Absolutely, I don't want a bigger screen, just a higher resolution. I use my laptop a lot for various music and audio related applications and 768 pixels simply isn't tall enough.

Thanks, I'll look into that. Despite this being a gamer posting on a gaming forum, I'm not after a gaming laptop by any means. I don't really play any AAA PC games (partially because of my aversion to DRM and partially because what I see doesn't interest me much). A business class laptop would probably suit my needs well.
It's cool. o/

You still don't want to touch any laptops with Intel HD. Many of the old/modern games have big problems with the Intel integrated video card. Look for a laptop with either Nvidia or ATI video cards.

Still Acer V5 573g is best for me, but if you don't like them, there are some other nice choices. Lenovo T440s (very lightweighted business 14" laptop with full hd), T440p the heavier version with Nvidia video card. T540p .... Lenove T class byfar is their most expensive series, if you have a srudent in family he could get you one much cheaper.

So far my Laptop has intel integrated (a very old one) and all GoG games i installed and other games with lower requirements work very well. Its a myth that games don't work with them, which comes from very old very bad drivers.

Newest game installed and working without problem: Ufo: Enemy within.

Phew, you had me worried there - just checked and it is indeed 1920x1080.

Windows 7 is becoming rarer all the time at least as a preloaded option, simply because MS hasn't been supplying OEM vendors with it for a long time anymore. I recall though that if you buy Windows 8 Pro, then you have an option to downgrade it to Win7 without extra cost, but frankly I personally feel it isn't worth it. Sure Windows 8 takes some time to get used to and there even are a couple of GOG games which seem to have compatibility problems specifically with Windows 8 (some can be fixed with workarounds), but overall, just go with Windows 8/8.1.

Hmm, you say you don't want play many new games, but still want it to be able to run also future (AAA?) games? Do you have any price range, or can be as expensive as it can? Do you mind if it is a bigger 5kg heavy-duty gaming laptop, or do you want it to still be a portable laptop that actually fits in commonly used backpacks? Do you mind running the games in medium details and maybe lower resolutions, or only in highest details and minimum 1920x1080?

Either way, look into e.g. the ASUS G-series. But a lot depends what exactly you want it to be able to run, and how well. Especially now when PS4 and XBone are increasing also PC game HW requirements. But if you are fine running PS3 generation PC games (and older), and indie games, then the range of options increases a lot.
I am now in a process of buying to a relative (a kid) a laptop which can also run some games. I am looking at Acer V5, with NVidia Geforce GT 750M. The problem is that when I'm trying to find the best deal, there seems to be lots of different Acer V5 machines with various different HW specs, and some shops don't clearly state the exact model and specs. So it is kinda hard to check if some better deal is actually the same Acer V5. :)

I've had an impression that Acer has had some quality problems in the past, but then they offer 3 year warranty for the Acer V5 at least in one shop, so that's good enough for me.


EDIT: To be more precise, it is Acer Aspire V5-573G 15.6"/i7-4500U/4GB/500GB/GT-750M with 4GB. On paper it looks very good for the price, but it sounds odd that it has as much video RAM as system RAM (4GB). So the first thing would be to expand the system memory to 8GB anyway. It sounds a bit of an overkill for a slim (gaming) notebook to have 4GB video RAM, does any PS3 era PC game use more than 2GB video RAM anyway, especially considering the native resolution of that laptop is 1366x768 (which I think is fine for running games)?

But even that 15.6" V5-573G seems to have variation, in some places it has slower i5-4200U CPU, in some places it comes with 1920x1080 native resolution etc.

Hmm, well then either the shop has the wrong specs or this is a sliiightly different model that you linked to.

Think it's the shop listing the specs wrong - my dad bought it from that site, as it was about a hundred quid cheaper than anywhere else at the time.

You wont need the i7-4500U, the I5-4200U should be enough, both processors are low voltage, means they usually run with few GHz, but both have an impressive overdrive function giving them enough power to run games and so on, though they will get problems with AAA titles in high res with high details ( there are alot of videos on Youtube ).

I DEFINITELY would get the FHD display, because this is the special thing on this laptop, it is higher rated than any other displays on several main notebook sites here in Germany. First it is IPS, second it is non-glare and third its quite bright. The normal HD panel is medicore at best, not really bright and not best colors.

Another really good thing on this Laptop, after removing 17 screws, you have access to everything inside and can change and add whatever you want easily, something i only know comfortable from Lenovo(IBM).

One drawback is, it doesnt have a DVD drive, but well, for some bucks you get an external, if you want for those rare cases. The other drawback: Some people say the ULV processors are too weak for games, but the videos and tests show they are good enough, only problems are really high FPS games that I dont play. (but you will get a really high battery life in exchange)

I am planning on getting this baby because its very mobile (for me extremely mportant) with only 2kg and has one of the best displays around (I have both, an IPS and several TN panels and would always prfer the IPS ;) ). There are some 13.3" laptops around with quite similar displays, but they are too small for me as i dont get younger ;)

Edit: Btw, ver important, you have to check the specs CAREFULLY, there are alot of laptops from Acer under this name, who all just share the same case, but have alot of different specs

The funny thing is: I was first looking at this in one store which was selling the i5-4200U model for 799€, and it was the lowest price I could see for it here... until I saw one store selling the V5-573G for 749€, and that is the i7-4500U model (otherwise the specs seem similar). So, a faster CPU for 50€ less? I guess I will buy that. The only thing is that the i5-4200U model comes by default with a 3-year warranty, I think the i7-4200U comes with a 2 year warranty. Decisions, decisions...

I read the notebookcheck review for the 4200U model, and they mentioned that with some new games (like Tomb Raider) it is the GPU that is the bottleneck (ie. the i5-4200U has enough speed), but with e.g. Metro: Last Light, the i5-4200U CPU became the bottleneck.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Aspire-V5-573G-54208G50aii-Notebook.99264.0.html

So I guess with some games the somewhat faster i7-4500U will help, but then I think that laptop will at first be used primarily for Minecraft anyway.

I noticed it doesn't have a DVD drive, and frankly I think it is fine. I don't think the person who I am buying it for would really use the DVD drive anyway, and if he does, an external USV DVD-RW drive will probably be fine for occasional use.

I don't get it though why they keep selling this model with 4GB system RAM. These models have as much video RAM as system RAM, which seems lopsided to me in a way. I'll have to buy another 4GB memory stick to it anyway, fortunately it seems to be very simple to add the extra memory to this model.

The thing still is though... I know this is an ultra-portable thin notebook, but I wouldn't really need to buy such. It will be moved around, but not constantly. I would actually prefer buying a bulkier 15.6" laptop, if it would help running it cooler. But I couldn't find any other laptop with the Geforce GT 750M which would be even close to this price (under 800€). All the other laptops with the GT 750M that I found were close or over 1000€ (and if we'd go over the 1000€ price, then I'd by default start looking into the ASUS G-series gaming laptops instead, but I want to keep this under 800€). I was originally looking for laptops with Geforce GT 740M, which is what the <800€ gaming laptops usually have at best. But according to notebookcheck, GT 750M is considerably faster, even though it is also merely an upper-mid range mobile GPU.

What about the screen res though? I'm not bothered about playing high spec games really.

You could get a BTO laptop from here:
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptop-computers/
They have a wide selection of base models with different resolution options to suit your needs, and you can always configure the other components depending on what you want.
I haven't ordered anything off of there myself, but the person who recommended it to me had made a purchase in the past and he was very satisfied with it, bar an overheating problem which he found a workaround for (he did configure a very high end laptop though).

Thanks, I'll have a look at those ASUS.

Games-wise, I don't play many new games (then again, I lack the computer to play them) and I don't own any of the games that are typically used for benchmark tests (like Crysis 3, Battlefield 3, Metro Last Light I think I've seen being used as well). Looking over my list of games I think my most demanding titles are Max Payne 3 and Hitman Absolution which I bought on Steam during the Christmas sale. I would like the computer to be able to run The Witcher 3 when it comes out, basically.

Price-wise, I don't really have a limit, but I would want to keep it below $2000. Weight isn't an issue. I think ideally it should be able to run what's out today on high settings. I don't know about resolutions though, my current Laptop seems to have 1366 x 768 max, but when I'm home I have it hooked up through HDMI with a monitor/TV at 1920x1080, so I suppose I would prefer 1920x1080 but it's not indispensable.

The max resolution is 1366 x 768.

Oh, that high? Then I think it is pretty easy. :) Something with NVidia Geforce GTX 780M chipset, which I think is still the fastest laptop gaming chipset, without going to dual-graphics chips (SLI or whatever).

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-780M.88993.0.html

For example ASUS G750JH has it. What I could gather from e.g. Amazon.com, ASUS G750JH costs in US around $1650 (with 16GB RAM). So, well under your $2000 limit, and I would expect it to run also The Witcher 3 pretty comfortably (unless CDPR goes completely nuts with the game HW requirements, but even then I'd expect it to scale well). If you want something even faster (for a laptop), then I guess you should look into some dual-chip gaming laptops (SLI), Saeger/Origin or whatever.

Mind you though, it does weight 4.3 kg (and more if you install e.g. a secondary hard drive), and it is so big that it won't fit in common backpacks. You'll have to buy an extra big 18" laptop bag for it, it took me quite awhile to find one for my G75VW which is of similar size. It is not the kind of ultra-portable laptop you want to carry around with you everywhere.