Haswell laptop / ultrabook

[juretrn]

Hello!

I'll be in the market for a laptop at the end of September, when i go to study abroad for about 6 months.

In that time, I would need a laptop that would go with me also to school if need be. Otherwise, I'll have it mostly in the dorm.

My requirements would be the following:

If possible, Haswell
1920x1080 (IPS?) panel 15" or 17".
500 GB would be more than enough storage
A SSD, or at least a hybrid drive if possible
discrete graphics, in the range of 740M possibly? Though I hear the haswell GPU is almost capable of running games. Does that hold true for laptops too?
(I would prefer the SSD over graphics, if budget won't permit)

requirements are things like matlab, office and browsing, and a few games here and there (Supreme Commander  )

I am currently looking at the Acer Aspire V5-573G and Acer Aspire V7-581.
The first is lacking a SSD, second is Ivy Bridge and has no discrete graphics, but it at least has a hybrid drive.

Absolute maximum of 850 € / 1130 $.

I am from Slovenia, which is in EU.

 

Also, my first time posting here. I promise to come around some more.

 

Thank you all.

[rashdanml]

Lenovo's new line of Thinkpads are coming out within the next month. So far, the T440s has been announced, usually comes with a decent graphics card. The X series usually comes with an integrated GPU. All of the new ones will be refreshed with Haswell.

[juretrn]

So,

1.I will study in Austria. But i intend to buy the computer in Slovenia because I will buy it on a firm (-22% tax, yay!) 

2.Do you think 15 will be really too big? The Acer in Linus' last video was that big, right?

3.No, my desktop will stay at home, because i will be close enough to come home every 2 weeks or so, and it just wouldn't be worth it. Therefore, laptop. 

4.As for the SSD, I don't want to void my warranty by messing around in there. 

5.That's what  I thought.

 

As for Ivy... I'm not sure how much will I need to be on battery, tbh. But, I'll be able to say that I have a Haswell computer ;) . 

 

 

How much can I expect to get for such a laptop if I sell it, when I get back (after 6 months of use, that is)? 

[rashdanml]

If you buy it for $1000, I wouldn't expect it to sell for more than $800; you may be lucky if it's in extremely good condition, but most buyers will be reluctant to buy it even so.

[JORDANonPC]

1. thats awesome  :D

2. the one in the video linus did was 13.3 inch

3. I don't have a comment on this :P

4. you could always put the hdd back if anything went wrong unless the warranty is voided by simply opening up the laptop I don't know much about laptop warrantys  

also tech decreases a lot in value over time so I'm not sure how much you will get back for it but in 6 months the value shouldn't decrease too much 

[juretrn]

I think most laptops have a sticker over one of the screws or something in that respect so they can't be opened. 

Also, what worries me is the fact that I'll be likely stuck with a single 100 or GB disk then... (or do they have more than 1 drive bay/slot?)

 

I won't be gaming much, but I still want to be able to. 

 

I also didn't mention this- keyboard and trackpad will most likely not be used much, I'll bring my Logitech G5 and Blackwidow 2013 with me. 

[juretrn]

Are there any more suggestions?

(bump.)

[TheRetiredSlave]

The HP Envy 15t can be customized to have a GT 740M and a 24 GB cache SSD.. Otherwise, you could look at the Asus N56 or Lenovo Y410p.

 

Also, the Sager NP4650 can be customized with a lot more options, but this also puts it at a slightly higher pricepoint. (it also features Nvidia Optimus technology, which is a big help for battery life. Optimus basically shuts off the discrete GPU when you don't need it, so you'll be using a power-sipping Intel GPU when you're unplugged.)