Wanna purchase a Laptop

hoofhearted4

New member
im sorry if this is not the right place, I understand this is a PC based forum, and i didnt see a section that looked like it would suit this.

anyways yes im looking for a laptop (before you ask, I already have a Desktop, which i built)

My price range is $700 or less

what im looking for is a laptop 13"-15". 1080p. as good of a processor as i can get. this is mostly for school work with light gaming, but im in school for Computer Science so as i progress I will be doing more and more coding, and a good processor would definitely speed things up. preferably quad core, or at least dual core with hyperthreading.

8GB+ ram. wouldnt mind 12-16gb as its nice to have extra if i need to run VMs, which i do occasionally. but 8GB minimum. HD doesnt matter as id most likely replace it with an SSD. OS, obviously Id prefer Win7 x64 Pro, however I need to learn Win8 anyways so im fine with that. however If its going to have Win8, id like the screen to be a touch screen.

lastly id like it be able to play light games. i dont plan on "gaming" on this laptop, however in some down time at school, or when i bring it to my gfs house, itd be nice to be able to play some games on it. while i play a little of everything on my desktop, the laptop would be limited as i wouldnt plan on putting my Steam Folder on it. Id mostly be playing Guild Wars 2 and maybe StarCraft and Diablo 3. games that arent on Steam. not looking for anything spectacular either. from what little research i did, Intel Integrated Graphics 4400 would run it enough, though I wouldnt complain if it had a dedicated GPU either.

looking around Ive really only found 1 laptop that seems to meet this criteria. its a refurbished laptop off Newegg (forgot to mention im in the US), so its price meets my limit. its a cosmetic refurbish and im fine with that. its got Win 8.1, touchscreen 1080p. 8GB RAM, Dual Core i7 with hyper threading, and a dedicated GPU that can run what id want medium-high well enough. Here the link below

ASUS Laptop

I also like that its ASUS. ive used their products, Ive had a ROG laptop from them, still going to this day (gave to my girlfriend a while back) and yea. I personally have no reason not to like them

anyways, how does that laptop look? something im not seeing? is there a better laptop out there that meets my needs? i would appreciate any and all help!

Thank you very much!!
 
Other people may disagree with me but having owned an Acer an ASUS and a Toshiba laptop. I have found the best value for money and performance to be Dell.

Obviously I wouldn't recommend one of the super low end models but mid range up i've found to be very very solid! As for bloatware that comes on laptops just uninstall it all when you start it up for the first time

Also if you can afford it, the XPS models are very nicely built in my experience
 
Dell (although not really good for gaming options), Lenovo and Acer would be the ones to look at in my book
 
Dell (although not really good for gaming options), Lenovo and Acer would be the ones to look at in my book

Yeah to add to my post. Gaming is so so on the Dells and their dedicated gaming laptops are obviously alienware which we all know are overpriced rubbish.

They do have dedicated graphics on some of the Mid to high end models and the XPS range will have some options which should fare ok in games
 
That one is ok, but only ok, if you don't use the touchpad, it's fine other than the quality of the hinges, they are cheap and break easily. The problem with the touchpad is that it has the pad and buttons on a single touch sensor plane, meaning that if you do a click on a button and move your finger slightly the pointer jumps as you click, if you go perfectly straight up and down (down and up) it will work ok, but it's annoying to say the least. I'd go with an Asus over lenovo for a laptop. I have had the ASUS G750JX-DB71 (the older version) for 14 months and traveled extensively with it without any troubles. It is big, and heavy but it's a powerhouse. It is a bit over your price range though but it speaks of the quality of the Asus laptop build quality which beats Lenovo hands down in my opinion.
 
That one is ok, but only ok, if you don't use the touchpad, it's fine other than the quality of the hinges, they are cheap and break easily. The problem with the touchpad is that it has the pad and buttons on a single touch sensor plane, meaning that if you do a click on a button and move your finger slightly the pointer jumps as you click, if you go perfectly straight up and down (down and up) it will work ok, but it's annoying to say the least. I'd go with an Asus over lenovo for a laptop. I have had the ASUS G750JX-DB71 (the older version) for 14 months and traveled extensively with it without any troubles. It is big, and heavy but it's a powerhouse. It is a bit over your price range though but it speaks of the quality of the Asus laptop build quality which beats Lenovo hands down in my opinion.

13" - 15" and you suggest a "17 laptop. $700 or less and you suggest a laptop worth $1,600+, honestly?

As for the touchpad thing mentioned here, yeah it's not great but you do get used to it. Also, you can change the touchpad settings enough to avoid a lot mis-clicks based on the way you prefer to use touchpads.
 
the Asus laptop build quality which beats Lenovo hands down in my opinion.

Whereas I work with laptops of all different shapes, sizes, budgets and purposes of use on a daily basis. I also happen to own several lenovo laptops that haven't died on me. Asus stuff can vary so much its in my experience, not all that good.

Non gaming Asus stuff is inferior to lenovo products in almost every way from what I've found. The ROG stuff is fantastic albeit pricey though.

Lenovo, Dell and (to some extent) acer are the best in the business at the moment. Asus can't do quality control (hence why some people like them while some people don't),Toshiba stuff is incredibly basic and dated (although usually ok) and Sony, well, they sold the Vaio brand and I've not had that much experience with them. I've also not had that much experience with vendors who do gaming laptops, such as MSI or Alienware.

Lenovo has cleaned up their act since they first bought IBM, I have to say that in my experience they've got some amazing laptops. Dell is back to being very good again, they know their stuff still it seems. Acer make some nice high end stuff, although they still can't do budget.

Lenovo's touchpads are junk for the new generation it seems. :(
 
13" - 15" and you suggest a "17 laptop. $700 or less and you suggest a laptop worth $1,600+, honestly?

As for the touchpad thing mentioned here, yeah it's not great but you do get used to it. Also, you can change the touchpad settings enough to avoid a lot mis-clicks based on the way you prefer to use touchpads.

lol too bad you didn't read, I was suggesting a brand not a product...The product I mentioned was one I own, not one I recommend for the OP, please read more carefully next time before posting. Thanks. :)

And Barnsley likes Lenovo and hates Asus, I hate Asus for their Motherboards as well but like the laptops they make, and I like Asus laptops and hate Lenovo. That's fine.
 
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lol too bad you didn't read, I was suggesting a brand not a product...The product I mentioned was one I own, not one I recommend for the OP, please read more carefully next time before posting. Thanks. :)

And Barnsley likes Lenovo and hates Asus, I hate Asus for their Motherboards as well but like the laptops they make, and I like Asus laptops and hate Lenovo. That's fine.

Recommending a brand based on their high spec products is pointless when the OP is looking at low/mid range. Lenovo offer much more for your money when it comes to this price range. If they were spending more then yes I would advise other brands over Lenovo such as MSI.
 
lol too bad you didn't read, I was suggesting a brand not a product...The product I mentioned was one I own, not one I recommend for the OP, please read more carefully next time before posting. Thanks. :)

Yes, but to be fair this thread is here to recommend OP a specific laptop that he might be looking for. Just listing your personal favourite brand (and like SPS said comparing their high-end range to midrange models) doesn't really help tbh. Neither does telling OP which laptop you have if he cannot get it anyway.


@ OP
I'd go with Barnsley's suggestion and opt for the Lenovo :)
 
that is a beautiful laptop indeed.

its upgradeable to 16GB Ram which is nice, if i feel the need. its not touchscreen, but thats not the end of the world.

my one concern is that its a dual core. is this cause for concern?

the linked Asus is also nice. cheaper then the Lenovo, but also a dual core and no touchscreen (a Con but not needed, just pointing it out). it comes with 8gb, but max 8gb. the Asus is also a little lighter, which is nice as i plan to travel with it alot. but 1lb difference isnt huge.

so it looks like its between the Lenovo and the Asus
 
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that is a beautiful laptop indeed.

The way I see it is you can either choose portability (the Asus) or Power (the Lenovo). As you mentioned you are travelling with it alot, you need to really think what you use it for the most and whether the extra grunt of the lenovo is actually needed.
 
Yea. the portability is about the same. 1lb difference

its more along the lines if the power is worth the extra money lol. im not in the market quite yet. itll take me a bit to get the funds. could even be as late as Cyber Monday or something. we will see. just trying to get my options together now!

you guys have all been a miraculous help!!
 
Sorry for the double post but I noticed one thing doing research on that Lenovo. Every review and stuff says it has an i7-4210 (i think) quad core. But Newegg lists it as an i5 dual core. Only mention of it as an i5 anywhere I've seen. Anyone know what this is about? Might contact Newegg to find out for sure. If its quad core that's even better
 
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