Video Game Dev / School Laptop Help

[Darkspire1]

I am looking to purchase a laptop that is portable (will carry every day), will last through college (hs senior in fall, graduating 2021 probably cs major), and can handle video game programming (Unity, maybe UR4).

I also would like to possibly do video editing (Vegas pro 13), and I do some CAD at school (Inventor). In terms of playing games, that's not a huge consideration, but I would assume it would, as it will probably need a dedicated GPU etc. to make them.

I should preface that I have a powerful desktop I built (2 970s sli) and this is primarily for when I'm not at home.

I can spend upwards of $900 right now, but will something in this price range be portable and powerful enough, and last me through college? Would a higher price point better meet my needs?

Thanks!  

[Mauricio G. B.]

for the price you should try looking at anything with a core i7 and nvidia GTX 960m Combo, they are usually withing that price ratio at 900-1.1k usd, The Asus ROG G55, Alienware 13, Lenovo y70, Or dell Inspiron 7000 Gaming series, all come with the same average specs, giving it an edge on the dell one with a 4gb model of the 960m will handle some textures better at UR4 due the larger memory check em out, but thoose are the best laptops for that price, the dell also comes with an i5 model (quad core) at 799

[Darkspire1]

19 minutes ago, Mauricio G. B. said:

for the price you should try looking at anything with a core i7 and nvidia GTX 960m Combo, they are usually withing that price ratio at 900-1.1k usd, The Asus ROG G55, Alienware 13, Lenovo y70, Or dell Inspiron 7000 Gaming series, all come with the same average specs, giving it an edge on the dell one with a 4gb model of the 960m will handle some textures better at UR4 due the larger memory check em out, but thoose are the best laptops for that price, the dell also comes with an i5 model (quad core) at 799

Thanks for the response! Realistically, how long would you say any of these would last, and would that improve significantly at a higher price?

[Mauricio G. B.]

2 minutes ago, Darkspire1 said:

Thanks for the response! Realistically, how long would you say any of these would last, and would that improve significantly at a higher price?

Well on a profesional side view, they would last at least 5 years on top conditions i run an Alienware 14 2013 with a core i7 4700QM and a GTX 765m 2gb wich i run MAYA and 3DMAX for my college works and still works really good, since most of the profesional applications are really CPU Bound, id say 3-5 years is the expected life of a mid end gaming laptop used for work, since the 765m is at least 30% slower than the 960m
now, for the other laptops starting at 1400usd+ with a 970m, youll see only a 20% performance increase ON THE GPU BOUND SCENARIOS, so lets say some VRAY n stuff, but when it comes to regular use, or CPU bound would be the same since what you are using seems more CPU bound, a nice Quad core 9 threaded skylake i7 would be fine, hence the laptops i mentioned
(for desktop i run an FX 8350 and a single GTX 970, while the 970 is 3 times as fast as the 765m, my render times are just like5-10% faster due the fact the mobile i7 is really good)

[Darkspire1]

26 minutes ago, Mauricio G. B. said:

Well on a profesional side view, they would last at least 5 years on top conditions i run an Alienware 14 2013 with a core i7 4700QM and a GTX 765m 2gb wich i run MAYA and 3DMAX for my college works and still works really good, since most of the profesional applications are really CPU Bound, id say 3-5 years is the expected life of a mid end gaming laptop used for work, since the 765m is at least 30% slower than the 960m
now, for the other laptops starting at 1400usd+ with a 970m, youll see only a 20% performance increase ON THE GPU BOUND SCENARIOS, so lets say some VRAY n stuff, but when it comes to regular use, or CPU bound would be the same since what you are using seems more CPU bound, a nice Quad core 9 threaded skylake i7 would be fine, hence the laptops i mentioned
(for desktop i run an FX 8350 and a single GTX 970, while the 970 is 3 times as fast as the 765m, my render times are just like5-10% faster due the fact the mobile i7 is really good)

I found this for $1100 usd - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=34-315-130

 

It's a bit more expensive, but 16gb ram, 4gb v ram, only 5lbs, and i7 6700HQ 2.6ghz. It seems to me it could last 5 years if all goes well. Is this worth the price?

[Mauricio G. B.]

6 minutes ago, Darkspire1 said:

I found this for $1100 usd - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=34-315-130

 

It's a bit more expensive, but 16gb ram, 4gb v ram, only 5lbs, and i7 6700HQ 2.6ghz. It seems to me it could last 5 years if all goes well. Is this worth the price?

Well its on a discounted price, and at 1300 (not taking the discount price) you can add the extra 8gb and the SSD to the other laptops to get to the same price, even for cheaper lets say, the 900 inspirin, a 256 ssd is arround 70 + 30 for the 8gb will end it at 1k 1.1k ish depending on pricing, so its kinda the same, also being that thin and stylish, i will doubt the Cooling performance, but thats just personall taste, i rather get a really bulky/heavy laptop that cools and works well than a thing light one (i used to carry for 4 years a dell xps 17 wich was a monster) so eh, it doesnt look bad, but it does looks pricy compared to the other options, even linus has a video on the dell

the i5 model is the 800 one an i7 costs 900 at the dell website

[Darkspire1]

20 minutes ago, Mauricio G. B. said:

Well its on a discounted price, and at 1300 (not taking the discount price) you can add the extra 8gb and the SSD to the other laptops to get to the same price, even for cheaper lets say, the 900 inspirin, a 256 ssd is arround 70 + 30 for the 8gb will end it at 1k 1.1k ish depending on pricing, so its kinda the same, also being that thin and stylish, i will doubt the Cooling performance, but thats just personall taste, i rather get a really bulky/heavy laptop that cools and works well than a thing light one (i used to carry for 4 years a dell xps 17 wich was a monster) so eh, it doesnt look bad, but it does looks pricy compared to the other options, even linus has a video on the dell

the i5 model is the 800 one an i7 costs 900 at the dell website

That dell looks great, but at the 1100 price, the acer seems hard to beat. The reviews I was reading seemed to say that cooling was great, but the trackpad was sub-par (so what, I have a wireless mouse anyways) and there was some bloatware. I think I do prefer the slimer design given the cooling isn't a problem, and I don't plan on gaming on it much, just making games

[Mauricio G. B.]

1 minute ago, Darkspire1 said:

That dell looks great, but at the 1100 price, the acer seems hard to beat. The reviews I was reading seemed to say that cooling was great, but the trackpad was sub-par (so what, I have a wireless mouse anyways) and there was some bloatware. I think I do prefer the slimer design given the cooling isn't a problem, and I don't plan on gaming on it much, just making games

What im saying is that the 200+ price over the other solutions is not "worth" since you can add the extra components for Less 102 of a 256gb m.2 ssd and 50 for the extra 8gb, anyways, im always a price to performance guy. thats why im so fond of the dell right there,  but since its the the design that won you, and the price, is not that bad due the discounted 200, its actually a piece to consider, (unless you can find a refurbished laptop with a 970m) its a solid option Also, you can Check on the Eurocom Website to Customize a laptop with your needs

[Darkspire1]

2 minutes ago, Mauricio G. B. said:

What im saying is that the 200+ price over the other solutions is not "worth" since you can add the extra components for Less 102 of a 256gb m.2 ssd and 50 for the extra 8gb, anyways, im always a price to performance guy. thats why im so fond of the dell right there,  but since its the the design that won you, and the price, is not that bad due the discounted 200, its actually a piece to consider, (unless you can find a refurbished laptop with a 970m) its a solid option Also, you can Check on the Eurocom Website to Customize a laptop with your needs

(Also 2gb V Ram) I will check out the Eurocom website as well. Thanks for the help!

[Mauricio G. B.]

1 minute ago, Darkspire1 said:

(Also 2gb V Ram) I will check out the Eurocom website as well. Thanks for the help!

Both the dell and the Acer sport 4gb of VRAM

[Darkspire1]

I see what your saying with the Dell. At $850 (w/ $50 discount) and about $100 for ssd/8gb ram, that would be $150 cheaper. It just seems a bit bulky