Need a new gaming laptop!

[GregDL]

So, hi all!

My sister's pc died yesterday, her motherboard broke. So I decided to be kind and to give my computer to her (it was a light gaming desktop). As I'm going to college, I'll need a laptop so I'll buy it now.

1. What is your budget?
€1200 max, not dollar! I live in Belgium.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
All sizes are ok for me.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
At least 1600x900

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Just a laptop, doesn't really matther.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Don't care about battery life, but I'd like at least 2-3 hours on internet

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)?
Sims 3: Medium-High
GTA IV (&EFLC): Medium at least (as my crappy desktop was able to do it
NFS SHIFT, Undercover, Hot pursuit Medium
GTA San Andreas High
CoD MW3 Medium
Battlefield 3 Low-Medium

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Word processing, internetting, gaming

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 500GB

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
http://www.alternate.be/html/categoryListing.html?cat1=36&cat2=999&cat3=0&selector=135&bfbox=1&&tn=BUILDERS&l1=Notebooks&l2=Alle+Notebooks& (DUTCH SITE) or Dell.be

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD will suffice

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 like all brands except for medion and such.

13. What country do you live in?
Belgium

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I've seen these laptops, please tell me if they're ok please?
Acer Aspire V3-771G-73618G75Makk:
I7-3610QM, 2GB GT650M DDR5, 17inch, 1600x900 res, 8GB RAM €790
Dell Inspiron 17r SE:
I7-3610QM, 2GB GT650M DDR5, 17inch, 1920x1080 res, 6GB ram €810

 

[WR2]

Hello GregDL

Among the twoi you listed I like the Inspiron 17r SE Core i7-3610QM & GT650M w/ 1920x1080 LCD the best.

Looking around on the website you provided did not get any better options in the same price range.

The only other two I thought were worth looking at were a the top end of your budget
ASUS N56VZ-S4022V-BE 15" notebook @ €1200
MSI GE60 0NC-002BE 15" notebook @ €1149

 

[Hiii]

I like more the MSI and the Acer but some people say that the Acers are not very good.

 

[GregDL]

Hello GregDL

Among the twoi you listed I like the Inspiron 17r SE Core i7-3610QM & GT650M w/ 1920x1080 LCD the best.

Looking around on the website you provided did not get any better options in the same price range.

The only other two I thought were worth looking at were a the top end of your budget
ASUS N56VZ-S4022V-BE 15" notebook @ €1200
MSI GE60 0NC-002BE 15" notebook @ €1149

Thanks for your information! But the others have about the same performance as the dell, no? So wouldn't it be a waste of money buying one of the two you listed?

 

[GregDL]

I like more the MSI and the Acer but some people say that the Acers are not very good.

And what do you think about the dell I mentioned?

 

[WR2]

Gaming performance should be very similar. The Asus would have better build quality, better speaker system, probably a better LCD screen and be an over all match to an upgraded Dell XPS 15.

The Dell Inspiron 17r SE is a reasonable budget choice. Have you seen any independent reviews where it was tested?

Here is a partial 'hands on' review.
Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition
http://www.trustedreviews.com/dell-inspiron-17r-special-edition_Laptop_review

 

[GregDL]

Gaming performance should be very similar. The Asus would have better build quality, better speaker system, probably a better LCD screen and be an over all match to an upgraded Dell XPS 15.

The Dell Inspiron 17r SE is a reasonable budget choice. Have you seen any independent reviews where it was tested?

Here is a partial 'hands on' review.
Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition
http://www.trustedreviews.com/dell-inspiron-17r-special-edition_Laptop_review

I've been reading some reviews but there are few of them. They all say the build quality is pretty decent since metal is used instead of plastic. Also the speakers are from Skullcandy, so they should sound good? I have earphones from Skullcandy and they're excellent. I don't know about the LCD, but I have a spare external monitor on my desktop so if it's really bad, I'll connect it to the other monitor.

 

[WR2]

It won't be a 'bad' LCD - it's actually decent.
It's probably just not quite the same quality as the more expensive XPS 15 has.
There is a reason it's less expensive than other 'premium' models.

From the link above.
While it’s not a patch on the quite frankly gorgeous new XPS laptops, the Inspiron 17R Special Edition still manages to convey a little class with its mixture of aluminium and black plastics. Most of the plastic panels feature a soft, textured coating with a visible honeycomb pattern that’s quite attractive, offset by glossy sections in areas where fingerprints won’t be an issue. In fact, if it weren’t for the gaps between some of these panels on closer inspection, we’d peg this Inspiron as quite premium in its own right. Build quality is also decent, though again it pales compared to the XPS range.

 

[Hiii]

I think that the Dell looks lik the best option, i dont like the 6GB ram but i've heard that you dont need more than 4GB to play.

 

[GregDL]

It won't be a 'bad' LCD - it's actually decent.
It's probably just not quite the same quality as the more expensive XPS 15 has.
There is a reason it's less expensive than other 'premium' models.

From the link above.
While it’s not a patch on the quite frankly gorgeous new XPS laptops, the Inspiron 17R Special Edition still manages to convey a little class with its mixture of aluminium and black plastics. Most of the plastic panels feature a soft, textured coating with a visible honeycomb pattern that’s quite attractive, offset by glossy sections in areas where fingerprints won’t be an issue. In fact, if it weren’t for the gaps between some of these panels on closer inspection, we’d peg this Inspiron as quite premium in its own right. Build quality is also decent, though again it pales compared to the XPS range.

So the Dell Inspiron should be the best bet for the money?

 

[VeNoM56k]

You should check out http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

I bought my rig from there about a year ago and havent had any problems. Plus they were cheap and fast and their support is great.

I checked and they do deliver to Belgium. If you do go with PCS, when making your build pick the silver warranty, as its only an extra £9 and the warranty lasts ages.

 

[WR2]

It's the best budget option with a GT 650M that I saw in your area.