Best Gaming/College Laptop for under $1500

[MaV II DARK II]

Hey guys, long time I haven't been on these forums. This fall I am going to college so i will be selling my gaming pc and buy a gaming/college laptop for around $1500. What do you techies recommend? I will purchase before May 8th


If anyone is interested in my gaming pc let me know its in my sig. instead of a corsair 520hx i got a the 620hx

 

[dirkpitt45]

CAD or USD? If you wanted to stretch your budget and go for the best laptop you can buy atm, then look at this : Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G73JH-X1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 - Laptops / Notebooks

or open box for way less Newegg.com - Open Box: ASUS G Series G73JH-X1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870

That's pretty much the best laptop you can buy, at an incredible price as well. Gets you a 5870, i7, 8gb ram, 500gb hdd, nice big 1900x1080 resolution monitor, the works. It'll blow your desktop out of the water Though its really big, heavy, and probably gets terrible battery life. Though you'll be able to play any game out now maxed I bet, plus games from now till xmas unless dx11 is super demanding.

This one is a bit less, last gen nvidia card, but its still got an i7. Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G51JX-X1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M - Laptops / Notebooks

Could dig around for some more maybe business oriented ones, thinner, longer lasting battery, but with lesser video cards.

 

[MaV II DARK II]

Thanks for the advice. That laptop you mentioned looks beast but $1600 is kinda expensive. Is ordering an open box safe?

How is this laptop?

Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G72Gx-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000(2.00GHz) 17.3" 6GB Memory DDR2 800 640GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - Laptops / Notebooks

 

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

Thanks for the advice. That laptop you mentioned looks beast but $1600 is kinda expensive. Is ordering an open box safe?

How is this laptop?

Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G72Gx-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000(2.00GHz) 17.3" 6GB Memory DDR2 800 640GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - Laptops / Notebooks

Looks great, but they're out of stock.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

In my experience the best computer setup for college is a netbook or ultra portable laptop that has great battery life and is easy to carry to class with you combined with a good desktop for when you want to game or need more power. This approach basically gives you the best of both worlds instead of a bad compromise between the two like many gaming laptops end up being, plus it's a lot cheaper.

If you did go that route I highly recommend these laptops.

Newegg.com - ASUS Eee PC 1001P-PU17-BK Black (texture) Intel Atom N450(1.66GHz) 10.1" WSVGA 1GB Memory 250GB HDD Netbook - Netbooks

Newegg.com - ASUS Eee PC 1201N-PU17-BK Black Intel Atom N330(1.60GHz) 12.1" WXGA 2GB Memory 250GB HDD NetBook - Netbooks

Newegg.com - ASUS UL20 Series UL20A-A1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300(1.30GHz) 12.1" Wide XGA 2GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm Intel GMA 4500MHD - Laptops / Notebooks

Another option I highly recommend is the Alienware M11x. It gives you gaming laptop performance but with excellent battery all combined in a very small and light system.

Alienware M11x Laptop Details | Dell

 

[dirkpitt45]

Thanks for the advice. That laptop you mentioned looks beast but $1600 is kinda expensive. Is ordering an open box safe?

How is this laptop?

Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G72Gx-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000(2.00GHz) 17.3" 6GB Memory DDR2 800 640GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - Laptops / Notebooks

I ordered my motherboard open box, saved me $20 and it was perfect condition. Just there was a piece of packing tape holding the lid down instead of the usual circle of super stick tape like stuff. Can't really say I have any experience with bigger stuff though.

 

[MaV II DARK II]

In my experience the best computer setup for college is a netbook or ultra portable laptop that has great battery life and is easy to carry to class with you combined with a good desktop for when you want to game or need more power. This approach basically gives you the best of both worlds instead of a bad compromise between the two like many gaming laptops end up being, plus it's a lot cheaper.

If you did go that route I highly recommend these laptops.

Newegg.com - ASUS Eee PC 1001P-PU17-BK Black (texture) Intel Atom N450(1.66GHz) 10.1" WSVGA 1GB Memory 250GB HDD Netbook - Netbooks

Newegg.com - ASUS Eee PC 1201N-PU17-BK Black Intel Atom N330(1.60GHz) 12.1" WXGA 2GB Memory 250GB HDD NetBook - Netbooks

Newegg.com - ASUS UL20 Series UL20A-A1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300(1.30GHz) 12.1" Wide XGA 2GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm Intel GMA 4500MHD - Laptops / Notebooks

Another option I highly recommend is the Alienware M11x. It gives you gaming laptop performance but with excellent battery all combined in a very small and light system.

Alienware M11x Laptop Details | Dell

dude you opened my eyes. great idea!! So is the alienware 11mx a good deal. People here always bashed alienware for its price. What kinda games and fps can this monster do?

 

[dirkpitt45]

Should be able to run anything, though at varying settings. Resolution is lower so it makes a difference that way. Everyone is saying the mx11 is a really good deal, though I don't see how it is :/ Seems like a sorta weak laptop in a slightly bigger netbook body. Unless the 335m is a really good card, but idk.

 

[MaV II DARK II]

Should be able to run anything, though at varying settings. Resolution is lower so it makes a difference that way. Everyone is saying the mx11 is a really good deal, though I don't see how it is :/ Seems like a sorta weak laptop in a slightly bigger netbook body. Unless the 335m is a really good card, but idk.

what would you recommend?

 

[dirkpitt45]

TBH, I'd go with what puddle said. Get a cheaper but still decent netbook, and spend whatever you have leftover on building a nice desktop. Netbooks are surprisingly usable if all you do on it browse and type, we've got a acer aspire one (dell mini 10s were sold out and needed something for my sister's xmas present) and I put windows 7 ultimate on it. Runs aero fine, movies, youtube, plants vs zombies (I can see slowdown on those later levels though, when zombies and peas fill up the screen) pretty much everything you'd expect from it. I wouldn't be able to stand only having that, my desktop is so much nicer

Plus having a hardware limited (per say) computer in class would help with abating distractions.