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Laptop for College

IshanSethi
By IshanSethi
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Hey everyone! I was thinking of getting a laptop for college with a budget of around $500-600. I want it to have decent battery life and I want to play games like DotA 2 and CS:GO. Basically the question is what is the cheapest price at which the above requirements could happen? So if I could save a few pennies, that'd be great.

PC Part Picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/hZCypg  Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k ; MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 ; RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2400 MHz (spray painted the top part red); GPU: GTX 1070 - Gigabyte Variant (Custom painted the Cooler and Fans Red); Case: NZXT S340 (Red); PSU: CX 750W  (Bronze 80+); SSD: Crucial 256GB (Boot drive and for applications) and Sandisk 480GB Extreme pro SSD and a Samsung T3 1TB External USB-C SSD; HDD: WD Blue 1TB, Seagate 3TB (Both Run at 7200RPM); Displays: Asus something (1080p @ 144hz) and LG 27UD68-W 4K 60Hz IPS; Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9550 (i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, GTX 960M); 

 

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Hey everyone! I was thinking of getting a laptop for college with a budget of around $500-600. I want it to have decent battery life and I want to play games like DotA 2 and CS:GO. Basically the question is what is the cheapest price at which the above requirements could happen? So if I could save a few pennies, that'd be great.

 

hmm around that price you are loking for an i5 4th or 5th gen with a nvidia gt 740m or better:)
​ill add some more laptops here after a good scout around. 

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What I would recommend is a cheap laptop that you can tote around and bring your desktop with you (or see about cramming it in a ITX case to make it super portable).  Having external monitors is really helpful for Excel work or code work.

Workstation:  9800X3D|| Asus X670E ProArt Creator || MSI Gaming Trio 4090 Shunt || T.Force 7800CL34 || Corsair AX1600i@240V || whole-house loop.

LANRig/GuestGamingBox: 13700K @ Stock || MSI Z690 DDR4 || ASUS TUF 3090 650W shunt || Corsair SF600 || CPU+GPU watercooled 280 rad pull only || whole-house loop.

Server Router (Untangle): 13600k @ P-Core only || ASRock Z690 ITX || All 10Gbe || 2x8GB 3200 || PicoPSU 150W 24pin + AX1200i on CPU|| whole-house loop

Server Compute/Storage: 10850K @ 5.1Ghz || Gigabyte Z490 Ultra || EVGA FTW3 3090 1000W || LSI 9280i-24 port || 4TB Samsung 860 Evo, 5x10TB Seagate Enterprise Raid 6, 4x8TB Seagate Archive Backup ||  whole-house loop.

Laptop: HP Elitebook 840 G8 (Intel 1185G7) + 4070 RTX Thunderbolt Dock, Razer Blade Stealth 13" 2017 (Intel 8550U)

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What I would recommend is a cheap laptop that you can tote around and bring your desktop with you (or see about cramming it in a ITX case to make it super portable).  Having external monitors is really helpful for Excel work or code work.

Yeah, I have a Desktop, but I wanted a laptop for in class use... 

PC Part Picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/hZCypg  Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k ; MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 ; RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2400 MHz (spray painted the top part red); GPU: GTX 1070 - Gigabyte Variant (Custom painted the Cooler and Fans Red); Case: NZXT S340 (Red); PSU: CX 750W  (Bronze 80+); SSD: Crucial 256GB (Boot drive and for applications) and Sandisk 480GB Extreme pro SSD and a Samsung T3 1TB External USB-C SSD; HDD: WD Blue 1TB, Seagate 3TB (Both Run at 7200RPM); Displays: Asus something (1080p @ 144hz) and LG 27UD68-W 4K 60Hz IPS; Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9550 (i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, GTX 960M); 

 

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Thanks but I forgot to mention, 1080p lolz

PC Part Picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/hZCypg  Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k ; MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 ; RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2400 MHz (spray painted the top part red); GPU: GTX 1070 - Gigabyte Variant (Custom painted the Cooler and Fans Red); Case: NZXT S340 (Red); PSU: CX 750W  (Bronze 80+); SSD: Crucial 256GB (Boot drive and for applications) and Sandisk 480GB Extreme pro SSD and a Samsung T3 1TB External USB-C SSD; HDD: WD Blue 1TB, Seagate 3TB (Both Run at 7200RPM); Displays: Asus something (1080p @ 144hz) and LG 27UD68-W 4K 60Hz IPS; Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9550 (i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, GTX 960M); 

 

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at that price, 1080 and decent gaming doesnt exist i think.

Most that i can think of are around 700usd if 14/15inch
MSI GP60
ASUS F751 
Acer Aspire V Nitro apparently its expansive in the US

theres this one, which is big and clunky...
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z70-80/
 

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that price 1080 and decent gaming and decent battert life doesnt exist i think.

By decent I mean like bare minimum. Like just enough to run 1080p dota2 and CS:GO @ 60 fps

PC Part Picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/hZCypg  Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k ; MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 ; RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2400 MHz (spray painted the top part red); GPU: GTX 1070 - Gigabyte Variant (Custom painted the Cooler and Fans Red); Case: NZXT S340 (Red); PSU: CX 750W  (Bronze 80+); SSD: Crucial 256GB (Boot drive and for applications) and Sandisk 480GB Extreme pro SSD and a Samsung T3 1TB External USB-C SSD; HDD: WD Blue 1TB, Seagate 3TB (Both Run at 7200RPM); Displays: Asus something (1080p @ 144hz) and LG 27UD68-W 4K 60Hz IPS; Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9550 (i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, GTX 960M); 

 

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By decent I mean like bare minimum. Like just enough to run 1080p dota2 and CS:GO @ 60 fps

no Intel HD 4xxx/5xxx can run this sadly. minimum an nvidia 740m for an almost 60fps as ultra. you can get 60fps on low. ~40 on medium 

Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 will however work

 

http://www.notebookcheck.com/Dota-2-Benchmarks.99462.0.html

 

 

Maybe you can get by with low settings on an 820m or 730m. Maybe. Pray hard..

Try to find an Acer E5-571G with i5, full HD and 840m. It should be just below 600usd. Here in EU its just ~550usd so yeah..

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This is the cheapest thing I could find.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-20DF0040US-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00SJ2G7UI/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1435187595&sr=1-2&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A9647486011%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289792011%7C2289793011%7C3081486011%2Cp_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A3012497011%7C3012495011

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no Intel HD 4xxx/5xxx can run this sadly. minimum an nvidia 740m for an almost 60fps as ultra. you can get 60fps on low. ~40 on medium 

Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 will however work

 

http://www.notebookcheck.com/Dota-2-Benchmarks.99462.0.html

 

 

Maybe you can get by with low settings on an 820m or 730m. Maybe. Pray hard..

Try to find an Acer E5-571G with i5, full HD and 840m. It should be just below 600usd. Here in EU its just ~550usd so yeah..

Thanks but I will just reside with a more work dedicated laptop as I will be using this for work because I already have a gaming PC.

PC Part Picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/hZCypg  Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k ; MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 ; RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2400 MHz (spray painted the top part red); GPU: GTX 1070 - Gigabyte Variant (Custom painted the Cooler and Fans Red); Case: NZXT S340 (Red); PSU: CX 750W  (Bronze 80+); SSD: Crucial 256GB (Boot drive and for applications) and Sandisk 480GB Extreme pro SSD and a Samsung T3 1TB External USB-C SSD; HDD: WD Blue 1TB, Seagate 3TB (Both Run at 7200RPM); Displays: Asus something (1080p @ 144hz) and LG 27UD68-W 4K 60Hz IPS; Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9550 (i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, GTX 960M); 

 

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That might not be that bad actually... Thanks.

PC Part Picker: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/hZCypg  Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k ; MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 ; RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 2400 MHz (spray painted the top part red); GPU: GTX 1070 - Gigabyte Variant (Custom painted the Cooler and Fans Red); Case: NZXT S340 (Red); PSU: CX 750W  (Bronze 80+); SSD: Crucial 256GB (Boot drive and for applications) and Sandisk 480GB Extreme pro SSD and a Samsung T3 1TB External USB-C SSD; HDD: WD Blue 1TB, Seagate 3TB (Both Run at 7200RPM); Displays: Asus something (1080p @ 144hz) and LG 27UD68-W 4K 60Hz IPS; Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9550 (i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256 SSD, GTX 960M); 

 

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