Need help finding laptop please

[Jake323021]

I've been looking at a bunch of different laptops recently and I can't choose. If any of you could help me, I'd be grateful. I'm looking for an i7 but I will go down to an i5 if I must.

1. What is your budget?
I'm looking to keep it around 1000 USD. I may be willing to go up to 1500 if what I'm looking for just isn't available at 1000.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Not majorly big. Small-medium is best.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
I don't really know what the difference is. Sorry, but I'm still not tech savvy.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Again, it doesn't truly matter. I'd rather it be somewhat portable so I can take it to college.
5. How much battery life do you need?
Let's say 2-3 hours of regular use.
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)?
Definitely (main reason I want the laptop)
Games are:
Starcraft 2 (med-high)
Skyrim (high-ultra)
Crysis 2 (med-high)
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Nothing too big. I'll mostly be using it for gaming, web browsing, and typing reports for school.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
200gb+.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I was considering Alienware M11x (on my phone so can't post link) but that almost exceeds my $1500 limit so I want other suggestions as well.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
I'd like to keep it for a while. 2 years at least.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I would like a DVD ROM drive but it's not too big a deal if one isn't available.
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.
No real preferences.
13. What country do you live in?
US
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Backlit keyboard is a must.
Noise doesn't bother me unduly (unless it's really loud)
I don't care about the touchpad too much as I'm mostly going to be using my mouse.

 

[WR2]

3. What screen resolution do you want?
I don't really know what the difference is. Sorry, but I'm still not tech savvy.

Resolution is the amount of pixels on the laptops screen. 1366x768 is pretty much standard for 13"-15" laptops. 1920x1080 is an extra cost option on some 15" models.

Of the 3 games you mention the most demanding on laptop hardware is going to be Skryim. So it's going to be more like:
Skyrim (med-high)
Crysis 2 (high-ultra)
Starcraft 2 (high-ultra)
Are you OK with that?

 

[WR2]

Something worth checking out:
HP ENVY 15 Core i7 15" Laptop ~$1014
Core i7-2670QM 2.2 Ghz quad core CPU, 6GB RAM, 500GB 7200RPM HDD, 15.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ 1GB AMD Radeon Graphics (either HD 6770M or HD 7690M, depending on what's in stock when your order is built).
HD webcam and backlit keyboard. The HD 6770M or HD-7690M should meet the gaming goal mentioned above.

Hands-on with the HP Envy 15 (winter 2011)
HP Envy 15 (late 2011) review

 

[Jake323021]

The hp envy is definitely good. I'm fine with the game graphics you stated. I also opted for the 1920x1080 screen res. Should I keep this (extra 150) or should I just stay with the standard 1366x768? Thanks for providing the link to the hp as that seems the best price for what I want.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Powerful gaming and long battery life are mutually exclusive.

Alienware built their name when they were built by Clevo ..... now Dell owns them.

http/forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/91510-clevo-guide-v2-0-faq-reseller-info.html

CLEVO is a large Taiwanese computer company specializing in laptops. While the Clevo brand name is perhaps not widely known, their products are re-branded and sold by known boutique brand OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)… notably Sager, VoodooPC, Falcon Northwest, Eurocom, etc. They are also considered (by whoever knows about notebooks) to design and manufacturer the best of the best notebooks in terms of superior build quality and innovative designs.

I'd suggest the P151HM ....starts at $990 ..... just under $1,300 as customized below ..... RAM, HD, Optical and WifI upgrades.

15.6" 1920 x 1080 Full HD (16:9) Matte Type Display
Intel Core i5-2430M Processor, 2.4 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency 3.0GHz), 3MB Smart Cache
8GB, PC3-12800/1600Mhz DDR3 - 2 x 4GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M w/1.5GB GDDR5
500GB/7200rpm Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Drive w/4GB SSD Memory SATA-300 (SATA II 3GB/s)
6x Max. Blu-Ray Reader / 8x Max. DVD±R/2.4X Max. +DL Super-Multi Driv
Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit
8 Cells Lithium-Ion Battery Pack 76.96WH
Intel Advance-N 6230 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth Combo
Built-In 2.0M Pixels Digital Video Camera
Built-In Fingerprint Reader
Built-In Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Built-In 9-IN-1 Flash Memory Reader(MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS DUO/SD/Mini-SD/SDHC/SDXC)
1 IEEE-1394a Fire Wire
2 USB 2.0 Ports
2 USB 3.0 Ports
1 eSATA Port
1 HDMI Output
1 DVI-I Port
1 Kensington Lock Port
Built-in Microphone, 2 Speakers and 1 Sub-Woofer
4 Audio Jacks for Headphone, Microphone-In, S/PDIF-Out, and Line-In
1 100/240V Autoswitch AC Power Adapter
Standard Carrying Case with Strap

 

[samuelspark]

SC2 and Skryrim are cpu intensive games. I'd go for a higher clocked i7 dual core over a quad core just because those games don't use more than 2 cores. Also, in case you didn't know, 1080p has about x2 the pixels of 720p and therefore is a LOT harder on the computer hardware.

 

[Jake323021]

Out of these 4, what would be the best quality/price combo for my games? I don't know enough about the differences to pick. I was simply going to go with the cheapest i7 for $100. Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it.


2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M Processor (2.4 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) Turbo Boost to 3.0 GHz
Included in Price
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz
+$100.00
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2760QM Processor (2.4 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.5 GHz)
+$150.00
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2860QM Processor (2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz)
+$350.00

 

[WR2]

I'd stick with the Core i7-2670QM.
None of the other options would make a significant enough difference to let you move from medium graphics with i7-2670QM to high graphics game settings with one of the other options.

The LCD upgrade to 1920x1080 is a 'luxury upgrade' but is easily worth $150 IMO. The difference going from a 1368x768 TN screen to an 1920x1080 IPS screen is probably the best reason to get an Envy 15.

As samuelspark mentions going to the higher resolution screen does have an impact on gaming performance. You'll probably need to adjust graphics settings and/or screen resolution (changing from 1920x1080 to 1600x900 or even 1366x768) to get comfortable frame rates with the graphics settings you prefer to use.

 

[Jake323021]

Best answer selected by Jake323021.

 

[Jake323021]

Thanks everyone. Im going with the hp envy for a bit more than I wanted to spend, but worth it. Thank you especially, WR2.

 

[WR2]

Let us know how you feel about it once you've had a chance to work with it for a while.