thartford89

Estimable
Sep 16, 2014
1
0
4,510
Hi all! I'm in the market for a new laptop, my current VAIO seems like it's on its way out. I have a budget of about $1500, I can possibly up that a bit if it's really worth it.

As for what I'm looking for, I'd like to be able to configure. I've been looking at iBUYPOWER, XoticPC, and a couple other build sites but I need some suggestions since I really can't decide. I will be using this as an all-around PC, with heavy internet use, some Adobe work, Office of course, and light-to-medium gaming. It has to be portable, I'd prefer a 14-inch but I can work with a 15-inch because I know they tend to be cheaper. I'd like a Haswell processor, and two drives, an HDD and an SSD; I keep a lot of files on my system. Windows 7 would be nice but I can deal with 8. For physical features, I just want a decent touchpad and a backlit keyboard. My current touchpad drives me nuts.

1. What is your budget? $1500, maybe a bit more
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Preferably 14 inch
3. What screen resolution do you want? Doesn't matter
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Both, but portability is most important
5. How much battery life do you need? I'll be mostly plugged in, but at least a few hours would be nice
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)? Mostly Steam games, some EA/Origin (like Sims 3, NHL/MLB games, etc.) on medium settings
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Productivity, Adobe InDesign/Photoshop, streaming, heavy internet use
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 500+GB HDD, 120-250GB SSD
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Gigabyte-P34Gv2-Gaming-Laptop
http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/MSI-GE60-Apache-Gaming-Laptop
http://www.malibal.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idProduct=627
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2740-clevo-w740su-p-6201.html?wconfigure=yes
http://www.xoticpc.com/force-msi-1492-31028-850m-msi-ge40-barebones-p-7082.html?wconfigure=yes
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 ? It would be nice to have a simple DVD drive but it's not necessary
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. My last two systems were VAIOs but I was more budget-conscious as I was in college at the time. Both touchpads were annoying though.
13. What country do you live in? USA
 
I would suggest an asus n series notebooks. They are great for what you need as they are portable enough to do some gaming and intensive use like photeshop but light enough to carry from class to class.