Buying new laptop for writing and occasional games, budget $800-$1000

[stellooor]

Hi I'm looking to buy a new laptop to use for writing, homework and occasionally gaming. If it's possible to find a good laptop that suits my needs under my price range, I'd be happy with that I would prefer for it to be rather portable and light as I'll be moving it around a lot. Some of my critical features for it to have would be a good keyboard - I'm going to be writing and doing a lot of work on the laptop, so that is a must (a keyboard that is comfortable and backlit if possible) -, a large amount of space (around 1TB if possible) and to have a disc drive. The only games I'd be running would be games like TF2, Mount & Blade: Warband, the Sims 4 and Age of Empires, and would just like to run them smoothly. I already have a pretty good gaming PC so I wouldn't be playing games on the laptop too much (only if I was travelling, which I do every couple of months.) I don't mind how big the screen is, as long as it's good enough quality for what I need. I'd prefer it to be a Windows OS. Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[Dulith1118]

http/m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=34-152-947
http/m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=34-232-848
http/m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=34-232-770

these are some recommendations and I'd put a ssd to what ever u get..

 

[gondo]

I'm a Sager fan. They use the Clevo generic laptop chasis and build on that. I think Sager is the best using the Clevo platform. You choose the screen size and video card desired for portability and gaming. Then load it with the RAM, CPU, and hard drive desired to meet your needs and budget. You can take the most basic laptop and load it with an SSD for a fair price which can't be found with other manufacturers. They also have the best screens, keyboards, webcams, cooling. A very nice machine.

You may find a nice Asus or MSI laptop on sale somewheres at a good price that's worth purchasing. Check out Sager and compare it with other brands.

http/www.sagernotebook.com/default.php

Once ordered they will build it, stress test it, and ship it out. the stress test guarantees fault free CPU and memory.

 

[gondo]

For curiosisty I checked out an Asus laptop on Newegg to compare to a Sager. Both offer the 6th gen I7, and a Geforce 960m video. Both have a 1080p matt screen and Windows 10. The Asus comes with an SSD for the OS and a drive for data, the Sager has a regular hard drive only but you can upgrade to any configuration you want even an m.2 SSD from crucial, samsung, etc... Both have an illuminated keyboard but from experience the sager has the nicer one. Sager has a finger print reader to log in. Asus is a 1.2MP camera while Sager is 2MP. Asus specs some nice audio while Sager specs Onkyo speakers, and an amplified headphone jack so you know it's going to be good.

Both are priced at $999 however the sager can be customized with any configuration of hard drives. Second batteries, Killer wireless, NIC and bluetooth setup is an option. You can add storage bags, warranties, etc... with the sager. Dealing with Sager for warranty is hassle free compared to Asus or a local store such as Best Buy. The Asus is a beautiful machine but the Sager is a step up in my opinion.

In the end when shopping for a nice $800 machine you can get some good deals from Asus and MSI. This is the entry point for Sager so it's hard to match pricing. When it comes to a $2000 gaming powerhouse laptop sager is king. Check them out and consider them. I have ordered many Sagers in the past and many 4 year laptops are still rocking an I7 CPU with 8GB of RAM and are still good machines to this day. The bonus is Sager always uses the latest gen of CPU so you can get the latest tech for futureproofing. Watch out when shopping as many laptops still only have a 4th gen CPU and not the 6700HQ 6th gen I7.

 

[stellooor]

I'm a Sager fan. They use the Clevo generic laptop chasis and build on that. I think Sager is the best using the Clevo platform. You choose the screen size and video card desired for portability and gaming. Then load it with the RAM, CPU, and hard drive desired to meet your needs and budget. You can take the most basic laptop and load it with an SSD for a fair price which can't be found with other manufacturers. They also have the best screens, keyboards, webcams, cooling. A very nice machine.

You may find a nice Asus or MSI laptop on sale somewheres at a good price that's worth purchasing. Check out Sager and compare it with other brands.

http/www.sagernotebook.com/default.php

Once ordered they will build it, stress test it, and ship it out. the stress test guarantees fault free CPU and memory.

Thanks for the suggestions! Just wondering if you think I'd need this much power in a laptop if I'm only running games occasionally?

 

[Dulith1118]

if u have money go for high end one because it will give a better fps when playing... If ur on a low budget stick with something decent. A ssd is a must have to increase old time..

 

[gondo]

Well it doesn't matter how often you play the games. If it won't play them it won't play them. There is a also a difference between playing Crysis and playing Freecell in windows.

What you need to look at is the video card on the laptop and what you require. A GTX 970>960>950>Intel HD graphics. Don't get an Intel based graphics laptop to run Crysis and don't waste money on dual SLI Geforce 980m graphics to play minesweeper and freecell.

We need to know which games you wanna play.

Geforce 960 based laptops are in the $1000-1200 range, 970m Laptops are $1500-2000, and 980m based machines over $2000. That's a rough guestimate.

To go under $1000 your getting Geforce 950m or Intel HD graphics. Let us know the games you like and we'll tell you which GPU will give what FPS to play smoothly.

 

[gondo]

Just for Reference to play at 1080p (which the laptop will probably be), a Geforce 970 is recommended to play at maxed settings.

 

[Dulith1118]

u can get a 960 for 1000 so I'd stick with that

 

[gondo]

Gaming laptop and budget usually don't exist very well in the same sentence. Prepare to get depressed