Getting a laptop for school, perplexed if I want to get one that's also good for gaming.

[Peacekid]

Right now, my desktop that I use for gaming currently has an E8400 @ stock, 4GB of RAM, and a GTS 250 (I believe this was the 9800 GTX equivalent). I play League/Dota 2 on low-medium settings. School is starting up soon, and I've found this laptop for $800 -

[URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215404[/URL]

Pros:

- i7 Processor, 640m, and 6GB of RAM for a low price.
- I can play the games I want (League of Legends, DOTA 2, TF2)
- Speed and power (photoshop, multiple program instances)
- Cost. $800? fuck yeah

Cons:

- Heavy. My last laptop weighed roughly the same amount and I didn't enjoy lugging it around high school. The local university is WAY bigger and I don't want to go through THAT again.
- Plastic casing. Small thing, but I like the feeling of durability in my laptops. Plus, it'll smudge everywhere.
- Heat? Supposedly Acer and MSi (last laptop I had) both have heating problems.

--

Ideally, something a bit lighter, as much power, and a little more aesthetic would be right up my alley. I found this one online, but the amazon review kind of scares me:

[URL]http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Y480-20934FU-14-Inch-Laptop/dp/B007CL3AZC/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i[/URL]

---

FP, what should I do? Any recommendations?

Also unrelated: is there hard casings for these sorts of laptops, like there are for Macbook Pros? My friend had one for his MBP and I thought it was awesome.

[Darkimmortal]

Possibly Sony S15 if you want a 15 inch? Weighs about 600g or so less, 1080p IPS screen and GPU overclocks by 90% to >650m. It also takes care of your other two cons being made of magnesium alloy and having excellent quiet cooling.

IIRC the US price isn't a lot more, could be wrong. There's also a deal for a free Vita/PS3 for US customers I believe

[nikomo]

Just remember, laptops like these are meant more as desktop replacements and not something you carry around.
The battery life really reflects that.

The details page says 4 and a half hours, but if you're going to be running at a high load, you'll absolutely murder that battery.

[Peacekid]

yeah, but I need a bit more oomph for things past word processing and browsing facebook. im trying to minimize the gap between ultrabook and desktop replacement. the s15 darkimmortal mentioned:

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666441691#additionalImage1"

looks real good. however, how does an i5 dual core compare to the i7 quad, performance wise when it comes to multitasking and games?

[Boba_Fett]

I'm going to college in a month, and I'm bringing my desktop computer to my dorm. I'm buying a cheap laptop to carry around for my schoolwork.

Not sure if you're in the same situation, but that's what I'm doing.

[Darkimmortal]

[QUOTE=Peacekid;36775972]yeah, but I need a bit more oomph for things past word processing and browsing facebook. im trying to minimize the gap between ultrabook and desktop replacement. the s15 darkimmortal mentioned:

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666441691#additionalImage1"

looks real good. however, how does an i5 dual core compare to the i7 quad, performance wise when it comes to multitasking and games?[/QUOTE]

Not going to be a huge difference in most games, also the i7 quad cuts about an hour or so off the battery life and the i7 dual is a waste of money akin to the old 2500k vs 2600k thing

[Peacekid]

I live in Hawaii but the commute is roughly 1.5-2 hours by bus, I need to get there at roughly 8-9 AM and plan to stay there till 6 or so most days to avoid traffic. Desktop stays at home, laptop to go with me to school for notes and work.

And that sounds fine then, I suppose the extra power is only truly needed with heavy duty games + video rendering. I'm really really considering putting in the order for the Sony, any closing thoughts?

[Darkimmortal]

[QUOTE=Peacekid;36776272]I live in Hawaii but the commute is roughly 1.5-2 hours by bus, I need to get there at roughly 8-9 AM and plan to stay there till 6 or so most days to avoid traffic. Desktop stays at home, laptop to go with me to school for notes and work.

And that sounds fine then, I suppose the extra power is only truly needed with heavy duty games + video rendering. I'm really really considering putting in the order for the Sony, any closing thoughts?[/QUOTE]

It's worth glancing through [url=http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony-owners-lounge-forum/669429-official-2012-sony-s-series-owners-thread.html]this thread[/url] for a few tips, and of course the [url=http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/677079-sony-vaio-s-bios-mod-gt640m-le.html]gpu bios mod[/url]

Also the couple of issues with the laptop (no laptop is perfect but this is probably one of the closest): the screen can't display pure red (appears orange-ish but apparently doesn't affect anything other than graphics design) and the speakers have basically no bass but still sound better than eg a phone loudspeaker.

Really you can't go wrong with the S15 - the only real competitor to the S series is the gigabyte U2442 ultrabook series which is extremely hard to get. Everything else is full of flaws, absurdly expensive, lacking a proper GPU/full voltage cpu or beyond the limits of what I would call a laptop (2kg)

[Peacekid]

Ah so, I've also found the y480 series from Lenovo :

[URL]http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=C7563337D3E07CC4B84607F2E57AE7FD&action=init[/URL]

How would this fare? It's not amazing looking aesthetically, BUT I think it seems really nice in terms of specs and being a full $100 cheaper. the reviews on amazon, however, seem a bit harsh. I know battery life would be brutal as well, though.

It seems to max at around 4 hours of battery life, which doesn't bother me a whole ton. The specs seem to be real nice, and it's even smaller which is a plus.

[Peacekid]

Hello again! decided I'd go with the Sony, seems like the best choice. Being a student also got me another $100 shaved off, so fuck yeah to that. Any promo codes I can use?

[Darkimmortal]

[QUOTE=Peacekid;36779589]Hello again! decided I'd go with the Sony, seems like the best choice. Being a student also got me another $100 shaved off, so fuck yeah to that. Any promo codes I can use?[/QUOTE]

Not sure what the code is, but there's definitely one for a free vita

[postcert]

[url]http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np6165-clevo-w150er-p-4344.html[/url]
Around your price range and a bit more powerful than the other choices.
I love my Np9150 but its considerably pricier.

[Darkimmortal]

Clevo build quality usually leaves a lot to be desired