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Buying a laptop for poker - help needed!

darsh11darsh11 Member Posts: 56
in Poker Chat
So I'm trying to find a laptop for poker but all of the advice online is difficult to understand.

I want to play 20+ tables at a time - mainly on here but probably a few tables from another site too.

I don't fully understand what specs are needed to do this comfortably.

I'm guessing a graphics card isn't crucial so most important things are RAM and CPU.


https://ao.com/product/53011gqx-huawei-laptop-grey-79973-251.aspx - £850
https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/laptops/matebook-x-pro-2020.html - £800
https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/laptops/matebook-14-amd-2020.html - £600
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops/new-inspiron-15/spd/inspiron-15-5515-laptop/cn51206sc#features_section - £779

The first one looks great but since it's out of stock I'm leaning towards the Dell.

My only concern is the CPU having a clockspeed of only 1,8ghz
But since it is the latest Ryzen 7 with 8 cores and high turbo speed I think it is still great.


Hope someone can help and sorry if this is not the right place to post.
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    EpokerEpoker Member Posts: 101
    While RAM and CPU are important in that you need it, any laptop bought new today would be able to handle it no problem, what you really need to think about is screen resolution (and to a certain extent, screen size). A 1080p screen vs even a 1440p one is a world of difference in the amount of tables you can fit on screen.... and a 4k one being even better. I have a 1440p monitor and it'll fit around 6/8 more tables on screen without overlap than a 1080p.
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    darsh11darsh11 Member Posts: 56
    thanks a lot - found a cheap 2nd hand 1440p monitor so that should be a decent upgrade...


    What would your advice be from the above? Any?
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    EpokerEpoker Member Posts: 101
    I have never heard good things about Dell - so that'd be off the table straight away. All 3 of those Huawei look sexy as, and while they're quite new to the laptop game, so couldn't give any advice myself about reliability or build quality, a quick google of reviews seem to be really positive. You tend to pay a premium for intel processors over AMD which was fair enough 5 years ago, but these days AMD have really stepped up there game and there's nothing between them so id go for the £600 Matebook 14 (https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/laptops/matebook-14-amd-2020/buy/). Love the addition of a touchscreen as well (on all 3 of the Huaweis), can see that being really useful for poker (tempted to get one myself lol).
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    EpokerEpoker Member Posts: 101
    Is your new second hand monitor HDMI or DisplayPort connection? Are you planning on connecting monitor to Laptop? Because noticed only the Matebook X had DisplayPort compatibility (but no HDMI), while the 2 Matebook 14s have HDMI but no Displayport so bare that in mind as well.
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    darsh11darsh11 Member Posts: 56
    Managed to pick up this for £100

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-61AFGAT1EU-Thinkvision-P27H-10-Monitor/dp/B071D1HPR7/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=lenovo+thinkvision+monitor+27+p27h-10&qid=1622069536&sr=8-2

    Didn't think of it but I figured could get a dongle to connect everything.

    I bought my bro the matebook d 14 for £600 6 months ago. (unfortunately I couldnt test it myself but has been pretty good so far)
    This one is the same but 4600h CPU instead of 4500U so should be a decent upgrade
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    aynaricolaynaricol Member Posts: 318
    I have the honor magicbook, which is exactly the same laptop as the matebook, just under a different brand name. It's been great so far, had it for a year and no complaints so far!
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    TheEdge949TheEdge949 Member Posts: 5,155
    I have a Commodore 64 with a built in tape deck if that's not to hi tech for you.

    I'm only selling it to upgrade to an Amstrad 128.

    Can't stop progress.
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    safc71safc71 Member Posts: 1,541
    TheEdge949 said:

    I have a Commodore 64 with a built in tape deck if that's not to hi tech for you.

    I'm only selling it to upgrade to an Amstrad 128.

    Can't stop progress.

    Be careful with that Amstrad 128 not sure that sky's software will work on it. ;)
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    DoublemeDoubleme Member Posts: 1,544
    Hi so I had an issue which resulted in me buying a new computer and screen. I would recommend if your planning on 20 tabling that you buy a desktop instead a of a laptop and a very large screen for this as well. if you want to play a few tables taking it easy sitting with your laptop in your bed that can work but if you want to properly multi table I find a desktop with a good monitor works a lot better.
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    gregkdy82gregkdy82 Member Posts: 528
    Doubleme said:

    Hi so I had an issue which resulted in me buying a new computer and screen. I would recommend if your planning on 20 tabling that you buy a desktop instead a of a laptop and a very large screen for this as well. if you want to play a few tables taking it easy sitting with your laptop in your bed that can work but if you want to properly multi table I find a desktop with a good monitor works a lot better.

    Why is a laptop with a good monitor inferior to a desk top with a good monitor?

    What are you planning on 20 tabling @darsh11. Dyms I hope lol
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    DoublemeDoubleme Member Posts: 1,544
    gregkdy82 said:

    Doubleme said:

    Hi so I had an issue which resulted in me buying a new computer and screen. I would recommend if your planning on 20 tabling that you buy a desktop instead a of a laptop and a very large screen for this as well. if you want to play a few tables taking it easy sitting with your laptop in your bed that can work but if you want to properly multi table I find a desktop with a good monitor works a lot better.

    Why is a laptop with a good monitor inferior to a desk top with a good monitor?

    What are you planning on 20 tabling @darsh11. Dyms I hope lol
    well I mean in theory their not you can get laptops which are much superior to the average desktop. However if you have a limited budget you could get a much better spec desktop for the same money as an inferior spec laptop.
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    darsh11darsh11 Member Posts: 56
    Yh you get much better value for money with a desktop pc - presumably because they don't have the same overheating/cooling issues so can be made more powerful for less money.

    If I was settled in one place would get a desktop for sure..

    In the end I went against advice and went for this - wanted 16gb ram and a newish processor so I at least have sellon value in a couple of years if I upgrade to a desktop.
    https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/laptops/new-inspiron-15/spd/inspiron-15-5515-laptop/cn51206sc

    Yh I'll be playing a lot of DYM - if they run....!
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    sighcallsighcall Member Posts: 494
    I’d be interested to hear how many tables you can run. My laptop struggles around 12 and can’t tell if it’s the laptop or sky software!
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    darsh11darsh11 Member Posts: 56
    @sighcall
    Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, and check your performance when you have 10+ tables running... it might help to tell you why your laptop is struggling.
    RE client - I used to play in the client and it was pretty good except it would tend to crash randomly so I switched to chrome which was more demanding on the laptop but less likely to crash....
    If RAM is a big problem, *you might* be better off playing in the client bc chrome uses loads of RAM.
    If your CPU is struggling maybe a new device is better.

    Hitting 20 tables won't be possible for a little while because I'm so rusty.
    I tested the devices at 10 tables and my CPU didn't break a sweat.
    (old cpu was dual core (4 threads) and new CPU is octa core (16 threads)

    Old CPU vs New CPU





    https://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw/PR7UdbCXhQJA9WCB2I5dNil5QENGUQe3xOGxiz2A35/L8h/8mWz9/en8XGfHFCkgLfOMKy5s4skItfXxm4owohPp/ivq0SW5zgDrm3BITU5+tDkGWRgviIrRSxC1n3UZ+lQmH5lNZpBM6fqTEeQWYz6AX8UzboEdIR6z6zZNP4YT+wVWywQAAj3ZHjyymgzAOR/hzOmW/b54yiZhR2rviDdXK0yfKLVRWhuF8RuFrZD5IM5a

    Was about to buy this bc looks like a beast for that price. Only catch is not brand new and takes a while to deliver.

    If you're stuck in one place desktop probably better,



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    sighcallsighcall Member Posts: 494
    @darsh11 thanks for your help.

    tested it when multi tabling and CPU goes mad (up to 100% at one point when i flicked on a youtube vid)

    seems like a new pc is in order especially with double points month coming up :)
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    darsh11darsh11 Member Posts: 56
    fwiw I hit 15 tables today and had a few things running in the background.

    Processor was still relaxed with all the games running smoothly.

    But I easily reached 7gb Ram with my OS and all the chrome tabs... so if you need a new device I think 16GB of RAM (2 x 8GB is best).

    On this PC I could hit 20+ tables but I don't think there are any shortcuts here so probably 15 max for me.
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    sighcallsighcall Member Posts: 494
    Ah fair - might have a look getting 16GB of ram but then again i think 15 tables prob enough for me lol
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