Choosing Laptops

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Gamer4Christ
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Hi there, everyone!

I'm considering buying my own laptop, so I wouldn't have to constantly borrow my dad's, which itself is kind of old. Plus, I'd like to use it for both gaming and game designing. However, since I've mostly been a handheld gamer for most of my life, I wouldn't know what to look for software-wise or hardware-wise that could support or store such functions. So does anyone know of any good quality laptops suited for those tasks that won't break my bank? I don't have much money to throw around.
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ccgr
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Well if you go Intel you'll want at least an i5, i7's are faster, but more money. You'll also want either Nvidia or AMD graphics and at least 8GB of RAM.

As for brands I've owned Compaq/HP, Toshiba, Asus, and MSI gaming laptops. My husband has owned a Dell before as well.

I follow this seller on ebay and he sells systems for a good price. Plan on upgrading the memory or hard drive in the laptops though.
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TheAlexTDB
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So the following I just started writing after reading the first few sentences, and just started spewing information :lol:. I'll leave it here though as I do think it holds some good information... and no unfortunately I don't have a laptop to recommend, but I hope this helps narrow it down :D.

As tech was already covered I kinda want to mention a few things I've come to learn and appreciate in certain laptops physically. This is all my own opinion by the way :P.
  • Having ventilation is vital for laptops, especially ones running games. Making sure your laptop has plenty of ventilation and you can easily dig into your laptop to clean out the vents is pretty important (I was so surprised at how much crud can get into those things :lol:).

    Also testing out the keys is really important. As far as I'm concerned you can't change keyboards on laptops like you do desktops, so be sure the built in keyboard fits your hands.

    Deciding what kinds of ports and how many of them you want on your laptop is also important. Want a mouse, headset, mic, fan cooler, printer, connection cord for your smartphone, HDMI, USB 2&3, etc.? Make sure you can provide room for what you plan on hooking it up with.

    Thinking about where you will be using this laptop is also critical; will you be using it outside? you'll need a screen built with anti-glare stuff (Idk what its called :P). Will it be moved around a lot? I personally recommend getting a laptop with two really sturdy looking hinges, you use those things quite a bit. Also on the note of moving its quite important to take its weight into consideration, you don't want to get stuck walking around a bit with a heavy duty laptop. What do you plan on storing in it, depending on that answer would it be better to shoot for a laptop with an SSD with faster data access speed or one with an HDD with more storage space.
Anywho those are my thoughts on that, I do hope you find something that works for ya :D
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Sstavix
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Look for a MacBook Pro.

Oh wait... you wanted something that doesn't break the bank. ;)

One of the things that I strongly recommend is consider what type of graphics card the system has. If you get anything with Intel integrated, you won't have the same experience - and some games may not work at all (I'm speaking from experience here...). That'll bump up the price, of course, but if you want to have a decent gaming computer, you're going to have to shell out a little more, anyway.

I also recommend making sure it's a computer that you can pump more RAM into. As ccgr said, 8 GB is a great place to start, but you may want to install more later on.
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micah211
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Check out Lenovo. I have a thinkpad right now it's perfect!

The new Lenovo series will be coming out in February - April. The Y520 and Y700 seem to be great laptops with the newest of everything (for laptops). The 520 has 16 Gb RAM, GTX1060 or GTX1060GTi (I think), 1080p, 15.6 inches, and of course the 7th gen i7. Price - $900

The 700 has I think a minimum of 16 Gb RAM, 4K screen, 6 Gb GTX1060, 15.6 - 17 inch screen, 7th gen i7, And a Razor keyboard. Price - $1400... :(
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Gamer4Christ
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Thanks, everyone, for the advice!

Actually, after a few discussions with my Dad, we are more likely going to buy a desktop computer tailored toward gaming and game design instead if a laptop. Thanks for the help anyway! :wink:
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ccgr
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Desktops are much cheaper and easier to upgrade/replace parts.
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RedPlums
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Check out the Acer Swift 3. More reasonably priced and meets some of the things noted in Micah's comment. Also has the i5-6200U or 7200U processor. As well as 8GB RAM and a good SSD. Price will be around 500-700 dollars depending on the processor you get in it.
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ccgr
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Not sure if you have a Microcenter near you, but this is a pretty good deal - http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... sku=219964
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