Need help buying first laptop in 7+ years

[RooksRN]

1. What is your budget?
I'd like to stay within the $750-1000 range, but this is slightly flexible.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Not extremely heavy; comfort when transporting is preferred.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1080p (I'm not sure what other options are available nowadays, but this is my minimum).

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I have a perfectly good desktop.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Preferably 4+ hours, but I am flexible on this.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
I don't plan on playing anything too strenuous (i.e., Minecraft, 2014 or older games, etc.), but a dedicated card is preferred if possible.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
No intensive editing. I would just like a fast, responsive computer capable of heavy streaming/browsing.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Preferably around 500GB. I am quite interested in SSDs, but I know relatively little about them. If they could improve the overall responsiveness and 'quality of life' tasks, then I would like to make this preferred.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I have no loyalties to brands or a specific company. Just interested in a quality product.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
3-5 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc?
No preference.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Have had quality issues with HP in the past, but again, this has been 7+ years. I would like to think quality has improved since then. I'd prefer a brand not destroyed with bloatware.

13. What country do you live in?
United States

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
That should be about it. I'm about to start my post-graduate degree and I want a quality laptop to carry me through. Thanks guys!

 

[JQB45]

MSI GP Series GP62 Leopard Pro-002 Gaming Laptop 5th Generation Intel Core i7 5700HQ (2.70GHz) 8GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M 2GB GDDR3 15.6" Windows 8.1 64-Bit

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152879

 

[Berryal]

The above choice is an excellent one, but I would definitely try to get an SSD if you can. It improves boot/load time tremendously and just generally makes your whole system feel a lot faster.

 

[JQB45]

I was really hoping to find an SSD and an nVidia 960m, but for a price of $750.00 to $1000.00 neither was possible.

 

[RooksRN]

I do have a small amount of wiggle room on the budget if either of those upgrades are going to be worth the bump in price. How hard would it be to upgrade to an SSD aftermarket? I know there is usually very little room for modification with laptops.

 

[JQB45]

On the laptop I suggested you would have to remove the bottom of the laptop (10-12 screws) and that would give you access to the memory, hard drive, optical drive, etc. To remove the hard drive once the panel is removed you typically have to remove 1 or 2 screws then pull the hard drive back away from the sata connector. Its actually very easy. Check on you tube for video instructions.

 

[velo3100]

A cheap lenovo will do as you don't really play games.

 

[RooksRN]

I am kinda scared away from the Lenovo brand; every review I've read about them seems to indicate that their build quality is relatively cheap. I don't mind paying more for a better quality product. I'd love to be proven wrong though!

 

[velo3100]

Then asus maybe better. They have good build quality and have a good screen. Look at their n or u series laptops.

Alternatively you could use msi as they are generally well received as having good build quality and are worth the money you spend