Laptop for gaming under 600$

[SpyingEnvy]

Hello,

I live in Toronto, but I'll be leaving for a few months in July, as a result I wont have my desktop, so I'm looking for a decent laptop to take with me so I can game, I would like to buy it within the next two weeks.

1. What is your budget?
600$ and under

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.6 Inch + seems good

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Anything above 1280 x 720 is fine

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable, it's not to replace my desktop but to just make sure I can keep playing the games while I'm away

5. How much battery life do you need?
2-3 hours should be enough

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)?
DotA 2, League of Legends, Skyrim, Starcraft 2 and Devil May Cry 4 are the games I play the most, Med settings on any of these games is just fine, Skyrim is probably the most heavy duty game on the list, if it runs on Med the others should be fine

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
A bit of Illustrator and Photoshop

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
320-500gb should be enough

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I don't care for the site as long as it's trustworthy, current laptops that I've seen that interest me are these :

http/www.amazon.com/ASUS-G51VX-RX05-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Refurbished/dp/B002RX43RE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230216

But I'm really unsure

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Not sure what the average life expectancy is, but 1 year or so, I typed 3-4 earlier, realize it's not very realistic.

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

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.
None.

13. What country do you live in?
Canada.
Toronto, Ontario to be more specific.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

I don't know too much about computers, especially laptops, my current desktop's parts were selected by my cousin really, so I'm a little insecure when it comes to buying a new laptop but hopefully I'll make a good decision.

Any replies are highly appreciated,
Thank you very much.

 

[firedice]

http/www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215298CVF

You're asking for a lot. There's not much you can do with a laptop, especially for gaming, at 600$. A tower at that price would be okay. Laptop, you can expect it to do what it does for now but years, forget it at that price.

 

[SpyingEnvy]

You're right, expecting it to run for so long, as long as I can use it to play StarCraft 2, Devil may cry 4 and DotA 2 on low- med for 1-2 years it should be enough.

 

[remlex]

HP Pavilion G6 1156EE, HP G6-1236, HP G6-1315....or basically check out Hp G6 series. Sure you would see one with a good graphic card for gaming under $600.

 

[carstorm]

I have a HP pavillion g7 and it was only $480. I play most of the games you mentioned with it includin skyrim on med.

 

[PCgamer81]

Good luck.

 

[SpyingEnvy]

I have a HP pavillion g7 and it was only $480. I play most of the games you mentioned with it includin skyrim on med.

Which g7 are you using?

Also which sites do you recommend other than newegg?

Don't mind the life expectancy I posted, I really don't know how long laptops last.

 

[ram1009]

gaming laptop=oxymoron

 

[gorgerax]

This will work great for your needs and is a GREAT price. I have the exact same laptop...they are usually $500-$600.

http/sellout.woot.com/offers/samsung-quad-core-laptop-3?utm_campaign=Amazon+Daily+-+20120607+-+Sellout.Woot+-+samsung-quad-core-laptop-3&utm_source=Amazon&utm_medium=email

 

[KristinWard]

I would definitely not bother looking in stores for a laptop like that. You would probably be better off looking for home computer. You could try going to the dealer sites. You might be able to customize a laptop like the from hp. I've found that the site is a lot cheaper then going to best buy or another store. I wouldn't count on any laptop for under a grand lasting more then a year for gaming before its specs are to low however. Good luck.

 

[SpyingEnvy]

Thanks for the replies so far.
I've been playing around the HP website for a bit, I'll ask you if I manage to find anything good.

gorgerax, the laptop seems nice, did you generally try some light gaming on it? checking on youtube and other sites, it seems to run the games I look for on low-med settings, so I'm really considering it.

 

[Breadbin]

if you can find the lenovo y570 it should do your for a bit and google how it does with the games you mentioned. skyrim appears to run pretty well considering the gpu is a bit crippled but its cheap!

 

[mousseng]

+1 to Gorgerax's suggestion, since you seem to like it. The A6-3420M's integrated Radeon HD 6520G is, according to TH's GPU hierarchy, several steps above Intel HD 3000. The reason I mention that is because that's what I'm currently gaming on (i5-2410m), and HD3k is perfectly capable of playing Skyrim on low-med (tested myself), Starcraft on medium (tested myself), DOTA2 on low-med(ish) (tested myself), and handles Photoshop and Illustrator with gusto (tested myself). Also handles many Source games (TF2, L4D2, Portal 2, CS:GO, Nuclear Dawn, etc) at largely playable framerates. I think that laptop will do you solidly (it's also more affordable than the laptop I have!).

I love Woot and their writeups for products, also.

 

[SpyingEnvy]

Thanks for the replies, it does seem like an attractive offer.
There is another laptop I've found online that I want to run through you guys and see what you think.

http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/builder.workflow:Enter?mtm-item=%3A000001C9%3A00001752%3A

Been very very helpful, I really appreciate it.

 

[mousseng]

That's a steep jump in price from that AMD-based notebook from gorgerax, however you certainly get what you pay for - the i5-2450m is a few steps up from what I've got (which is already a damn solid processor), plus you'll be getting a discrete graphics card, the GT540M; if you're curious, check this overview of it. If you scroll down the page a bit (past the text) you'll find some proper game benchmarks, which should give you a good idea of how it'll perform.

Overall, if you're looking to spend that whole budget, definitely go for the Lenovo. Otherwise, that Samsung is a great, affordable option too (slower, though). Personally, I'd take the Lenovo.

 

[Wisecracker]

( ( ( Don't Do It! ) ) )

New AMD and Intel portables over the next 4-6 weeks should make prices on current older models drop.

Take a look at - - - - - - >>> this

Bow wow wow yipee yo yipees yay [:lutfij:4]

 

[SpyingEnvy]

Thanks for the link, Wisecracker, but I would still like to have a laptop when I go away next month, so I will probably still purchase one.
Unfortunately, I was planning on purchasing the Lenovo today, but it appears that the 600$ price is only available to US Customers, and there is no option to buy the Samsung anymore.
Looks like I have to start looking again, I should've tried ordering yesterday.
I'm open for suggestions.

 

[SpyingEnvy]

I came across this laptop, it's gotten really good reviews, it's refurbished, just want to get your opinions on it.
http/www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834158073

 

[Breadbin]

well the graphics card is decent enough and better than the GT540M in the lenovo you were looking at according to

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6750M.43958.0.html

but the processor is brutal according to the same site. Depends whether you want to believe everything you read - if it was me i wouldn't get it even though it is really cheap. i'd prefer to spend a little extra and get a core i5 with dedicated graphics. can you buy a laptop in europe without too much customs tax?

 

[SpyingEnvy]

I'm not sure about the customs as I've never ordered anything from europe, I think I would like to stick to NA just to be safe