College Student Laptop

[wutdiduexpect]

I've seen several posts from other users in direction for gaming and photo editing laptops. Along with the usual word processing and movie watching that every college student needs, I will also be doing 2D and 3D CAD drawings and other architecture rendering type software.

Essentially I've established these criteria for what I'm looking for;
Quad Processor or i7
Minimum 4 gb of memory
SSD or HDD (7200 rpm)
Screen size minimum 15"
DVD drive

If any brands stick out that can meet or exceed these specs please share! Macs are out of the question. Has Dell improved quality at all? Haven't dealt with Dell in 8 years.

 

[carnageX]

If you want a gaming laptop, go with MSI (or one of the rebrands, such as Sager, Cyberpower, etc. which are basically MSI's with a rebranded casing).

MSI IMO has the best cooling for gaming laptops, which is VERY important.

Most importantly, your budget is the biggest thing we would need to know.