Budget gaming laptop

[Lako42]

Can anyone who knows anything abut gaming laptops help me out. 

 

Not looking to play anything mega as I have an Series X for that but will be more for stutter free running of Age of Empires / Sims / Manor Lords / FM2024

 

I don't want to spend more than £700 

 

Anything better than

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CLLRL4D4/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0CLLRL4D4&pd_rd_w=zRdcf&content-id=amzn1.sym.84ea1bf1-65a8-4363-b8f5-f0df58cbb686&pf_rd_p=84ea1bf1-65a8-4363-b8f5-f0df58cbb686&pf_rd_r=DB072B029YNK9FS0CVE0&pd_rd_wg=4PnwD&pd_rd_r=9f401485-7186-4bf7-894a-a52e9ae9a79b&s=computers&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw

 

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/medion-erazer-nb-crawler-e50-intel-core-i5-16gb-512gb-rtx-4050-144hz-fhd-15-30036524/version.asp?wgu=272145_162949_17157745036382_98e2bb1d79&wgexpiry=1747310503&utm_source=Future Publishing Ltd&utm_medium=webgains&refsource=webgains

 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/msi-thin-gf63-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-4050-512-gb-ssd-10251215.html?awc=22479_1715774653_0291fefa02c36ebf54cbd2faf6233583&srcid=369&xtor=AL-1&cmpid=aff~TechRadar~Editorial Content~103504~Future+Publishing.

[Finnegan]

At a glance, all meet the recommended specs for Manor Lords except the ASUS which is a little on the low side for memory. If you can (and it'll be a challenge at <700 quid) you might wanna try and hit 16 at least.

 

I'm always extremely cautious of any gaming laptop that styles itself as "thin" or "lightweight" or whatever. You want to generally accept that a gaming laptop will never be super portable, thin or lightweight usually means absolutely abysmal cooling. Heat is the biggest enemy of the gaming laptop, you need airflow and you need fans and if you're trying to make your device as compact as possible then those things are difficult. 

 

The Medion has alright specs, maybe the best you're likely to get in your price point but I've legitimately never heard of them. Just had to google it, apparently it's a German branch of Lenovo?

 

If you're willing to try refurbished you'll get a bit more bang for your Medion buck with:

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-medion-erazer-nb-deputy-p40-core-i5-12450h-16gb-512gb-rtx-4060-a1-30035513/version.asp

or https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-medion-erazer-nb-deputy-p40-core-i5-12450h-16gb-512gb-rtx-4060-a2-30035513/version.asp

or https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/grade-a2-medion-erazer-deputy-p60-intel-core-i5-16gb-1tb-rtx-4060-144hz-f-a2-30036526/version.asp

or even https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-asus-tuf-f15-core-i5-12500h-16gb-512gb-rtx-3050-15.6-inch-windo-a2-fx507zc4-hn119w/version.asp

 

Basically if you can stretch your budget to anything with a 4060 over a 4050 then you'll probably notice the difference. If memory serves I think the 3060 even outperforms the 4050. Even the xx60s are at the bottom end of their generation but the 4050 has 6gb VRAM and the 4060 has 8gb which you'll probably start to notice the more recent games you want to play.

 

But honestly I was using an RTX2060 up until recently and was playing most things fine, albeit with a more powerful processor than you'll be buying.