Buying a new laptop

[joey42]

Hi. I really need to buy a new laptop but am really struggling on deciding which one. I want to buy one before Black Friday ends so please help me as soon as possible.
Details:
Budget is $840 or less
15-17 inch
Less than 2.2 kg
i5-i7 (7th or 8th generation)
Ssd (upgradeable)
8-16 gb ram(upgradeable)

I am a computer engineering student. So I do need a well performing laptop. Something very important to me is that it will stay cool and silent. I really hate when fans get super loud.

Also I am a light gamer.
Like to play games using Xbox controller like assassins creed
Gta
Modern combat.
Other first person shooters

Please try and get back to me while Black Friday and cyber Monday still last

Ps. This is my first pc. Till now I have been a Mac user. I don’t have enough money though to get another Mac.

 

[severinsen70]

14" screen but very portable and with 8th gen i7, and Mx150 gpu will be able to handle those games. You can also upgrade the ram to 16gb, and up to 1tb ssd. https/www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-700-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-720S-14IKB/p/88IP70S0833#tab-customize

Or theres their y700 line of gaming laptops that will be a bit bulkier but pack more power.
https/www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-y700-series/c/IdeaPad-Y700?menu-id=Y700

Dell Inspiron 5000 and 7000 gaming machines are another good option to look at.

 

[joey42]

Thanks for the answer. Your first recommendation does look good. Do you know anything about how loud it is?
The second recommendation from what I’ve seen has some bad reviews. As if the laptop is faulty and has horrible batter life.
The Inspiron series seems to have veeery bad resolution. Which is important to me. Because I do Netflix a lot.
If I had to choose between a gaming laptop and one that is more silent I would go with the more silent.

 

[severinsen70]

Reviews on the new 720s are harder to find, some say they think the fans are loud and of course under full load/gaming it'll naturally be audible (but if you're gaming with volume I'm sure it's nothing. A few reviewers said they have no issue with the fans 95% of the time, just when it's under load it's a little louder but that's also due to the 2 fan cooling system which I actually like.

Battery life is another grey area, people reported 5 hours some reported 8-10+. This does have a 55Whr battery with low power internals so I could see myself getting a full day of work out of it no problem. Tweaking the settings will also affect the potential battery life.

I prefer the IPS display to my current matte display, much more visually appealing.