Student/ Gaming Laptop on Budget

[theelcapiton]

Currently I find myself in need of a new laptop before Grad School starts in the fall.

1. What is your budget?
I Really do not want to spend much more than $650, but if there was a clearly much better option at 700ish I could go that high.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Size isn't super important, but the bigger the better

3. What screen resolution do you want?
I don't really know or care.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
No.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Preferably 3 hours, but I am used to having to always be plugged in.

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 would like to be able to play games. I mostly would be playing Football Manager, and probably some of the Total War games. Typically strategy games. I have a ps4, so any mainstream FPS or RPG games I would be playing on that.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
If it could run SPSS that would be a boon, but other than that I would most likely not be doing anything much beyond Excel Spreadsheets

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
The more the merrier, but maybe at least 750 GB

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

I would like it to last at least 3 or so years, preferably more
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

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 have been considering a pair of Acers,
http/www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-572G-543S-15-6-Inch-Platinum/dp/B00R45UG3K/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1432225343&sr=1-1

This seems to have excellent reviews, and has specs that I would mostly be looking for

http/www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-572G-76EM-15-6-Inch-Platinum/dp/B00R45U20W/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1432225343&sr=1-2

This seems to be identical to the above laptop, but it has I7 and a faster processor for only about $40 more.

But I am a little afraid to get an Acer as it is not highly rated.

http/www.amazon.com/MSI-CX61-2PC-499US-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00ISKS4A2/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1432223568&sr=1-1

While this MSI does not seem as good as the Acers, it seems to be a more reliable brand


13. What country do you live in?

USA

Thanks for any help any of you are able to provide.

 

[jaguarskx]

Acer laptops are considered average in terms of build quality. But I recommend you consider the following Asus laptop selling for $600 with a slightly newer Geforce 940m (basically the same as the 840m with slightly higher clockspeeds).

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232376&leaderboard=1