Looking for Laptop Recommendations for Student/Casual gamer

[nonsensical_tangent]

Hey guys,
So I haven't bought a computer in quite some time, and I've been making do on my brother's old desktop, but now I'm looking to buy a laptop for taking to school, photo/video editing, as well as getting back into gaming.

I'm trying to keep my budget at $800 or less, so I know I can't get anything too fancy. I'm not a hardcore gamer so I don't know if I'm jumping the shark looking at gaming laptops or not, I just want to know that if I did start playing something like PubG that it could handle it. Mostly I just want to avoid buying something that looks like a good fit but has serious quality issues because of the price.

Any good suggestions for this dummy?

 

[King Dranzer]

Get this
https/www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-Red-Gaming-15-6-Inch/dp/B0788LN47J/ref=sr_1_23?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1515236070&sr=1-23&keywords=gtx+1050+ti

This will be fine for basic needs.

 

[gondo]

Ok the main thing to look at is the screen. There are many laptops that have 1440p or 4k screens and they seem nice. But you can't game on these. The resolution is too much unless you have a super high end video card to make it possible and then your laptop is well over $2000.

So look at a laptop with a 1080p screen. An I7 will be too much money. Maybe look for a CPU with an I5 or a decent I3 or Ryzen equivalent. the last main thing is the video card. To push 1080p good in gaming I'd look for a 1060card. These will probably be above your budget so get the next best thing. 1050Ti The rest is just whatever comes with the laptop. Also look for an SSD hard drive. They are fast and shockproof which is nice in a laptop.

As for brands Asus and MSI seem to be the better ones that are easy to find in stores without resorting to ordering custom laptops like a Sager.

https/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADYY6DW0543

Just a quick look found this Dell. it has an I5 7th generation, an SSD hard drive which is super fast and shock proof, a 1060 video card, and an IPS 1080p screen. Great specs and under $1000. This is the type of thing you are looking for.

https/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA65C6ME7621

Here an MSI with an SSD + 1TB of storage space. A 1050Ti video card which is decent. Plus it's an I7 which is the best. It's an MSI which is basically the best manufactured laptop on the market aside from those custom CLEVO machines. It has a beautiful Steelseries backlit keyboard, etc.... $1100 if you can swing it. This is basically the best value you are going to find if you absolutely want to do some gaming. The 1050Ti is an acceptable video card compared to the 1060 since the laptop only has a 60Hz screen. If you have a 120Hz screen laptop the 1060 might be a better advantage but at your budget forget it. This MSI is a real beauty.

To really chop $200-$300 and get into the $800 budget you have to make some hard decisions and where and if you want to cut.