Solved! $1000 laptop for college

[blackjellognomes]

Hello!

I'm looking for a 13-15.6" laptop with enough graphics power to play Steam games like TF2 and L4D2 smoothly and a battery that can last at least 6 hours under light use (e.g. surfing the net, typing up a paper). Preferably with matte casing + screen, 2GHz+ processor, 250GB+ HDD, 4GB DDR3. A Blu-Ray drive and an Intel i3/i5 processor would be welcome, too.

Budget: ~$1000 before rebates
Usage: basic word/office processing, watching movies, light gaming, surfing the internet
Preferences: I'm not fond of HP laptops.

Any recommendations?

 

[bg1987]

These are pretty much the same specs I need, so I second blackjellognomes' request

TIA!

 

[Tunafish]

Here's your best buy. With a 7 hour battery life, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor, 250 GB Hard Disk Space, and a kick-butt OS, the Macbook with student discount + upgrade to 4GB RAM is pretty much the best you can get for 999 based on your needs. Furthermore, it's scarily thin and light, as well as looking adequately good.

Why I picked this laptop:

-enough graphics power to run Steam for Mac.
-recommended specs fulfilled
-elegant, fast, useful OS

If a Mac doesn't work, there isn't a better option in the market that I know of. Sorry.

 

[bg1987]

I need the pc to run win7. so macs are out of the question.

 

[Tunafish]

Is there any reason why? I'm not arguing with you, just curious to see why. I mean, if you play Crysis, then I understand. But otherwise why?

 

[bg1987]

I code .NET and run MS-SQL2005/8 for my job.
And I don't remember them having mac support =]

 

[Tunafish]

I don't even know what the second thing is, but do you need to play Steam as well?

If so, the best 6+ hour battery-lifed laptop is the VAIO Z, which starts at...um...1900 US dollars. Sorry

IF YOU DON'T NEED THE BATTERY LIFE, do this. Get a VAIO CW, and get a second battery . That's your best bet if you don't wanna spend money like crazy.

The Dell Studio 15 is also a good laptop choice for your needs. But bye-bye to your 6+ hour battery life. You'll have to do with about 5 hours.