Laptop For College(Computer Science)

[Ashwin Kumar]

General Questions

1) What is your budget?
1200$

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
15" or 17"
3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
USA(Boston)

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Nope

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
I'll prefer a new one.

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Coding(Visual Studio), Running VM's, Playing games, Daily productivity and multimedia stuff, Might start working with Unity 5 and Unreal engine 4 in the future.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Both

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
Battlefield 4, Crysis 2, Bioshock Infinite, Farcry 4

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
2-3 hrs on normal usage(Battery is not the most important thing)

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
Online purchase would be ok

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (Windows 7 / 8), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Nah i have a Win 8.1 license so anything is ok

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer?
I preferred UHD but it seems there are too many scaling issues and stuff that a FHD screen now would be the best option.

13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?
No preferences here.

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Nope

15) When are you buying this laptop?
August 1st week

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
4 years

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need? Do you want a SSD drive?
Ill prefer a ssd over an HDD but if its an hdd would really like to have another bay to put the SSD but if not ill replace the hdd in future with SSD.

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD Burner, Blu-ray Reader or Blu-Ray Burner?
Not much of an issue.

I've done some decent searching(i've put in a lot of time) and have now got more confused.. So many options everything with some compromise or the other.

I've got the MSI GE62 Apache-082 or 276[1099$],MSI GE72 Apache-027 or 078 or 235,[1199$], Lenovo Y50(4 gig 960m,16gb ram)[1099$], Asus Rog GL551JW-DS71[1050$],Asus Rog GL551JW-DS74[1150$],Asus Rog G751JL-DS71[1200$], Acer Aspire V15 and v17 in consideration.

I'm just totally confused now. In terms of cooling nothing here comes close to Asus Rog G751JL-DS71 also it has the 965m which is good but it has a non removable battery,a crappy speaker,also sata 2 2nd drive. The MSI ones look pretty neat but not soo good build quality compared to the Asus,loud fans,and pretty bad looks(not a major issue),Acer seems to have wifi issues and i've been told to keep away from them considering after sales support,the Lenovo seems a pretty good offer nothing major against it except the stupid sshd and not having the option to install a second drive.

So please advice which one is the best option all around? Have i missed some contender ?Let me know.

NOTE:
I'm from India.My relative will get it for me from USA so international warranty is a must. So please don't suggest Sager or Clevo because they have no service centre in India.I'm joining college this year and would like to have it till college is over.And considering the requirements i really don't know what topics or interests i'll end up with after 2 years so a powerful lappy now will get me past the hunger for power later!

 

[CreativeBlitz]

Check out the scratch-n-dent / Refurb Lenovo laptops. The Y50 can be had for as cheap as $630. I bought a Y400 with the GTX 650m and its been running for two years now without any problem. I use mine to play games with on occasion but the light up keyboard is my favorite feature

http/outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/laptops/#facet-1=1,2,3,4&facet-3=21&facet-5=6,7&facet-9=6&facet-12=7

UPDATE:

I was told by a lenovo rep that you can order an extended warranty if you call in after you order your laptop. Default warranty is a one year depot warranty

 

[Ashwin Kumar]

Check out the scratch-n-dent / Refurb Lenovo laptops. The Y50 can be had for as cheap as $630. I bought a Y400 with the GTX 650m and its been running for two years now without any problem. I use mine to play games with on occasion but the light up keyboard is my favorite feature

http/outlet.lenovo.com/outlet_us/laptops/#facet-1=1,2,3,4&facet-3=21&facet-5=6,7&facet-9=6&facet-12=7

UPDATE:

I was told by a lenovo rep that you can order an extended warranty if you call in after you order your laptop. Default warranty is a one year depot warranty

Thanks for the reply. I just checked that link and it seems none of them are the 2015 models(Don't have 960m) which means they all have a bad screen so nope its not a solution. I dont want to buy the 860m Lenovo y50 versions as ive read pretty bad reviews of the display all over the net!

 

[Alabalcho]

Are you going to study, or you are going to party?

CS courses will ask your laptop for a lot of RAM, screen real estate, and disk storage. In your budget this means forgoing "gaming" laptops.

 

[Ashwin Kumar]

Are you going to study, or you are going to party?

CS courses will ask your laptop for a lot of RAM, screen real estate, and disk storage. In your budget this means forgoing "gaming" laptops.

Study, Then which type of laptops am i looking at? One of those overpriced dual core laptops(How am i going to run VMs then?). Which type of laptops and which one do you suggest?

 

[logainofhades]

The fastest GPU, that you can get with that budget, on newegg, is a GTX 965m. That leaves you with these 3. http/www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100025325%204023%20600551625&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=3365%7C34-152-711%5E34-152-711-04%23%2C34-232-423%5E34-232-423-08%23%2C34-152-738%5E34-152-738-TS&percm=34-152-711%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-232-423%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-152-738%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

 

[Alabalcho]

You look for a laptop with good CPU (I would avoid AMD altogether), like i5, 8GB or RAM, 256/512GB SSD.
As for the screen size: While large size (15.6" and above) with HD would be the best, it won't be very portable, and will suck battery power. I would rather go with something in 13-14" area, with HD screen, and use the remaining budget for good desktop monitor / keyboard / mouse.

 

[logainofhades]

You look for a laptop with good CPU (I would avoid AMD altogether), like i5, 8GB or RAM, 256/512GB SSD.
As for the screen size: While large size (15.6" and above) with HD would be the best, it won't be very portable, and will suck battery power. I would rather go with something in 13-14" area, with HD screen, and use the remaining budget for good desktop monitor / keyboard / mouse.

Laptop i5's are all dual core with hyperthreading. I would stick with the i7's that have a Q somewhere in their model name.

 

[Ashwin Kumar]

The fastest GPU, that you can get with that budget, on newegg, is a GTX 965m. That leaves you with these 3. http/www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100025325%204023%20600551625&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=3365%7C34-152-711%5E34-152-711-04%23%2C34-232-423%5E34-232-423-08%23%2C34-152-738%5E34-152-738-TS&percm=34-152-711%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-232-423%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B34-152-738%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

Thanks a lot for these suggestions..Most are in my list and it did help me!

You look for a laptop with good CPU (I would avoid AMD altogether), like i5, 8GB or RAM, 256/512GB SSD.
As for the screen size: While large size (15.6" and above) with HD would be the best, it won't be very portable, and will suck battery power. I would rather go with something in 13-14" area, with HD screen, and use the remaining budget for good desktop monitor / keyboard / mouse.

Unfortunately a desktop monitor isn't an option for me in the dorm at least for the first year.Yes mouse is a definite one and keyboard ill buy if needed. And the screen size seems highly arguable. But i saw a few laptops with different screen sizes and i preferred the 17" over the 15" over the 13. The 13 is too small and i like the space the 17" screen offers considering i won't be buying an external monitor for at least a year.

Also you didn't mention which laptops you would recommend(Model) as i think almost all of the laptops would meet the requirements except the ssd maybe which isn't the most important thing and can be upgraded in the future.
.

You look for a laptop with good CPU (I would avoid AMD altogether), like i5, 8GB or RAM, 256/512GB SSD.
As for the screen size: While large size (15.6" and above) with HD would be the best, it won't be very portable, and will suck battery power. I would rather go with something in 13-14" area, with HD screen, and use the remaining budget for good desktop monitor / keyboard / mouse.

Laptop i5's are all dual core with hyperthreading. I would stick with the i7's that have a Q somewhere in their model name.

Yep none of the U cpus..

Update:
I've zeroed in on 3 models.
1. Lenovo Y50(15.6" screen,16gig,960m with 4gb vram,3 years warranty)(1088$)
2. Msi Ge72 Apache-027(17.6" screen,16 gig, 965m 2 gig, 1 year warranty)(1190$)( A free SteelSeries Gift - Siberia V2 Headset-MSI Gaming Edition)
3. Asus Rog G751JL-DS71(17.3" screen,16 gig,965m 2 gig,1 year warranty)(1190$)

Even though the Lenovo Y50 has a smaller screen and less powerful gpu and no expansion slots for ssd it makes up for it with the price and warranty.This laptops seems to have a solid everything else(Keyboard, Sound ,etc)
Even though I did check the Msi Ge62 series but it seems that they have a lot of heating issues(fan running crazily and stuff) so the 17.3" version with good cooling, 3 m2 slots for ssd, and with a headphone seems to be a very good offer.
The Asus almost same in every aspect with the MSI Ge72 one except one expansion slot and supporting up to 32gig ram expansion(Ge 72 is 16 gig max) (But i don't think i'll need anything more than 16 gigs..). It Seems asus support is better and beats the MSI in build quality, cooling.

So its like a tie between these three.Should i opt for a longer warranty or for higher specs and bigger and better display? If so the Asus or MSI?

 

[Alabalcho]

Just don't forget that backpack full of lead-acid batteries when you go to a class with these 17" behemoths...
* Lenovo Y50: 5.7lbs, "up to five hours"
* MSI GE72: 5.95lbs, battery runtime not listed
* Asus ROG G75: 8.75lbs, battery runtime not listed

Again - these are fine-specs notebooks / desktop replacements, just not the best for college-related tasks.