Help Picking out a laptop

[mastertodd]

I am a computer Science and engineering Student.

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

- Around 1700$

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook?
- USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
- Nope

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
- designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs, Photoshop, 3DS Max , Auto Cad , Maple etc

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
- both

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

- would like to play some games during free time like GTA 5, Cod[ games running on even minimum settings would do the job. i dont want it to lag though.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
- As much as i can get.
10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
- No issue
11) What OS do you prefer ?

- Windows and Linux

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

- if it looks stylish, its a bonus..but not going after looks.
15) When are you buying this laptop?
- Aug or early Sept 2011
16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
- 5 years
Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; Do you want a SSD drive?
640GB [not ssd]
18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
- CDRW/DVD-ROM + DVD Burner

 

[AntiZig]

Hi there,
good job laying out your needs, based on those and looking at your budget, I think, you should be looking for a gaming laptop.

Take a look at this website: http://www.xoticpc.com
Take a look at Sager-5165, Sager-8150, Asus-G53 and MSI-680 or 780.

Basically here's what I think you should be looking for:
15.6" LED LCD - 1920x1080 HD
CPU: i7-2630qm
GPU: either nvidia or ati will do fine, for nvidia either higher end of GT500 series or lower end of gtx500 series. Ati, 6000 mid to high range should satisfy your needs. But here you'll be limited by what is offered by the vendor.
Ram: at least 4gb, I'd recommend more for 3dsmax
HDD: you're set there, these guys are cheap nowadays, so get a 7200 rpm one for faster read/write and 640-750gb are readily available.

that's that, obviously any trinkets and finish details are by your preference.
Given that xoticpc is nice in terms of doing research, since their website is rather well organized, there could be deals out there on the same machines that are better than what you can find on xoticpc, so even if you pick something out on their wibsite, look around the web, you might find a better deal and have xoticpc match that price.

Alright, happy shopping, if you got any more questions, just ask.