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Rebbig
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Searching for Budget Laptop

Mon Jun 30, 2014 3:16 pm

Hello,
I am looking to purchase a budget laptop.

First of all, what companies do people recommend? Is Dell considered to be reliable? What about any others that are particularly reliable or unreliable?

I'm not sure if a gaming laptop is in my budget, but if it's possible to play many games at say medium settings, please let me know (see below for my budget).

Can you guys recommend both a good bank/buck laptop that's not so geared toward gaming, and another good bang/buck laptop that is geared toward gaming (according to the information below)? For instance, is this laptop from dell considered a good buy in your opinion:
http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-75 ... on-15-7537
(I can get it for $735, there's a $50 coupon and another discount for students I guess).

I'm looking for something in the $700 range (possibly a bit more if it's gaming oriented), maybe with a screen size that's 14 inches - 15.6 inches. Not sure what I can expect regarding battery life, and it would be good if the laptop were kept close to 5 lbs.

As I said, it would be nice to play games, but I'm not sure if it's possible in my budget (maybe if the CPU is slow). For instance, would it be possible to play something like starcraft 2 at medium settings?

Also, I think a DVD Writer would be nice, but many laptops do not seem to come with one which makes me worried. How big of a problem is it if a laptop lacks an optical drive? Can one easily reinstall an OS or install a new OS for example, or is it a big headache?

Thanks a lot, I appreciate any input I can get.
 
vargis14
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Re: Searching for Budget Laptop

Mon Jun 30, 2014 4:36 pm

This is about the most GPU power I can find for under $1000 @ newegg withj SLI gt755 gpus @ $ 949.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834313739
Or this other open box Lenovo with a 760m that has a i7cpu instead of the I5 in the previous one for 939.99$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 834231320R

Or get this one with a 860m 2gb GPU for 999.99 and i believe it is the best GPU out of the bunch.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834317539
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Rebbig
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Re: Searching for Budget Laptop

Tue Jul 01, 2014 12:17 pm

Thanks for your reply. Those are a bit out of my budget I'd say. What do people think of the Z50 laptop from Lenovo, is it a good buy? Maybe the CPU processor is too slow? I can get it for $720:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/le ... #customize
 
DPete27
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Re: Searching for Budget Laptop

Tue Jul 01, 2014 12:40 pm

Lenovo and Asus are my favorite laptop brands at the moment.

I'd be less worried about the 2C/4T i7 in that Lenovo Z50 than the wimpy little GT 820M excuse for a graphics card.

How about this Acer Aspire V7? Seems to be a little better balanced. The i5-4200U still has 4 threads like the i7, but only 2.6GHz max clock instead of 3.1GHz with the i7-4510U. However, you still get a 1080p screen, plus an SSD cache drive (although they don't specify how big, it might be an SSHD like this), and a GT 750M dGPU which (although not being an amazing gaming card) will blow the pants off a GT 820M. Here's a review. (their unit had a bit faster CPU and more RAM, everything else looks to be the same)
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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Rebbig
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Re: Searching for Budget Laptop

Tue Jul 01, 2014 1:16 pm

Hello,
Thank you very much for your reply! For $800, I can get the following Lenovo (I get a discount there):

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/le ... #customize

Do you think it's better than the Acer you listed (I am very much not up to date regarding mobile graphics)? One downside for me is that both of them don't have an optical drive, which I'm a little worried about.

Do you have any recommendations for a non-gaming oriented laptop around the $700 - $800 range?

P.S. I think the Acer you listed is found here on their website (it has 16 GB SSD cache):
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/mod ... .MB5AA.010
 
DPete27
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Re: Searching for Budget Laptop

Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:59 pm

Rebbig wrote:
One downside for me is that both of them don't have an optical drive, which I'm a little worried about.

I install OSes using flash drives all the time now. It's MUCH faster than optical media. Also, the vast majority of programs/games/movies/music are downloadable these days. I haven't had an optical drive in my main computer for 2.5 years. There's been maybe only one time that I've needed one and that was to rip a CD. If you think you need it, you can buy an external USB optical drive for $15-20.

Rebbig wrote:
I am very much not up to date regarding mobile graphics

Here's a handy chart to get you in the ballpark. I don't follow mobile discrete graphics very closely either, but the R9-M270(275?) in that Lenovo Y40 you just linked looks to be faster than the GT 750M.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Searching for Budget Laptop

Tue Jul 01, 2014 4:37 pm

DPete27 wrote:
Rebbig wrote:
Neither of them has an optical drive.
The vast majority of programs/games/movies/music are downloadable these days. If you think you need it, you can buy an external USB optical drive for $15-20.
Buy your games through Steam, GOG, Origin, UPlay, etc.
USB DVD burners are easy to find.
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