Gaming laptop between $500-$700

[jacsonny12]

1. What is your budget?

$500-$700

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

anything above 12 in.

3. What screen resolution do you want?

The bigger the better, but not too much of a concern

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

weight is not an issue, just want power

5. How much battery life do you need?

not important i have it plugged in most of the time

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)?

yes, in order 1.new elder scrolls online 2.minecraft 3.cod 4.fallout series/all on medium(graphics are secondary to me, solid fps is more important)

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

going through college so basic papers and projects

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

300 at least but i can go less

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

newegg and amazon have good prices, but I'm open to other sites.

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

4 years or until it cant handle most games on low

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

DVD ROM and CD reader are a must but nothing else

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.

I'm open for the most part. I just want a quality piece of equipment with decent support.

13. What country do you live in?

USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

this is the best i have found http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214870

i have a set of 4gb ram drives which can be put in if it has a open slot

all suggestions are welcome

 

[DarkOutlaw]

Should do the trick. Toshiba makes a great laptop, I have two and not a single complaint about either. My i5 w/ the HD GMA has been able to handle all games up until Diabo 3.

I would buy 8gb of ram and upgrade it, no matter what laptop you get.

 

[jacsonny12]

how does it stack up compared to these

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215417

and

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215408

also how long until these cant play most games at low

 

[jacsonny12]

i really like the hp do u know how long the coupon will last

 

[jacsonny12]

great suggestion but that wont be possible I think i will get the toshiba,thanks for the ideas everyone feel free to leave other suggestions for fellow members

 

[jacsonny12]

Best answer selected by jacsonny12.

 

[wheresperry]

Skyrim is probably the most demanding game you've mentioned. This is a list of performance of different GPUs in Skyrim benchmark:
http/www.notebookcheck.net/The-Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-Benchmarks.66057.0.html


Because you wrote that you want shear power mostly, currently you have two good options:

1. Lenovo Y570, I7-2670QM, GT 555M GPU, 8GB DDR3, 500GB - 1TB HDD (don't remember) for 700$:
http/www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/lenovo-ideapad-y570-08626ju-gaming-laptop-intel-i7-2670qm-nvidia-gt-555m-gf108-500gb-hdd-8gb-ddr3-memory-good-screen-700-uspy56j712-coupon/
Very high build quality, JBL speakers, typical 720p screen buy slightly above the average quality.

2. HP dv4t-5100, I5-3210M, 6GB DDR3, GT 650M GDDR5, 500GB HDD for 714$:
http/www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/hp-dv4t-5100-14-0-gaming-laptop-intel-dual-ivy-bridge-i5-3210m-nvidia-gt-650m-2gb-gddr5-6gb-ddr3-500gb-hdd-713-nby8552-coupon/
a 14.0" screen, probably lesser build quality + more heat and noise problems (although cool when idle/not a 3D/CPU intensive).


These are the fastest options. The dv4t-5100 comes with the GT 650M GDDR5 which is considerably faster than the GT 555M (easily 20-30% more). The Lenovo has advantage of being with a bigger screen and higher build quality, the HP is more compact.

If you can handle heat situation - you're not living in the desert and you are cautious about the surroundings of the laptop - then the dv4t will give you the most performance for 700$. According to the first link, the one with the Skyrim benchmarks, you can see that for 720p resolution, GT 650M will run Skyrim on highest settings (the benchmark inclues AAx8 which is not necessary, but even so it runs smoothly) and the GT 555M will be great too.

The HP one is more future proof gaming performance-wise, the Lenovo is bigger and more tough + has better heat and noise handling.

Thoughts?

That Lenovo deal expired on 7/20, correct?

 

[wheresperry]

wait! I forgot!
You can take the dv6t-7000 too - a pretty good deal!
http/www.gaminglaptopsjunky.com/super-deal-hp-pavilion-dv6t-7000-15-6-gaming-laptop-intel-i5-3210qm-nvidia-gt-650m-2gb-gddr5-fullhd-display-6gb-ddr3-memory-640gb-hdd-780-coupon-code-nby8552/

I honestly don't think you can use that model, when I add the coupon code it just says "Please review the coupon offer for purchase requirements."

 

[edit1754]

If you haven't already purchased, you will want to keep the following in mind when configuring your HP DV6t-7000:
- Get the GT 650M GPU, for the purposes of game performance. It is a fair bit faster than the GT 630M, and significantly faster than Intel HD graphics.
- Get the 1920x1080 display. Generally, you should not buy the HP DV6 in any configuration that includes the default 1366x768 display, and you should make a point to avoid 1366x768 resolution in a 15.6" display when it is reasonable to do so. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and tend to be low-tier LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast. However, the upgraded 1920x1080 matte IPS display is an excellent display on all counts.

Here's a good base configuration to use, copypasted from a number of other recent posts of mine:

HP DV6t (i3-3110M, NVIDIA GT 650M, 15.6" 1920x1080 matte IPS display) - $724 + tax ($769 + tax w/ i5-3210M)
- http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&config_id=7367534
- Use coupon code: NBY8552
- Don't: Downgrade to the 1366x768 display, unless you need the large text. You generally shouldn't buy the HP DV6 in any configuration that includes the 1366x768 display. 15.6" 1366x768 displays make things onscreen large, and tend to be low-tier LCD panels with very poor image quality due to low contrast.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to the GT 630M unless you only plan on doing light / moderate gaming. The GT 650M is considerably faster.
- Don't: Downgrade the GPU to integrated graphics unless you only plan on doing very light / no gaming. Integrated graphics will probably provide disappointing game performance in the majority of modern titles.
- Note: You can select one of the previous-generation SandyBridge CPU options if you do not select the GT 650M.
- Consider: Backlit keyboard, Larger/faster HDD.

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

The problem with the Y570 mentioned eariler in this thread is that it comes only with a 15.6" 1366x768 display. For reasons stated above in my post, you should look to stay away from this when it is reasonable to do so.

 

[jacsonny12]

thanks for the suggestions, also i do not plan to purchase until the end of this year, right now i'm just trying to learn a little bit about the hardware what i should look be looking for in a gaming laptop

 

[edit1754]

This coupon certainly will not still be active by then, but there should be another decent deal available at some time close to the end of the year. Keep in mind that sometimes the discounts aren't this good. Sometimes a configuration like this costs as much as $899 with the best available coupon.