Solved! New Gaming/Portable Laptop for College?

[shew]

Hey everyone, I've been doing a lot of research and am in need of a gaming laptop that is also mobile for college. I need to be able to stream/play sc2 on it, while also being able to take it to class and take notes if needed. I don't want to be hauling around a 50 pound device. I've been doing a lot of research and found some good laptops, and I'd like to get the community's advice as well

My budget is around $2k, so I have a wide range of laptops to choose from.

15.6" or 14" seems to be the best monitor size, I had a macbook pro that was 15" for the past 4 years of high school, but I want to stay clear of macs. a 14" would be perfectly fine as well

The "F Series" by MSI seems like a good line of laptops, although I'm not sure how well the 1 gb ddr3 nvidia graphics card will work for sc2 & streaming?

http/www.msimobile.com/level2_productlist.aspx?id=110&order=priced

Asus also has a good line of laptops here:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006550%2050001315%2040000032%20600004344&IsNodeId=1&name=15%22%20-%2015.6%22

I was also thinking of customizing a clevo laptop on avadirect as well, but time is running short and I'll need my laptop in about a month from now:

http/www.avadirect.com/Gaming-Notebooks

and I've heard good things about this laptop:

http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5160-clevo-w150hn-p-2999.html

thoughts n help?

 

[Pyree]

This will fit your budget with money spare for ssd upgrade.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152266

 

[Pyree]

Got even better deal:

http/www.avadirect.com/gaming-laptop-configurator.asp?PRID=19603

+$335.35 vertex 2 240g and $131.16 16g kingston ram upgrade

 

[shew]

Got even better deal:

http/www.avadirect.com/gaming-laptop-configurator.asp?PRID=19603

Thank you for the recommendations Pyree

I'm also looking at 14" notebooks, since 15.6" seems a bit big to carry around so any recommendations on those would be great too

 

[Pyree]

14 inch will be too small for gaming. LOL, sc2 map will be difficult to fit on screen.

 

[Maksym]

ASUS G series or Sager NP8130.

 

[Pyree]

Sager

 

[WR2]

Something reasonable in 14"
Lenovo Ideapad Y470 14" notebook $900
i7-2630QM Sandy Bridge quad core, 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, 14" 1366x768 LCD w/ GT 550M graphics.
Weighs in around 4.85lbs (2.2kg) and measures .78" at its thinnest point, and features smooth metal shell and SRS Premium Sound and JBL speakers.

 

[WR2]

Since SC2 does look much nicer on a large screen display you could get an external 1920x1080 LCD and use that for gaming (and school work in the dorm).

This 23" LCD monitor from Samsung also has a 23" digital TV tuner for about $240

 

[WR2]

NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M review

 

[bbgink]

I think 14-inch is ideal for carrying than 15-inch screen laptop. But if you need the super performance : Asus G53 might be a good choice.

 

[Pyree]

I think 14-inch is ideal for carrying than 15-inch screen laptop. But if you need the super performance : Asus G53 might be a good choice.

We rule that out already. The G53 series still on 1st gen i5/i7 and not cheaper than Sager using faster 2nd gen i5/i7.

 

[ianstein]

i am just gonna throw this out there...

have you considered splitting your budget between two systems?

you could get a i5 13.3"-14" laptop from toshiba, lenovo or sony, and leave yourself with ~$1200 for a desktop, which would be plenty to build a i5 2500k system. I think you would get a much better bang for your buck this way and fulfil both your mobile needs and high quality gaming ambitions.