the price.
greysquaill to krisward7955
2 Mar 1611#3
Yes, but it has a 960M graphics card. I think you'll be hard-pressed to find another laptop with the same card at this price with the latest gen of i7 processor.
Also, I'm sure the 8gb ram is upgradable if you really needed to whereas a laptop graphics card is not usually upgradable.
I'm tempted but I don't need one (or have too many £700s spare).
nomnomnomnom to krisward7955
2 Mar 163#10
Can you please link a latest i7 generation HQ series laptop, with a full HD display, a 960GTX or above, a 1TB + flash cache HDD and 16GB RAM for the same (or close) price?
Not that many users even come close to needing 16GB, but I'm just curious as to why this is "pretty low".
xela333 to krisward7955
2 Mar 161#12
Would pretty much make no difference. I'm sure either the cpu or gpu would be a bottleneck first
N1AK to krisward7955
3 Mar 16#49
Based on what? Various credible sources (TomsHardware, Techspot for starters) have shown that their is effectively no difference between 8GB and 16GB for anyone not running multiple VMs or demanding emulators, which is the vast majority of PC users. I've had 16GB on my laptop for the last 3-4 years and it's probably been of use to me on a half dozen occasions when I'm running virtualised test environments, other than that I doubt their has been any notable difference from 8GB.
abaxas
3 Mar 16#48
No. the drivers for the 'killer' network card are known to be buggy. I would assume that most people enjoy multiplayer games so best avoided.
bigbrian1
3 Mar 16#47
PC specialist does an optimus with a 960m for about £600 as I recall when configured properly (no OS and other bits reduced on the cofigurator). If you are looking for the best deal upgrading the bits yourself are always cheaper.
Also the optimus has both a drive bay and an M2 slot for a separate SSD.
ganon
3 Mar 16#46
Today only? Seen it for this price for a couple of days now. Just wondering if this can play Street Fighter 5
towled
3 Mar 16#45
monster laptop!
happenstance
3 Mar 161#44
I have no idea. Windows 10 was very broken on this after a mirror to a m. 2 ssd. Eventually windows let me run the update windows and now it runs alot better. Still once a week I get group policy error and have to reboot. Thankfully onlt takes seconds. Might wipe it all and start again
kavakava
3 Mar 16#43
How?
MIDURIX
3 Mar 16#42
There is a Zoostorm laptop at ebuyer with a 980m for £1150 here:
I've got this through dell for 696. Takes seconds to plug a m 2 ssd and 8gb more ram in.
Has been a bit of a headache though. Windows 10 isn't running totally smooth. Sometimes get group policy signin errors (even though this is home) and the onboard graphics do crash from time to time.
Meh, good on paper. Less so in person.
dont mack me off to happenstance
3 Mar 16#41
You sure the group policy sign in errors are the laptop? I got them a few days ago but cleared themselves after a few hours so maybe a windows issue?
shazzc
3 Mar 16#40
I've been keeping an eye on the ASUS N551VW lately and this is very close spec to it for £200 cheaper.
axl515
3 Mar 16#39
Nice spec
Trilogy
3 Mar 16#38
How is this for low to medium gaming? Upgrading 6 yr old m17x
nekoangel
2 Mar 16#37
I have mint condition rerufb from eBay for 640 so I'm not voting for on this.
nomnomnomnom
2 Mar 164#36
"Wayy better" - ermmm, no.
Worse CPU
Lower GPU memory
Worse network card
DDR4 is great for marketing in a laptop, but no real difference.
Impossible to get spares for
MSI has notorious build quality
Have you ever used Scan for a laptop RMA? They will try and push you to the manufacturer and not claim responsibility - been there already with them.
A m2 128GB ssd is around £35 quid if you want such a low drive.
If anything goes wrong with a Dell out of warranty, at least you can ring up with the part number (PDF service manuals online) and order a new part.
Not even close to being "way better" - nevermind 50 quid more.
erwinjoy
2 Mar 16#35
is this good for editing pictures? no planning to use it in games
moneyforme
2 Mar 16#34
The XPS is probably one of the best options then. There were a lot going through the outlet, probably due to the XPS being very buggy on release, which almost put me off.
Now that Dell is quickly correcting the problems with regular Bios updates etc, it is becoming a very nice machine.
It is certainly the best one that I have ever owned.
The bonus for me is that I got a package that would retail new for over £1,800.00 for £1,277.00.
Battery life on this is excellent, about 7hrs. Look for other threads on this model 7559.
J0n35y
2 Mar 16#31
I used to have an MSI. Probably bought it about 6 years ago. My brother bought a different model (same chassis) and both of us had horrendous build quality issues including battery failures and, on mine, for part of the casing to start melting due to a severe overheating issue!!! In short - never again!
I'm not much of a gamer these days - happy enough with the PS4 - but I would like to be able to play the latest XCOM and my favourite PC games (Crusader Kings, Gal Civ, etc). Just a shame Windows laptops never seem to pack decent battery life!
J0n35y
2 Mar 16#28
Im in need of a new laptop - this is tempting. But my current laptop is a weighty Dell brick (older Inspiron) and the build quality isn't exactly stellar. To be expected though. Had various driver issues with the GPU and other bits and bobs too. Anyone around here got one of these? My gut feel is telling me to splash the cash on a high end XPS or MBP...
moneyforme to J0n35y
2 Mar 16#30
I am not a gamer, I just wanted an up to date laptop to last 2 to 3 years so I bought an XPS.
Gamer friends however all seem to go for the new MSI's.
KTASpartacus
2 Mar 16#27
What's the difference between a Hybrid and a straight SSD is there a massive difference?
moneyforme to KTASpartacus
2 Mar 16#29
The hybrid is a normal mechanical hdd with a small ssd cache built into it.
The latest ssd's are found in the XPS and Alien's. They are nvme which can run around 4 times faster than a sata ssd.
Unfortunately, Dell has skimped and supplied PM951's, they run around 1.5 to 2 times the speed of sata ssd's depending on the size.
Boopop
2 Mar 16#26
So you're saying we should avoid a product just because the marketing team went a bit over the top? Only a fool would pay attention to such a silly knee-jerk reaction.
IGNORE!
abaxas
2 Mar 161#25
It's got a 'killer' network card. Only a fool would buy that bit of useless tat.
m.2, 6th gen, build quality, ddr4. A bit more goes a long way.
majorthoms
2 Mar 16#23
i think the xps is more high tech than this. since it is designed for gamers. this seems a good laptop for the specs. i am sure the ram and hard drive can be upgraded
Anthonis
2 Mar 16#22
To start with its Inspiron model so its not top spec for sure, although its good value for money if you want gaming laptop and not spend a fortune. As advice I would buy 3 years warranty for this as having all budget items in it wont last long...
ludzik
2 Mar 16#21
Top spec laptop costs over 2 times more, and 960m is average graphic card.
Top spec is for me at least 970m with 16GB of ram and separate SSD- prices from 1500 pounds
I'm looking for a gaming laptop and like that this is thin, but I'm concerned the 960M will soon be a bottleneck for 1080p games on high settings. :disappointed:
Heat added and depending on you expectations and gaming preferences this might be adequate.
colourpie
2 Mar 16#18
Amazing laptop I have been pining over, price never came down so I settled for an E7440 and now I can't justify buying this as well :disappointed:
.. or can I?
bitbinary01
2 Mar 16#17
WOW, what a great find. Hot hot hot!
LightningPete
2 Mar 16#16
Your paying less than 700 pounds for a laptop with this spec and you say its not exactly top end? Give yourself a shake.
happenstance
2 Mar 16#15
Gta5 looks great on it.
08sam1
2 Mar 161#13
Its good enough to play most games, especially on such a slim laptop with not so great cooling for a better chip
dalecool92
2 Mar 16#8
gtx 960m- Dose it even need upgrading?
xela333 to dalecool92
2 Mar 16#11
It's not exactly top end
Coolio103
2 Mar 16#9
Do we know if this offer is really one day only? I've had my eye on it for the ~4 days its been in the sidebar. If so I need to pull the trigger =/
popegtr
2 Mar 16#4
ram can be upgraded. it's worth checking if graphic card can be upgraded yourself. some motherboards support range of cards not just one.
nublets2k to popegtr
2 Mar 16#7
According to the service manual it also has an M.2 slot for an SSD.
If I had the spare cash I'd buy this in an instant.
Looks like it's soldered on and not mxm.
adam45417
2 Mar 16#6
You can go through dell and get this cheaper... Plus you can always add another 8gb stick of ram since its only 1x8gb and not 2x4gbs.
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
Processor Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad Core (2.6GHz, 6MB Cache, Intel Turbo Boost Up To 3.5GHz)
Screen 15.6" (1920x1080 Full HD Resolution)
Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
RAM 8GB (DDR3)
Hard Drive 8GB SSD + 1000GB (Hybrid)
Optical Drive Not Included (Designed To Be Thin & Light) - External Optical Drive Available Seperately for £29.99
Graphics Dedicated (NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M with 4GB GDDR5 Dedicated Memory)
Wireless LAN Wireless (802.11ac Wireless)
Network Card 10/100/1000 Gigabit Fast Ethernet
Integrated Webcam Integrated HD Webcam with Microphone
Card Reader 2-in-1 card reader ( SD, MMC )
USB Ports 3x USB 3.0
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
Speakers Integrated Sound System
Charge Time 2.5 Hours
HDMI Port 1 x HDMI Port
Backlit Keyboard Backlit Keyboard
Warranty Dell 12 Month Collect & Return Warranty (View More Information)
Battery Life 3-4 Hours (up to 4 hours with power management)
Weight 2-3 Kg (This Model 2.6 Kg)
Product Type Gaming Laptops
Keyboard Type Laptop Keyboard
Colour Black
Top comments
Also, I'm sure the 8gb ram is upgradable if you really needed to whereas a laptop graphics card is not usually upgradable.
I'm tempted but I don't need one (or have too many £700s spare).
Worse CPU
Lower GPU memory
Worse network card
DDR4 is great for marketing in a laptop, but no real difference.
Impossible to get spares for
MSI has notorious build quality
Have you ever used Scan for a laptop RMA? They will try and push you to the manufacturer and not claim responsibility - been there already with them.
A m2 128GB ssd is around £35 quid if you want such a low drive.
If anything goes wrong with a Dell out of warranty, at least you can ring up with the part number (PDF service manuals online) and order a new part.
Not even close to being "way better" - nevermind 50 quid more.
Added a 128Gb m2.ssd for £30ish quid from amazon. Took seconds to install. Downloaded the Samsung SSD software to mirror the drive. Runs fantastic.
Never seen any of the windows 10 errors reported here, probably due to faulty mirroring to the SSD. Try a full restore.
Only complaint I have is its a standard windows 10 touchpad driver which is pants. Downloaded a proper driver for it from Dell and it works like a dream.
Plays Overwatch at 60fps on Ultra so will do me nicely.
No complaints, a solid 5/7 from me
Not that many users even come close to needing 16GB, but I'm just curious as to why this is "pretty low".
Latest comments (96)
The drive uses the fast SSD Cache to do the work, I believe they typically have 8GB of Cache. So it depends on how intensive your work is, 8GB of Cache is large enough for normal use.
Why would they put a few up much higher Discounted and sell out quijcky?
A 980 alienware 17" is always over 1k. I think I'd rather this for 700.
Any idea how this compares to the Lenovo X1 that was on here a few days ago?
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-20bs-14-inch-laptop-intel-core-i5-2-2-ghz-8-gb-ram-256-2403434
I won't be using it for games (well only Football Manager or Cities Skyline when i get some free time) but could possibly use it for video encoding. I'm considering this Asus as a way of future-proofing with the DDR4 memory and USB-C/3.1 though admittedly, I have no real life knowledge of whether these features would actually make a significant difference. Is the Asus worth an extra £150 over the Dell? Your advice would be appreciated!
Build quality?
How many ram slots are empty?
I'm looking for i7 6700HQ + GTX 960M or better + 12GB+ ram + 256GB SSD + 1tb hdd. Got a budget of around £1000, shall I go for this and upgrade ram+SSD?
Not sure if these graphic cards can over overclocked? I don't know enough about all of this.
I wil be playing The Division on PC. It recommended I play the game on low settings. I changed it up and ran The Division at 28-30fps on medium settings. A little disappointing.
How do these settings compare to console?
The Samsung 950 pro has read speed up to 2,500 MB/Sec and write up to 1,500 MB/Sec.
Dell fitted the slowest Nvme drive in the XPS which is only about 1.5 to 2 times the speed of SATA, saying that for my needs so far it is flying.
Update: someone just got the Alienware 15 - R2 with GT970M £724 (included VAT) at time I wrote the above.
The price was on a 10% deal when in stock.
The laptop, well the build quality, size and specs.
*15", 100% Adobe RGB, 4K touch screen
*NVME M.2 SSD
*Thunderbolt / USB C / USB 3.1
*Slim Aluminium design, 15" in a standard 14" form factor.
There is no comparison with my plastic Toshiba.
Only issue I have had is that with the World of Warcraft Legion Alpha, I need to tell it to use the Nvidia graphics chip as opposed to the integrated one. Would imagine this is just a driver setting though
overall im very happy with it, build quality seems fine and everything works ok. ive ordered a 128gb ssd which is 80mm for this, yet to arrive.
on the games front ive yet to strain it but ive played blade and soul on max graphics and get constant 60fps, other than that im playing card games like hex and HS.
screen is a little lack luster for colours but good for angles etc, i get 5 hours of normal use out of the battery and about half that gaming.
integrated graphics is fine, it uses it mainly for desktop then switches to gpu and no fails here for me.
if anyone wants to know something specific just yell and ill try to help.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/3ou2b1/sm951_new_inspiron_15_7000/
So was thinking of adding this:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sandisk-enterprise-sd8snat-256gb-ssd-m-2-56-03-kikatek-2405009
Would be a pretty sweet gaming laptop for £750
Added a 128Gb m2.ssd for £30ish quid from amazon. Took seconds to install. Downloaded the Samsung SSD software to mirror the drive. Runs fantastic.
Never seen any of the windows 10 errors reported here, probably due to faulty mirroring to the SSD. Try a full restore.
Only complaint I have is its a standard windows 10 touchpad driver which is pants. Downloaded a proper driver for it from Dell and it works like a dream.
Plays Overwatch at 60fps on Ultra so will do me nicely.
No complaints, a solid 5/7 from me
I'm just going to complete gta5 main missions then start again with this lappy
Good laptop for the price. I expected the 960M to perform a bit better though.
I stuck an extra 8GB ram in.
The two fans, memory, SSD etc are accessible via one screw on the bottom so they will be easy to air duster/WD40.
Excellent spec for the price however. If you are careful with it, you will do well with this machine.
However I agree, you could perhaps save a bit if you managed to reconfigure to only what you need then buy the extra bits yourself to upgrade.
Also, I'm sure the 8gb ram is upgradable if you really needed to whereas a laptop graphics card is not usually upgradable.
I'm tempted but I don't need one (or have too many £700s spare).
Not that many users even come close to needing 16GB, but I'm just curious as to why this is "pretty low".
Would pretty much make no difference. I'm sure either the cpu or gpu would be a bottleneck first
Also the optimus has both a drive bay and an M2 slot for a separate SSD.
http://www.ebuyer.com/719681-zoostorm-gaming-media-notebook-7260-9025
Has been a bit of a headache though. Windows 10 isn't running totally smooth. Sometimes get group policy signin errors (even though this is home) and the onboard graphics do crash from time to time.
Meh, good on paper. Less so in person.
Worse CPU
Lower GPU memory
Worse network card
DDR4 is great for marketing in a laptop, but no real difference.
Impossible to get spares for
MSI has notorious build quality
Have you ever used Scan for a laptop RMA? They will try and push you to the manufacturer and not claim responsibility - been there already with them.
A m2 128GB ssd is around £35 quid if you want such a low drive.
If anything goes wrong with a Dell out of warranty, at least you can ring up with the part number (PDF service manuals online) and order a new part.
Not even close to being "way better" - nevermind 50 quid more.
Now that Dell is quickly correcting the problems with regular Bios updates etc, it is becoming a very nice machine.
It is certainly the best one that I have ever owned.
The bonus for me is that I got a package that would retail new for over £1,800.00 for £1,277.00.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/new-dell-inspiron-7000-series-15-laptop-i7-6700hq-quad-core-windows-10-1080p-screen-2300561
note if you call Dell or chat online they will come down to £696 if you ask for their best price. Amazing value and spec for the price.
I'm not much of a gamer these days - happy enough with the PS4 - but I would like to be able to play the latest XCOM and my favourite PC games (Crusader Kings, Gal Civ, etc). Just a shame Windows laptops never seem to pack decent battery life!
Gamer friends however all seem to go for the new MSI's.
The latest ssd's are found in the XPS and Alien's. They are nvme which can run around 4 times faster than a sata ssd.
Unfortunately, Dell has skimped and supplied PM951's, they run around 1.5 to 2 times the speed of sata ssd's depending on the size.
IGNORE!
AVOID
Wayyy better laptop than this
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-msi-gp62-6qf(leopard-pro)-694-fhd-i5-skylake-6300hq-8gb-ddr4-128gb-m2-ssdplus1tb-hdd-2gb-gtx-960
m.2, 6th gen, build quality, ddr4. A bit more goes a long way.
Top spec is for me at least 970m with 16GB of ram and separate SSD- prices from 1500 pounds
http://pc4u.org/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980m-vs-970m-vs-965m-vs-960m-vs-860m-specs-and-benchmark-comparison/
Note the benchmark linked is for a 960M with 2GB VRAM, and this dell has 4GB. From this link the extra 2GB appears to make limited difference @ 1080:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-2gb-vs-4gb-review
I'm looking for a gaming laptop and like that this is thin, but I'm concerned the 960M will soon be a bottleneck for 1080p games on high settings. :disappointed:
Heat added and depending on you expectations and gaming preferences this might be adequate.
.. or can I?
It's not exactly top end
If I had the spare cash I'd buy this in an instant.
Looks like it's soldered on and not mxm.
10% off at the outlet today