[tWiStEdArRow]

i got my bro a laptop and since im starting college my parents decided to get me a laptop for being so nice which is real cool. I cant afford to buy a gaming desktop and a decent laptop for college so i would rather combine both and get a gaming laptop. My parents say i can spend around 2700 dollars.

I would like a laptop dont care if its AMD or INTEL [quote] as long as it plays latest games for 2 to 2.5 years. I also require the laptop to be upgradeable so i can continue on it for a total of 4 years. Ive heard of some sites such as alienware and xtremenotebooks.com but im not sure what to get so i turn to you guys. You've helped me get a great deal once hope u can do it again
IF you are gonna reply to this post make sure the laptop you are recommending has atleast 3 year warranty upgrade available. I also dont mind custom laptops if thats even possible

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$2700 is plenty cash to do both because you cant do with a laptop now what you want to do, i would get a small portable laptop (12.4 to 15" low power consumption kind) for working on the go if thats you deal then get a desktop for gaming and such which you should have enough cash to do both the desktop wouldnt be top notch but it doesnt need to be as they last longer and are more powerful than even a very powerful laptop.

You just wont get a laptop to fit those specifications that you want because of there poor upgrability and inherantly lower performance.

But you decide we can get you a decent desktop replacement laptop but i dont think it will last as long as you want with the performance you expect and to be honest it wont be very portable at all which is why i prefer the idea of getting the cheap low power laptops for work and more powerful desktops for fun.

[warriorscot]

$2700 is plenty cash to do both because you cant do with a laptop now what you want to do, i would get a small portable laptop (12.4 to 15" low power consumption kind) for working on the go if thats you deal then get a desktop for gaming and such which you should have enough cash to do both the desktop wouldnt be top notch but it doesnt need to be as they last longer and are more powerful than even a very powerful laptop.

You just wont get a laptop to fit those specifications that you want because of there poor upgrability and inherantly lower performance.

But you decide we can get you a decent desktop replacement laptop but i dont think it will last as long as you want with the performance you expect and to be honest it wont be very portable at all which is why i prefer the idea of getting the cheap low power laptops for work and more powerful desktops for fun.

[tWiStEdArRow]

ok lets say i dont get a very powerful laptop but something a bit less like a 17" LCD, intel duo core 2.16ghz with 1 gb upgradeable ram and 256 mb nvidia 7900 256 mb upgradeable vga card. and everything else just normal doznt have to write dvds just play them. Cuz ive been doing alot and imean a LOT OF THINKING and i find that in college i wont have that much time for gaming between school, work and household chores. If anyone can find a good deal or suggest something not too great just something decent. i found a toshiba laptop with the above speecs for $1899 not sure if its good?

[kidnova]

You can go on CyberPower and use their configuror to build the system you want and it should give you an idea of the price you will be looking at. I'm not saying that you should or should not buy from them, but it will get you into the ballpark and you will know if you are getting a good deal or not.

[warriorscot]

I would check out the new Acer ranges they look pretty good and they make good laptops at not ridiculous prices. Alienware is always an option but they arent anything special they just look nice usually. But when it comes to laptops there is little to seperate them from each other it comes often down to price.

I still find to game when im at uni not as much as i did when i was in school(notched up like 200 hours of CSS in my last two years of HS) but i find i still manage some gaming its pretty relaxing so i make time for it as it can get pretty stressful(might just be me picking the hardest course i could) you do have plenty of free time though more than you ever did in school its just how you use it that counts much more flexibilty to do things which is good and bad. If you want to ask some questions about it feel free helps to talk about it sometimes first year is totally crazy sometimes helps to go prepared, although the real trick is staying prepared.

The laptop looks good the price is steap but not overly high but i would avoid toshiba myself.

I mention the two system idea from personal experience ive got a desktop at home for all my needs and i chose to go with just using my pen and online storage to go between uni and home rather than a laptop as there are thousands of computers to use at my uni its never a hassle to go to the library, however if i did get a laptop which i might i would get a smaller portable one because i commute and my uni is an old city uni its not got a single campus ive got alot of travel and unis even campus ones are big you have to factor in how you are going to carry the thing if you need to, most of the guys i know got laptops but some regret it because they are to big to carry around most of the time because they got big powerful desktop replacements but they are BIG whereas people with the smaller ones sure dont have some power but you dont need that for working and they have portable small laptops they can carry along with the books they need. There is a few options you need to balance whats practical with whats not and here a little bit of experience helps.

I dont know about the states but here the student body is totally integrated into the running of the uni and supporting the students via Unions and Guilds i would be surprised if you didnt have something along the lines of a Union at your prospective colledge and they should have lots of info and people to talk to, hopefully they will have a forum and should be able to pick someones brains in a similar situation as to what will best fit your needs in your situation.

There are a few students and former students hree though so if you have any questions you can always ask us on that.

Ach im rambling ill let you think about it no right or wrong decision its what you think will suit you best.

[tWiStEdArRow]

ur feedback is almost too good to be true. These days no one really helps out another in need and actually tries to help others avoid mistakes they know about, [bleep] no one even takes nuff time to do so. After your feedbak im also thinking about turning toward teh 2 comp idea it sounds perfect. Also you are right desktop replacements are heavier and hard to carry round campus(never thought of that) valid point there. Now all i need is some ideas ;like i would need your help in suggesting a good laptop and desktop combo for gaming at home and work at uni all i care about is that the laptop last with me through uni atleast 3 years and the desk around 2-3 years. The laptop screens gotta be 15" or i might have to get glasses like the rest of my family. So basically if can find the time to, or knows about any laptop and desktop combo pleez post so i can go buy it and end this chapter in my life cuz till i get both these items i can seem to concentrate on anything else :/

again thx for your help

[warriorscot]

Well the easiest way to do it is to do the two seperately budget for one and a budget for the other, nice thing about the smaller laptops is they arent the power houses so you dont game on them and thats a big pressure systems for working and watching vids and music stuff like that need only a fraction of the power and will last you until you break them or they wear out. 15" lots of choice and lots of it cheap here there is plenty of stuff even in the shops(if only you get Aldi in the US they have a great little number that would be perfect for 600), now you dont need to concentrate in intel and amd for the laptop its more whats cheap because again doesnt need to be powerful in fact you dont want it overly powerful because that means less battery life. You will be more able to find things than i am but i can guide you as to whats a good buy so look around locally and online for the laptop.

Desktop is in many ways similar easier to source it and much more standard in the way of parts. Big question here is do you want to build a system or buy a system building has its advantages but you might not want to, any desktop with a half decent dual core cpu should last 2-3 years although you might want to possible upgrade the video card before that depending on what you get.

Buying PCs i find quite fun but im interested in computers so that explains that i wouldnt reccomend rushing though as long as you leave time to get it all before you start make sure you get what you need(i dont know when you start, im september but i dont know about US). Read up about whats about now whats current(toms hardware is a good review site to start at or HExus.net). The desktop will probably take you longer because there is more choice and youll need to seperate what budget you want for it and what you have, i would probably get the laptop or at least know what you want to get before deciding on the desktops budget.

Laptop when looking around you want to check out memory and its capacity you can always upgrade memory fairly cheaply later so its not hugely important what it has when you buy it so it doesnt need 1Gb to start but it should at least have the option of having it.

I would check out acer and dell i would look myself but i cant get on to the US sites of those easily and even then its flaky im looking on my location specific site but i cant get prices for you, acer travelmates here are good deals but see what they are like for you, you can get a big price list PDF with specs of all the laptops they make and the list prices.

[tWiStEdArRow]

ok i agree with what ur saying but can u recommend me some SPECIFIC laptop and desktop combos cuz i am not good at pc hunting. If you do find something please post the link.

[warriorscot]

Well thats the problem i can reccomend some models and lines but because i have trouble accssing some sites in the US notably some of the biggest hardware manufacturers i cant give links youll have to google them or just go to the sites.

Acer travelmate looks good i like the looks of the Acer travelmate 4672 pretty cheap here but again i dont know the prices US because it wont let me access it for some reason. the 4220 looks good as well its got an x1300 for the gfx which is half decent, and the 2000 series are dirt cheap but you start to lose some features on those and the battery life isnt as good but at those prices they are still decent.

The dells are allright easy enough to look those up look at the acers i reccomended youll see what kind a spec and price you are looking at and see what dell can do for you in something similar see if the price is cheaper, only thing about that is dell laptops tend to be quite large.

PC buying i need to know wether you are up to building it or you need to buy one, building is easy to do comes out a little cheaper and its usually faster as companies take longer to assemble the systems. Again i can tell you what to get but your going to have to look them up yourself to get prices and find the cheapest deals on parts or systems.

Youre going to have to do the some of the footwork yourself i cant do it all for you as its very time consuming and its not hard and ive got work for my exams to do so i cant be raking around setting up proxies to access sites.

Edited by warriorscot, 09 August 2006 - 04:57 AM.

[tWiStEdArRow]

k thx for the heads up ill try looking into it and show u what i get so u can look over it and point out any mistakes.