One thing you might want to bear in mind is that laptops like this won't be available at this relatively low price point for much longer. Thanks to all the idiots that voted for Brexit, we now have a plummeting currency and very soon now we are going to enter a prolonged period of inflation. It will be the 1970's all over again but without the decent soundtrack.

.... if you have to ask....

Imbecile!

Dual core CPU, no OS and no dedicated GPU. Not a comparable system.

It had a m2 slot. You don't a 2.5" SSD.

Something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-250GB-850-EVO-SATA/dp/B00TGIVZTW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477836603&sr=8-1&keywords=laptop+m2+ssd

Thanks Eagle, does it had a SSD slot so i do not need to remove anything but can add an ssd to it? Id prefer to keep all as is but add in a SSD

You can do both. You can also replace the CD drives with a HDD caddy

Can you add a ssd to this? Does it have a slot or can I change the original HD for a ssd?

​A lot of people, trust me.

Most people complain about immigration, but no one talking about stupid benefit system for all the lazy asses!
Most of the immigrants came for benefits... No skills and language barrier would force them out easily, but benefits is stupidly easy and too lucrative to pass by the parasites! No desrepect meant, i m immigrant myself, but I work hard, didnt get any benefit or applied for one despite being unemployed for a year and half, here for 10 years, and bought our own house with my wife... You know what is worse than brexit, I have so many immigrants around calling the new comers "bloody foreigners" and they voted brexit, because they think those foreigners taking their jobs without realizing the irony! Lo and behold, most of those complaining are on benefits! I know a few idiots who wont go full time or proper job saying " i m not stupid" i will loose this lucrative benefit if i do... No other in the EU does benefit like UK, and noone is forcing UK do it the way it does... Well dumb people heading the country into a chaos... What now? we have a racist PM who is calling Irish to get out as well... What next? Welsh? Scots? Brexit was stupid, wasnt necessary to cause chaos, just needed better control and rules... Anyone think Brexit is the way, good luck in 1-2 years when your pound in your pocket melts into underground...

this is back up to £599 now all.

'massive economic pain we're now enduring'

I must have missed that, get a grip dear and stop blubbering.

The 6300hq is around 40 percent more powerful.

Picard is right.

Basically if you want a 'Gaming' laptop don't bother with a U cpu unless the games you play are old or not demanding.

The CPUboss review scores suggests there's not much in it between the 6300HQ and the 6200U, certainly nothing to worry about, and likely the SSD will more than compensate.

Back up to £549.99 - still have the HP at £549.99, and the Asus I'm considering at £579.99...

thanks ordered one for my boy for christmas

Cheers :smiley:

This will be a good buy. Even if it's an overkill for minecraft, it will offer some future proofing. Spend £400 on a laptop, and you'll get something noticeably worse.

It's only really games like this, it will struggle with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTGJOC0stus

I am looking to get a laptop for my son, he is only 9, but wants to play games like Minecraft. Is this overkill? Is there anything that would be cheaper, but decent for games, not at high res or frame rates, as he wont notice that :P

You two are more polarised than Trump and Clinton....

Unfettered immigration isn't sustainable and that cannot be curtailed without leaving the EU.

But Mr Low Powered 'U' Processor is correct in that there will be economic consequences of a Brexit and those consequences are likely to be adverse.



The UK should have negotiated a Lichenstein, Norway etc, will full access to a single market without EU membership. But we all have Cameron's hubris to blame for that....

Obviously, this has nothing to do with this laptop but don't let get in the way of your polarised opposites / can't see the other person's point of view chatter.

It's also called rank, self-destructive, chaos inducing stupidity. If you can tell me just one positive thing we've achieved from the Brexit vote to balance off the massive economic pain we're now enduring, I'll concede the argument; just one immigrant that's been sent home or one EU law that's been repealled or £1 less that we've contributed to the EU budget. Go on...knock yourself out Buttercup!

It is called democracy, suck it up buttercup.

Now you're just getting desperate. Either that or you just like continuing to live in an alternate reality.

Most people come onto this site looking for cheap pork chops and such like. Whether or not people like your post is irrelevant - they usually don't have a clue about computers. But if you want to play the 'like' game, I got over 50 hots on the HP thread I started! That's more than your 5 clicks :laughing:

The main point of buying a 'U' processor is for battery life as it's power consumption is significantly reduced (along with its performance).

Nobody with any sense will choose a U processor over the equivalent HQ processor for gaming. You'd have to be seriously nuts to do that (though you're currently in 1st place in that regard).

That Asus is seriously hamstrung as gaming laptop, particularly when you can buy a better performing laptop for a lower price.

Know your hardware (and software) sonny.

You're really doing yourself no favours now. This constant petulant gainsaying of anything anyone else says, says to me you either have a lot of growing up to do or you're 'on the spectum' and need to be avoided.

Here's something you really should reflect on. In this thread and your associated HP post, you've made 15 comments and got just one 'like'. I've made 11 comments, 8 of which were liked giving me, and my points of view a total of 37 'likes'. You maybe convinced of your innate 'rightness' as to what does and does not constitute a gaming laptop deal but the numbers suggest that other people agree with me and my opinions more than they do yours.

Oh, and my ASUS has a dual core Intel 4200H. I'm sure you will say it's rubbish but it does what it needs to do and frankly I don't give a stuff what you think...

ROTFL. It's got a 2 core Ultra Low Voltage processor for chrisakes which results in a BIG performance drop over the 4 core full fat i5 6300HQ

It's like a 1.0l Kia Picanto (and about as fast). :laughing:

128gb SSD is going to become problematic if you want to build a library of games - look at the installation sizes for GTA V, FO4, Witcher 3 etc.

Your knowledge of computer hardware/software is about as extensive as your knowledge of cars.

Nice little GAMING laptop. Deffo worth the extra for the SSD. I have the old Asus N551JK and I haven't had any problems in 18 months.

I posted this the other day which also has a GTX950m - it is slightly more but it is Asus, arguably a better brand and it has a (small) SSD - the processor in this MSI is slightly better, but an SSD may outweigh for some. Might help some.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/anyone-suggest-a-better-value-entry-mid-range-gaming-laptop-gtx950m-asus-i5-128gb-2523563

you talking silly, are these your skills??? I did my best to present some benchmarks from passmark tests. What it is that you did?? Can you also do the same and help us to understand

You are just clueless.

What 'benchmarks' are you going to rely on next? Typing speeds in Windows Notepad?

​massively inferior to this one. it has no dedicated nvidia graphics just bog standard Intel integrated.

​yes - it's perfect for Adobe lightroom/photoshop. obviously the quality of the lcd panel would be important factor but you'd have to look at reviews for that

excuse me, did I exaggerate!!! lol

LOL. Passmark to test real world 3D graphics card performance. Just LOL.

Google is your friend. Try educating yourself instead of making misinformed posts.

960m is only 10% better than the 950,lol. 970m is fine, over 120% better than the 960m and just a little better than an old gtx660[/quote]you're clueless, you talk about desktop cards, in mobile department difference between gtx 950m and 960m is 30%[/quote]


Any reliable sources you can link? Passmark does not lie but I agree that there might be a little discrepancies and depends on application. It is their own way to test anything after all but that is also the closest you can get for comparisons. Passmark test does not know if it is dealing with a laptop or desktop card, they are tested under the same category, GPU category, lol

[/quote]960m is only 10% better than the 950,lol. 970m is fine, over 120% better than the 960m and just a little better than an old gtx660[/quote]
you're clueless, you talk about desktop cards, in mobile department difference between gtx 950m and 960m is 30%

not sure why many of you are misleading others saying that that the 960m is better or a lot better than this one.
The difference is about a good 6% or 10%@ the very most should we take other factors in considerations (not sure what to list in reality but this is):
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+950M
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+960M
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+970M
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+980M

these figures should be to be considered correct to reflect the true power but with a minor flexibility from game to game or application.

minimum to consider is the 970m and recently there were some nice deals @ £799 with a bigger 17" screen too

Yes but not on high but acceptable. Depends what fits your budget. If you can afford around £800 you could pick up a laptop with a 960m or better.

Can this actually play new games, such as Gears of war, call of duty, battlefield etc?

Here's my "gaming PC":



Minesweeper is an absolute blast on this! Fun to be had for all the family!

This is still a 'gaming' laptop, it can play games that are popular today e.g. LoL, CS:GO and battlefield. It my not be to your preferential quality but you can still happily game on it.

If you would rather spend more money on a laptop with better performance then that is your choice. It doesn't mean this isn't a deal because you personally wouldn't call it a gaming laptop.

This is a deal, anything you post should be relevant to this deal. This is the best deal currently for a mid range gaming laptop.

​Obviously not as bad as 2008 when the pound was worth significantly less against the Euro. Did anyone actually buy any tech back then. Not sure which asian currency you are comparing to but we aren't really much different to 2008-2012 generally. The pound has probably been overvalued a bit recently and due a correction. As I have been travelling abroad for a couple of years currently I obviously love a strong pound though.

What do you think the outlook for the pound is do you think we will see 2 pounds to the Euro soon?

There's nothing wrong with the laptop itself, but you can't call it a "gaming laptop" because you cannot run all the modern games on it at default resolution. Otherwise, I'm going to call my 386DX a "gaming computer" because I can play minesweeper on it. BF4 is a 3 year old game and LoL was released in 2009 for chrisakes. This is a performance spec from 2014 not a gaming laptop for 2016.

If there are better cards out there then it is irrelevant to the deal unless its a similar price.

If you can find a better deal out there for the same price then that is relevant to the deal. If you had £550 and it can't be a Clevo based laptop then I don't think you will find anything.

You keep going on about benchmarks which are comparing to higher end chips. We aren't fussed about higher end chips. We are looking at graphical performance on a £500-600 laptop of which you won't really ever see a 960m or higher.

Stop telling people you can't game on it, you can. I use mine for LoL, BF4, Rust and I play in 1080. Not everything is always on high/max but I don't need it to be.

Are you blind? Did you even look at those benchmarks at #48? Or do you just like buying a Kia Picanto and living in denial that there aren't better cars out there for the same price?

960m is only 10% better than the 950,lol. 970m is fine, over 120% better than the 960m and just a little better than an old gtx660

How does that make you right? You can game on almost any game with the 8/950m. Not with everything on high but then your not expecting to. If you had £550 to buy a laptop which was the best as possible for gaming this would be it. It's a good deal. It's not a 'There are better graphics chips on the market'. This is a deal website.

Totally agree with you.

Of all the cars in the UK, the humble Kia Picanto is the car that depreciates the LEAST in absolute terms. Here are the numbers from CAP to confirm this...

http://www.cap.co.uk/consumerBlog/confused-by-car-depreciation/

I'm surprised you didn't know this because you seem to know everything there is to know about anything as absolute fact.

So still a Gaming laptop then.....i think the Giveaway in the title is GAMING ...and it will do it... Game that is because it has a DEDICATED graphics card as opposed to integrated....which makes a big difference .

It doesn't have to be Veryon. The point is, why the heck would you buy a Kia Picanto? You can get a used Polo, used Focus, Mazda 2, Honda Jazz etc for the same/similar price and it will drive better and lose less money in depreciation.

The MSI in this deal is fine for casual gaming but it's not a 'gaming laptop'.

I sort of figured that would be your reaction. It's not a Bugatti Veyron so how could it possibly be a car?

​The Kia Picanto is one of the worst cars you can buy.....

http://www.whatcar.com/kia/picanto/hatchback/review/

​Agreed and we the public should actually vote on the parliaments proposed approach and deal.

​Not all strictly true. Foreign property investors are still buying. The sensible ones because at times like this there's plenty of panic sellers.

Will this be good for video editing as well? I was waiting for the new Apple MacBook Pro but will this do the job?

he is predicting reasonably ok, coal mines are going to reopen soon, I hope they give me a job

I too have read several well written articles on Gaminglaptopjunky and pored over the benchmark tables in NotebookCheck.net. So no, we are not all ignorant trolls to use your oh so eloquent description. Yes we understand all about DDR3 vs DDR5, multisampling, tesselation and how an Nvidia 1080 now gives desktop graphics performance and technically knocks the 950m into a cocked hat.

But here's the thing...premium performance comes at higher cost...sometimes at an exorbitantly higher cost, that some of us not-ignorant non-trolls either can't afford or in my case, deliberately chose not to buy. I don't know what it is about some men when it comes to cars, computers and women but they take all leave if their senses and have to have the best REGARDLESS of cost and whether the perceived differences are materially real or not. This MSI is a gaming laptop in exactly the same way my Kia Picanto is, by any rational logic, a car, do please stop banging on that it's not.

Another way of looking at the definition of a "gaming laptop" is can it at least play some games at reasonable resolution - to distinguish it from shared graphics - which IS a helpful distinction. E.g. I'm happy to be able to play some older games at a moderate resolution (specifically for me Max Payne 3 at 1080p) - an Intel chipset can't even do that, where this can, so flagging as "gaming" at least lets me know it might be able to do what I want, without paying a grand plus to do it.

Either you're very ignorant about gaming laptops or you're just trolling.

A 486DX can play games but it's not a "gaming laptop".

This isn't a proper "gaming laptop" as it cannot run all modern games at default resolution with a reasonable framerate.

As I said before, go look at the benchmarks from the hundreds of websites out there. You'd be better off spending the time educating yourself rather than wasting it trolling.

Have fun playing Deus Ex and NMS at 15fps and 18fps...



Or Far Cry, X-Com 2, Tomb Raider etc at less than 20fps....

I've got Crysis 3. It runs okay in 1080p. I haven't played it through in its entirety yet (it's on the list) but my initial reaction after a 15 minute play-through was that as a game, it's not a patch on Crysis 1 or 2. And that's the thing. It's the game that matters most, not the PC you're playing it on. The jokes in Portal are just as funny in 720p as they are in 1080p. Assassinating Templars is as much fun at 30 fps as it is at 90 fps. One of the most enjoyable games I ever played was the first Far Cry and I played that at 1024 x 536 on an old HP with AMD integrated graphics over a decade ago.

So a laptop intended for casual gaming, doesn't get to be called a gaming laptop? Ok...

How is it misleading? The product description clearly sets user expectations by listing popular relatively low demand by extremely popular games as the ideal usage case (Counterstrike GO, LoL and Overwatch), which it can indeed max out at native res. They're not exactly claiming to play Crysis at 4K here. If people see "gaming laptop" in the title and immediately hit the buy button without any research or measured expectations it's their own damn fault.


The lack of any dedicated GPU means this isn't remotely compatible.

Dual core CPU, no OS and no dedicated GPU. Not a comparable system.

The OP should just be calling it a laptop then and simply listing the specs. Manufacturers only throw in the "gaming laptop" tag for a low/mid spec GPU to try and increase sales to people who don't know better. Try running Crysis 3 or Arma 3 at native resolution on medium settings on an 850/950m.

This is a laptop would be more accurately described as one for "casual gaming" not "a gaming laptop".

​erm, yes you can. Just bought my wife one for £507 (albeit this is minus the OS, which you can buy a code off ebay for about £7).

PC Specialist


Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Dual Core Processor i5-6200U (2.30GHz, 2.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics
Memory - Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 850 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 2.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
UltraNote III Series 32WH Battery (Up to 9.5 Hour Battery Life)
Keyboard Language
ULTRANOTE III SERIES INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £507.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/ultraNoteIII-15/CP03kE3Ke6/

Could any video editing "experts" (or anyone that might have a rough idea anyway) advise if this laptop would cope with editing video well say in Adobe Premiere pro for example? 4k video editing not especially required but would be handy if it can manage well

Thanks in advance

While there have been very comparable models in the past, right now PCSpecialist have nothing remotely close to this deal. The best match they have is their Cosmos XT with upgrades to the same 6300HQ processor, 8GB of RAM (albeit slower DDR3), GTX 950 and 1TB HDD for £768. However given that this is absolutely horrendous value and PCSpecialist are normally very competitive to the pre-built market, I would guess they've withdrawn a more comparable model for whatever reason.


That's a pretty narrow definition. A gaming laptop is precisely that- a laptop oriented towards gaming. The combination of 6300HQ/950M may not power through every game at full 1080p, but it opens up the ability to play virtually any modern game at playable frame rates with some combination of lower settings and frame rates, something simply not achievable with integrated graphics. Not everyone has the cash to spend on a more substantial rig that will blow through games at high settings, but that doesn't mean people aren't enthusiastic about PC gaming and this is a decent entry point for those who need a laptop.

All you have to do is look at the benchmarks from the hundreds of websites out there to know I'm right.

The minimum for a "gaming laptop" is really a 860m/960m. There's a big performance drop once you go down to the 850m/950m.

http://www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/gtx-860m-vs-gtx-850m/

950m for £550? When you could get the better performing 860m for less? And when Nvidia now have the 10XX series?

You can't call this a "gaming laptop". Very misleading title as "gaming laptop" generally refers to a laptop that can play every modern game at native resolution.

COLD.

549 and no SSD? You can customise a better one for a cheaper price on PC specialist.

Hot. I have an Xps 15 that has the 960M and I can play Project Cars, Battlefield Hard line, GTA IV all at 1080p with medium to high settings. Not everyone needs 4k/60, and if you want something casual then this is ideal!

We haven't had serious inflation in the UK for such a long time now that it's no surprise that people have forgotten what a destructive wrecking ball it is. Absolutely everything goes up in price; fuel, food, electronics, cars, etc. Salary growth and saving rates initially lag behind so the majority of people (except for rich stock brokers like Nige) get poorer in real terms. That's when industrial and political unrest kick in; a genie that's almost impossible to put back in the bottle once it's out. If the '70's are any guide, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does! Inevitably, after years of pain, governments act. Interest rates are rapidly ramped up to check inflation, industry withers on the vine, people lose their jobs in droves and the housing market collapses. At which point, we once again become the 'sick man of Europe' again.

So on that note, I would commend this laptop deal to anyone that might need one.

But we are safer and when the EU collapses which it will especially after brexit :smiley:, Everyone should stop being so short sighted, it was predicted that the pounds value would drop. The leave vote won for a reason. Just wait, this time in 10-20 years business will be booming again. That's if WW3 hasn't broke out with Hillary or Trump in power, Genuinely scary stuff :disappointed:.

Things will change for the better once we've got new trade deals and we're not wasting £39b a year on the dictatorship.

great job deleting comments
as i said cold from me, obsolete graphic with ddr3, zero future proof . it's better to just wait what mobile polaris will bring to the table

Anyone recommend a gaming laptop but with a minimum of a 17" screen?

You missed one, cheaper pound = cheaper prices for those overseas so in theory more exports -except- that we need raw materials/ingredients to make those exports with which we get from overseas, which are more expensive, so actually that doesn't work either.

I'm guessing this has resurfaced because we're nearly at parity with the euro and the general price rises are now starting -before- we've even left the euro.
At this rate we'll be moving to Poland to try and find jobs

PPS, I don't agree with calling anyone an idiot for how they voted, I think the entire thing was a sham with those in charge doing a terrible job of providing decent information.

Personally in the longer term I think BREXIT might actually be for the good, if I'm alive or not is another matter though

PS: deal is good; heat :-)

Only reason I clicked on the thread !

Short version:

A vote for BREXIT was a vote for the complete unknown, that isn't your fault, that's the fault of the idiots in charge.

However, voting for BREXIT was, in the short-medium term always going to have a hugely negative impact to our economy.

Why ?

Investors don't like risk.

Money was already slowly leaving the UK because
1) USD interest rates were up
2) Uncertainty over BREXIT vote

No one actually thought it would be OUT, bookies on the night were running 7/1 odds etc

Investors have been taking money out of the U.K. ever since, causing GBP value to drop to mind googling lows, hopefully it's near bottom but I wouldn't bet money on it.

Weak pound = expensive imports

Expensive imports = higher prices

Higher prices = higher inflation

Higher inflation = higher interest rates

That is however one way to look at it, it's not a certainty, but it's a reasonable assumption Joe is making with the information available

Time will tell

Wow that escalated quickly. And here's me thinking this was a comments section about whether this was a good deal or not.

.... if you have to ask....

One thing you might want to bear in mind is that laptops like this won't be available at this relatively low price point for much longer. Thanks to all the idiots that voted for Brexit, we now have a plummeting currency and very soon now we are going to enter a prolonged period of inflation. It will be the 1970's all over again but without the decent soundtrack.

I am not PC expert but 5 years ago I bought my HP laptop for £500ish with no GPU just onboard that could not even run very old metal of honour games. So in comparison years on for the money it looks like good value to me.

One thing to worry about is if you like playing older games (DirectX 9), is Win10 will force you to play with the Intel APU graphics rather than the dedicated Nvidia GPU. Right now there's no real fix than using wrappers for some games. This is only a problem on laptops with Win10.

not really buddy, have you seen the state of the pound lately?

useless gpu but at this price it is better than a lot of rubbish for sale at the same price but with the inbuild gpu only

can anyone comment on the build quality of this laptop?

Anyone know if this one has the backlit rainbow keyboard?

Been looking at gaming laptops a lot lately. I desperately want the New Razer Blade, but it's US only at present. Maybe this will tide me over!

Just noticed . GEFORCE® GTX 950M DISCRETE GRAPHICS CARD WITH DDR3 2GB VRAM....DDR3!!!!:confused:
That will hurt performance a bit but even so, the reviews seem to indicate that it still performs fairly well.

This has quite a decent cpu, genuine quad core(skylake too) which can boost to 3.2GHz. The GPU, while not great is still a major jump from integrated. All in all, quite a decent price for such a (semi) gaming laptop. Heat from me.

I bought an Asus laptop similar to this with the 850m card 18 months ago for £562. This is the first gaming laptop I've seen that 'beats' mine and is cheaper so a good spot OP!
I'm currently playing all the Assassin's Creed games back-to-back and they do look increasingly wonderful in 1080p with all settings maxed out. The 850m/950m cards might not be state of the art now but who in their right mind pays £1,800+ for an Nvidia 1080 laptop just to play games?

Good deal, I was a bit lucky and got the GL72-6QC for £525

This is a great deal for the price. Can play most games on this chip (I use an 850m) and has space for a m2 SSD.