Laptop for medium gaming and general use

[bball_1523]

I'm looking for a good gaming laptop that isn't too costly with a 960m 4gb videocard. I want to run skyrim at highest settings at 60 fps, though I could live with 34 fps at the minimum while in certain areas of the game (This currently happens to me on my old core 2 duo 3.0 ghz desktop with a gt 740 2gb videocard). Here is a list I gave answers to:

1. What is your budget?
$500-$1000 (the less the better).

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.6"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1080p

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
No

5. How much battery life do you need?
2-3 hours at least

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)?

Yes, Skyrim at ultra settings and 60 fps. Be able to play Fallout 4 at highest settings around 34 fps or maybe medium to high settings at minimum around 34 fps.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
General use such as web surfing, word docs, videos/movies, music.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
SSD of some sort and 1 TB storage

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

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
A few years. My current one I've had since early 2008 and it's still running. It's not a gaming laptop though.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD 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.
Lenovo, Dell, MSI, maybe others if they are reliable. I don't want HP because I've heard some negative things about them, unless you all can convince me otherwise.

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I want 960m 4gb videocard unless you can convince me that the 2gb is not too poor in comparison. Also I want 16gb of ram, but is 8gb enough?

Thanks!

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Hi,

Here are 2 laptops that is well within your budget but still has everything that you're looking for that may suit your taste.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154139
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232769

 

[BadActor]

No optical drive with this one, but you can always add a cheap external.

http/www.amazon.com/Dell-15-6-Inch-Quad-Core-i5-6300HQ-Processor/dp/B015PYYDMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462791631&sr=8-1&keywords=i7559

 

[bball_1523]

Thanks for suggestions. What do you all think of the lenovo y700?

Also, I prefer an i7 6700hq and ddr4 ram. Is there a Dell 7559 with i7 6700 hq and ddr4 ram?

 

[BadActor]

Thanks for suggestions. What do you all think of the lenovo y700?

Also, I prefer an i7 6700hq and ddr4 ram. Is there a Dell 7559 with i7 6700 hq and ddr4 ram?

I think the i7 Dell's only use DDR3L and are priced around a hundred dollars more. Don't know much about the Lenovo, but it's been reviewed well.

http/laptopmedia.com/review/lenovo-y700-review-major-overhaul-of-the-popular-gaming-hit-lenovo-y50/

 

[bball_1523]

Thanks for suggestions. What do you all think of the lenovo y700?

Also, I prefer an i7 6700hq and ddr4 ram. Is there a Dell 7559 with i7 6700 hq and ddr4 ram?

I think the i7 Dell's only use DDR3L and are priced around a hundred dollars more. Don't know much about the Lenovo, but it's been reviewed well.

http/laptopmedia.com/review/lenovo-y700-review-major-overhaul-of-the-popular-gaming-hit-lenovo-y50/

Do you think it's necessary that I get an i7 over an i5 or would an i5 work for my needs? I mainly want something that will play skyrim on highest settings at 60 fps and the newest games at highest settings at 34 fps minimum or perhaps high/medium settings are high 40-60 fps.

 

[BadActor]

Since your only using it for gaming and general tasks, the i5 should be sufficient. The actual FPS you're going to see is highly game dependent. A GTX 960M is less powerful than it's desktop counterpart, so settings are going to have to be turned down to get decent FPS. If you're really determined to have 60 FPS at high settings for newer games, you'll need a GTX 970M at least, which has about 80 percent more graphics power than the 960.

 

[bball_1523]

Since skyrim is almost 5 years old, do you think it'd still run at the highest settings at 60 fps with an i5 960m?

What if I got an i7 960m 4gb gddr5 laptop, do you think it would run skyrim at highest settings and run newer games at a decent fps at highest settings or even medium/high settings for good fps?

 

[BadActor]

It should be possible for Skyrim. I found one video which claims 60 FPS on high.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6NBY82He_o

 

[velo3100]

I would suggest either an asus gl series or an msi ge series.

 

[bball_1523]

What do you guys think about the MSI PE60 6QE-031US?

http/m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834152952&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile-_-pla-_-Gaming+Laptops-_-N82E16834152952&gclid=CPe3oNC_18wCFcNlfgodgrwNQw&gclsrc=aw.ds

Is has almost all the specs that I want and comes with USB type c. It has 2gb 960m instead of 4gb, but would that matter for playing future games?

 

[spruce11]

I think this PE60 6QE quite fits your min requirement. If you also look at its official website, it certainly gets decent audio features (dynaudio, nahimic) and the more important cooling system (cooler boost 3).
https/us.msi.com/Laptop/PE60-Prestige-6th-Gen-GTX-960M.html#hero-overview

As you mentioned about "future games", I would say if you're just a light-medium gamer, it should be alright. But if you're expecting to play powerful games in the future, which require high-end GPU and CPU, maybe to top up your budget to get a laptop with GTX970M or higher GPU.

 

[bball_1523]

What do you guys think is the better laptop? MSI GE62 with gtx970m 3gb? or MSI PE60 with 960m 2gb?

I know gaming wise, the GE62 is better, but do you guys know if there are other obvious and beneficial differences between the two? Are the displays similar or does one have a better display then the other?