Looking for College+Movie+Light Gaming Laptop

[sicklesnickle]

Hello I'm looking for a laptop I could use at college. I will mainly be using it for school, but I will also be using it to watch movies and maybe play Gametap/Source games.

1. Budget? Probably around 500-950~
2. Size? I'm looking for around 15" screen, with a compact design. Preferably around 1 inch in width or smaller. The lighter the better.
3. Screen Res? I like 1280
4. Need desktop replacement and portability.
5. Battery? Bat life doesn't really matter to me. I'll have an outlet.
6. Gaming? I might use for light gaming, mostly Gametap and Source, I don't care what res as long as it's around 50 consistant FPS or more.
7. Uses? Movies, web, light gaming (optional), music (very important to me to have good sound), word, excel...
8. Space? I need around 200-250g.
9. I don't have specific sites. Though I trust Newegg and TigerDirect.
10. I'd like to keep my laptop as long as possible, but at least 4 years (though that's a stretch).
11. A great wireless card would also be nice to have. Great sound card too.
12. Compaq is really the only brand I don't like. Dell is kinda eh too but I don't care as long as it as good reviews.
13. I live in the USA. (Colorado).

Thank you for your help!

 

[overclockingrocks]

I'd suggest looking at an HP DV6000 series they have some of the best sound out there (Altec Lansing built in)

 

[frozenlead]

Good sound on a laptop is non-existent by default. No laptop will sound good. (at least, not to me.) You need external speakers/headphones.

With that budget, I'd get anything you can get your hands on that has an 8400 in it.

 

[dwellman]

Yeah, 8400 / 9300

Or AMD 780 / 790

 

[sicklesnickle]

I should have mentioned that I only use headphones, I don't plan on using speakers on the laptop. Also I've kind of changed what I want. I want to be able to play Left 4 Dead "smoothly". I'm not an eye candy gamer, I don't care what games look like as long as it's smooth and consistent...low with 100 FPS is better than high with 30 FPS. My friend suggested the ASUS F8 V8Va-c1. Although that one is a bit high right now, I won't be buying this laptop until about late January.

 

[Peaks]

Just a few suggestions:

http/www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=412216#

http/www.pcnextday.co.uk/products/Search.asp?keyword=Zoostorm

 

[dwellman]

those be UK market and way over budget.

 

[sciggy]

I'm in the same boat, and I've been eying http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1218012522418&type=product&skuId=9050242 from best buy. Its a great price right now $699 sale, normally $849. 9300M GS 512 DDR2, Core 2 Duo T5800 @ 2.0ghz, 4gb ram. All around a pretty good spec'd laptop.