Looking for a 'cheap' laptop for mild gaming, web browsing, and video watching.

[Xairen]

Hi all! I've been stuck with my gaming PC and found myself not playing that much games that use it to its full power.
I'll be able to sell it soon and I'm looking for a laptop that suits my needs better.

Here's my answers to the pinned questionnaire. Thanks for the help!

1. What is your budget?
- $800~$1100 CAD

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
- 13"~15"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
- Minimum of 1920x1080

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
- I don't think so

5. How much battery life do you need?
- N/A

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. Mostly just Dota 2, Stardrive, XCOM 1 & 2, and some other non-demanding indie/small publisher games, all preferably on High settings, can live with medium.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
- General web browsing and watching movies.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
- Max of 256gb SSD, 1TB HDD. A combination of the 2 for faster Windows boot up if possible.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
- http/www.ncix.com/ & http/www.bestbuy.ca/

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
- As long as it works! Probably 5 years before upgrading IF needed (i.e. dead fan, goes too hot, battery doesn't hold charge, fan is too noisy, etc...)

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
- None.

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.
- Razer looks good & has good specs as far as I can tell. Price puts me off a bit.
- Acer & Asus also looks good & has good specs as far as I can tell. Price seems reasonable.
- I'm not too familiar with laptops in general.

13. What country do you live in?
- Canada

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
- I'd like to get all of the above specs in a package that is as light and as thin as possible.

Thanks for reading through all that and again, thanks!

 

[Eximo]

Hmm, perhaps this one:

http/www.ncix.com/detail/msi-gp62-leopard-i5-4210h-01-115322-1324.htm

I would go out and buy an SSD upgrade kit to go along with it.

 

[geofelt]

You will need to make compromises between screen size and laptop weight.
Look at the Lenovo Y700 series.
They will use latest gen skylake processors.
You can configure exactly what you want.
Here is a 14" unit.
It lacks a ssd, but you can configure one with a ssd, or, buy a ssd separately and replace the hard drive.
I particularly like the IPS display.
http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/y700-14-inch/?sb=:000001C9:000161FC:

Lenovo seems to have these on sale with some degree of frequency, so shop well.

 

[Eximo]

Lenovo does tend to offer the best specs at the cheapest price. I have a Y410p myself. I don't use mine but for a few technical applications, mostly for my car, so couldn't speak much for longevity.

SSDs at the factory are generally overpriced I have found. Much better to buy as is and replace. Then you get a spare hard drive, a simple enclosure and you have an external drive as well. Rosewill makes a nice one.