I want to buy a laptop

[LizardProtection]

Hello people of Tomshardware

I hope you all are feeling good.

I need your advise.
I want to buy a laptop (well that's obvious), but first let me tell you a thing or two so that you get to know the situation I'm in.

I have a gaming PC
(i5-3570k, 8 GB G.skill Ripjaw 1866 Ram, 660 Ti) and all that good jazz but I started working and it doesn't seem like I have any time at all for sitting at home and playing something + I always have to make presentations at university and...life is busy.

The problem is, my "presentation laptop" (Dell) died couple of days ago (it was old, RIP) and now I want to get a new one, and mainly because I really am not using my Gaming PC now I want to sell it and get a better than average notebook.

I copied questions from other post to save up time so here goes.

1. What is your budget?

Probably around $$1200-1500 including whatever I get from selling my PC.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

I really have no preference

3. What screen resolution do you want?

1080p because I've been gaming on 1680x1050 for ages now it's time to upgrade.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

A bit of both, I want to work on it as well as game and do some video editing (which I do as a hobby)

5. How much battery life do you need?

I don't know...at least 2 hours?

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)?

I want to play games with my laptop. I usually play (or played):

Starcraft 2
DayZ
CS:GO
Dota 2
Minecraft
Diablo 3
Battlefield 3 (will start BF4 if I have time)
I want to be able to play GTA V (and I'm confident they'll release it on PC.)
Dark Souls 1 (and 2 once it's released)
Skyrim
etc...

situation is, some day I may play for 3-4 hours then I may not play at all for a week so situation is that I want my Laptop to be able to handle them (at least older ones) on MAX or close to it.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

I do editing as a hobby so yeah I want to be able to edit videos, so i7 would be good.
And sometimes I record my games as well BUT this is not required for a laptop mainly because it's laptop...

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

Doesn't matter really. More than 320 GB.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

I don't. I would love to be able to buy it from local store.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

3+ years

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

Doesn't matter I haven't used any type of disks for quite a while now, couple of years probably.

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.

I don't like HP, because of it's switchable graphics.
I would prefer if notebook will be Acer or Asus.

13. What country do you live in?

I live in Georgia (the country mind you not the state in USA.)

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

The thing is if it's necessary I can buy laptop through Newegg or Amazon and just send it to my godmother who lives in USA and she'll bring it here when she comes so that I won't have to pay any additional taxes.

P.S.

Don't worry about Windows, I love my 7 and I'm not going to 8 until they get rid of that METRO thing.

 

[LizardProtection]

No answer eih?
I'll just leave this here in hopes that somebody will peak inside this thread...

What about this one?
http/www.amazon.com/MSI-GT70-Dominator-895-i7-4800MQ-7200rpm/dp/B00IXQE6JO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395169390&sr=8-1&keywords=GT70+Dominator+895#productDetails

 

[hang-the-9]

MSI makes good gaming grade laptops, there is also this one for a bit less, with a smaller screen http/www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-y510p.aspx

Alienware is good for your range http/www.dell.com/us/p/Alienware-17/pd?oc=DKCWJ01S&ST=pla&dgc=ST&cid=262076&lid=4742362&acd=1230980731501410

This website is pretty good for picking out a laptop http/www.xoticpc.com/index.html, it has A LOT of different models, from starter $350 models to over $2,000 dual video card monsters.

 

[LizardProtection]

MSI makes good gaming grade laptops, there is also this one for a bit less, with a smaller screen http/www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-y510p.aspx

Alienware is good for your range http/www.dell.com/us/p/Alienware-17/pd?oc=DKCWJ01S&ST=pla&dgc=ST&cid=262076&lid=4742362&acd=1230980731501410

This website is pretty good for picking out a laptop http/www.xoticpc.com/index.html, it has A LOT of different models, from starter $350 models to over $2,000 dual video card monsters.

I've thought about Lenovo one but it has SLI graphics (2x 750m) and since not all games support it, that means, the laptop itself will have really bad performance in many games.

I've thought a little more and what about this one?

http/www.amazon.com/MSI-Series-GE70-2OE-017US-17-3-Inch/dp/B00CU9GKU8/ref=psdc1_t2_B00COQIKB4_B00CU9GKU8#productDetails

People say that it's outstanding and the price is really good for those specs.

 

[LizardProtection]

You will get the best performance to price ratio from the MSI GT60 Dominator.

The GE series is a much cheaper made laptop, hence the slight price difference. You'll also find that a 15.6" laptop is a lot more manageable to move around with.

The GT series also has better specs (Nvidia GTX 870M), and more features (custom backlit Steelseries keyboard/Dynaudio sound with subwoofer).

I was thinking that since I'll be using this notebook as my main computer as well I might as well get better screen but...when I think about it I still have my 1080p screen at home and I can always hook it up to it and play games can't I?

I just don't know how 15" will feel...
are there any equivalents to Dominator? because I would prefer other looks but if there aren't I'll probably buy that.

 

[hang-the-9]

MSI makes good gaming grade laptops, there is also this one for a bit less, with a smaller screen http/www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-y510p.aspx

Alienware is good for your range http/www.dell.com/us/p/Alienware-17/pd?oc=DKCWJ01S&ST=pla&dgc=ST&cid=262076&lid=4742362&acd=1230980731501410

This website is pretty good for picking out a laptop http/www.xoticpc.com/index.html, it has A LOT of different models, from starter $350 models to over $2,000 dual video card monsters.

I've thought about Lenovo one but it has SLI graphics (2x 750m) and since not all games support it, that means, the laptop itself will have really bad performance in many games.

I've thought a little more and what about this one?

http/www.amazon.com/MSI-Series-GE70-2OE-017US-17-3-Inch/dp/B00CU9GKU8/ref=psdc1_t2_B00COQIKB4_B00CU9GKU8#productDetails

People say that it's outstanding and the price is really good for those specs.

It's tough to mess up a good laptop once you get to past $1000, that's a nice one also. Keep in mind that a 17" laptop is pretty large to use for a lot of portable work.

 

[orlbuckeye]

MSI makes good gaming grade laptops, there is also this one for a bit less, with a smaller screen http/www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-y510p.aspx

Alienware is good for your range http/www.dell.com/us/p/Alienware-17/pd?oc=DKCWJ01S&ST=pla&dgc=ST&cid=262076&lid=4742362&acd=1230980731501410

This website is pretty good for picking out a laptop http/www.xoticpc.com/index.html, it has A LOT of different models, from starter $350 models to over $2,000 dual video card monsters.

I've thought about Lenovo one but it has SLI graphics (2x 750m) and since not all games support it, that means, the laptop itself will have really bad performance in many games.

I've thought a little more and what about this one?

http/www.amazon.com/MSI-Series-GE70-2OE-017US-17-3-Inch/dp/B00CU9GKU8/ref=psdc1_t2_B00COQIKB4_B00CU9GKU8#productDetails

People say that it's outstanding and the price is really good for those specs.

Well the Alienware 18 is only available with SLI graphics. The good thing about that MSI model is it has the BRAND new 800 GTX series graphic card with Battery booster that is advertised as giving 2X the battery life while gaming.

 

[LizardProtection]

Well the Alienware 18 is only available with SLI graphics. The good thing about that MSI model is it has the BRAND new 800 GTX series graphic card with Battery booster that is advertised as giving 2X the battery life while gaming.

Are these two upgradable though? I'm interested if I'll be able to put some more ram into GE70/GT60 and change GPU if anything happens?
I'm am tempted to buy Dominator 424 but ... (don't shoot me) I don't like it's design. I think it's too "thick" in terms of height.

Do you guys know any laptop that looks more like GE70 and has Dominator 4240-ish specs?

 

[LizardProtection]

Well the Alienware 18 is only available with SLI graphics. The good thing about that MSI model is it has the BRAND new 800 GTX series graphic card with Battery booster that is advertised as giving 2X the battery life while gaming.

Are these two upgradable though? I'm interested if I'll be able to put some more ram into GE70/GT60 and change GPU if anything happens?
I'm am tempted to buy Dominator 424 but ... (don't shoot me) I don't like it's design. I think it's too "thick" in terms of height.

Do you guys know any laptop that looks more like GE70 and has Dominator 4240-ish specs?

No unfortunately not. Like I said though, the GE series is a lesser quality build. As in, it's more likely to fall apart. Consider quality above all when shopping for this stuff.

As for thinner... You're not going to find a thin laptop with these specs unfortunately. Even the GS70 Ghost that will come out soon is going to have lesser specs in lieu of weight.

Hm, got it! So, how good is GT60 Dominator 424 in terms of quality? (How long will this laptop last...approximately)

 

[LizardProtection]

MSI makes a very strong product. If you take care of it, and get a cooling pad it will last you years.

Getting an extended warranty never hurt anything either just in case.

The answer is clear then! GT60 Dominator it is!
Thanks for your help! much appreciated!

 

[orlbuckeye]

Well the Alienware 18 is only available with SLI graphics. The good thing about that MSI model is it has the BRAND new 800 GTX series graphic card with Battery booster that is advertised as giving 2X the battery life while gaming.

Are these two upgradable though? I'm interested if I'll be able to put some more ram into GE70/GT60 and change GPU if anything happens?
I'm am tempted to buy Dominator 424 but ... (don't shoot me) I don't like it's design. I think it's too "thick" in terms of height.

Do you guys know any laptop that looks more like GE70 and has Dominator 4240-ish specs?

Well Alienware is compatible with the GTX 765,770,780 and 860, 870 & 880.Processor is upgradeable with 4 options. Up to 4 drives and 32 gb ram

 

[LizardProtection]

Well Alienware is compatible with the GTX 765,770,780 and 860, 870 & 880.Processor is upgradeable with 4 options. Up to 4 drives and 32 gb ram

it also costs freaking $2000+ haha, that's a bit too much for my budget, I'm getting MSI GT60 Dominator-424.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Good luck with your pick. I'm sure it will be a great machine

 

[LizardProtection]

Good luck with your pick. I'm sure it will be a great machine

Thanks!

Have a good day!