2x ~$1200 Gaming/College Ultrabook

[chili dude96]

Budget changed to $1200.

Hello all,

I am in need of two laptops. One for me and one for my brother. We are both in university. We need lightweight laptops with good battery life to bring around campus and to classes. We also need these laptops to have gaming performance. We do not need to play all of our games on max settings, but we would like to be able to run them. Games like BF3, Borderlands, Dayz, Arma 2, CS:GO, ect. He wants a 15.6 inch and I want a 14 inch.

I have compiled a list of laptops I am currently looking at but I really need more suggestions because none of the laptops (except one), would ship in time before we go back to college. Also, I am not entirely thrilled by them. My budget is $1200 and these laptops are all below budget so I wonder if anyone knows anything better in the $1200 range.


Thanks so much!


14 inch
Lenovo y40 http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y40/
i7-4510U Processor 2.0ghz, dual core
14.0" FHD LED AntiGlare Backlight (1920x1080)
AMD Radeon R9 M275 4GB
8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
4.9lbs 5 hours battery

With a Hybrid 500GB 5400 RPM+8GB SSHD for $780
Or
with a 256GB SSD for $880

Acer Aspire V7
$780 http://www.amazon.com/Acer-V7-482PG-5842-14-Inch-Touchscreen-Ultrabook/dp/B00K2O4UMS

Intel Core i5-4200U 1.6 GHz (3 MB Cache)
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
16gb ssd
14-Inch Screen, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 4gb
Windows 8.1, 8-hour battery life
4.41lbs

or $952 with a 4500U 1.8 GHz

15 inch
Acer Aspire V7
$858 http://www.amazon.com/Acer-V7-582PG-6479-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Ultrabook/dp/B00H7WF21G

Intel Core i5-4200U 1.6 GHz Processor (3 MB Cache)
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
16gb ssd
15.6-Inch Touchscreen, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 4gb
Windows 8.1, 6.5-hour battery life
4.85lbs

Acer Aspire V7
$1047 http://www.amazon.com/Acer-V7-582PG-7657-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Ultrabook/dp/B00K2O4QPY/

Intel Core i7-4510U 2.0 GHz (4 MB Cache)
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
16gb ssd
15.6-Inch Screen, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M 4gb
Windows 8.1, 6.5-hour battery life
4.85lbs

Lenovo Y50http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50/
$1089
i7-4710HQ Processor (2.50GHz quad
Windows 8.1 64
15.6" FHD LED AntiGlare Backlight (1920x1080)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB
8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Hybrid 1TB 5400 RPM+8GB SSHD
Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
5.3 lbs 5 hours battery

MSI GS Series GS60 Ghost-012 $1250 http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA57X1U15221
Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) quad
8GB Memory
1TB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M 2GB GDDR3
1920 x 1080
Windows 8.1
Intel 7260 Wilkins Peak 2 (2x2 802.11 ac)
4.36lbs

The Lenovos win with the wireless AC but the Acers take battery life and weight. Also the Acers have IPS displays.

The y40's R9 M275 is about on par with the Acer's 750m right?

 

[iBUYPOWER - Jason]

I'm pretty comfy with maybe getting the 15.6" Acer with the 850M, but I'll be busy in the next year so I'm not sure how much gaming I will do. So a Macbook Pro 13" might be on the table for me (totally different computer).

But for me it would be the 15.6" Acer or a Macbook Pro. Not sure when the 14" Acer will come out and the current 750M is decent, but nearly the same price as the 850M, 15.6".

I know the Intel Iris Pro (5200) can play CS:GO pretty well (did extensive research and watched FPS demonstrations), but I'm not sure about more intensive games like DayZ.

 

[chili dude96]

I have seen dayz can be done on absolutely low settings on 720p with a 4400 at 30 fps. I'm sure the 5200 can do it. However, I don't know at what quality,

 

[iBUYPOWER - Jason]

Oh, then the Intel Iris Pro will do WAY better than the 4400 on DayZ (http/www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Pro-Graphics-5200.90965.0.html). If you compare the FPS lists on the bottom, you notice that the integrated Iris Pro is pretty good for a non-dedicated GPU.

You can probably do medium settings with 60 FPS, but that's only my guess. The Intel Iris Pro is comparable to a GT 740M.

 

[chili dude96]

Thats pretty good. Unfortunately I hate macs. Probably going for the 15.6 acer even though 14 would be more portable. Sigh.

 

[iBUYPOWER - Jason]

On the bright side, 15.6" is bigger for gaming?

 

[chili dude96]

Yeah and I suppose its not that much bigger in class on those small desks...

 

[chili dude96]

Update: I bought the 15.6 inch acer. Thanks for all the help jason and good luck to you.

Add me on steam =(eGO)= chili dude96

 

[iBUYPOWER - Jason]

Haha great! Tell me how it works out. I may buy it in a couple of months (looking at money situation haha). Sure thing man!