Gaming/College Laptop

[bibliophile]

1) I'd like to keep it under 2000, but if it's unavoidable I can go at or slightly above that.

2) I'm thinking on the larger side but I still need to be able to take it with me to classes

3) Dosen't need to be the best out there but the higher the quality the better

4) For the time being this will be my only comp/laptop while at school

5) I'd say around 4-5 hours to be safe

6) Mostly mmos and some steam titles, specifically Aion and Left for Dead (L4D is optional though) on medium to high settings

7) Basic offfice stuff like word,ecel,powerpoint, etc. internet, maybe movies (optional)

8) I'm not really sure, I'd probably only have one game on the thing at a time and the only things I'd ever really need to keep are word/powerpoint/excel files so probably not a whole lot.

9) heh heh, I don't think I've ever bought a computer from a website before so anyone would be fine with me.

10) For at least 4 years

11) Again not sure, think just DVD ROM, I don't think I've ever needed a specific drive for any of the disks I use (games,dvd,cds)

12) Most of the computers I've had are Hp so I feel comfortable with them but if there's something better I prefer quality over brand.

13) U.S
14) This will be my first laptop so I'm not familiar with the differces in parts/mechanics/terminology of them (then again I'm not that good with PC either)

Thank you for your time and help and I'm sorry I'm not very good at choosing computers

 

[Maziar]

MSI GX640 is a great option(the battery life is about 3-4hrs though)
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gx640098us-p-2766.html

 

[COLGeek]

When purchasing a laptop and going to college, one thing to consider is support for the system when bad things happen. Unlike a PC, repairs can be must less user accessible.

My daughter (will be a junior this Fall) had a rough time getting her notebook repaired earlier this year. Her MacBook Pro died and the local Apple knuckleheads couldn't fix the problem and it was no longer under warranty. We ended up buying a new notebook (with longer warranty) and I got the old one fixed (the knuckleheads actually broke it more....) as a backup.

When I attended a school for the military a couple of years ago, I purchased a Dell with a 3 year "full coverage" warranty. When the GPU died last year, it took but a phone call for a Dell tech to show up at my house to replace the mobo.

Dell and HP (and Apple if you are so inclined) offer good support (if you pay for it) and STUDENT discounts. While Maziar's recommendation is a good one, you will be your tech support. Just something to consider.

Good luck!

 

[bibliophile]

MSI GX640 is a great option(the battery life is about 3-4hrs though)
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gx640098us-p-2766.html

This looks pretty cool but like COLGeek pointed out I'm probably going to need this fixed at one point or another so a few suggestions from HP/Dell would be nice. (if all else fails though this one does look really cool)

 

[Maziar]

I couldn't find any 15" laptop with a 5850 with 3-4hrs of battery life(AW M15x and Sager NP8690 have the same/better specs but with lower battery life)
Also when you customize the GX640 you can choose 2 kinds of warranties
1_3 Year MSI US Parts & Labor 1 Year Global Warranty w/ Lifetime Tech Support + 1 Year Accidental Damage Warranty (Accidental requires registration)
2_3 Year Parts/Labor Warranty 24/7 Tech Support w/ LCD Accidental Damage Protection ( + 349 )
Which is good IMO

 

[$amurai]

If your budget is 2000, I personally would go for two computers. Get something like this http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Ultra-Portable&series_name=dm1z_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/Ultra-Portable/dm1z_series which will give you good battery life and be able to do word, excel, all that school stuff pretty easily (not necessarily that one, snoop around HP's website and find one you like more). That one specifically is 500 dollars. Now the rest of your budget can go towards a powerful one that will be able to play any game you want at high settings. Personal recommendation is the Asus G73, but MSI and Sager both make very good gaming laptops as well. This way, you get:
1 on the go, note taking, powerpoint creating, internet browsing laptop that should have the power to do whatever you need in class.
AND
1 powerhouse computer to play games and whatnot. Plus, if the first one breaks, you can use the powerhouse as a backup for a few days.

 

[IsabellaWinTeam]

Hi there,

The Alienware M15x is a great gaming laptop. It has a super fast and powerful 2.8 GHz Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor and NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 240M graphics. It is a bit heavier at 9 lbs, but the specs are great (and many gaming laptops are even heavier than this one). It is also within your budget at $1499.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

 

[Maziar]

The problem with your m15x's config is the GT 240 which is significantly slower than both 5850M/5870M

 

[bibliophile]

so from looking at this (and some other forums here) I'm thinking of going with the MSI GX640 as my gaming laptop/backup and get a cheaper one (like $amurai suggested) for school stuff. I think that'll cover all my needs just wanted to check one more time to make sure I'm not over looking something glaringly obvious/important (it would not be the first time)

 

[$amurai]

That sounds like a great plan to me.