Which gaming laptop should I buy? (for around $1200)

[evenrainbowscry]

Ok, so I'm looking for advice on what gaming laptop I should buy. My price range is basically $1200 or less (and I'll be buying from Newegg or Amazon, so it's likely it'll be cheaper for me than advertised). I have done a fair amount of research and have pretty much decided what kinds of things I like and want; but I'm not really a tech-savvy person, nor have I ever been a PC gamer before, so it's likely that I might be missing something.

As I said before, I've done a fair amount of research. I've pretty much narrowed it down to an ASUS notebook, or a Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7380 (specs will be listed below); but I am open to new suggestions. As far as ASUS goes, there are a lot of options and their site is hardly navigable enough for me to make an informed decision. I've looked at Alienware stuff, but apparently they have not-so-good parts and overheat badly, and honestly, they don't seem to be a good enough deal compared to ASUS or Toshiba.

As far as parts go, I think I know enough to be able to make a somewhat good decision, but I know there are people who know a lot more than me, and I think I'll just let them tell me what's what. I know that a dual-core processor is better than a single-core, and a quad is then better than a dual, and so-forth. I know that I want something with at least 4GB of RAM, and realistically 6 or 8. I know that I want at least 500 GB in hard drive space, and up to 1 TB. Graphics cards are something I don't know too much about, so it would be great if I could get some help on that.

I'd like to be able to play TES: V Skyrim, and Battlefield 3 on high graphics, and maybe a game like The Witcher 2: AoK, on medium. Higher settings are always welcome.

I'll also be using this computer for schoolwork so being able to handle work programs and surf the internet with ease is also important.



Here are the specs for the aforementioned Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7380–

Processor: Intel Core i5-2430M
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit), SP1
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M with NVIDIA Optimus Technology
Graphics Memory: 1.5 GDDR5 Discrete Graphics Memory
RAM: 6GB DDR3 1333MHz memory
Hard Drive Space: 640 GB HDD (7200 RPM, Serial ATA)
Display: 17.3 Inches
Resolution: 1600 by 900, supports 720p content

I'd be happy to provide any other information that may be needed.

So yeah, just to remind you, I'm looking for advice on what laptop I should get. Please and thank you.

 

[DM186]

Those spec's are fine and I would change the GPU to a 570m if you want to run your games on high settings with good fps. plus get 8gigs of ram and a 1TB HDD. Other than that Nice rig.

I am not going to try to talk you out of buying your laptop. In fact I encourage you to buy one. But what I am going to tell you is food for thought so you don't make a lot of mistakes like other laptop users do.

Laptops run hot and if you are playing for 3hrs or more you could start to burn life out of you GPU. CPU, PSU, MOBO, and the power adaptor. You need to monitor your temps all the time.

Laptops run hot so you would need to get a chill matt to put your laptop on to help keep it cool. They have programs out there to help you monitor all of your temps for your CPU, GPU, Core temps.

You will have to keep a close eye out for dust build up inside because it will add to the heat problem. About 98% of all laptops/notebooks you will not be able to upgrade anything except your ram.

So if you find a laptop/notebook with upgradeable hardwear then get it. Other wise you are stuck with what you have. The newer games that will be coming out might require a bigger GPU or a newer one.

That is why I suggested a bigger GPU. The reason for the 1 TB HDD is because of games and of corse the most important thing is your schooling. The 8gigs of ram is the avg of ram for gaming.

Those spec's and GPU and HDD I suggested should be good for a few years at least untill you get out of school. I am sorry for being so long with words.

I just see a lot people on here with laptop/notebook problems all the time. So I try to warn them of what you don't know will kill the laptop/notebook. I wish you the best in school and gaming.