Looking for a new Laptop

[bootstraps117]

Looking for a new Laptop that can do medium-gaming/college work

1. What is your budget? ~800 USD

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

3. What screen resolution do you want? 1920 X 1080 probably

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Needs to go to school and come back to play games.

5. How much battery life do you need? 4-5 hours is fine I guess.

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, Starcraft 2, DayZ Standalone, Planetside 2, Skyrim,and Civ V. As for desired fps/settings, I would like something better than low because it's all I play on with my current laptop. In fact, I can't even run some of these games. If I can play games at 60 fps on high depending on game, that would be awesome. However, if I can do medium on ~30 or ~60 fps for all these games that would be the amazing. I added ~30 fps because I know that Skyrim, Planetside, and DayZ are very taxing games, so I think at this budget that is an acceptable fps.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Besides the usual web browsing/watching movies and homework, nothing more than gaming and programming will be done. I program on Eclipse or Visual Studios sometimes. I use Matlab/Mathematica sometimes? At school, it won't be plugged into the wall, but otherwise it will be.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 750 GB - 1TB HDD

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. No preferred sites.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 3+ years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Have no preference at all. Doesn't even have to have an optical drive.

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. I would like to stay away from HP as I've heard/read too many issues with their laptops.

13. What country do you live in? California, USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

I've looked into some laptops that I think fit the needs I stated. Let me know what you think.

1)]HP Envy 15t 15'6"
Originally, I was going to go with the http/www.costco.com/HP-ENVY-15t-Laptop-%7c-Intel-Core-i7-%7c-Backlit-Keyboard-%7c-2GB-Graphics-%7c-Windows-7-Professional.product.100120250.html
Thoughts: I read a lot of the complaints about the Wireless Card (Intel Centrino N-2230) that are still mostly not resolved. Second, I also read a lot complaints about overheating issues. Essentially, I don't want to go through the HP Tech Support hassle which is why I am staying away from HP, I think. I only mention because I wouldn't mind hearing anyone's experience with this laptop or the Envy line.

2)]Lenovo Y40P 14"
http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y40/?sb=:000001C9:00012367:&AID=10383968&PID=7501447&CJURL=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.lenovo.com%2Fus%2Fen%2Flaptops%2Flenovo%2Fy-series%2Fy40%2F%3Fsb%3D%3A000001C9%3A00012367%3A&PUBNAME=Jacob+Johnston&NID=CJ#customize
Is duo-core enough for what I need? Given that Planetside 2 and DayZ are processor intensive games.

3)]Acer Aspire V3-772G-5413 17.3"
http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K2O4S0W/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00K2O4S0W&linkCode=as2&tag=hubpages00b7e-20&linkId=UGU3OBNWAMJQ23IU
This thing is massive!

4) ASUS N56JN-EB71 15.6"
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231974

5)Lenovo Y410p 14"
http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y410p/?sb=:000001C9:0000FCD2:

 

[i7Baby]

Try to stay away from Dell and HP - lots of problems here without much after sales service eg info on how to fix or upgrade them.

I prefer - 1 Asus, 2 MSI then 3 Lenovo.

Try - MSI GP60 $849 (cheapest gaming laptop at newegg) - http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152570

 

[drapacioli]

Try to stay away from Dell and HP - lots of problems here without much after sales service eg info on how to fix or upgrade them.

I prefer - 1 Asus, 2 MSI then 3 Lenovo.

Try - MSI GP60 $849 (cheapest gaming laptop at newegg) - http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152570

This is good advice, although if you want max performance Lenovo currently has their 410p and Y40 that you linked on very good deals for the specs (a 755M is about on par with and an R9 M275 will beat an 840M, but the Y40 has a weaker processor. The y410p has more cores on the processor if you need more multitasking performance). One thing though is I've heard the screens aren't up to par with other laptops in this price range.

 

[bootstraps117]

I fixed my responses to you two specifically sorry!

 

[bootstraps117]

Try to stay away from Dell and HP - lots of problems here without much after sales service eg info on how to fix or upgrade them.

I prefer - 1 Asus, 2 MSI then 3 Lenovo.

Try - MSI GP60 $849 (cheapest gaming laptop at newegg) - http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152570

I looked at the MSI, and it does look great. I would love more recommendations. My question is whether an i5 4200M duo-core is enough for what I will do? i7 seems so powerful and great from everything I've read. Your name even says i7!

 

[bootstraps117]

Try to stay away from Dell and HP - lots of problems here without much after sales service eg info on how to fix or upgrade them.

I prefer - 1 Asus, 2 MSI then 3 Lenovo.

Try - MSI GP60 $849 (cheapest gaming laptop at newegg) - http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152570

This is good advice, although if you want max performance Lenovo currently has their 410p and Y40 that you linked on very good deals for the specs (a 755M is about on par with and an R9 M275 will beat an 840M, but the Y40 has a weaker processor. The y410p has more cores on the processor if you need more multitasking performance). One thing though is I've heard the screens aren't up to par with other laptops in this price range.

The problem with the Y410p is that it has the dreaded Intel Centrino N-2230! It has so many issues all over laptop/intel forums. This is the main reason I even stayed away from the HP Envy. Again, the Y40 has an i5 4210u which I'm not sure if its enough given that some of those games are processors intensive.

 

[drapacioli]

@i7Baby I looked at the MSI, and it does look great. I would love more recommendations. My question is whether an i5 4200M duo-core is enough for what I will do? i7 seems so powerful and great from everything I've read. Your name even says i7!

@drapacioli The problem with the Y410p is that it has the dreaded Intel Centrino N-2230! It has so many issues all over laptop/intel forums. This is the main reason I even stayed away from the HP Envy. Again, the Y40 has an i5 4210u which I'm not sure if its enough given that some of those games are processors intensive.

This is true, it's something I noted when I purchased it myself last night. I'll be replacing it with a different wireless card as soon as I get it, that's all. It's fairly easy to access in this model. Failing that, I actually don't care about using a USB adapter. If it's a deal-breaker for you, it's best to skip though.

 

[bootstraps117]

@i7Baby I looked at the MSI, and it does look great. I would love more recommendations. My question is whether an i5 4200M duo-core is enough for what I will do? i7 seems so powerful and great from everything I've read. Your name even says i7!

@drapacioli The problem with the Y410p is that it has the dreaded Intel Centrino N-2230! It has so many issues all over laptop/intel forums. This is the main reason I even stayed away from the HP Envy. Again, the Y40 has an i5 4210u which I'm not sure if its enough given that some of those games are processors intensive.

This is true, it's something I noted when I purchased it myself last night. I'll be replacing it with a different wireless card as soon as I get it, that's all. It's fairly easy to access in this model. Failing that, I actually don't care about using a USB adapter. If it's a deal-breaker for you, it's best to skip though.

I only say it's a deal breaker because I don't have the knowledge needed to replace something like that or even buy. I recall reading that Lenovo even has a locked BIOS that has whitelisted cards...

Can you by any chance give some advice on i5 vs i7 from what I posted? I would really like some input to ground myself somewhere.

 

[drapacioli]

M, MQ, and HQ model processors are higher power than the U counterparts, so unless you want maximum battery life go for the higher power ones. the i7 xxxU series is also dual core instead of quad as you might expect. I personally prefer the higher power i7's because I do a lot of multitasking, virtualization, and work with video editing and other content creation applications. For games, internet, and homework/light programming you'll probably not need the difference, so let the GPU dictate there, provided we're talking the higer-power i5's and i7's.

 

[i7Baby]

The i5 is fine for a laptop.