Need a New College/Gaming Laptop

[Swanka]

Hello! I am heading to college soon, and I need a few recommendations for a good laptop. I am going into mechanical engineering, so I need a laptop that is powerful and reliable. I also like to play games to kill time. I filled out the suggested format as follows:

Budget: $1500 USD. I can pay more, but ONLY if that extra cost can be justified.

Size: No bigger than 15.6".

Resolution: 1080p. No more, no less.

Portable or desktop replacement: Portable.

Battery life: 6+ hours when doing simple tasks, as this is primarily a laptop for a student. For gaming, I'll be keeping it plugged in anyway.

Gaming: Yes. Star Wars Battlefront, Grand Theft Auto V, Overwatch, Battlefield 3, Far Cry 3, Fallout 4. 1080p 60 FPS on medium settings or better.

Other tasks: CAD/CAM, browsing, document and slideshow creation, and maybe music notation.

Storage: 512+ GB. SSD preferred, but I'll be okay with a 7200 RPM HDD.

Specific sites: None.

Longevity: 4+ years. I want to be able to use this past college.

ODD: Preferred but not necessary.

Preferred brands: I prefer Dell and Asus as I've used their products for years and they've all proven reliable, but I'm open to other brands so long as they'll serve my needs well.

Country: USA

Misc.: 6 LBS. MAX! The lighter, the better. Matte IPS non-touch display preferred. GOOD BUILD QUALITY IS A MUST! (It will spend quite a bit of time in a backpack.) Any color but green. A Thunderbolt 3 port would be nice, but not necessary. Keyboard back-lighting would help.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Extremely specific, so please forgive me if I don't come up with the perfect laptop for you.

Awsome gaming laptop, but battery life is around 4 to 4.5hrs tops: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152942

Meanwhile, this laptop can hit 7hrs in certain conditions: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233111

6+ hours on a gaming laptop is incredibly hard to find, so I suggest you buy an external battery for your laptop if need be.

 

[Swanka]

Extremely specific, so please forgive me if I don't come up with the perfect laptop for you.

Awsome gaming laptop, but battery life is around 4 to 4.5hrs tops: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152942

Meanwhile, this laptop can hit 7hrs in certain conditions: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233111

6+ hours on a gaming laptop is incredibly hard to find, so I suggest you buy an external battery for your laptop if need be.

Thank you trying to help me. I expected it would be difficult to find "The One". Anyways, the first laptop by MSI looks nice. However, 17.3" is too big to consider. I found this one instead: http/www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1183450-REG/asus_gl552vw_dh71_i7_6700hq_16gb_1tb_windows_10_64_960m_15_6.html
I know that it has only a GTX 960m, but it comes at a good price. Plus, it has over 6 hours of web-browsing life according to this review (I'm looking at the aluminum version): http/laptopmedia.com/review/asus-rog-gl552vw-review-the-gl552-gets-a-solid-update-still-maintains-good-performanceprice-ratio/
Would you consider this a good buy?

 

[TechyInAZ]

That must be a newer ROG laptop, I've never seen that one before, just beware, all ultra thin gaming laptops get incredibly hot when gaming, i suggest looking at other reviewers to verify that it doesn't overheat.

Besides that, looks great.

As for a external battery, I'm not sure. I've heard they do exist, but I'm no expert in it.

 

[Swanka]

I did more research, and the cooling system should work fine. Plus, I can later swap out the battery for a better one (I think), since this model actually has a removable battery. So, think it's a good choice for an engineering student/gamer?

 

[TechyInAZ]

I did more research, and the cooling system should work fine. Plus, I can later swap out the battery for a better one (I think), since this model actually has a removable battery. So, think it's a good choice for an engineering student/gamer?

Yes, since the cooling system is good, defiantly buy it!