Budget Laptop (w. guide)

[jksbas]

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum, and laptops in general. I know you guys probably see this a lot, but hopefully I'm not asking for too much. Ideally this laptop just needs a few things: 1) Ten key, 2) run windows suite, 3) handle WoW, and 4) be around 600 usd. I know that isn't much of a budget for a laptop these days, but I don't need it to run Watch_Dogs or anything that heavy. Just run WoW without grinding to a halt.

1. What is your budget? 600 with very little wiggle room

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Just needs to have a ten key, but still as portable as possible

3. What screen resolution do you want? As much as budget allows.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? It will mostly be for home use for my wife, but will see occasional travel. We have a perfectly good desktop, just can't both use it at the same time and she prefers a laptop.

5. How much battery life do you need? It will likely almost always be plugged in.

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)? I have my fingers crossed for WoW at medium settings without too much lag.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Browsing, youtube, itunes, word/excel/etc. No video or photo editing needed.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 500gb would be nice, if not more.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. I tend to shop from Amazon or Newegg, but I am open to considering other sites.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? Until it becomes obsolete?

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Standard CD/DVD drive should be fine.

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. I have limited experience with laptops, only brands I've ever purchased in the past are HP and Dell. But I am happy to get suggestions.

13. What country do you live in? USA

Thanks guys, I appreciate any and all help!

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

 

[jaguarskx]

I would get the ThinkPad E550 for $510. Upgrade the CPU to the new Broadwell generation Core i3-5005u for free. It has a higher clockspeed, more powerful integrated graphics core and provides a little better battery life and the Haswell generation Core i3-4005u which is installed by default. It only comes with 4GB of RAM. Upgrading to 8GB is relatively expensive for $80. You can by a 4GB stick of RAM and install it yourself for $40 or less.

http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/e550/


If mostly used for productivity, I suggest upgrading the 1366x768 resolution screen to 1920x1080 for $80, but adding tax will push it over $600. The Intel HD 5500 should be fine for playing WoW at 1366x768, but at 1920x1080 you will likely need to lower the graphic settings. Raiding will likely be possible at 1366x768, but unlikely at 1920x1080.

Note: If you are going to get the 1920x1080 resolution upgrade, then installing a stick of 4GB RAM (8GB total) is highly recommended.

 

[jksbas]

I would get the ThinkPad E550 for $510. Upgrade the CPU to the new Broadwell generation Core i3-5005u for free. It has a higher clockspeed, more powerful integrated graphics core and provides a little better battery life and the Haswell generation Core i3-4005u which is installed by default. It only comes with 4GB of RAM. Upgrading to 8GB is relatively expensive for $80. You can by a 4GB stick of RAM and install it yourself for $40 or less.

http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/e550/


If mostly used for productivity, I suggest upgrading the 1366x768 resolution screen to 1920x1080 for $80, but adding tax will push it over $600. The Intel HD 5500 should be fine for playing WoW at 1366x768, but at 1920x1080 you will likely need to lower the graphic settings. Raiding will likely be possible at 1366x768, but unlikely at 1920x1080.

Note: If you are going to get the 1920x1080 resolution upgrade, then installing a stick of 4GB RAM (8GB total) is highly recommended.

Hey, thanks for the reply! I did a little looking on my own since I posted, would you say this is comparable?

Edit forgot link: http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Laptop-80EC000TUS-Black/dp/B00K6ZIBGY

 

[baniDJ]

Get an laptop with AMD APU on it. You will be able to play most modern games at low settings but some even higher.

This would be the best gaming and price/performance laptop. Also it is good looking and touchscreen.
http/www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V5-552P-X404-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen/dp/B00K2O4P6E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423332746&sr=8-1&keywords=acer+552

For a lower budget you can get this: http/www.amazon.com/HP-17-f004dx-Quad-Core-A10-5745M-Refurbished/dp/B00QQR2UG8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423332712&sr=8-1&keywords=amd+laptop

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, they are roughly comparable...

The A10-7300 APU is a little less powerful than the Core i3-5005u, but the integrated Radeon R6 (Kaveri) graphics core is a little more powerful than the Intel HD 5500. From a gaming perspective, it always better to give up a little CPU performance for a little better GPU performance since most games are dependent more on the GPU... as long as the CPU is not slow as a snail.