The Best Laptops To Run Football Manager At Every Price Point

Football manager does not require the most expensive and powerful laptops to load a fair amount of leagues. You can get away with using an older laptop and still load 4-6 leagues, which is enough to have an enjoyable experience.

However, for future-proofing newer FM editions and to enable you to comfortably perform other tasks like video editing, photoshop, or other similar productivity tasks like schoolwork, you definitely need something more modern and capable.

For the recommendations of which laptop will suit your needs, I have pointed out the best one overall which offers the best value, an option for those who are on a budget, and the best performing laptop if you need an option that will also handle productivity work and AAA gaming.

However, take a moment to read on, and understand what makes a laptop suitable for different needs before making your decision.  

First, the most important thing you should consider when shopping for a laptop to run football manager is the processor(CPU). The more powerful it is, the quicker you will proceed between in-game days, the quicker the game will calculate results, and also the quicker the game will load during the busy transfer deadline days.

Normally, an Intel Core i5 processor or higher(Core i7 or Core i9 for those who need more performance for other things other than FM) is sufficient to efficiently run the game.

If you are on a tight budget, a Core i3 processor will do the trick, however, you will have to slightly compromise on the number of leagues that you load at the beginning of the save game.

Second, once you settle on the processor that you need, the next thing you pay attention to is storage.

SSDs(Solid State Drives) are usually faster than HDDs(Hard Disk Drives). The downside is, for the same price, an SSD will always have a smaller capacity than an HDD.

However, despite the smaller size, the benefits that SSDs bring to football manager are totally worth it.

Once you add around 20 – 30 GB worth of face packs, real competition badges, and other mods to make your FM save look more realistic. The benefits of having the much quicker SSDs to quickly read and write data will be evident. You will also be able to load your saves much quicker with the SSDs installed.

Third, pay attention to the amount of RAM a particular laptop has. More RAM ensures applications run smoothly without stuttering, and this is also true for football manager.

8 GB of RAM is currently enough to run the game, however, if you have the budget, getting a laptop that has 16 GB will mean the game runs smoother while having the headroom to run other applications at the same time as the game. 

I personally play FM with YouTube or Spotify playing in the background, having more RAM ensures this happens without hitches. If you are limited on RAM, you might notice some stuttering or freezes when switching to the next song.

Fourth, you should consider the graphics card(GPU) next. This is usually the most important component for most games that are graphically intensive.

However, for football manager and other similar simulation games, you can even do without a dedicated graphics card as long as your processor has a decent performing integrated GPU.

This is where you really need to consider what you will be doing with your laptop besides playing football manager, as the graphics cards are typically what hike the prices of laptops. 

If your use case besides playing football manager is using Microsoft Word, Excel, watching Netflix, a bit of YouTube, and other activities along those lines, you do not need a dedicated graphics card, and you can get away with spending around £400 to £600 for a new laptop, lower than £400 if you consider the refurbished market. 

However, if you are one who needs a bit more performance for productivity work like running Photoshop, AutoCAD, other video editing tools or even occasionally playing other AA and AAA games, you will need a dedicated graphics card.

The type of graphics card that you will require depends on the level of fidelity that you need while playing other games, or the complexities of your productivity work.

Working with 4K(UHD) footage for instance will demand the best performing graphics cards, while you can get away with a budget GPU if you are working with 1080p(HD) footage.

The Best Laptop For Football Manager – Dell G3 15

The best laptop to run football manager is not necessarily the best performing laptop, but rather one which offers the best value in terms of price and performance.

The Dell G3 15 has a number of configurations you can pick from, starting from £500 all the way to £1000 for the highest specced version.

The £500 version will run football manager comfortably with more than 10 leagues loaded. The Core i7 processor is more than capable of handling a large number of leagues without a drop in performance.

The £500 version comes with 256 GB of SSD storage and 8 GB of RAM. While the storage is on the lower side, you can always add more later down the line when you save a bit.

The same applies to the 8 GB of RAM, which you can add another 8 GB RAM stick later when you get the money to bring the total to 16 GB of RAM.

The laptop does come with a dedicated graphics card, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. This is a budget GPU, but it will hold its own at 1080p for most AAA games. It will also handle video editing programs and the like as long as you do not choke it with 4K editing.

However, for football manager, the 1660 Ti is more than enough to handle the game at the highest settings.

This particular laptop will be suitable for the vast majority of FM players, however, if you need more performance than this, then check my pick for the best performance laptop.

The Best Budget/Cheap Laptop To Run Football Manager – ASUS VivoBook 15

If you are on a tight budget and want to pick a laptop that will handle a fair amount of leagues, then one with a Core i3 processor makes the most sense as it does not cost too much.

This particular ASUS VivoBook 15 comes equipped with the 10th gen Core i3 processor, which firmly puts it among the best-performing laptops for a sub £400 price. The Core i3 1005G1 should comfortably handle 6-8 active leagues, and if you are patient, you could have a game setup with around 10 – 12 leagues loaded.

The bargains do not stop with the processor, as you also get 8 GB of DDR4 RAM, which is a rare thing in this price bracket.

You also get SSD storage, however, it is only 128 GB. You can always increase the storage down the line, but for a budget option, it should do for a while.

At this price point, you do not get a dedicated graphics card, but as already pointed out, this is not crucial to run football manager. However, keep in mind though that you will be unable to run other modern games that are more resource-heavy in nature.

Older AAA games can be handled at 1080p but you will have to play on low or medium settings to get high framerates.

For school or office work, the ASUS VivoBook will handle everything like a champ, so you do not have to worry about a thing in this regard.

The Best Performance Laptop For Football Manager – Razer Blade 15

This option suits people who need a laptop capable of playing modern AAA  games at the highest settings, playing football manager with a large database with most leagues loaded or those who need a laptop for 4K video editing or AutoCAD.

The Razer Blade 15 can be configured with a 12th generation Core i7 or Core i9 processor with the best performing mobile GPU at the moment, the RTX 3080 Ti

This combination can handle anything football manager can throw at it, from doing long-term saves like the San Marino Challenge or saves like the Pentagon challenge, which requires a lot of leagues to be loaded.

Even newer AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 will be handled at 4K UHD quality without breaking a sweat.

You also get 32 GB of RAM which is definitely overkill at the moment for football manager, however, it is definitely necessary for other types of productivity work like 4K video editing.

By purchasing a high-performance laptop, you also get the benefit of getting the best display in the market, as well as the best build quality in general.

Once bought, this laptop should comfortably last you for the next 6 years or more while offering top-tier performance.

Final Thoughts On The Best Laptops To Run Football Manager

While laptops offer the flexibility of gaming on the move, you can typically find better deals and much better equipment while building a PC from scratch. 

To get you started, I have looked at the best processors for football manager here and the best graphics cards here. If you prefer getting a prebuilt computer instead of assembling one by yourself, I have also covered them here.

Once you have made your choice, you can then hop over here to get started on the best leagues to load at the beginning of your save game.

Having the right balance of leagues loaded makes both transfers and transfer fees remain at a realistic level.