Budgeting Out a College Laptop and Graphics Card

[xXEPICPres10xx]

I just graduated from high school and I'm heading off to college. I'm looking for a good laptop for college and a graphics card. My budget between the two is $1,500.

I want my laptop to be able to game some: modern games on high settings and new releases at medium-low settings, but I also want it to be a good laptop for my studies.

I have been looking for an NVIDIA card to replace my HD7870 to be able to keep pace with the newest games. I've looked into buying a GTX 1050ti or 1060. I have not decided yet.

Any feedback would be great, and thank you in advance!

 

[TJ Hooker]

If you have a gaming desktop, why do you need your laptop to be capable of playing new releases?

 

[xXEPICPres10xx]

I won't be home during college, which is where my desktop is going to stay.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Well, the more powerful the gaming laptop the more it typically suffers for portability and battery life (which is what you usually want for university). If you're ok with 30 fps, low-med settings (possibly only 720p) I think you could get away with something like a Ryzen 2700U with integrated graphics, or maybe the more powerful Geforce MX150. Otherwise, you'll probably need to step up to at least a mobile GTX 1050 or RX 560.