Best one

Hello parmstrong1992;

Help us help you better by filling out the form in the sticky topic at the top of the page:

FAQ - Read before buying / considering a laptop
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/50797-35-read-buying-...

Hi there,

What do you plan on using your laptop for? If you are going to be gaming, a more powerful processor and larger graphic cards may be beneficial. However, many games can run on the other graphics card and processor as well.

Looking forward to helping you further!

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

The dell xps 15 i am looking at would have this configuration

Intel® CoreTM i7 740QM (1.73GHz/6MB cache)
640GB4 SATA hard drive (7200RPM)
2048 (MB) NVIDIA GT435M GeForce®
92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory

I will use it for some gaming, but I would also use it for 3d design software such as auto cad. If yall know of any other types that would be just as good for or better for the price, that would be appreaciated

Hi there,

What price are you looking at for that laptop? It looks like you made some upgrades to the basic model.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

I have a $2000 limit

Hi there,

Another option worth checking out before you decide is the Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q898. It has a 1.73 GHz Intel® Core™ i7-740QM Processor, 6 GB of RAM, and 500 GB of hard drive space. It also has NVIDIA GeForce GTS 460M graphics and a Blu-ray player. It is also within your budget.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team

It's probably not worth the extra $300 to you.
With a $2000 budget you might want to wait a few weeks and grab one of the new generation SandyBridge equipped laptops.
A more powerful/faster CPU and a next generation GPU as well. AMD has it's new 6000series mobility chips and Nvidia is pushing it's new 500 series with the new SandyBridge laptops.
AMD launches Radeon HD 6000M Series Laptop GPUs
Nvidia launch GeForce GT 500M series and GTX 485M GPU
Intel Core i7-2720QM Sandy Bridge
Intel’s Sandy Bridge: Upheaval in the Mobile Landscape

As a former student I will remind everyone that they better launch REALLY soon, because the next semester starts in a few weeks.

Is NOW soon enough?
In stock now $1100 @ Walmart HP Pavilion DV7-4290US Core i7-2630QM 6GB RAM 17.3" 1600 x 900 LED LCD & Radeon Mobility HD 6570 graphics 1TB HDD and Blu-Ray combo drive.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-dv7-4290us/15657825?source...