College laptop help

[jodom6]

Hello everyone-
I had my open house and now im off to college but i still need to purchase a laptop. Im looking to spend no more than $1,200. Does anyone have recommendations for what laptop i should get? Getting a mac is not what i want as they are sort of over priced for the hardware and i'd like to game a little.

I'm looking for a 13-15 inch and an intel 3rd gen processor, usb 3, and hd screen and just an overall good laptop made to last.

 

[cl-jeffrey]

If you like gaming someone on here put a thread about a laptop. You decide if this is the right laptop for you. http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/80375-35-asus-g55vw-amazing

 

[zulutech]

I believe the one in the link is a 17in laptop. I use an older 15in macbook pro. You know, the repairable one....
However, that being said, for those who are looking for good value/specs I would look at a Lenovo. I've always wanted one of them, and the color gamut on their screens are spectacular. Here's a link: http/www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/w-series/

 

[gidgiddonihah]

I got the XPS 15 with the second generation i7 2670QM and it kicks butt. I have thrown Adobe CS6 Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Illistrator at it and it blows right past it. I didn't opt for the NVIDIA 540M GT upgrade because it was too much money, but the 525M still kicks through pretty much every game I have thrown at it-though some settings need to be lowered to get 40+ FPS that I prefer. The HD screen is also the best there is in a laptop.

There is almost no speed difference in from the 2nd to the 3rd generation Intel i-series chips; about 5-8%. You also get a more power efficient chip and the integrated graphics chip is waaaayyyy better, but at the price range your looking at it wouldn't matter as it would come with a discrete chip.

Anyways, I recommend the XPS series . The new generation's design is much better, in my opinion anyways.

Specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel i7 2670QM
8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
NVIDIA 525M GT
750GB 7200RPM HDD

 

[dudewitbow]

something like the Sager NP9130(3rd gen i5, gtx 670m) or a MSI GE60 0NC-006US (3rd gen i7, gtx 650m) would be on the high end price tag at 1200$

 

[jodom6]

Best answer selected by jodom6.