Second-hand gaming laptops or mini PCs - spec suggestions?

[PreacherCain]

I used to love a good PC game, back in the day. I rather feel that the Xbox One has moved on - I can't seem to find many decent, story-heavy, immersive single-player games for it, and online multiplayer makes my palms itch. I've recently been enjoying working my way through the original Half-Life (something like 79p on Steam), which is pretty well the only generation of game I can sensibly run on my elderly Macbook Air.

Things seem (note "seem" - I am very out of date) to have moved on since I was building my own systems (c. 2004) and overclocking stuff in an effort to wring an extra few benchmark points out of them. There seem to be modern gaming laptops out there (Dell G3, Asus, MSI et al) with bewilderingly powerful processors and GPUs easily capable of doing a decent job with modern games, which has got me thinking. Presumably, progress being what it is, there will be second-hand laptops from the past couple of years out there which are similarly capable, if not quite as shiny. The problem is, having dipped my toe in the enormous selection on eBay, I haven't a clue what sort of spec to be looking for - so any help much appreciated.

I'm looking to spend around £500, if I can get away with it, for a machine which can hold its own with current games and do very well with games from the past few years. Laptop or Mini PC is good - I don't want to go back to a massive desktop rig and I'd be quite happy with an HDMI socket for the TV (1080p) or a laptop-sized screen, so no need for crazy high-res, 4K, VR, 3D or any of the other very lovely possibilities.

What spec should I be looking for? Is it even achievable at the budget I've got? And why can't we go back to the days when the only number you had to understand was the processor speed? I don't know my i3 8570 from my i7 3528, and the AmD chips might as well be named in Kurdish for all the sense they make. I'm 42 and need educating!

[hughtrimble]

Laptops will always cost more than desktops for a lower spec, and are also more likely to suffer from thermal throttling and overheating due to being rather more compact.

Given you're thinking of connecting to a 1080p external screen anyway, is there a reason for wanting a laptop rather than a tower?

I'd strongly recommend trying the OcUK forums for advise on components and spec checking for compatibility etc. Whilst it is linked to a shop, so long as you don't post links to competitor websites (e.g. PC World if we're talking about PC components) you'll be fine. They're a helpful bunch.

[PreacherCain]

Thanks Hugh - I'm not particularly precious about it being a laptop except it's portable, easy to move from place to place and can easily be shoved out of the way in a cupboard when required. Similarly, a mini PC can slot under the TV in a minimally invasive way... A massive tower lurking in the corner of the living room might find it harder to pass the Domestic Harmony Test. ;-)

[Lampoc]

I'd be looking for a laptop with at least an i5, 8Gb of RAM and a NVIDIA 1050 inside. Of course there are loads of other variables but if you keep an eye on hotukdeals.com gaming laptops appear very frequently and usually anything that's decent will get plenty of heat.

[hughtrimble]

Thanks Hugh - I'm not particularly precious about it being a laptop except it's portable, easy to move from place to place and can easily be shoved out of the way in a cupboard when required. Similarly, a mini PC can slot under the TV in a minimally invasive way... A massive tower lurking in the corner of the living room might find it harder to pass the Domestic Harmony Test. ;-)

Very understandable. If I had a laptop I'd actually be using it, but as it's a water cooled tower, it's still sitting in a box awaiting appropriate space!

[David_D]

Worth a look:

https://m.dell.com/h5/m/r/outlet.eur...s=dfh&fid=1971

I think the code gives you more off - today. They’ve always got offers on so worth keeping an eye on.

[Plug]

I needed to be able to work from home for a period last year, and bought a second-hand small form factor (SFF) HP box from eBay for about £300. It's got an i5 processor (5th/6th gen, maybe?) and 12 GB of RAM and it flies, it's a match for the Xeon workstation I have on my desk at work. I upgraded with a second hand Quadro graphics card (I use it for CAD, not for gaming) and a small SSD. It owes me less than £400 in total and it's been great. I'm sure something similar would do the OP fine, and no need to spend a fortune..

Cheers,

Plug

[PreacherCain]

Many thanks, all. Food for thought, there - quite like the idea of an upgradeable mini box...

[ac82]

Everyone on hukd is getting excited about this one?

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-strongh...&siteid=116019

[PreacherCain]

Update: I may have found a good option in the Alienware Alpha - it's a one-box small form factor PC, discontinued a couple of years ago now but seemingly still reasonably decent (they did one with an i7 CPU, 8Gb RAM and nVidia GPU) plus they are upgradeable, albeit via an external GPU solution. Off to eBay I go...

[hughtrimble]

A curve ball - there is something going on for what I can only think of calling a gaming streaming service. Essentially, you connect to a server which has masses of GPUs and CPUs etc. to do all the processing work, and you play on your rather more simple machine.

Edit: Cloud gaming https://www.howtogeek.com/362411/the...g-video-games/

I've never used it, but I'm struggling to see why it wouldn't be the future given the cost of hardware, longevity issues and frequent upgrading needed to max out newer games.

Biggest issue will be the speed of your internet connection.

[PreacherCain]

Interesting - I'm on a fast FTTP connection (80-90 down, 5ms ping) so that could be an option; I'll do some further reading in between bouts of eBay surfing...

[watchstudent]

Usual advice would be to build your own as that is where the value lies.

1080p gaming I would be looking at core i5 with min of 4 cores, 8gb of RAM and a GTX 1060 or RX580 if AMD.

I built my system a year ago and got ripped off due to GPU and RAM prices at the time. If I were to go again I would probably build a Ryzen rig


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[PreacherCain]

Update: eBay to the rescue (provisionally speaking, obv) - I've grabbed a PC Specialist Recoil II with an i7 8750, 16Gb RAM, GTX 1060 with 6Gb VRAM, 2TB HDD and 512Gb SSD, for £700 after the TECH10 voucher. Feels like an OK deal to me and should have sufficient grunt for the moment.