New laptop $1000 budget?

[NotSoSavvy]

1. What is your budget?
$1000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.6 inch (mainstream)

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Preferably 1600x900 or 1900x1080, no standard resolution please

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Again, mainstream size. It will serve as my main computer but I will be taking it to school to every now and then (maybe twice a week)

5. How much battery life do you need?
3+ hours is fine, more is better (duh!)

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 want to be able to do some gaming, but not too intensive. I typically play WoW, League of Legends, Sims 3, and Skyrim. I would love to be able to play BF3 on medium or so but it isn't necessary. A GPU like the Geforce GT650M or higher will be great.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
I'm an engineering major so I will do some modeling designs. I will be using some software programs like SolidWorks SDK, Dreamspark, and possibly AutoCAD.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Preferably 1T HDD

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I don't know much about online sites. I usually go to retail stores like BestBuy, Fry's, Costco, Microcenter, etc.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4+ years (throughout college)

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Not needed, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to have (I know it will add some weight)

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.
I don't know much about brands, but I've heard good things about HP and Lenovo.
I don't want a Mac due to program limitations.

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I need a durable yet powerful laptop that is still somewhat portable. I guess I'm kinda asking for a lot. I want to buy a business class laptop due to the durability and build quality, but all of them come with professional GPUs and I'm not sure if I'll be able to play games at all. At the same time, I'm not sure if a gaming GPU will suffice for my college programs. I know a professional laptop will cost more (over $1000) but is it better for my purposes? I was looking at the Lenovo Y510 but I heard gaming laptops don't last long, even less than normal consumer laptops. Durability/performance is #1 for me.
Lastly the specs I want are:
i7 4th gen 4700MQ (2.4GHz is fine)
8G DDR3 ram
1T HDD
A solid GPU

I know this is a lot and thank you for reading all of this. Any help is appreciated.

 

[NotSoSavvy]

Anything?

 

[mc962]

I have a lenovo y410p, price starts at $780 and has most of what you are looking for, could probably get even more of that by spending a bit on their higher-up options: http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y410p/

It's definitely not as durable as the Thinkpads (those you could probably use as a weapon without hurting the computer), but has good stuff. Although I saw you didn't like the y510p, and the y410p is basically just the 14 in. The gaming/ consumer laptops don't last as long because true, sometimes companies don't use as good materials when building, but it also has to do with how you use it. Games make heat, heat kills computers. Lots of games = lots of heat = quicker death. And for me, I've dropped my laptops before, so that's another issue.

If durability is the #1 priority I would look into Lenovo's thinkpad line, they are built like bricks from what I hear. If $1000, then the T series is probably what you want. Although I'm not sure how good the NVS gpu they bundle with it is, so scheck to see what if anything it's good for.

 

[NotSoSavvy]

How long do you think a Lenovo 410p or 510p would last me? And I mean last as in still running, not as in be up to date on technology.

 

[mc962]

Probably a while, it depends on how much you abuse it. 3-5 years?

I had a z370 that lasted 2 years, but I wasn't too kind to it. It probably would have made it at least to 3 years and probably more