Best option for a school/gaming laptop to be used in Engineering

[engstudent97]

I'm a first year engineering student and am looking to upgrade from a 5 year old Asus rog g73jh. I'm trying to spend around $1500-$2000 Canadian and I'm trying to find a lightweight preferably 15.6 size gaming laptop which is gonna give me the most bang for my buck! I wanna have at least a 970m as to try and future proof the laptop as much as possible and I'd like to have a decent battery life at least as decent as it gets with a gaming laptop. Any ideas would be great thanks!

 

[velo3100]

Get the alienware over the ghost as it has better cooling. I know it is more heavy but it will last a lot longer as the ghost is prone to overheating due to its size. Also msi ghosts are loud. The alienware is a lot quieter.

 

[invis_orange]

for 1500$ you can get the hp omen with i7-4720hq quad core 2.6 ghz overclocked to 3.6 ghz
gtx 960m, everything is ran on a ssd making it very fast. I reccoment saving up some extra money to get it with the 500 gb pcie ssd which is the fastest you can get.
http/store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/Laptops/omen-15-204076--1


For some extra money there is the razer blade/razer blade pro
very notorious for being probably the best - thinnest gaming laptop you can get. only problem is it might exceed your budget

 

[velo3100]

I would either get a asus gl series or msi ge series.

 

[engstudent97]

What would your guys picks be between the MSI ghost or the Alienware 15 both with the 970m 4th gen i7 and 128gb ssd and 1Tb hard drive. Im not a big fan of the looks of the Alienware but i do like its battery life and the option to use the graphics amplifier in a few years time, but I like the more compact lighyweight design of the Ghost. I checked out the Omen and it looks really cool but if I feel like if I'm spending a lot of money I really wanna get a 970m over a 960m or 965m. I've been looking for a smaller Asus computer with a 970m but have had no luck. Any idea if they're going to update the g551 to a 970m or if the only Asus I can get with a 970m would be the close to 10lb ROG beasts that they sell.

 

[velo3100]

Get the alienware over the ghost as it has better cooling. I know it is more heavy but it will last a lot longer as the ghost is prone to overheating due to its size. Also msi ghosts are loud. The alienware is a lot quieter.

 

[engstudent97]

Yea I read about the Ghosts overheating problems which is why I'm iffy about them. Only real negative about the Alienware is its gonna stick out like a sore thumb in the classroom or library at University.

 

[velo3100]

An alternative could be a barebone laptop

 

[engstudent97]

Any suggestions on one?

 

[velo3100]

Sagar is a good brand to look for.

 

[engstudent97]

They're just as expensive as Alienware as far as I can see, atleast buying them in Canada is. How do the quality between them and Alienware compare?

 

[velo3100]

I haven't used either of these machines but I would guess that the alienware has a good build quality as they love charging a premium for their laptops. Sagars on the other hand have good build quality as well but I can't judge if it is better or worse than the alienware as I have not used one.