School/Gaming Laptop Suggestions

[Spencer Bowdle]

I'm looking for a laptop that I can use for my last year of high school and throughout college, but also one to handle games like Skyrim or Call of Duty, etc. Here are my preferences:

1) Budget:

Preferably no more than $1,500 USD.

2) Size:

No more than 15.6".

3) Portability:

I'd like it to be light and small as I'll need to carry it around school.

4) Battery Life:

Enough to get me through a day of classes; I'll probably have it plugged in when I'm playing games.

5) Games:

Again, things like Skyrim or CoD.

6) Other Tasks:

Mostly just school work, browsing, music, etc.

7) Operating System:

Windows.

8) Storage:

At least 500 GB, preferably SSD or SSHD but a HDD is fine.

9) Memory:

8-12 GB is best.

10) Processor:

Intel i7, Quad-Core is preferred but not necessary.

11) Graphics

I'd prefer an NVIDIA card, 2GB is fine.

12) Computer Life:

I'd like to be able to keep it for the next 4-5 years.

13) Additional Info:

The better it's built, the better for me as I'll be carrying it around in a bag a lot.

 

[Milheim]

The problem with gaming laptops is that they're not the most portable. They tend to be bigger than normal consumer laptops. You trade off portability for gaming ability.

 

[Spencer Bowdle]

The problem with gaming laptops is that they're not the most portable. They tend to be bigger than normal consumer laptops. You trade off portability for gaming ability.

That's true. Portability isn't really my primary concern, though I wouldn't like anything larger than 15.6". My priorities are functionality and cost.

 

[Milheim]

Check out the Alienware 15. Looks like it'll get you what you want for under your budget. If nothing else it's a starting point for you.

 

[bloodroses75]

The biggest hurdle you will run into is finding a laptop that is capable of gaming, but doesn't kill the battery whenever it is not plugged in (gaming or not). The last laptop I got for gaming would chew through it's battery in around 2 1/2 - 3 hours under normal usage, and less than 45 minutes while gaming on battery. I now have a laptop that uses a broadwell chipset that has decent battery life, but it cannot handle much more damanding titles than Heroes of the Storm.

If you can find a laptop that uses Nvidia's Optimus technology, that might be your best bet since it has the ability to use the integrated graphics when not gaming, and switches over to the nvidia card as demand is needed.

 

[Spencer Bowdle]

The biggest hurdle you will run into is finding a laptop that is capable of gaming, but doesn't kill the battery whenever it is not plugged in (gaming or not). The last laptop I got for gaming would chew through it's battery in around 2 1/2 - 3 hours under normal usage, and less than 45 minutes while gaming on battery. I now have a laptop that uses a broadwell chipset that has decent battery life, but it cannot handle much more damanding titles than Heroes of the Storm.

If you can find a laptop that uses Nvidia's Optimus technology, that might be your best bet since it has the ability to use the integrated graphics when not gaming, and switches over to the nvidia card as demand is needed.

I'm not too well versed in technology yet; do the Nvidia GeForce cards use Optimus?

 

[bloodroses75]

The biggest hurdle you will run into is finding a laptop that is capable of gaming, but doesn't kill the battery whenever it is not plugged in (gaming or not). The last laptop I got for gaming would chew through it's battery in around 2 1/2 - 3 hours under normal usage, and less than 45 minutes while gaming on battery. I now have a laptop that uses a broadwell chipset that has decent battery life, but it cannot handle much more damanding titles than Heroes of the Storm.

If you can find a laptop that uses Nvidia's Optimus technology, that might be your best bet since it has the ability to use the integrated graphics when not gaming, and switches over to the nvidia card as demand is needed.

I'm not too well versed in technology yet; do the Nvidia GeForce cards use Optimus?

Some laptops with nivdia cards have optimus technology, some don't. It is a Nvidia specific thing though, so it's only available on GeForce. What makes it really hard is that most shopping sites (newegg, amazon, etc.) don't even have it as a selectable search item; same with item descriptions not always mentioning it.