Work/gaming Laptop

[waterow]

1. What is your budget?
$700-$1000 USD

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15in-17in

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1920x1080

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

5. How much battery life do you need?
2-4 hours

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)?
Dota 2(high) skyrim(moderate-high) borderlands 2(moderate-high)

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
I'm an engineering student so a lot of MATLAB, solidworks mathematica, Nastran/Patran, OSLO and Fred, latex, and probably some sort of CAD program.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
500gb

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
nothing in mind as long as it's reputable

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

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
no preference

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.
no preference

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Pretty handy with upgrading things myself and taking apart laptops. My frankenstein of a laptop finally kicked the bucket last week.

 

[expellite]

Vala! Here is some suggestion! you can check the specifications yourself and decide which one you'll get!
MSI GE70 -------- 999.99$:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152338

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 ------------ 999.99$:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246629

Acer Aspire V3-771G-9809 ------- 949.99$:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215672

Ah! well this is your maximum budget!!! around 1000$! of course the games you're gonna play are not really demanding games But I think you want a good number of FPS! soooo maybe it sould work! GT 650M is not a really great one but is much better than 640 Le, 630 , ...........!!! GTX 660M as it's used in Y580 is great but I don't like Lenovo my self!!!!! in this range only MSI supports Full HD! Acer has a resolution of 1600x900p and 1366x786p for Y580! this can tell us why they contain some stronger utilities even with the same price! If you want to have Full HD with a lower amount of money then tell us1 i'll show you some better choices! however This forum has many professional users! I'm just a beginner!

 

[expellite]

another choice:
SONY VAIO SE ----- 949.99$:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127651
a 15.5" 1080p quality-built guy! I know this is somewhat pricey and it has HD 6630M which can offer you 35 FPS in medium specs for Skyrim! There is a cheaper 1080p also availabe but it has a HD 6470M which is really weaker than 6630M!

 

[waterow]

The display does not have to be full hd, I'm not too picky about it. I'm not sure if that changes your suggestions but I thought I would clear that up. Otherwise thank you for the options.

 

[waterow]

The only question I have left is whether I should consider the possibility of upgrading from 8gb memory.

I know the Y580 is max 8gb but I'm sure if this should be a real concern. If it could potentially be a problem I'll consider some other options.

 

[ram1009]

Frankly, I think you're wasting your time. I use Solidworks daily and have tried many times to find a gaming GPU that works "adequately" with both. I't just not realistic even with a desktop let alone a laptop. Many people seem to think that a laptop will do anything a desktop will do. If that were true desktops would already have disappeared. It's never going to happen. I can understand your need for a "student" laptop and if I were you that's where I would focus. Find another way to game.

 

[edit1754]

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 20994EU model mentioned above is unfortunately not a good choice. The 20994EU is one of the bad versions of the Y580, because it comes with the 1366x768 display and not the 1920x1080 display. 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display makes things onscreen large, and 15.6" displays that have 1366x768 resolution tend to be low-grade LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast. You should make a point to avoid displays like this when it is reasonable to do so, unless you require larger text for eyesight-related reasons.

The Acer Aspire V3-771G-9809 is not a good choice either, for similar reasons. Its 17.3" 1600x900 display is essentially just as poor as a 15.6" 1366x768 display, in that 1600x900 resolution in a 17.3" display makes things onscreen large, and 17.3" displays that have 1600x900 resolution tend to be low-grade LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast.

Memory is a similar issue. You probably will not need more than 4GB, and probably will not benefit from having more than 6GB (sort-of arbitrary-ish numbers, but based on relatively-popular consensus). But if you end up needing more memory than you have, you can always upgrade it yourself very cheaply and easily. It should not be a priority for you to get a certain amount of memory right off the bat.

-----------------------------

Here are a list of guides to models that are worth considering, including the 1920x1080 versions of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 and others.

MSI GE60 (i7-3610QM, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte display) - $939 no tax
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152339
- http://www.amazon.com/MSI-GE60-0NC-...=UTF8&qid=1346102799&sr=8-1&keywords=msi+ge60

Sager NP6165 (i5-3210M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 glossy display) - $920 no tax
- http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6165-clevo-w150er-p-4344.html?wconfigure=yes
- Select Windows 7 under Operating System if you cannot acquire your own copy for cheaper.
- 17.3" version: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6175-clevo-w170er-p-4345.html?wconfigure=yes

Sager NP6350 (i5-3210M, NVIDIA GTX 660M, 15.6" 1920x1080 glossy display) - $999 no tax
- http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6350-clevo-w350etq-ships-midseptember-p-4897.html?wconfigure=yes
- Select Windows 7 under Operating System if you cannot acquire your own copy for cheaper.
- Recommended: Matte display upgrade.
- Note: the NVIDIA GTX 660M is not significantly faster than a NVIDIA GT 650M. But there are other differences between the NP6165 and NP6350.
- 17.3" version: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6370-clevo-w370et-p-4796.html?wconfigure=yes

Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 (i7-3630QM, NVIDIA GTX 660M, 15.6" 1920x1080 glossy display) - $939 + tax
- Sign up and sign in here: http://shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrar...ovo:EnterStdAffinity?affinity=barnesnoblegold (Barnes and Noble Gold discount page)
- http://shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrar...nfigureMtmAsItem?mtm-item=:000001C9:0000717E: (500GB 7200RPM) - $939 + tax
- http://shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrar...nfigureMtmAsItem?mtm-item=:000001C9:0000717D: (1TB 5400RPM + 32GB SSD) - $1029 + tax
- Click the green "Activate eCoupon" button in the cart.
- These models come with the 1920x1080 display. There are other models that come instead with a 1366x768 display, but those models are not recommended unless you need the larger text. 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display makes things onscreen large, and 15.6" displays that have 1366x768 resolution tend to have very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Note: the NVIDIA GTX 660M is not significantly faster than a NVIDIA GT 650M.