Gaming Laptop for College student

razer blade if u could afford or why not a gaming rig? u wont be moving much or? xD

One good thing about a "gaming laptop" in a tiny room: you'll save on your heating bill.

yea no problem. And dont ever feel bad about asking us. In the last 2 months ive been searching for the same thing as you. I go through best buy first, as i take full advantage of their 45 day return policy. In last 45 days, ive gone through asus g750 with 770m (which i really liked but was big bulky and battery not perfect), went to samsung ativ book 8 (which i really liked as it was 15", 5lbs, 8 hours of battery at least, and quad core i7 with amd 8800 graphics card, but it only had 1 hhd slot and heating became an issue), then tried macbook pro retina with 512gb ssd and amd dedicated graphics, but at $2200 it wasnt even as good as the samsung and had more heating issues for double the price), then tried the msi gt60 i believe, and same cons as the asus except i felt the asus better in every way. then just friday lastweek i went back to best buy and picked up both the asus g750 with 860m and 880m, have 42 more days to return both or just one. Im keeping the g750, just trying to figure out if i need the 880m or 860m. the extra ram and hhd are no deciding factor for me as im using 2x 1tb samsung evo ssd's and take out the manufacter ones right away. But for me i think the 860m is going to be the one i go with, offers about 30-60 min better battery, and i can game on high settings with the 860m, the 880m just gives me ultra. And on a 1980 screen, they look the same.

Thats why i like these forums. i can post everything i know about all the work and time i put into it, and if it helps just one more person, its worth it to me. So if you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

Otherwise, id wait and see what the new msi is going to be, wait for a few reviews to find out what the cons will be (there are always cons, with laptops its always give and take), and see if its going to work the best. If it is great, then id get the msi. If the reviews dont get you 100%, then i can say through all my experience with gaming laptops in the last few months, that the asus g750 is by far my favorite.

I'd recommend a Sager build, or a Lenovo Y50 once it comes out. $2000 for a laptop is alot given that Broadwell is coming out soon, and you really just need a good mobile GPU and an i5 to do most mobile gaming... Can't really recommend a Razerblade or Alienware, too much money for what you're getting.

http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/msi_gs70_stealth_pro_laptop_now_with_nvidia_geforce_gtx_870m.html

here is one of the many links for the new msi. I believe this is the mid range available in a 15" as well. Can't recall what the 17" monster is going to be, but im sure that one will be gtx 880m and probably pushing more $2000-2300.

Cant say id ever recommend a sager, or a Lenovo. Lenovo makes great sub $1000 laptops. But I cant see them pitting a top end version of theyres vs something like asus/msi/alienware that have been producing top notch gaming top end laptops for years now.

I really wish asus would come out with a similar spec'd g750 in a 15". I've seen a few recent articles that they are indeed coming out with 15" gaming laptops, but at far lower specs than the g750.

I guess opinions differ, alienware are notorious for heating issues and have been going downhill since Dell bought them I seriously laugh a little inside when I see one... and I've never used an MSI that felt as expensive as the hardware it housed... Plastic crap chasis... I've owned 3 Asus laptops and I've liked them all, but honestly you must not know much about Clevo and Sager to disregard them like that, and the lenovo y50 has a almost 4k screen and 800 series graphics in it in a thin clamshell enclosure, which I can't say any Alienware/Asus/MSI has done yet...

No, i have not much experience with sager or clevo. And as far as lenovo or even razer, anything above a 1080p in a laptop is only going to cut performance, and screen res doesnt look nearly as good as its made out to. Alot of progroms dont even support higher than 1080p so you'll still be looking at 1080p, gaming wise you'd need a 880m to play any game at playable frames, and even then you might have to drop to high or medium. It requires a beast to run 4k, or even close to. And thats desktop wise. If you wanted to play 4k on laptop at high/ultra id really recommend 880m sli. And dell is the only one i know to offer that, at $3800, and they as even you know are overpriced and have def. heat issues.

One great thing about the asus, is heat isnt ever an issue. I have read (not sure if clevo or sager) but keyboard and chasis are subpar. If you going to be spending within $100 of one another, id go asus over clevo or sager. Heck, personally id rather drop to a 860m over an 870m if that meant asus over sager/clevo.

As for msi, most of what you say is true, especially of their ge series. Gt series has shown great improvements. I'd still go asus over msi. But this new one from what ive read is solid, runs not cooelr than the asus but not throttling hot either, tri raid (or 2 hhd bays), with a slim profile, high quality build, and available in 15 or 17, with steel series keyboard. Keyboard and heat are the 1 thing i will not comprimise on, build quality is second, 2 hhd slots and backlight keyboard def third. Graphics and processor are a given but like i said, id rather have top notch quality with a 860m over medium quality laptop with a 870m.

But like i said, unless your in a real hurry, wait for the new msi to be released. You'll then know most importantly actual price and packages, but read some in depth reviews as well. Everylaptop has its cons, theres no 100% perfect laptop, see if those cons are ones that are livable. Spec wise the msi seems great. I think it'd be worth at least waiting to see. Otherwise, id really recomend the asus g750. If you really game first and want to make sure you get high/ultra and for some time, get the 870 or save a couple hundred more and get the 880m. But if you want something that gets good battery, and plays most current games on high, the $1300 with 860m is a great laptop.

Like ive stated here before, right now i have the asus with both 860m and one with a 880m. Trying to decide if the extra $1000 is really worth it. I can read forums and performance charts all day long, but for me i really am impressed with how well the 860m performs. The 880m is also a beast, but, the 860m does such a good job im really leaning towards that one.

He can always put the resolution down, and a almost 4k resolution touch screen, 800 series graphics, Lenovo build quality... The 4k resolution will look great on Netflix, webbrowsing or schoolwork... The Y50 is supposed to be a real game-changer. I would highly recommend that over any of the offerings you have posted. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y50/


edit: as far Asus is concerned, I've owned ultrabooks and a ROG laptop. I was in a lecture and the ROG's fans spooled up - I was told to turn my computer off from pretty far away because it sounded like it was "a convection oven cooking toast." lol... The Sager/Clevo dealio actually makes laptops for quite a few other companies, you'll always get a solid if not discrete looking build, with extremely high end components for a lower price than elsewhere. I'm not a big fan of sinking a ton of money into a laptop anywho even though I've done it, Broadwell is coming out within the next year and then you have Sky Lake with a different socket type, technology moves too fast to sink that much money into something that won't move with the technology. I have since switched to a light laptop for most things and a desktop that I can build up as time goes on for the rest of things...

aright, well as far as rog and fans, noise level on dual fans is by far even quieter than my cheap toshiba i3 single fan. Plus, if your taking notes and such in the middle of class, id highly recommend you make a power profile set to throttle first, fans second. Also, wouldnt that fan noise be the same no matter which laptop then?

As far as soltered vs socket cpu. yes i know broadwell and skylark are coming out, yet............arent going to be compatable with any motherboards on the market now. So you'd still have to upgrade the motherboard on the laptop, so wouldnt that be the same as upgrading to a motherboard with a new soldered cpu on? maybe even cheaper the soldered route. Plus intel has stated that in the future, theyre mobile cpu's will be soldered on motherboards straight from the factory. Its going to be the best/easiest/most efficient way to make smaller and more advanced chips.

And yes, i have a great desktop for gaming. But if your buying a 'gaming' laptop, dont you want a 'gaming' laptop? Why spend the same on half the power? Plus if op is going to school, im sure dorms are small, plus why would he want a laptop, and then a pc. Especially if his dorm is far away from class, hes on lunch in between classes, and wants to game for an hour.

I bring my ROG to school on a daily basis, and use it just fine. Best part, thunderport, plugs right into the plc's at work, so yes its 10lbs, but i can hold the laptop in my hand while plugging into plc interface at work, and upload programs, troubleshoot ect. Its big yes, but battery gets me 4-5 hours of light/medium, 17 screen is great and compared to my 21 inch monitor its almost just as nice. I have a pc for when im at home and want to game, but im not home for more than a few hours a day.

And as far as setting the resolution down, yes you very easily can. But its recommended that you game at what your resolution is. Most often, when you dial down the resolution, you dial down the screen size. 1080p on 1080p is full screen, 720p on a 1080p screen is a box inside the screen about 1 1/2" from the edge in all directions. So on a 15" with sub 4k screen, you'd get like 13" if that at 1080p. Doesnt sound like fun. Plus pushing that high of res not only requires a beafy gpu and drops performance, but battery will also take a huge hit gaming or not. Screen res on light/medium duties on laptops are the #1 battery killer, you go up and double the screen res, you taking a huge chunk of battery. So on a sager with average 4 hours battery, double the screen, now your only gettting 3 hours of battery while typing and email. Plus, especially if this laptop is for shcool, im guessing youll probably type more than you game. And wouldnt a nice solid keyboard be a huge perk. Over some mushy, some keys dont always register keyboard?

Broadwell will be compatible with Haswell motherboards... And all I'm saying is, Sager and Clevo will be better build quality and cheaper when bought from somewhere like XoticPC, where you can have max spec components, SSD, 1920x1080 etc for like $1300... And the Lenovo Y50 will have Maxwell GPU, a high end i7 processor, incredible screen, clamshell enclosure, and Lenovo has a history of putting out nothing but great computers, granted the Yoga is a bit odd to hold but they were the first to do that as well other than the TaiChi...

And as far as a gaming laptop is concerned, Thunderbolt ---> PCIE dock w/ discrete graphics & Sata power and you have a mobile gaming laptop and incredible battery life when you're not gaming...
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpress3d.html

And that is not true about the screen shrinking when you dial back the resolution? smh...

And you also know nothing about the keyboards on any of the laptops I've listed, I use a Cherry mechanical keyboard as my main keyboard so maybe I'm a bit spoiled, but another one of the BIG selling points of the Y50 IS the keyboard!

Please stop critiquing Sager and Clevo when everything is made in Foxconn, and Clevo is an OEM manufacturer for most major laptop companies. You're just cutting out the middleman by buying straight from the manufacturer instead of paying MSI or Toshiba to put their brand on it...

http://www.notebookreview.com/brands/laptop/clevo/notebookreview/

Dude, here is a website that has link to many many clevo laptop reviews of probably a very good chunk of every laptop offered by them.

In all reviews (first 5 I looked at, which last one was November 2013 so pretty recent), showed bad keyboard, subpart build, cheap feeling all around, and some had either horrible fan noise or poor cooling. ? Not trying to diss these companies, I'm just stating that EVERY review I have found, show that these are not class leading gaming laptops.

Read any review on the g750, you get? Its big/bulky, and poor battery (yet always stated that for a gaming laptop it gives class leading battery)

And as for dialing back the screen, I most definitely know what I'm talking about. As on my Toshiba and my Samsung I have 1080p screens and need to play at 720p in order to play, its ALWAYS a small tiny screen in the middle of my 15 inch display.

Plus you say that with sager and clevo their OEM laptop makers, well maybe for the $400 budget computers. Anyone can throw components into a classy and make it cheaper than Asus/msi . But your saying that buying a clevo/sager is buying direct from manufacture and skipping the middle man. But immediately say that going to some xiopc or whatever to build and buy it? That's a third party? Am I not correct? So your skipping a company like Asus and Msi who dump so much into R&D, hench the additional cost of product, to use a online company that just buys parts from all other companies and throws them together. All your doing is subtracting one third party for another. Yet one is a huge intention company that goes through so much work on researching the best ways to give the best, and one is just a place that buys a bunch of CPU's, gpu's, and stuff and assembles them for you.

How do I know nothing about keyboards? Because you own a cherry switch mechanical keyboard? Or, like almost everyone knows, you say that Lenovo has a good keyboard. I'm saying clevo/sager has poor keyboards, and using information I've gotten from every/any review done on one of those laptops. Asus and msi keyboards use top notch keyboards, which I'm pretty sure either best or on par with Lenovo's finest. Plus Lenovo doesn't put their top end ThinkPad keyboards into every laptop. Look at the y410, that's got a crappy keyboard, and its their gaming laptop.

Oh, Ps, I have Logitech g710+ for my main pc with brown switches, and black widow for my secondary laptop which uses cherry as well. So I'm doubly smart as you are, keyboard wise. Cuz I have two and apparently if you own a mechanical keyboard you are a guru. I have 2, you only have 1, so, I'm doubly smart

I have had probably close to 20 laptops since elementary school, and I will just say that the Sagers/Clevo's Ive had have been the best laptops... And again, I am really questioning your understanding of what Clevo is, the Clevo's you are looking at reviews of are built up by Eurocom and Avadirect, not the Sager/XoticPC I was recommending that are vastly superior to the budget laptop you read the review of?

The G750 will be more or less the same as the Sager, only the Sager will have more ram, a SSD/HD, no flashing lights, a faster processor, a better GPU at that price range, a BluRay drive... You can even opt for cooling upgrades on it if you wish...

Again, the Y50 has a better resolution, heralded as having the same GPU, touch screen, thinner enclosure, and an accutype keyboard?

I also am seriously calling you out on the screen resolution shrinking by the way, that is a ridiculous statement you can change the screen scaling in your GPU control panel... Learn about motherboard socket types (Intels Tick-Tock architecture release scheduling) and how to manage your screen size before you advise someone wrongly...

edit: Guess it takes a LGA1150 but new power supply configuration, things change I suppose. Regardless, the screen resolution thing is a dingus thing to say

broadwell will have a different pin count, how is that going to fit the socket on an existing board? new boards will work with both, but will have more pins slots, for existing haswell they will fit on the new socket minus the extra pins slots that they wont be using. Yet broadwell will take the full pin slot. That, so far is the only actual 100% accurate information about broadwell that has been released. Everything else is either a hypothetical best guess, or theoretical crunching numbers and giving a best educated guess.

And yes, website shows other companies, with sager/clevo model. Same laptops just sold by a different company. That's the problem with sager/clevo, its the same laptop just sold by everybody under different names. But the actual model/serial number is the same laptop even between companys that sell them. Like you said they make laptops for other companies.

And as for Lenovo g750, I never actually thrashed it, I just said that high res screens are nothing but cons on a laptop, which I still fully stand behind. And screen shrinking, call me out or not I don't give a #$%$, I know this to be true in my experience in 2 separate laptops within this last year.

Not sure if your just made because OP took my advice and chose my best answer and not your single laptop recommendation, or to use cheaper laptop companies. You can back up that all you want, I don't personally care, don't think OP is going that route. All I did was give recommendation according to hundreds of reviews read, and personal experience from last months worth of buying returning several laptops. But my main point to OP, was to wait for the new MSI, it looks very promising. See how it is, how its rated, use that info against other laptops. And choose which pro/con list he is most comfortable with in a laptop. While also pointing out good things to look for in laptops. Your just bashing me, and last few posts have just been personal, so thank you for that, I sure do hope I can sleep tonight. If I don't I guess I can always get some cod or tf ultra action on my 'horrible' asus laptop. Oh darn.

Most laptops don't actually make their laptops, the Clevo model is not uncommon... The person assembling the laptop has alot do with the quality of it by the way...

Furthermore, a 4k touchscreen on a laptop is not a con? Maybe in terms of battery life but hey, so is the 800 series GPU and the high end non-ULV CPU... I could care less about best answer, I'm not really trying to argue with a high school student here, all I did was say that the Y50 will be better than any of MSI's offerings, as every MSI laptop I've owned has literally just been a pile, and you had a coronary.

And it still uses the LGA1150 socket Dblkk, do a little bit more googling... I know an employee at the D1X plant who can tell me things a little bit more beyond speculation... Just different chipset... And the Y50 is a majorly hyped laptop, if you're sinking enough money for a car into a laptop might as well look around... You should also look into a laptop more before you buy and return several of them...

Seriously, try going into your Nvidia control panel and messing with screen scaling. You'll be glad you did, because then you can scale down resolution without squinting at a 6" square in the middle of the screen... If not, whatever, your loss I suppose

And a whole whopping 20 laptops. That's great. I own 4 now, 2 surface pros, and 2 desktops. Ive gone through 5 in last month, and used to work it and have gone through maybe 100 in the 2 years of that. Before that I was analyst for army and have probably worked on over 100 different toughbooks with components not available commercially, and have been building computers since early teen and that's how I made money up until the army. All friends and family also utilize me as their own it guy and ive worked on/fixed all their laptops, as well as help out at the college doing the same thing.

And I didn't just post a link to one sager laptop, and I didn't just pull information from one sager laptop. I've gone through about 15 now, and there hasn't been one single laptop review I have left impressed with. So sorry.

But I'm done, and OP has already gotten his question answered and im sure is reading reviews on his own right now. Or made a different post since this one is hijacked

I'll leave with this, strictly informational copied and pasted
(notice expected-doesn't help or hurt anyones case as its not 100% known yet, but usually pretty correct)
Broadwell is expected to be launched in four major variants:[5]
LGA 1150 socket: Broadwell-D: desktop version[5]

BGA package: Broadwell-H: 37 W and 47 W TDP classes, for motherboards with HM86, HM87, QM87 and the new HM97 chipsets for "all-in-one" systems, mini-ITX form-factor motherboards, and other small footprint formats. It may come in two different variants, as single and dual chips; the dual chips (4 cores, 8 threads) will have GT3e and GT2 GPU, while a single chip (SoC; 2 cores, 4 threads) will have GT3e GPU. Maximum supported memory is 32 GB of DDR3L-1600.[6]
Broadwell-U: 15 W and 28 W TDP classes (SoC), for motherboards with PCH-LP chipset for Intel's ultrabook and NUC platforms. GT3, GT2 and GT1 GPU will be used, while maximum supported memory is either 16 GB of DDR3L-1600, or 8 GB of LPDDR3-1600.[6]
Broadwell-Y: 4.5 W and 3.5 W TDP class (SoC), for tablets and certain ultrabook-class implementations. GT2 GPU will be used, while maximum supported memory is 8 GB of LPDDR3-1600.[6]

rPGA 947 socket: Broadwell-M: mobile/laptop version[5]

LGA 2011-3 socket: Broadwell-EP: To be marked as Xeon E5-2600 v4 etc., while using the C610 Wellsburg chipset platform. Up to 18 cores and 36 threads, up to 45 MB of total cache and 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes, with 70–160 W TDP classes. Maximum supported memory speed is quad-channel DDR4-2400.[7]
Broadwell-EX: Brickland platform, for mission-critical servers. Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) is expected to be updated to version 1.1, enabling seamless scaling beyond eight-socket systems. Maximum supported memory speeds are expected to be DDR3-1600 and DDR4-3200.

dude, your the only one arguing. I'm just on defensive here. And high school student, um ok. Well, grandpa, FYI (which means for your information), I am a 28 year old, who started school at 4, skipped grades 4-6, graduated at 14, joined the army at 15, left at 19, earned a bachelors in computer networking and infustructure. Then worked maintenance for last few years while im finishing up my masters in electro/mechanical engineering. Which I have one semester left.

SO yes, take this 'high schoolers' advice with a grain of salt. Haha, alright old timer.

OK, you're trying to get a degree in ECE and you don't know how to scale your computers resolution, or that Haswell uses LGA1150... You also didn't post any Sager reviews other than this one on the link from 3 years ago... http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/xotic-sager-np8170clevo-p170hm-notebook-review/

I went 3/4 of the way through a degree in Computer Engineering too before I decided to switch to Physics, so I guess we're on even footing there?... And when did I attack you personally other than just now lol, I said you must not know about the Lenovo's keyboard, not that you don't know anything about keyboards. You just had to come back and talk about your Razer&Logitech keyboard. I used my 20 laptops as a point of comparison to give credential to my comment on build quality of laptop manufacturers as I've owned just about everything under the sun.