Buying my first gaming laptop! Budget: $2500

KrazySocoKid

Honorable
Aug 9, 2013
3
0
10,510
1. What is your budget?
$2000-2500

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Preferably 15.6". 17" will be fine though.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1920×1080

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
As long as it doesn't have the weight of an anchor, anything is fine.

5. How much battery life do you need?
I'm not too concerned about battery life as long as it's not crappy

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 play mostly FPS. I would like to do High settings.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Nothing too crazy. Photo/Video editing, recording music.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 500 GB.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
N/A

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Hopefully at least 5 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Blu-ray would be nice, but DVD is fine if needed to cut costs.

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 been looking at Razer, Alienware, Lenovo, MSI. Brand doesn't really matter to me as long as it's a quality laptop.

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I want it to run Windows 8, and a backlight keyboard would be awesome (I don't know if they come standard in gaming laptops)

EDIT 3:

Ok so I have got it down to two laptops. Which one do you guys think is better?

Sager NP8255-S

Display 15.6" Full HD LED-Backlit Display featuring 95% NTSC Color Gamut in Matte Finished Surface (1920 x 1080) Special Promotion Offer!
Zero Dead Pixel Insurance Guaranteed no dead or partially-lit pixels for first 30 days of purchasing - Special Promotion Offer!
Video & Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M GPU with 4GB GDDR5 Video Memory - Special Promotion Offer!
CPU Processor 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor ( 6MB L3 Cache, 2.40GHz)
Thermal Compound IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU - Special Promotion Offer!
Operating System Genuine MS Windows® 8 64-Bit Edition
Memory 24GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 3 X 8GB [$80.00]
mSATA SSD RAID Storage Options Info RAID-0 Storage ( Data Strip - Requires mSATA SSD Slot 2 with identical capacity as mSATA SSD Slot 1)
mSATA SSD Drive Slot 1 Intel 120GB 525 Series mSATA SSD - as an OS Drive (Primary Drive C) [$190.00]
mSATA SSD Drive Slot 2 Intel 120GB 525 Series mSATA SSD in RAID configuration [$190.00]
Hard Drive & SSD Drive RAID Storage Options Info Non-RAID Storage
Hard Disk Drive 1 750GB 7200rpm SATA3 Hybrid Hard Drive with 8GB SSD [$90.00]
Hard Disk Drive 2 None
Optical Drive Bay — Optical Drive or Hard Disk Drive in Optical Drive Bay with Caddy case 6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software - Special Promotion Offer!
Wireless Network Card Killer™ Wireless-N 1202 802.11 A/B/G/N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Module - Special Promotion Offer!
Primary Battery Smart Li-ION Battery Pack
Integrated Security Device Fingerprint Reader
Microsoft Office Microsoft Office 2013 Trial - Included in Price
Warranty Sager 1 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty

MSI G Series GT60 2OD-026US

• Windows 8
• Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor
• 15.6" Full HD Anti-Reflective Display (16:9; 1920 x 1080)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M 4G GDDR5
• Matrix Display
• Cooler Boost 2
• Full Color Programmable Backlit Keyboard by SteelSeries
• 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
• 16GB DDR3L 1600MHz System Memory
• Killer™ DoubleShot Technology (Killer™ E2200 + Killer™ Wireless-N 1202)
• USB 3.0 x 3, USB 2.0 x 2
• VGA, HDMI, mDP
• Blu-ray Disc Reader
• Built-in 720p HD webcam
• World-Class Dynaudio Premium Speakers
• Audio Boost Technology
 
Solution
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/
Chassis Model: Digital Storm Carbine 17.3 Inch Laptop (Model: M:1763-780)
Display: 17.3 Inch (16:9) (Resolution: 1920 x 1080) (Anti-glare) LED-Backlit Display
Processor: Intel Core i7 4900MQ (Up to 3.80Ghz) (Quad Core) (8MB Cache)
Thermal Compound: Premium CPU and GPU Thermal Compound (Reduces Thermal & Laptop Noise)
Memory: 32GB DDR3 1600MHz (4x8GB) (Requires Windows Pro or Higher)
Primary Hard Drive: 750GB 7200RPM (SATA 3Gb/s)
Secondary Hard Drive: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: DVD/CD 8x Multi-Drive (Writes and Reads DVDs, CDs)
Wireless Card: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 + Bluetooth 4.0
Video Card(s): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB with NVIDIA Optimus
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8 (64-Bit Edition)...

Mike Friesen

Honorable
Apr 10, 2013
24
0
10,560
A portable 15.6" gaming laptop? Unless you want to go for some 'slim' gaming laptop with a gtx 765m, I don't think there is such a thing. And for that kind of money, a gtx 765m might not be the performance you're looking for, because it has the performance of a radeon 7770, which costs ~$100. I don't know of any slim laptops with a more powerful gpu.
This maybe? http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G750JX-DB71-17-3-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B00COQIKKA
 

KrazySocoKid

Honorable
Aug 9, 2013
3
0
10,510


Thanks for the reply! I'll check that out. Sorry if I wasn't clear about the portable thing. I have a 15.6" laptop now, and I consider it pretty portable. I guess I don't really know what portable means. As long as it doesn't have the weight of an anchor, I'll be fine.
 

mateo94

Honorable
Aug 11, 2013
3
0
10,520
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/
Chassis Model: Digital Storm Carbine 17.3 Inch Laptop (Model: M:1763-780)
Display: 17.3 Inch (16:9) (Resolution: 1920 x 1080) (Anti-glare) LED-Backlit Display
Processor: Intel Core i7 4900MQ (Up to 3.80Ghz) (Quad Core) (8MB Cache)
Thermal Compound: Premium CPU and GPU Thermal Compound (Reduces Thermal & Laptop Noise)
Memory: 32GB DDR3 1600MHz (4x8GB) (Requires Windows Pro or Higher)
Primary Hard Drive: 750GB 7200RPM (SATA 3Gb/s)
Secondary Hard Drive: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: DVD/CD 8x Multi-Drive (Writes and Reads DVDs, CDs)
Wireless Card: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 + Bluetooth 4.0
Video Card(s): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB with NVIDIA Optimus
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8 (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office Suite: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Cooling Pad: - No Thanks
Extra Charger: - No Thanks
Extra Battery: - No Thanks
Audio: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Warranty Plan: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

This is a pretty sexy machine for 2600 thinking about getting it my self lol.
 
Solution