MSI vs. Lenovo: A $1000 Budget

[Cleavon Buford]

I need a Windows based laptop for school in the fall (doing .NET programming, web design, and Access mostly) and I also like to play PC games. I build my own desktops so I've already got a very nice gaming desktop, but I want the laptop to be able to play some games on decent settings.

The games I currently play a lot are:
Diablo 2 (yeah my graphing calculator could probably run this)
League of Legends
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Minecraft

Now I know none of those games are overly taxing but I want to be able to play them at least at medium settings at 1080p and get ~60fps.

My budget is about $1000, the two laptops I am currently looking at are:

Lenovo Y50:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834317539

MSI GP60 Leopard-009:
http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IQ4DKMM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1FGJBKVTYG25KHYGNBJ8&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

Now I know the differences in the hardware, the Lenovo has the better GPU, the MSI has the better CPU and HDD. The question is, which brand do you guys think would be better? And which would give me the overall best bang for my buck?

I had a terrible experience with Lenovo about 5 years ago when I ordered a Thinkpad from them and it arrived with 2 stuck pixels and they refused to exchange it or refund me my money (long story short, took me 3 months and a call to the Better Business Bureau to resolve it) but I hear good things about Lenovo from virtually everyone, and if I went through Newegg I imagine the customer service would be better for the first 30 days (during which I would thoroughly test and examine the machine).

I've never owned an MSI product in my life, but again I hear good things.

Given my budget which would you guys recommend between those two? Or is there a totally different computer you would recommend I buy? (I would very much prefer to buy from either Amazon or Newegg as I have lines of credit through both companies already).

My basic requirements:
Intel i5 or i7 CPU
nVidia GT840M or higher GPU
8GB of RAM
1920x1080 Resolution
Good keyboard (I will not buy something with a squishy keyboard)
3+ Hours of battery life for non-gaming use

I don't care about disc drives or speakers that much (I use headphones 99% of the time)

Any help you guys can give would be really appreciated!

 

[dasulman]

the lenovo is clearly the better bang for the buck. Definitely, barely even comparable.

 

[Cleavon Buford]

the lenovo is clearly the better bang for the buck. Definitely, barely even comparable.

Does anyone have an opinion on Lenovo as a brand though when it comes to this kind of laptop?