Laptop for College and Gaming

ReverseClassic

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Feb 18, 2012
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10,510
1. What is your budget? $1000.00 - $1500.00 ish

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 15" to 17" preferably 17.

3. What screen resolution do you want? 1900 x 1200

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? It's for school, but it's for a computer systems tech course so it doesn't really need to be portable.

5. How much battery life do you need? 1-2 hours will be plugged in.

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)? WoW Ultra, LoL High settings, Not really a computer fps player.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
For a 3 year Computer Systems technology course at college.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 500GB min.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
http://www.ibuypower.com/ , http://www.sagernotebook.com/, http://alienware.com/, open to suggestions.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 3-4 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
BD ROM, writer is a bonus

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.
Open to suggestion
13. What country do you live in?
Canada
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
 

jmsellars1

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Dec 31, 2010
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This doesn't quite fit into your criteria but it's fairly close and costs less than half your budget.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214614

This should be fine for the games and is 17'' with plenty of RAM and a big HDD but it's 1600x900 and has a DVD drive instead of Bluray although that's easily replaceable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834158220

Alternatively there's something like this, it has a much higher overall spec and a 1920x1080 resolution along with a BD combo drive but costs pretty much the full budget.
 

ReverseClassic

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Feb 18, 2012
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10,510
I didn't mean to add that resolution, I'm not too exact about the resolution as long as it's pretty high.

was looking for around 8G of RAM.

Even though the games I want to play aren't really highend or graphically demanding games I still want a pretty good system that could handle more.

 

ReverseClassic

Honorable
Feb 18, 2012
9
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10,510
Thanks!
I'll take a look at that, Anything comparable from ibuypower or sager? or any other companies, just wanna get a bit of a broader aspect.

Is newegg reputable?
I've been looking at laptops directly from their companies websites.
 

Wave Fusion

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Jun 6, 2011
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I'd recommend either an HP dv7 Quad edition with the 7690M (plus any upgrades you like) or a Toshiba Qosmio 17.3 in notebook

Both have discounts if you know where to look (eg Techbargains)
Also, Toshiba offers a massive discount if you have a VISA card
(Google VISA card discounts and search the VISA site for Toshiba discounts)
 

ReverseClassic

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Feb 18, 2012
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10,510
I've had bad experiences with HP alltogether so I'm not gonna go there and I've heard of a lot of people having trouble with Toshiba.

I was looking more for something more known for gaming prowess as the schoolwork will not be that demanding of the system.

 

jmsellars1

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Dec 31, 2010
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MSI and ASUS seem to be some of the more popular brands for gaming laptops.

EDIT: I'm on an MSI laptop now actually, the X-370. The build quality seems OK, the touchpad and click isn't great but decent overall.
 

DelroyMonjo

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Mar 18, 2011
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Is this a "But, Dad, the University says we have to get at least this level of laptop."
ploy?
A $400 laptop with a DVD drive, printer port and an internet port would do most everything you would need unless all of your books are on DVD in which case you would probably want a larger HDD. And if you DO squeeze a printer out of Dad, you can buy one with USB ports.