College Gaming Laptop

[MWeaver150]

Hello! I'm looking into getting a new laptop to take with me when I leave for college in the Fall. I would really like to get into PC gaming, so I've decided I want to get a gaming laptop. I know I can afford to get a pretty powerful machine because my price range is up to $1,500. Right now I'm almost set on buying this laptop linked belowe. For the price it looks great for me, and it looks like it will be able to handle just about any game you could throw at it on higher settings. My main question for all of you is if you think it looks to be a good laptop to take for college and gaming. Also, I'm an engineering undeclared major, so I will most likey be running some CAD softwares in the future, so I'm hoping it will be able to handle them decently. I'm open to opinions and new suggestions. Thanks!

Top choice as of right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152556&cm_re=msi_laptop-_-34-152-556-_-Product

 

[i7Baby]

My preference in order - Asus, MSI then Lenovo. Never HP or Dell.

I think you'll be fine with the GT60 - good choice!

 

[MWeaver150]

well I recommend the MSI GE70 Apache Pro-012 17.3-Inch Laptop http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IMTQ5I2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00IMTQ5I2&linkCode=as2&tag=thpcgaha-20&linkId=VT4WQZXFZBFULLVJ

Just out of curiosity, what do you see as the pros of the apache pro over the dominator?

 

[Prostar Computer]

well I recommend the MSI GE70 Apache Pro-012 17.3-Inch Laptop http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IMTQ5I2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00IMTQ5I2&linkCode=as2&tag=thpcgaha-20&linkId=VT4WQZXFZBFULLVJ

The only upgrade in that is the screen size. The GT60 Dominator is a good system, OP. My recommendation is that whatever you go with, try to purchase from a reseller/outfitter. Gaming laptops get hot, while resellers can offer cooling upgrades to circumvent thermal damage.

Or if you're comfortable with doing the upgrades yourself, you can save yourself the labor cost.

 

[dasulman]

if it were me, I would buy it from here:
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt60-dominator424-p-6955.html?wconfigure=yes
you get slightly less ram, but for the cost of $100 thats nothing, you can put it back up to 12GB for less.
furthermore you can downgrade the processor to the 4700, the 4800 has slightly better performance but for too much.
you can use the saved money to buy an SSD for them to pre-install the OS.

 

[MWeaver150]

if it were me, I would buy it from here:
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt60-dominator424-p-6955.html?wconfigure=yes
you get slightly less ram, but for the cost of $100 thats nothing, you can put it back up to 12GB for less.
furthermore you can downgrade the processor to the 4700, the 4800 has slightly better performance but for too much.
you can use the saved money to buy an SSD for them to pre-install the OS.

I haven't really gotten into PC gaming much yet, so I've never heard of this site. How trustworthy/reliable are they?

 

[tgraydf]

Xotic is very well-established and respected. They're quite good. Sadly, I live in Canada so it's a no go for me. But I'd definitely go for a cooling modded MSI right now if I could.

 

[Prostar Computer]

I haven't really gotten into PC gaming much yet, so I've never heard of this site. How trustworthy/reliable are they?

Some good resources if you want to check out various resellers' credibility:

http://www.resellerratings.com/

http://forum.notebookreview.com/reseller-feedback-forum/