Sager Np5160 vs Sager Np5165 Vs Samsung

[MUJU]

For computer science I highly advise avoiding any 15.6" laptop with the 1366x768 resolution. Higher resolutions let you see more code at once, and are very helpful. Don't buy any 15.6" laptop from Best Buy, because I pretty much guarantee all you'll be able to find is 1366x768.

You might want to add the XPS 15 into the mix too. Be sure to get the 1920x1080 B+RGLED display upgrade! It's one of the best screens out there on the XPS 15. The regular 1366x768 screen is awful, you need the upgrade to 1080p especially on this laptop. The base graphics card is 525M but you can upgrade to the 540M. There's a coupon code 932N$0ZCCHWZB9 that will take off $70.
However, if you get the 95% gamut matte screen on either of the Sagers, it will be exact non-glossy equivalent to the XPS 15's B+RGLED screen.

NP5160 - good graphics card, good screen
NP5165 - great graphics card, good screen
RC512 - okay graphics card, bad screen (worst of both worlds)
HP DV6 - great graphics card, bad screen
HP DV7 - great graphics card, okay screen
XPS 15 - good graphics card, great screen

For the best gaming and productivity balance, take the Sager NP5165. You get a great graphics card without having to go with the low screen resolution that will make programming a bit more difficult.

By the way, since you're in college, you don't need to pay +$90 for Windows to come with the Sagers, if you're willing to install it yourself. You can get a student discount here: Windows 7 Student Discount (Windows 7 Pro for $30)

If you really want a good gaming laptop and aren't concerned with battery life, look at the Sager NP8130 with the 460M, or the NP8150 with the 6970M upgrade. The NP8150 is also user-upgradeable if you want to have that ability, though high-end graphics cards can be expensive to buy by themselves.

The HP also has a core i7 rather than a core i5 like the others (for < $1000). How much of a difference does this make?

[kevmanw4301]

The Sager's get the i7's for aa $75 upgrade... And, not a huge difference. The GPU will be the bottleneck on most games either way.