Solved! Gaming Laptop under $800

[dsiglin]

1_What is your budget?
$600-800

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
around 15" screen size

3_What screen resolution do you want?
Not so concerned as long as it is 1024x768 or over

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Not desktop replacement. I'll be using this mainly to do design work on with light gaming (doesn't have to play games at high settings)

5_How much battery life do you need?
4 hours would be nice

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)?
Minecraft, Supreme Commander 2, Left4Dead 2 - medium

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop?
Adobe Creative Suite, watching movies and surfing

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Over 250 gb

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I just check slickdeals

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2 years or so

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD RW

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.
Lenova (got wife a 450 and it is awesome) Toshiba (had one in the past and was awesome)

13_What country do you live in?
USA

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'd like a laptop that runs cool as I will have this on my lap.


Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions

 

[WR2]

Hello dsiglin;

A fast dual core i5 480 CPU and a mid-range GT 540M video card for right around $700

Acer Aspire AS5742G-6600 Core i5 480M(2.66GHz) 15.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ GeForce GT 540M graphics, 4GB Memory 500GB HDD

 

[dsiglin]

Thanks for the recommendation. That looks good. Let me ask you this though:

I've been looking at getting a Dell 15R because I read their i3 with ATI 550v dynamically switches between integrated and dedicated graphics, giving great battery life. Is this something all i3 laptops with dedicated cards do?

 

[lostandwandering]

Thanks for the recommendation. That looks good. Let me ask you this though:

I've been looking at getting a Dell 15R because I read their i3 with ATI 550v dynamically switches between integrated and dedicated graphics, giving great battery life. Is this something all i3 laptops with dedicated cards do?

Not all of them do, but both ATI and NVidia have similar features. Switchable Graphics (ATI) or Optimus (NVidia).

 

[dsiglin]

Ok, any recommendations for those kind of laptops, besides the 15r?

 

[WR2]

Review Acer Aspire 5742G Notebook GT 540M Optimus
Dell Inspiron 15R Notebook review

 

[dsiglin]

That Aspire looks sexy