Help me Buy a Laptop

[eamesj1]

1. What is your budget? $1700

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 17 inches or larger (may settle for something slightly smaller).

3. What screen resolution do you want? 1920x1080 led full hd display.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Desktop Replacement

5. How much battery life do you need? Doesn't matter but the more the better.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? Starcraft 2 and Shogun 2 on Ultra settings.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Stream and watch 1080p hd movies.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? minimum of 500 gb but the more the better.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. I've been looking on Newegg, Amazon, and TigerDirect. This is the laptop I have my eye on right now but I want to know if there are better options available.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G74SX-A1-17-3-Inch-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B00542SUD8/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2LU1EJI6BN58R&colid=HBU6T0H7XTV8

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? For about the next 5 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? i'd prefer it to have a blu ray player but it is not essential.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. i don't have a preference really for any particular brand but i have been looking at a lot of ASUS and MSI laptops.

13. What country do you live in? USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. HDMI port is an absolute necessity and a USB 3.0 port would be nice but is not a deal breaker. Might go up to $2000 for the right reasons but I'd prefer to keep costs below $1700.

Any recommendations are much appreciated!

 

[shadamus]

If Blu-Ray isn't a "must have" feature, checkout the same G74 machine, but with a smaller HDD and no Blu-Ray for only $1400 at NewEgg.com http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230100.

I'm sure you can find a use for the extra $300... like a nice SSD (that laptop comes with 2 HDD bays, so you can keep the 500GB installed as well)... ;-)

 

[tomskent]

for $1700-2000 you can pretty much get any top of the line laptop that will have everything you are looking for. Look into ASUS's and MSI's Gaming laptops.

 

[bigtonyman]

you could look at alienware as well, but they are a bit more expensive. I have been pretty impressed with mine so far, and getting 4 hours of battery with a desktop replacement is always awesome .

 

[thlillyr]

go to delloutlet.com Thats where they sell product returns and scratch and dent models. They have full warrentys from dell and are still new except they are about 40-60% off new price. So you can snag top of the line alienware and XPS models for 800-1200$ regularly vs 2400$ new. Havn't looked in a few months but I have bought many Dell xps laptops for under 600$ each. Say what you will about dell but the Alienware and XPS series are great laptops.

 

[eamesj1]

Thank you for the replies. Do any of you have any experience with the ASUS G74's or the equivalent MSI computer?

 

[shadamus]

Thank you for the replies. Do any of you have any experience with the ASUS G74's or the equivalent MSI computer?

I have the ASUS N53sv-xv1 (see my signiture line for details), which is the same thing, but in the 15.6" form-factor with a weaker video card.

ASUS Build quality is pretty good, for these units that are in their upper-range.
My unit would be perfect if not for the fact that the headphone jack appears to be loose. I so seldom need headphones that I'm not willing to send the whole laptop in for repair for this minor issue. This is likely just a fluke with my unit, since I've not seen anyone else complaining about it online.