Recommended all-around laptops for $1200 or less?

[dulcamara]

It's been years since I've shopped for a new laptop - been checking out some reviews & whatnot today, must say I'm having a really hard time figuring out which one(s) are the best fit for my needs. If anyone has a spare minute to link up a recommendation or two I'd much appreciate it...

My two main requirements are a 17" screen & decent battery life (it'll be used on the go a fair bit). I'll be using the laptop for some web/graphic design & photo editing, general office stuff, occasional movie watching, possibly sometime some light video editing if the hardware can handle it. Some gaming capability would be nice, but I'm more of a strategy gamer than Crysis-2-on-highest-settings type.

Obviously decent build quality and a reasonably attractive appearance are plusses. Not too worried about weight within reason though.

Was looking at Toshiba's Qosmio line - they looked fairly promising until I read about the poor battery life...

My budget tops out at $1200. Any thoughts?

 

[Maziar]

MSI GE70 is a good choice
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152348
You can expect around 3-5hrs of battery life from it.

 

[dulcamara]

Looks like a good possibility hardware-wise, is MSI really a reputable company though?

I've been looking at this one: http/www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/search-SimpleOfferSearch?SearchTerm=dv7t&cattitle=dv7t

Any other suggestions?

 

[Sephypoo73]

Stay clear of HPs unless you're going with one of their better lines like the Elitebooks, Probooks, or Envy's... the Pavilions are garbage.

 

[Maziar]

MSI is a good brand and for that price,GE70 is hard to beat.As for HP,I usually don't recommend them(especially the DV series) because they have had lots of defective units and the warranty doesn't seem to be great

 

[dulcamara]

Interesting. I guess with the MSI link you posted it raised a red flag or two with the "Free Xbox Included!" deal - I usually associate that sort of gimmick with less reputable brands. In any event I already have an Xbox.

Point taken on the HP I mentioned. Too bad though, as on paper it looked to have everything I need.

Anyone else want to chime in here?

 

[dulcamara]

Anyone?

 

[gregck]

@regarding the HP haters in this thread, every notebook mfr has defective units. HP makes more laptops than any other computer mfr in the world, they OF COURSE have the most defective or DOA units. (except apple maybe?) I have a 2011 model dv6 and it is perfect. Not saying MSI is a bad brand (although i did have a bad experience with my MSI laptop 3 years ago) but laptops are so similar now-a-days.
every manufacturer will have defective or DOA units
every manufacturer will have their fair share of bad support reps
every laptop you buy will have at least a 1 year warranty. (In the USA)

now - i suggest this laptop for 993 - it also comes with a 3 year extended warranty:
http/slickdeals.net/f/4841730-Lenovo-Y580-Core-i7-3610QM-8GB-DDR3-15-6-1920-x-1080-GTX-660M-500-GB-7200-RPM-HDD-Blu-ray-3-year-warranty-993

For a slimmer profile, i highly suggest the samsung series 7 NP700z5c-s01us:
http/www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-NP700Z5C-S01US-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B0083S3OWW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341628956&sr=8-1&keywords=np700z5c-s01us

I will be getting the samsung series 7 this summer (whenever it goes on sale, hopefully) for school.
Less graphics power than a similarly priced hp/lenovo/dell etc but i prefer the slimmer form factor.

remember, almost all laptops (except for most ultrabooks) can be upgraded (ram and hard drives) with a little elbow grease. i highly suggest getting a laptop with less ram and a worse HDD and upgrading yourself. You should save quite a bit in the end.

Edit: didn't see the 17 inch requirement. arrest me...........

 

[gregck]

Interesting. I guess with the MSI link you posted it raised a red flag or two with the "Free Xbox Included!" deal - I usually associate that sort of gimmick with less reputable brands. In any event I already have an Xbox.

Point taken on the HP I mentioned. Too bad though, as on paper it looked to have everything I need.

Anyone else want to chime in here?

This is newegg, it's definitely a reputable site. As for the free Xbox, it's a nation-wide thing that Microsoft does every year to support PC sales. Almost all reputable PC outlets offer a free xbox 360 with a valid .edu email address.

nothing to worry about, think of it as an extra $150 off, you can always sell that brand new xbox on craigslist really easily..that's what i plan on doing!