Sub-$1000 15" (and under) Gaming Laptop

[unclesam437]

I am new to the forums but I have heard that the Tom's community is extremely helpful so I will give it a go.

Looking for a sub-$1000 15" (and under) gaming laptop as the title reads. I have found some stuff on xoticpc.com but the laptop that I was interested in is on backorder for the foreseeable future, unfortunately. Here is a link to the one I was interested in http://www.xoticpc.com/force-16ga005-msi-16ga-msi-ge60-barebones-p-4707.html

I will be mainly playing LoL, GW2, Minecraft, and some other MMOs. What are some other good, reliable places to purchase laptops like this from? Some of the specs that I am interested in are as follows:

- no larger than a 15.4" screen but would prefer a 13" screen if possible
- minimum 4GB Ram
- preferable 3rd gen i7 Ivy Bridge processor but may settle for 3rd gen i5 Ivy Bridge
- minimum Nvidia GT 650M (1GB or 2GB - doesn't matter too much)
- minimum 500GB HD
- absolutely no numberic keyboard on the side of the keyboard (looks silly to me on a laptop)

Other than these, I am fairly flexible on the other specs. If anyone could help me out I would certainly appreciate it. Don't let me down guys! Thanks!

 

[alvine]

Hello new member of tom's!
I personally buy electronics from Amazon or Newegg

lenovo IdeaPad Y580 (59345717) Notebook Intel Core i7 3630QM(2.40GHz) 15.6" 8GB Memory 1TB HDD Blu-ray Combo NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310662

 

[unclesam437]

Thanks! Only one that is (unfortunately) a deal breaker for me on that one is the numeric keypad. Great deal though!

 

[cbrunnem]

Thanks! Only one that is (unfortunately) a deal breaker for me on that one is the numeric keypad. Great deal though!

You are asking for a lot so you really can't be to picky about petty things

 

[Tibbs01]

You might also check out the Y400: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/y-series/y400/

It's closer to your desired 14" size, has no numeric keypad, and should perform reasonably well in the games you listed.

 

[alvine]

I know i could care less about the num pad...and you can hotkey it for mmo's
for me its hardware performance/value>packaging

 

[unclesam437]

You are asking for a lot so you really can't be to picky about petty things

Haha this is very true. I am honestly trying not to be too picky but this is just a big purchase for me so I want to try and get everything as close to my needs as possible since I will probably not purchase another laptop for some time. Thanks!

 

[unclesam437]

I know i could care less about the num pad...and you can hotkey it for mmo's
for me its hardware performance/value>packaging

Yes. This is exactly how I feel. In my opinion, a num pad is completely pointless unless I am doing lots of excel spreadsheets, which then I can understand. But for gaming, not so much.

 

[unclesam437]

You might also check out the Y400: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/y-series/y400/

It's closer to your desired 14" size, has no numeric keypad, and should perform reasonably well in the games you listed.

Definitely a great deal just put an order in for one. Thanks for the help!

 

[whyso]

The y400 is okay but personally if you have the budget (which you do) get a 1080p screen. Do not stick with the 768p crap TN panels on cheaper computers. A numeric keyboard may serve no purpose but its much better than looking at a crap screen. I guarantee that given the choice looking at them side by side you would pick the 1080p screen with the numeric keyboard over the 768p screen without the keyboard.

Screen should be a very high priority, you are looking at it for everything you do on the computer.

You won't believe how much better games look on a 1080p screen with sRGB spectrum and 800+ contrast vs 768p with 50% sRGB and less than 200 contrast ratio, even if you have to turn down game settings a little.

Because of screen y580 > y400.