$700 Gaming Laptop

[ThunderBird2678]

Budget - $700 Canadian, maybe more for good deal.

Country - Buying it in Canada.

Screen Size - 14"+

Screen Res. - 1366x768+

Screen Type - Glossy, Matte, I don't know. What would you suggest?

Brands - I'm okay with everything other than Acer/Gateway and MSI.

Refurb?- If it's cheap and has at least a 30 day warranty.

What will I use it for? - Everythong the average student does along with lots of Gaming.

Mobility? - Don't really care that much.

Battery - Doesn't matter as much as other things.

How long lasting? - At least 4 years.

HDD - 500GB or more

CD/DVD Drive - Don't care.

Suggestions? Fell free to suggest laptops that cost more but are more worth it as there's a high chance they'll go on sale During back to school.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

Dad was going to give me $100 on top of my original $600 budget (Why I said $700 at first) but mom cut it back down. Grandparents are in living in China, and even if they knew and wanted to help, my mom has Authority.

Back to looking for refurbs then.!

By the way, do you or anyone else know if Lenovo does give you 10% off your next purchase if you sign up?( Top-left of Lenovo homepage)

 

[Pyree]

U Chinese background? Well, then you are out of luck. I understand how Chinese parents work (I am also Chinese). They absolutely won't give you financial freedom until you graduate from high school. :lol:

I am not sure if the 10% discount can be use in conjunction with the discount coupon.

I looked at your desktop rig config. It's a decent set up. How about getting a laptop at around $450 which is purely for school work and beef up the GPU so you can play games at decent settings.?

 

[ThunderBird2678]

Chinese too? U eat Rice?

I've considered it but my mom says she needs a new computer for herself (She's annoyed that I'm using roughly 450/500GB and the computer's set up my way) and she needed to give me a reward for passing the Gifted test. The deal is she'll give me a decent budget for MY laptop and I can't touch HER desktop.

 

[Pyree]

I think there is really no way out of it unless you want to build a desktop and it would be difficult as well considering the $600 will have to include monitor, keyboard, mouse and OS. Head off to system part of the forum if you decided to get a desktop.

For a laptop I think these are reasonable for games:

http/www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256040CVF
http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2008029&srkey=A180-156130&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=TnL5HPStwNw-9Dbq4MwYe6D76g9thw3yJg
http/www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=&webid=933874&affixedcode=WW <I would pick this out of the three

That leaves you $30 for some games.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

Well, as I stated above, I will be using the AMD APUs as a last resort. There probably are refurbs for less with better specs, and there's the Back to School sale (Hope I get Lucky).

 

[Pyree]

The laptop is not AMD APU. It is AMD APU + dedicated GPU giving you hybrid crossfire.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

I know - by AMD APU, I mean AMD APU + Dedicated Graphics ( Since nobody in their right mind would talk about Integraded Graphics when it says GAMING laptop). Speaking of Hybrid Crossfire, I heard that in non-DX11 games, it can actually lower performance. Is that correct?

By the Way, I'm not exactly a fan of Intel + AMD or AMD + Nvidia

 

[Pyree]

Yes, hybrid crossfire driver don't work on DX9 games. Get the one from newegg with Intel CPU so there is no hybrid crossfire if you have some DX9 only title.

Found one same as newegg but cheaper:
http/www.hookbag.ca/product/H3C06TFXL/

AMD + Nvidia don't make any sense, so I understand if you don't choose laptop in that config. But what have you got against intel + AMD?

 

[ThunderBird2678]

Intel + AMD wouldn't make sense as they are competitors. They don't give bonus features to each other. Try to look for Refurbished laptops with better specs (Cowboom.com is a good place).

 

[ThunderBird2678]

You don't heed to buy an Intel + AMD laptop to play DX9 games anyways, as you can turn Hybrid Crossfire off.

 

[Pyree]

Ok, this:

http/www.cowboom.com/product/778423

But it's so worn out. I don't think your parents will be happy buying it.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

My parents say that the laptop is my choice and I can get anything I see fit (As long as it is under the budget, of course), and I don't care about scratches, etc. as long as it does what I need it to. That laptop was on my list already.

Good News! My mom agreed to bring my budget back to $700 for ONLY the y580 (After I showed her the similar ROG at staples ($1399.99). Do you think it's possible for the y580 to reach $700?

 

[Pyree]

Possible. But you will have to wait for factory refurbish start appearing.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

Why factory refurb? Don't think a new model can be $700? Anyway, how good are 1366x768 screens? A lot of people say they're bad quality, get a full HD model, etc. What do you think? Is 1366x768 decent enough?

 

[Pyree]

It's just that factory refurb Y580 is more likely to reach $700 b4 the price of new retail unit drops to $700. Screen is decent enough. Not brilliant but you can live with it.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

Well, by the time the refurbs come out, won't the y580 be around $700 already? As for the screen, I see a lot of people selling 1080p laptop screens on Ebay, Amazon,etc. Is it possible to buy the 1366x768 model, then upgrade it to one of those screens?

 

[Pyree]

I haven't see refurb Y580 on the market yet. But as more of them are sold, then more of them will get returned for various reason, then you see them on the market. Refurb, as far as I see, they are normally cheaper then new machine. So by logical deduction, you will expect them to reaches $700 before new laptop. Of course, there could be exceptional circumstances, so watch out for them as well.

Yes, the screen can be changed. But laptop screen are not standardised, so make sure you get the right one. I think if it says it is a Lenovo Y580 1080p replacement screen, it would work. Otherwise, if you don't want to open the laptop or couldn't find the right screen, you can use external monitor.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

Okay, I won't be posting often anymore ( I'll just wait), but I'll leave this thread open if anyone wants to suggest other stuff.

 

[ThunderBird2678]

I Bought it! It was on sale for $849.99 with a $100 rebate - $750!

My mom agreed !

Specs -
i7-3610QM
GTX660M
500GB HDD
15.6" 1366x768

 

[Pyree]

Congratulation!
Where you find $100 rebate?