Need advice on college laptop

[apletkaiver]

I'll be heading off to college next month (pretty last minute) and I will be needing some help with choosing one.

- I will be doing some gaming (not too heavy), watching a lot of videos / movies. Personally, I don't want the Intel Graphics HD but am willing to settle
- Light. < 5.5 lbs
- At least 4-cell battery, or lasts around avg
- Comfortable keyboard. If it comes with the 10-number keypad on the right, I don't want the whole keyboard to shift near the edges.
- I very much prefer Windows 7.
- Budget: $800

I've looked at the Dell Inspiron 15R b/c its 699 + 200 gift card but it doesn't seem to support much gaming.
(www.dell.com/us/eep/p/inspiron-15r-5521/pd?oc=fesvu23b7&model_id=inspiron-15r-5521)

Thank you guys.

 

[IInuyasha74]

This is the laptop I plan to buy if I buy one. If I do not I will wait 6 months and buy onewhen new AMD CPU's come out.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314119

This one has the best graphics you can get in any computer marked under $750. I checked Newegg, amazon, best buy, Toshiba, Walmart, Dell, and Tiger direct so I am sure this is the best one.

It has a pretty good processor also. Not the best, several similar priced laptops have better CPU's but not by a huge amount really. The difference should be small and hardly noticeable.

If you do buy it, you may want to buy an 8GB $60 stick of RAM for it. Doing this will max the system out at 12GB and shore up the only real weak point of the system and give you an amazing laptop system.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Oh it also has good battery life, about 4 1/2 hours worth. It is only around 4.5 pounds. It does have Windows 8, and I much agree with you Windows 7 is better but you nearly all laptops come with windows 8 now. You will have a hard time finding one with windows 7 and it will be close to impossible to find one that performs better with Windows 7. If it is a critical factor to you, I would advise you just buy a copy of windows 7.

 

[IInuyasha74]

The MSI C Series CX61 0OL-696US http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DERLLB8/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DERLLB8&linkCode=as2&tag=b0b929-20 would be a pretty decent option in your budget.

This one is $200 more expensive. It has a better CPU, but not way better. The graphics however are a step down. The other laptop I listed probably has a 20% better performance. The CPU in the one I listed might be %10 slower in some situations, but in other situations when all the cores are used it will perform faster. I just think if you were to pay $200 more you would want to get an all around better system and not a very slight improvement.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Are you high? In no planet is an 8750m APU better than a discrete GTX 765m.

http/www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1762&gid2=1493&compare=geforce-gtx-765m-vs-radeon-hd-8750m-2gb-ddr3

http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Perhaps if you were to ever actually read what you link to people you would know the laptop you listed only has an Nvidia GTX 730.

Not to mention, the 8750M is also a discrete card with 2GB DDR3 RAM. While it is possible the 730 will perform a little better, it all depends. There are 2 versions of the 730, one has 128-Bit RAM and performs a small bit better. The other has 64-bit ram and performs a lot worse.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Please see my last post. If it is the 730 with 64-bit RAM it will probably perform 20-25% worse. If it is the one with 128-bit RAM it will perform maybe 5% better. No matter what way you look at it, its not worth the extra $200 for a chance of getting something worse.

 

[PaXTooN]

Yeah but that's an acer. Gonna have problems no doubt, im looking at a nice Asus with 8gb ram i5 processer and gt 740m for $699.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Acers aren't trouble. That is one thing I think me and the other guy actually agree on. Acer makes some really good systems. I have had several Acer's and not a one every had issue. Only 1 died but it took it like 4 years to do so, and thats long enough to be a fluke.

Asus is good though. You may also like this Toshiba
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216539
$50 cheaper but with 2GB of RAM. Rest of the system probably the same so no biggy, but you could buy and install an extra 8GB of RAM for $60.

 

[PaXTooN]

Acers aren't trouble. That is one thing I think me and the other guy actually agree on. Acer makes some really good systems. I have had several Acer's and not a one every had issue. Only 1 died but it took it like 4 years to do so, and thats long enough to be a fluke.

Asus is good though. You may also like this Toshiba
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216539
$50 cheaper but with 2GB of RAM. Rest of the system probably the same so no biggy, but you could buy and install an extra 8GB of RAM for $60.

Not bad at all but I would prefer a 14 inch for the portability.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Completely understandable. Everyone has their preference in screen size. My dad likes those little 7" netbooks, can't stand those things. I prefer the 15.6
Owell, once you have finished unless you have any more questions please mark any post here as the solution just so this is closed. Hope you enjoy your system