Solved! Semi-Gaming/College use Budget below 1500.

[tigerck127]

1. What is your budget?

=Less than $1500

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

=15~17

3. What screen resolution do you want?

=16:9 preferably

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

=Not that important.

5. How much battery life do you need?

=Not that important.

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 run Diablo3. Would a 540M work?

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

=Watch movies, surf, music.

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

=over 500GB

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

=Newegg,Tigerdirect... or others.

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

=At least 3 years?

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

=Bluray would be preferred...

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 highly prefer Samsung, but Sony VAIO is good too.

13. What country do you live in?

=U.S. California

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.


= Gaming wise, I just need it to run Diablo 3, not the max settings but maybe around medium.

I was considering these :
http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7128725
http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=571923

Which would you prefer?

I want a quad-core processor, decent dedicated graphics card, larger than 15" screen, simple and nice designs.

Hit me up with some recommendations !

thanks in advance!!

 

[Maziar]

ASUS G74SX gets my vote
http/www.amazon.com/G74SX-XA1-Republic-Gamers-17-3-Inch-Gaming/dp/B00592CFFM/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1313849274&sr=1-1

 

[WR2]

GT 540M would probably run D3 'OK'. Running on Medium graphics on a 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution screen? Might be a challenge. We don't know that much about D3 yet to be certain how it would perform. Remember, a laptop GT 540M video card is about equal with a desktop GT 430 graphics card.

Whats the 'larger than 15" screen really mean? You want a BIG screen, or you want higher resolution than 1366x768, like 1600x900 or 1920x1080? You can get that in a 15" laptop so it's still portable, but has a nice working/gaming resolution.

The GTX 560M graphics card Mazir suggested is about equal to a desktop GTS 450 which is about where you can be certain D3 would run strongly. GTX 460M or Radeon HD 6870M would also be a good choices.
ASUS G73SW-XT1 $1200 Core i7-2630QM & GTX 460M.

 

[Maziar]

I recommend G74 over G73 because of having a better keyboard and cooling.Also it's only $200 more and has more HDD + a slightly faster GPU

 

[tigerck127]

First of all, thank you.

What I'm looking for is not the BIG screen, but a resolution higher than 1366x768 like you said.

Honestly though, 15" or a 17" would not really matter much.

Gaming wise, I'm not too sure if I want to spend that much money...

I'll be in college soon, and I don't know if I'd still be into games then.


I'd be fine with no games, so If I do plan on getting a laptop for college,

A Mac or Samsung 9 Series?

 

[WR2]

Serious laptop and a free XBox 360? All you need for work and play?

 

[Maziar]

If you're going Mac's route,then forget about gaming.Those who get Macs and install windows for games,have wasted their money IMO.
If GTX 560M is too much for you,then consider a laptop with GT 540M/555M such as ASUS N53/N73 or XPS 15

 

[tigerck127]

If I give up on games completely,

what would you say?

Macbook Air vs Samsung 9 series?

 

[WR2]

Neither one?
Wow - you've gone from a desktop replacement with full HD screen & Blu-Ray player
to a thin & light with 1366x768 screen and no DVD drive?

I'm having this feeling you're not looking at your actual requirements and are fixed in on that $1500 budget thinking you have to spend it all.

 

[tigerck127]

At first i was looking to buy a laptop that i can run some games on, but im sort of shifting away from that now.

and i dont necessarily need to spend all 1500 its just that rather than buying a cheap laptop i just think that getting something like a air or 9 series would be better off.

i need a durable laptop that also looks good. not really what you can expect from a 600 dollars budget laptop.

 

[tigerck127]

Im not completely fixed on that though.

its just that if i want a strong laptop i want either Samsung or Sony Vaio.

I mean, if it's still a decent price that i can afford im definitely going to consider it.

 

[WR2]

i need a durable laptop [strike]that also looks good[/strike]. not really what you can expect from a 600 dollars budget laptop.

That's a 'want' and not a 'need'.
I can't really place the thin & light models in the durable laptop category.
3 biggest threats to longevity (your 3yr goal) are accidents, theft and malfunctions.

You might want to look over the business class models which have that extra bit of ruggedness and durability designed and built in. They also tend not to be such a 'theft magnet'.
And depending on the model, you can get a wider range of options than you can in the Series 9 - like a 1600x900 resolution screen and Blu-Ray player.
A good example: Dell Latitude E6420 Review as a bonus it's looks 'don't suck'.
Another:
Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (2011) Review

Samsung Series 9 (13-inch) Review
Apple Face-Off: MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro

 

[cbrunnem]

At first i was looking to buy a laptop that i can run some games on, but im sort of shifting away from that now.

and i dont necessarily need to spend all 1500 its just that rather than buying a cheap laptop i just think that getting something like a air or 9 series would be better off.

i need a durable laptop that also looks good. not really what you can expect from a 600 dollars budget laptop.

i dont think that at 1500 dollars, there is no such thing as too much laptop. at that price anything you buy will do anything else you would want it to do. you might consider a 15 inch laptop for portability though.
http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8150-clevo-p150hm-p-2972.html?wconfigure=yes

 

[Kamab]

I'm curious, why between Samsung and VAIO. All VAIOs I've seen have a combination of mediocre reviews and terrible price/performance.

As for my recommendation, if you want a sexy laptop I guess that is kind of Macbook Air territory, and most people I know that have owned a Macbook product have always loved it. If you want more price/performance that looks pretty good get like a rebranded Clevo (Sager) or a ASUS/Acer with a NVidia 560M.