Gaming Laptop for ~$800?

Hey, guys.

I'm moving to another place and leaving my current PC here. I'm in the market for a new laptop and my budget is around $800. I'm in Qatar currently and this is where I'm going to the laptop from. $800 translates to about QAR 3000 here.

I bought a laptop in June for a friend. It was an HP Pavilion with an i7-5500U processor, 8GB RAM and the GPU was a 2GB 840M I think, not sure. It ran GTA V pretty smoothly, no lag. And though the details on the walls were blurry, the overall experience was great.

Now I want something better than that as I want to play the latest games like the Witcher III and Black OPS 3. Please don't argue that 720p or 30fps is not gaming worthy because I'm alright with that. I've never experienced gaming at res greater than 1366x768 or fps greater than 45-50. Heck, GTA IV ran at 23-25 fps and I was fine with that.

But of course it would be better if I could get a laptop with 1080p res and which could run games at 60fps. I'm aware it's hard to get that in a laptop within that price range but I'll be happier the closer to that experience I get.

Now it's not necessary for the laptop to be a convertible or have a touch screen if it can game well but if it does have it, then it'll be the best of both worlds for me. But I'd prefer better bang-for-buck performance than the laptop to fold all the way back.

It's better if you point out the laptop you recommend in this shopping guide (104 MB) or select it after applying the filters in this website. Jarir Bookstore is where most people get electronics here.

Nothing to get at that price point. Few laptops have a 940m,not really an upgrade worth the 800$

@leeuwenhok: You're not gonna find anything even "decent" for $800. With that budget you're getting the worst of the worst, lowest end graphics card they can possibly shove in, GTX 960m. I think it's better to wait until you have a budget of about $1,250 so you can get a laptop with a GTX 970m. Here is a 970m vs a 960m...massive difference...

I don't think I have a choice. That's the budget I have. I might considering spending another $50-100 if it's really worth it. But that's all.

Also, I'm not upgrading from anything because I don't currently have a PC.

I just need help deciding which laptop to buy from this catalog: http://www.jarir.com/qatarshoppingguide Again, it must be around, or preferably under, QAR3000. Just let me know which laptop is the best at this price point.

@leeuwenhok: Any one with a 970m. Anything lower than these and you're gonna be buying pretty much garbage like the 960m. These are the only ones there with a 970m...

http://www.jarir.com/sa-en/catalogsearch/result/?q=970m&cat=in+All+Categories

If you can't afford those then I'd suggest getting a console or building a desktop because it will be a much better experience than trying to run games on a 960m.

That's like more than twice my budget.

I was initially going to get an Alienware Alpha (base model) or a custom built PC but the problem is that there is plenty of load shedding where I'm going to live. They use generators but they start after electricity has shut down. So running a PC or console won't be smooth as it would shut down every hour or so.

Another problem is that being a student I'll have to present in front of the class and I can't bring my whole PC setup to the classroom. And no, they do not allow you to bring just your flash drives with you.

So, which of the laptops, within my budget (QAR 2500-3500) do you suggest?

@leeuwenhok: None would be an upgrade over what you currently have

@MonsieurX@saintsatan As I already told you guys, I'm not upgrading as I don't have a PC already. The laptop I talked about was for a friend. It ran GTA V nearly satisfactorily but I didn't try The Witcher III on it because I thought it's more demanding than GTA V. I want a PC that can run Black OPS 3, The Witcher III and the latest NFS as well. Maybe not at 60fps or 1080p, 30+fps at 720p will do just fine. Though I'd love if it could do better.

So for the 3rd time, I want recommendations about a laptop within my budget and from that shopping guide.

@leeuwenhok: This is the cheapest gaming laptop they have at sr4000. If you can't afford this then you're outta luck. Gaming laptops cost twice the price of a comparable desktop, they are MUCH more expensive. You're buying a luxury item and you're gonna be paying a lot for it.

http://www.jarir.com/sa-en/computers-peripherals/laptops/asus-g552jx-laptops-447995.html

@saintsatan I don't want to spend that much on a laptop because it's not worth it.

How about this? I buy a custom built PC for around QAR 2000, which will come later. And right now, I get a reliable laptop for QAR 1000-1500 which has a good battery life and can do all everyday tasks except for gaming. Maybe Minecraft and LoL or DOTA 2 at basic settings and ~30 fps.
Is that possible? If so, which laptop/2-in-1 do you recommend?

@leeuwenhok: It's possible probably but you're gonna really have to crank down settings a lot. It doesn't really matter what you buy since they're all gonna be meh without a graphics card. Try hard to find one that has a graphics card that's in your budget but I highly doubt you will because the one I posted above is their cheaper gaming laptop. Now you're down to regular old laptops that are not meant for gaming. Get whatever you want at this point. Advice won't help you, they're all pretty much the same. The graphics card is the most important aspect for gaming and it's just not in your budget.

@saintsatan

Meh. I knew it was a long shot.

I'm just going to buy a gaming laptop for my initial budget of QAR3500.

What do you think of the Dell 15 7000?

And if that's not available, which of these would you recommend:
1. V Nitro7-571G = QAR 3500
2. L50-C1501 = QAR3000
3. Z51-70 = QAR3500
4. Inspiron 5558 = QAR3300

Another question, Why do the lower end GPUs like the 940M have 4GB VRAM when they can't deliver that much?

One more thing, is the GPU more important than the CPU for a gaming laptop? I mean should I get a 5500u + 940M over a 6500u + 920M? How about a 4720HQ + 920M over a 5500U + 940M?

Please answer each question separately.

@saintsatan@MonsieurX Keeping Jarir aside for a moment, what's the best laptop for around $800. Amazon links will do fine. I'm thinking of getting it shipped through a service youshopweship.com

I just bought this Dell:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PYYDMQ/

I am happy with it for eight hundred bucks but have only had it for a week or so. It's got a decent SSD, discreet graphics and a decent processor which is about all you can hope for in the price range. There's space for an extra HDD/SSD and more RAM if you want to upgrade later. Only game I've been running is Rocket League and I can max that for what it's worth. Nvidia provides settings for the Witcher 3 on the 960M so I am assuming you can run it in some fashion but naturally there will be some compromises. I am seeing you tube videos of people getting 20-30 fps so not great but you can probably drop some settings to get it to stay up above 30 at least.