$900 & Under College Laptop 31 July 2012

[flyfunner5]

1. What is your budget?
900$ USD & Under

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Don't care

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Don't care

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable Laptop for college

5. How much battery life do you need?
Don't care

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
League of Legends
Guild Wars 2
Battlefield 3
-Any settings that make them playable

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Mundane Microsoft Office stuff

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Doesn't matter

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Newegg, Best Buy, Amazon

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Basic DVD Rom

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Don't know

13. What country do you live in?
U S of A

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Windows 8 isn't out yet for a few months? I'd rather wait but I start school in less than a month and I need one now

 

[flyfunner5]

Hypothetically, if you were to spill/drop/damage it without the Accidental Damage Protection warranty, would you be f'ed, or would they help you fix it at a cost (if so, is the cost high?)

You would be f'd I'm pretty sure. For a shipping charge and perhaps additional costs, you'd have to send it to their repair center

 

[WR2]

Nothing hypothetical about that question. Without ADP coverage you'd be on the hook for the cost of the repair. Or in the case it was a total loss, on the hook for a replacement. And ADP doesn't cover theft or 'acts of God'.

You might be better off with some student personal property insurance coverage that covers Accidental Damage, Theft, Fire, Flood, Natural Disasters, Vandalism and Lightning Strikes. And it covers all your personal property - Laptop, Phone, mp3 Player, TV and any other personal property. http/www.nssi.com/nssi/coverage
$3000 worth of property covered (with $100 deductible) for $68 a year.

You might be eligible to have your personal property added to the coverage under a family insurance plan so be sure to check to see if that is an option for you.

 

[edit1754]

The N56VS-ES71 is not a good option because it comes with a 15.6" 1366x768 display. 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display makes things onscreen large, and 15.6" displays that have 1366x768 resolution tend to have very poor image quality due to low contrast.

If you like the N56VZ, the version to buy would the the $999 N56VZ-RB71 from Microcenter. It comes with a 15.6" 1920x1080 matte display, and also a larger hard drive. http/www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0394503

But it's a bit over-budget, and its GDDR3 GT 650M is beaten by the GDDR5 GT 650M found in a few other laptops.

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Couple of options worth considering (both already mentioned, but here they are in an organized format)

Sager NP6165 (i5-3210M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 glossy display) - $920 no tax
- http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6165-clevo-w150er-p-4344.html?wconfigure=yes
- http/www.malibal.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idProduct=557
- Select Windows 7 under Operating System if you cannot acquire your own copy for cheaper.

HP DV6t (i3-3110M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte IPS display) - $724 + tax ($769 + tax w/ i5-3210M)
- http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7367534
- Use coupon code: NBY8552
- Don't: Downgrade to the 1366x768 display, unless you need the large text. You generally shouldn't buy the HP DV6 in any configuration that includes the 1366x768 display. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and tend to be low-tier LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to the GT 630M unless you only plan on doing light / moderate gaming. The GT 650M is considerably faster.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to integrated graphics unless you only plan on doing very light / no gaming. Integrated graphics will probably provide disappointing game performance in the majority of modern titles.
- Consider: Backlit keyboard, Larger/faster HDD.

 

[flyfunner5]

Best answer selected by flyfunner5.