Laptop suggestion

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Thresh25

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Hi all. I built my PC about 8 months ago and haven't stayed in touch with what's new and hot and have never really known much a bout laptops anyways. I will be going to college in the fall so I am going to need a laptop, but I want something that will be able to run Starcraft 2 pretty well as well. I'm going into the field of criminal justice so I don't need anything crazy to run intense programs or software.

Doing a little bit of research, this is what I've found. I'm not sure if tiger or newegg have any of these for a cheaper price, I'll check that later.

Samsung NP-R580-JSb1US
Samsung NP-R580-JSB1US Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews

Gateway NV7901u
Gateway NV7901u Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews

Alienware M11x
Alienware M11X Laptop reviews - CNET Reviews

They all seem pretty good to me, with pretty good price points, but if anyone has anything better in mind feel free to suggest anything.
 
what about this one
Newegg.com - Acer Aspire AS7551G-5821 NoteBook AMD Phenom II Quad-Core N930(2.0GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
it has a faster quad core cpu than all 3 of those laptops, and a better gfx card than both the alienware and the samsung (the gateway has the same one). it has the same amount of ram as those (4gigs) and the same size hdd (500gb except the alienware, its got a 250gb). and it's also cheaper than the alienware and the gateway.

one thing that might be a negative for you though is its battery life, the manufacturer claims it at only 2.7hrs.

just a another suggestion.

also, it would probably be better to post something like this in the laptop section next time.
http://www.techist.com/forums/f84/
 
Hmm that all seems positive although the battery life is horrible. And yeah probably should have posted in the laptop section, I just always thought this section was more responsive. Will definitely have to keep that one in mind though
 
hm, just found this one too
Newegg.com - HP Pavilion DV7-4060US NoteBook AMD Phenom II Triple-Core N830(2.1GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
it's got pII triple core cpu which is a little slower than both the quad in the acer i listed and the i5's in the gateway and samsung you listed, but like that acer i showed you above, it has a 5650 w/ 4gigs of ram and a 500gb hdd (this one is at a somewhat faster 7200rpm) and claims to have a battery life of 5.5hrs. it's also still cheaper than the gateway and alienware and comes with a $50 MIR.
 
All right thanks I will have to keep that one in mind too. So all of these will play SC2 fine?
 
I would go for the Alienware M11x. Unlike all the other system suggested it is actually portable and has good battery life which will really come in handy at college. Are you looking at the Core 2 or Core i5/i7 version of the M11x?
 
Ah i just realized there were two. the i5/i7 version costs over a grand with everything. I'd like to stay under if possible though I don't have to. The samsung seems like the best buy to me except for battery life but I don't know a whole lot about laptops.

Do these all basically come with the ability to connect to wireless internet?
 
Ah i just realized there were two. the i5/i7 version costs over a grand with everything. I'd like to stay under if possible though I don't have to. The samsung seems like the best buy to me except for battery life but I don't know a whole lot about laptops.

Do these all basically come with the ability to connect to wireless internet?

Yeah anything in that price range is sure to have built in wifi.

As far as the M11x is concerned the i7 isn't really necessary as isn't enough faster than the Core i5 to justify the increased price. In the long run it may be worth going with the i5 model because it uses Nvidia's optimus hybrid graphics which should/will get more frequent driver updates than the older implementation of hybrid graphics found on the Core 2 version.

The Samsung does have a faster processor than the Alienware however it has a considerably slower gpu. The GT 335M in the M11x has 72 stream processors while the G310M in the Samsung only has 16. The faster gpu plus better battery life and more compact size make the M11x much more appealing in my opinion.
 
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