1. What is your budget?
Ideally $1500, but I am having trouble deciding which specs to cut in order to stay under this budget. That is what I need help with. I can go a bit over if necessary, but would prefer not to.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15" screen, slim (preferably under 1 inch thick), under 5.5 pounds
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Full HD
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Somewhat portable, though almost always will be near a power outlet
5. How much battery life do you need?
Not important; a few hours is fine
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)?
Sims 3 (with expansions) on highest settings, newer RPGs such as Skyrim on highest settings, newer city/civ-building games such as Civilization Beyond Earth on highest settings
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
RAW image editing, large Photoshop files, Corel Painter, everyday/internet browsing
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
512GB, bare minimum; 1TB preferred
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
currently xoticpc.com, but open to others; US-based, please
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
at least 4-5 years with the ability to use new programs without significant lags, hence "future-proof"
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Blu-ray burner would be nice, but I am ok with getting an external one
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.
N/A; open to any reputable brand
13. What country do you live in?
United States
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I have done some research and am looking into the following builds. However, I am concerned I might be over-buying, even considering future-proofing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
HP Omen - $1869.99
CPU: 4th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB
RAM: 8GB
Display: 15.6 inch WLED Full HD IPS Touch
Storage: 512GB PCIe Flash SSD
Optical Drive: none
(I love the touchscreen and the design, but given the other specs and price it might not be a good trade-off.)
Sager NP8657 - $1544
CPU: 6th gen Core i7 6700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 2133 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 3Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
MSI GS60 Ghost - $1617
CPU: 5th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M 2GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 6Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
MSI GS60 Ghost Pro - $1718
CPU: 4th gen Core i7 4710HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 6Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
Gigabyte P35W v3 - $1674
CPU: 5th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 6GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: Slim swappable blu-ray burner
Ideally $1500, but I am having trouble deciding which specs to cut in order to stay under this budget. That is what I need help with. I can go a bit over if necessary, but would prefer not to.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15" screen, slim (preferably under 1 inch thick), under 5.5 pounds
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Full HD
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Somewhat portable, though almost always will be near a power outlet
5. How much battery life do you need?
Not important; a few hours is fine
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)?
Sims 3 (with expansions) on highest settings, newer RPGs such as Skyrim on highest settings, newer city/civ-building games such as Civilization Beyond Earth on highest settings
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
RAW image editing, large Photoshop files, Corel Painter, everyday/internet browsing
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
512GB, bare minimum; 1TB preferred
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
currently xoticpc.com, but open to others; US-based, please
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
at least 4-5 years with the ability to use new programs without significant lags, hence "future-proof"
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Blu-ray burner would be nice, but I am ok with getting an external one
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.
N/A; open to any reputable brand
13. What country do you live in?
United States
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I have done some research and am looking into the following builds. However, I am concerned I might be over-buying, even considering future-proofing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
HP Omen - $1869.99
CPU: 4th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB
RAM: 8GB
Display: 15.6 inch WLED Full HD IPS Touch
Storage: 512GB PCIe Flash SSD
Optical Drive: none
(I love the touchscreen and the design, but given the other specs and price it might not be a good trade-off.)
Sager NP8657 - $1544
CPU: 6th gen Core i7 6700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 2133 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 3Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
MSI GS60 Ghost - $1617
CPU: 5th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M 2GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 6Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
MSI GS60 Ghost Pro - $1718
CPU: 4th gen Core i7 4710HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 6Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
Gigabyte P35W v3 - $1674
CPU: 5th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 6GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: Slim swappable blu-ray burner