Student laptop for gaming and work

[robert1037]

Hi my Brother is going to university soon and he's going to get a laptop for his birthday.... its going to be used for work and gaming(doesnt have to run everything on high spec medium will be ok)
Ideally He would like a
Intel Core 2 duo/amd duo 2Ghz or more
Nvidia 9600/9800 512mb or ati Equivalent
3/4GB ram
320Gb hard/500Gb
(any operating system)
please can someone help me
we have a max budget of around £600 but it might be possible to extend that abit
any suggestions are welcome
thanx in advance

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
Please fill the FAQ first:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/50797-35-read-buying-laptop

 

[robert1037]

my budget is £700 max(£600 would be good)
any size screen (not below 15 inch though
weight doesnt matter as long as its portable (for uni+home use)
dont mibd about the battery(Any 2hrs or above) would be ok
i want to play games.. things like aion and other online mmos(needs to play them on medium atliest ... and play the latest games with no lagg on med)
it will be also used for work and maybe watching a few movies(also music)
any hard drive above 250GB (dont need anymore than 500Gb)
will buy from any stite as long as trustworthy ..lol(insurance would be good)
should last for 2-3 years
not sure what rom but it wont be used for blu ray or hd videos just maily uploading games and cd's
i dont mind to much about brands ( acer are quite good tho)
i live in england ( i dont mind if its from america as long as it comes with uk leads ect)...
XP Or windows 7 would be ok i dont realy mind

 

[cen100]

Hi,

Only things to say : don't buy ACER, PackardBell or Samsung laptop computer.
Component are cheap, plastics are cheap and all of that is bad design not easy to repair after 1 year or two (just when the warranty is finish)

For my at this moment, the best are NEC, Dell and HP.

For the rest just focus on :
- If there is a dedicated Grafic Card and check what your games need (Minimum requirement)
- If the Grafic Card has dedicated memories (and not "shared memories")
- I recommand only WXGA (15" or 17" wide) more the screen is big = more weight = more consomption (inverter 24V to 48V) = more future problems = $£€
If you are a gamer just have a small LCD screen and use VGA/DVI/HDMI cable to a external LCD/TV screen.
- Small HarDrive are better (same reason as TFT screen : consomption, weight)

I don't really advice you ACER ... I repair a lot of them ... and there not easy to open just to clean the dust or make an upgrade (CPU, RAM ...)

DELL : I bought one for my brother last month, he's is very happy about it, very easy to uprade/clean inside the laptop, low noise... there are not so much expensive, becose you can only buy it online at their website
Theye have insurance up to 3 year (you can also buy an assurance for LCD/TFT breaking, and they come at home "worlwide" exept maybe Iraq/Afganistan ...)
and you can "build" online your laptop ... don't pay for Webcam or Bluetooth if you 'll never use it.


NEC : Same as above, but did'nt find a website for "enduser" it seems only for pros.



HP : for me are ok (inside well designed for future repair) BUT ... the last models have some trouble with the LCD pannel. and the Customer service is not what you expect from a "serious" company like HP.