New Laptop

[zekeyoh]

1. What is your budget? No more than $650

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? between 15" to 17" (preferably 17" ).

3. What screen resolution do you want? unsure

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Desktop replacement but would like to be able to move around the house with it

5. How much battery life do you need? Standart (would be plugged in most of the time)

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)? Yes, it would mostly be for WoW and Diablo 3 when it comes out. Medium setting would be prefered but nessesary

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? Chatting,web browsing,netflix, and dvd watching (doesn't have to be blu-ray)

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 500+ GB

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I've been looking at best buy, dell, sony, walmart.

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

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? DVD-RW

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. Dell and sony but not limited to them

13. What country do you live in?
US
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Would prefer Intel over AMD
With full keyboard (maybe back lit if possible)

 

[ultra619]

This laptop seems good, quad core, 6 gb ddr3, 6750m. But the one bad thing is that its refurbished

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834158073

 

[zekeyoh]

What is so bad about it being refurbished? Is it less reliable than new ones?

 

[WR2]

The 90 day warranty is a lot less than the standard 365 day warranty.
You never know exactly why it got returned.

 

[Hegon]

Yes refurb is a bit of a risk.

As you're after a budget model with decent gaming capabilities, I'd recommend taking a look at the Acer Aspire AS5750G (it wins an award as a best buy in the linked review).

For the money, you get something new with a full warranty which can certainly run games well... don't think you'll do much better at a budget level (though someone could well prove me wrong ).

Anyway the Aspire is well worth a look, the only slight downside is it isn't a full 17 inch screen, but a 15.6 inch one.

 

[AntiZig]

Hello,

Your budget is pretty slim seeing how you want a rather large laptop with good gaming capabilities. Keep in mind that the larger the screen the higher the resolution will be, and the higher the resolution the more powerful GPU you will need to run the game at native resolution.

I think this would be your best bet, but it seems to be out of stock currently:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215256

Another thing is that the prices shot up recently due to HDD shortage, so the laptop you could get for 650 is currently 800. For $650 the best you can get is a 6550 which personally I wouldn't recommend for gaming...

Regarding the refurbished, I think you should consider them given your small budget and current price surge on new laptops. Basically refurbished means that somebody bought the new laptop, used it a little bit and then returned it for whatever reason. The company then refurbishes the machine to be sold as is at a lower price. Consequently, the warranty period might be shorter than on a new model or it might be more expensive. The return policy is also a lot more strict with refurbished laptops, since typically they do not with to refurbish it again. The laptop might have some minor scratches and some screw wear. All that said, typically refurbished laptops have nothing wrong with them functionally. I think you should do some research about the details of getting a refurbished laptop and strongly consider a few refurbished options. Often times you can get a refurbished gaming laptop for about 60% of its original price. So the link ultra619 gave you seems like the best deal in your price range on newegg at the moment.

Hope this helps and good luck searching

edit: is it absolutely necessary for you to get a laptop? surely you must have a desktop in the house, would it be possible for you to use that with a few upgrades?

 

[zekeyoh]

How much higher would I have to go to get what I'm looking for?

 

[WR2]

You want 1600x900 resolution and you want to play on medium settings when it comes out.
That would probably take something on the order of Diablo III Recommended System Requirements GTX 260 or Radeon HD 4870 desktop graphics cards.
In laptop graphics that's a bit above the GT 555M or HD 6770M/7690M graphics cards.
So you're looking at something like the Dell XPS 17 or HP DV7