Best gaming laptops for mobility and as a daily drivers

[The Shadow]

Hey everyone, 

 

I'm a college student that's looking at getting a new laptop (bet you never heard that before) for my last two semesters, and i would like your guys' opinions.  I work on a laptop on a daily basis, but would like to game on the go as well.  Here are the specs that i'm looking for.

 

Thin - ultrabook size (I'm constantly moving, and will have to carry it in a backpack, so the thinner the better.)

Sturdy construction - metal chassis preferable

good keyboard/touchpad - I'm an engineering major, so i spend multiple hours daily doing homework or writing papers, so a sturdy/comfortable keyboard is a must.

screen - as long as it's readable, it doesn't matter

size - 15.6" or less, a number pad is optional, it would be nice to have, but i can live without it.  I usually use a calculator for any calculations anyway.

SSD hard-drive - for speed, with either 256G of storage, or also have a HDD

Window OS - is a must have for the programs i need to run.

Cost - $2400 or less.

Gaming - of coarse

Daily Driver - as with the specs above, it just needs to work well as a daily driver.

 

I know that it's extremely hard to find a computer with all these specs.  It's a give and take system when buying one, so the closer the laptop is the better. The laptops that I'm currently looking into right now are the Asus G501, Asus Zenbooks', MSI Ghost, MSI Prestige, MSI Shadow, Dell XPS13, ACER Aspire V15 nitro black, and Razer Blade 14. The list just keeps going on, but those are the highest competitors that i've looked into.  What are your suggestions? (also, Thank-You all in advance)

[Curufinwe_wins]

Blade is the only one that will double as an ultra strong gaming computer but you can check out my Zenbook review to see my impressions of it vs the XPS13. (with an ultrabook form factor)

 

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/430108-asus-zenbook-ux303la-ds52tus51t-review/

 

 

BTW at a 2400 dollar total you could totally build both a baller itx build (with say 1600 dollars including monitor/peripherals) and get a nice ultrabook like the Zenbook ux303la-us51t.

 

The itx build wouldn't take up much space and it would massively destroy (at that budget) anything you can buy for true laptops.

 

Trust me when I say, you won't really be doing much truly mobile gaming. 

 

Like this build for example. 1200 dollars with monitor, itx form factor, will blast through 1080p gaming.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F8pR3C

[Theguywhobea]

It wont be very popular with the people here but I just started using and Alienware 13 as my daily driver, I have the graphics amplifier for at home, and the 960m is fine for when I can't connect to the dock. So far I'm liking it, only detractor so far is the weak CPU.

[The Shadow]

So far, I would agree that the Blade seems like the best fit for what i'm looking for.  The only downside is the price.  If i was to go for it, i would wait until February when the next model comes out, and then buy this years model with the student discount to save some money.  I would like to build a nice desktop, but i'm never at home so it's not an option for me unfortunately.  You did a really good job at your laptop review though Curufinwe_wins, i was only able to browse through it atm, but i'll make sure to read through it over the weekend.

The alienware laptop does look pretty promising, except that it might be too thick for my liking.  Thank-you for the suggestion though.  

Thanks for the warning ThatOneCheetah. I have hear mixed things about the MSI warrenty.  I will admit though that most computer companies you have to fight to use their warrenties, because it means they lose money if they hold true to their claims. So they will do anything in their power to find excuses not too.  I have been looking deeply into the asus laptops.  I really like the G501, but the problem is that i can only find the 4k model in the US, and the process can't keep up with it.  It's a shame that you pay for a really nice screen and then are limited for what it can do.  I'd rather pay a little bit more and get pne with a better processor, or pay less and get the model with the full HD screen.  They just don't offer either here, and i can't find any online.

[exercutor5]

Consider this machine.

 

There's the Clevo P650SG. Comes with a 980M, a 15.6" full HD IPS, 3 cooling fans, runs quiet (when not playing games, like you're in class), 4 RAM slots, 2 M.2 SSD slots with one of them being a PCIe M.2 slot for SSDs like the Samsung SM951, and 2 SATA slots, about 2.5kg and 28.8mm thick. I have this and I love it. I bring it to school everyday.

 

http://www.sagernote...p?productid=732

 

You can get it from like 1799 USD.

 

EDIT: This has about 4 hours of battery life from my experience while in class in like high performance mode, your mileage may vary.

[Voldy21]

Consider this machine.

Do you know how much it weighs?

[exercutor5]

Do you know how much it weighs?

 

Dude, read it my post again.

[Voldy21]

Dude, read it my post again.

Dead in the middle lol. A little heavier than I would want but not bad considering the performance. Hmm. I always get undecided on whether or not I would want big and powerful or something like an ultrabook or something smaller than a 10 inch screen computer

[exercutor5]

Dead in the middle lol. A little heavier than I would want but not bad considering the performance. Hmm. I always get undecided on whether or not I would want big and powerful or something like an ultrabook or something smaller than a 10 inch screen computer

 

This is actually considered fairly light for a gaming machine with a 15.6" display. If you're worried about thermals, trust me, this thing is good with 3 fans in it. But if you were to get this now, I'd suggest you wait a little. The Skylake variant is coming out with the model name being P650RG. I heard the Skylake variant is cooler by a bit. And it also may come in G-Sync (depending on the Clevo reseller you are getting from).