looking for new laptops

[James Young]

Hi, I am currently looking for a laptof as a birthday gift for my nephew, he is a college student, not a gamer, but still play games sometimes, he often watch movie using his old laptop. I am not sure which brand has a good quality and last long, maybe dell, or samsung, or HP, but certainly he does not like Mac.
for the specs:
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M (or any other brand with similar performance)
memory at least 8 GB
less than 7 lbs.

Oh, and for the budget is from $1000 - $2000 (something around $1500 will be preferred)

Thank you

 

[Prostar Computer]

Clevo/Sager is solid for the money, and you can find units WELL within your budget with a 640M or better from them. Samsung and Lenovo are indeed good too.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Dell and HP don't make laptops.

The vast majority of laptops on the market (94% in 2011) are manufactured by a small handful of Taiwan-based Original Design Manufacturers (ODM), although their production bases are located mostly in mainland China. Major relationships include:

Quanta sells to (among others) HP, Lenovo, Apple, Acer, Toshiba, Dell, Sony, Fujitsu and NEC
Compal sells to (among others) Acer, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and HP/Compaq
Wistron (former manufacturing & design division of Acer) sells to Dell, Acer, Lenovo and HP
Inventec sells to Toshiba, HP and Lenovo
Pegatron sells to Asus, Toshiba, Apple, Dell and Acer
Foxconn sells to Asus, Dell, HP and Apple
Flextronics (former Arima Computer Corporation notebook division) sells to HP

http/www.lpc-digital.com/sager-np9150-features.html
Clevo 150EM, Core i7-3630QM Processor, 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM 2 X 4GB, Switchable GPU by Optimus Technology w/ NVIDIA GTX 670M GPU / Intel GMA HD 4000 GPU

High Definition audio interface
S/PDIF digital output
Built-in Microphone
Built-in two speakers made by Onkyo
Built-in one sub-woofer
External 7.1CH audio output supported by headphone, microphone, S/PDIF and Line-in jack
THX TruStudio Pro
Illuminated Full size keyboard with numeric pad
Integrated touchpad with Multi-gesture and Scrolling function
1 HDMI 1.4a output Port (with HDCP)
1 DVI-I output Port (single link)
1 DisplayPort 1.1 output Port
1 USB 2.0 Port
3 USB 3.0 Ports (One powered USB port, AC/DC)
1 eSATA Port (USB 3.0 combo)
1 Mini IEEE 1394a Port
1 Headphone Jack
1 Microphone Jack
1 S/PDIF output Jack
1 Line-in Jack
1 RJ-45 LAN (10/100/1000Mbps)
9-in-1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/SD/Mini-SD/SDHC/SDXC)
2 MiniCard Slots, one for WLAN Combo module (Half size Mini Card with PCIe and USB interface). The 2nd slot for mSATA SSD Full size Mini Card with SATA interface).
Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Built-in 2.0M Digital Video Camera
Kensington® Lock
and under 7 pounds at 6.83

.... $1,269 w/ upgrades to consider below:

-For the movies - 15.6” Full HD 16:9 LED-Backlit MATTE 95% NTSC Color Gamut Ultra Bright + $95.00
-I'd get the OS on Campus where's can usually get for $30, if not - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit is +80
-750GB Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 8GB SSD + $90.00
-For Blue Ray Movies - 6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive + $55.00
-Advanced-N 6235 - 802.11A/B/G/N + Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Module +$30
-8 cells smart Lithium-Ion battery pack 76.96Wh
-Integrated Fingerprint Reader
-Free Shipping
-Instant $50.00 OFF! (order is over $1, 350.00)

Total $1,459