Which gaming laptop should I get?

[YaShA_MY]

Hi, I'm currently studying in college and I would like to buy a laptop for both study (mostly programming and multimedia design) and also gaming. I would like to play games like Battlefield, Crysis, Assassin's Creed, Starcraft 2 any many more in high settings.

My budget is around $1500 and I've a few list of laptops in mind.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313684

Asus G750JM
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231630

Toshiba Qosmio x75
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216536

Hopefully someone can tell me which laptop should I choose or recommend me other laptops.
Thanks in advance.

 

[YaShA_MY]

it is good but i prefer an ssd.

Is it possible for me to add an SSD in the future? But if it's not possible, I don't think it's much of a problem since it doesn't affect the gaming.

A lot of new laptops come with a mSATA slot but you will have to research it. The Gigabyte P35K has 2 x mSATA and a standard SATA and the optical drive can be removed to add another SATA HDD with a supplied caddy.

You should be able to add a SSD later and have more of a choice of size but it's less of a fuss if you buy it at the time. I've recently added a 500GB mSATA Samsung EVO to my P35K and it was relatively easy.

Some reading about the 800m
http/www.anandtech.com/show/7834/nvidia-geforce-800m-lineup-battery-boost/4

Are you planning to carry the laptop around much?

The spec I would look for a gaming laptop that should not break the bank are..

i7 - 8gb - 1920x1080 - 860m - 120gb SSD - 1Tb HDD. Anything better for the price would be a bonus.

If you want it to not break your back go for 15.6" and not 17"

Yeah I'm a college student, so I'm going to be taking my laptop to classes. But I would prefer performance over weight.

Then you should look to a 15.6" and not a 17". Weight should be a big factor to you unless you're trying out for the football team and need to bulk up.

Thinner, lighter laptops though are compromised on their cooling solutions and DO need a cooling stand when gaming for extended periods. My guess is that won't be happening in class though so is not really an issue to leave in your digs.

About the 800m series, what is the estimated price and time of release?

 

[Major_Trouble]

Out now for $1400

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152557

 

[YaShA_MY]

It seems that nobody recommended the Toshiba Qosmio x75. Anyway, should I wait for the new 800m series laptops? Or should I go for the Lenovo Ideapad Y510p or the Asus G750JM?

 

[Major_Trouble]

I personally would wait for the 800s. There is a significant change to power consumption and performance that with little price change, for me, it would be worth the short wait if any.

 

[YaShA_MY]

I personally would wait for the 800s.

I've been reading one of the laptop reviews on Lenovo Y50 and it seems really awesome for such a low price. I might get it once it is released.
http/www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/lenovo-y50-review-1207894/review

 

[Major_Trouble]

1080p in a 15.6" screen is plenty. To go to 4k is a complete waste of money. No current or immediate future mobile GPU would enable you to game at that resolution anyway.

 

[YaShA_MY]

1080p in a 15.6" screen is plenty. To go to 4k is a complete waste of money. No current or immediate future mobile GPU would enable you to game at that resolution anyway.

What I really like about this model is it's Nvida GTX 800m series graphics card and it's weight (around 6 pounds). I've done some research and most laptops with the Nvidia GTX 800m cost more than my budget. The only ones I've seen that are in my budget is
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152557
and
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231630

Overall I think $1,000 for these kind of specs is quite worth it. Not sure will there be an option for a normal 1080p screen though.

 

[Major_Trouble]

To quote the article

"Yes, the Y50 is Lenovo's first 4K gaming laptop – that's Ultra HD, or 3840 x 2160 – though it doesn't come standard (1920 x 1080 does, however)."

That'll save some pennies to. The 4K will be promotional and headline grabbing and IMHO completely unnecessary.

 

[YaShA_MY]

To quote the article

"Yes, the Y50 is Lenovo's first 4K gaming laptop – that's Ultra HD, or 3840 x 2160 – though it doesn't come standard (1920 x 1080 does, however)."

That'll save some pennies to. The 4K will be promotional and headline grabbing and IMHO completely unnecessary.

Ok, I'll get the 1920 x 1080 model when it comes out. Thanks for the advice and suggestions you have been giving me. I really appreciate it.

 

[YaShA_MY]

Hi, I'm currently studying in college and I would like to buy a laptop for both study (mostly programming and multimedia design) and also gaming. I would like to play games like Battlefield, Crysis, Assassin's Creed, Starcraft 2 any many more in high settings.

My budget is around $1500 and I've a few list of laptops in mind.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313684

Asus G750JM
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231630

Toshiba Qosmio x75
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216536

Hopefully someone can tell me which laptop should I choose or recommend me other laptops.
Thanks in advance.

If you want to go cheap, get the Lenovo Y510p i5. I cannot stress enough that you get THIS version, and not the version with the GT 750M. It's a waste of money and lost performance, when this one has the fixed Wi-Fi card and a more powerful GPU. If you are concerned about getting the i5 instead of the i7, you really will not likely see any difference in performance between the two while gaming.

As a second option, to use more of your budget and get more performance, check out the MSI GT60 Dominator-424. It'll give you a quad-core processor and the new Nvidia GT 870M. It will also have room for a Samsung 840 Evo, and be able to fit well within your budget.

With either option, I would get a Good Cooling Pad as they both like to run pretty warm.

As for the options you selected, the Y510p you picked actually has the older video card and Wi-Fi card that was causing people a bunch of connectivity issues.

The ASUS G750JM, while having an awesome build, just isn't worth the money. When you get to their higher end models with dual SSD's on SLI, they start to become worth the extra money, but the G750JM just doesn't have enough to warrant the price.

I would avoid Toshiba anything as they have the absolute worst quality on the market. My dad has a Qosmio and the keys are literally falling off after a year of use.

I've been hearing a lot of complains about the heat caused by the dual graphics card and also micro-stuttering. Also a lot of driver updates have to be done because of compatibility issues.
Furthermore, is the i5 processor strong enough to run the SLI without throttling? I've also been hearing this problem with the i7 processor.

 

[A_ST0RMTROOP3R]

I would go with the MSI GT60 Dominator that @Construkt suggested. Just maybe get it from a site like XoticPC and add a SSD and you will be set

 

[YaShA_MY]

Thank you all for providing me with your suggestions and giving me advice on which laptop to purchase, I really appreciated it. However, I'm going to wait for the Lenovo Y50 to release and buy it. MSI is not really popular in my country (Malaysia) and it's hard to find dealers that sell or repair them. Therefore, I don't think MSI is the best option for me. Once again, thank you all for your support and this thread can be closed.