Gaming/Graphic Design on a Budget

[DirtyMetis]

What is your budget?
I'd like to keep it at or under the $650 range if at all possible

What country will you be buying this in?
Unite States

What size notebook do you prefer?
Desktop Replacement (17-inch + screen)
I find that as I'm getting older, anything less than 17" has me squinting more often than not. 15.6" would be alright if the quality is good though, I know my budget is a bit low to be very demanding in this area.

What brands do you like or dislike?
Like: Asus

Would you consider a refurbished laptop?
Yes
Never had a problem with refurbs, but a 2+ year warranty would be gravy.

What are the primary tasks you need this notebook for?
Office and Productivity Software, Photo Editing, Computer Programming, Movie Streaming and Viewing, Output Video to TV or Large Monitor, Graphic Intense 3D Gaming

What games will you be playing?
Something that could run SWTOR at more than 10 FPS would be swell!

Where will you be using this laptop?
Will be used different places and Will stay on desk
Primarily will be sitting on the counter at work, but it'll be coming home with me every night with the intent to do homework or use if the wife is playing Sims3 on the desktop.

How many hours of battery life do you need?
3+
It'll be plugged in most the time, but when I do need to use it away from an outlet, it'd be nice if it got more than an hour or 2.

Will you be buying online or in store?
online

Which OS do you prefer?
Windows 7

List the screen resolutions that interest you:
High Resolution (1600 x 900)
Max Resolution (1920 x 1080)

Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen?
Glossy or Matte is fine

Is the laptops design important to you?
Yes
Functional design mostly - thing could be ugly as sin, but if its cheap and works well, I'd be proud to call it my own!

Approximately what date will you be buying this laptop?
Around 01/31/2012

How long do you want this laptop to last?
3 years

How much storage capacity do you need?
500 GB
Less is fine, eventually the cost of drives will come back down, and I always have external storage as an option.

Are you interested in SSD for storage?
Yes
ZOOM!

Do you want a built-in optical drive, what type?
DVD Burner

Heading back to school and figured I'd spring for something new to alleviate the strain on my trusty old Vostro 1500. I'll be doing mostly web programming and graphic design work on it for school, but if it could run SWTOR decently for a bit of distraction here and there, I'd be tickled. I'm tempted by the price/feature offering of this ASUS but figured I'd consult the "experts" for more feedback before I pulled the trigger. I've also had my eye on the Asus G53 line, but they tend to be a bit beyond my price point. Any sort of advice is greatly appreciated!

[deftrance]

I think that Asus is likely the best candidate in your budget, but you might be able to configure a similar Lenovo y570 for under your price, as well... After using EMPLOYEEPRICE1227 coupon code, can get a 15.6" i3 dual core, 4gb of ram, with a GT555M (Lenovo's 555m is slightly less powerful than others)... Came out to 639.20 after coupon code.

Not necessarily a better buy, but will likely perform better and is under your budget.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y570

Can get it even lower by signing up for Lenovo B&N Gold - http://shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrary...AffinityPortal

Same laptop is showing for 597.65.

Also, can upgrade to 7200 rpm hard drive and i5 dual for for 676.72.

[idiot101]

Gateway NV75S02u LX.WXW02.001 Notebook PC - AMD A8-3500M Quad-Core 1.50GHz, 4GB DDR3, 640GB HDD, DVDRW, AMD Radeon HD 6620G, 17.3 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium, Black at TigerDirect.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE4UsvpsY44

[DirtyMetis]

Tempting on the Gateway posted, but old prejudices die hard - used to hate working on them when I did more freelance tech jobs. TigerDirect kinda turns me off too. Good specs though.

How about this Lenovo from the outlet? How's that Radeon HD 6650M weigh in?

Lenovo Outlet - Essential G770 Refurbished - Discounted Laptops, Cheap Laptops, Refurbished Laptops, Discounted Desktops, Cheap Desktops, Refurbished Desktops

I've been keeping my eye on the Lenovo Y5 series too. So many options, so little budget... *sigh*

[idiot101]

AMD Radeon HD 6650M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

The G770 is a decent laptop with a nice keyboard.

Lenovo G770 review | from TechRadar's expert reviews of Laptops and netbooks
Lenovo G770 Laptop Review (HD) - YouTube
Lenovo G770 notebook hands on review | Netbook Review, notebook review, tablet review, PC review
Lenovo G770 - Notebookcheck.net External Reviews

[gwilled]

The 555M in deftrance's Lenovo will be the most powerful gaming option here, but here are two other choices.

This has a GT 540M and is $680:
Newegg.com - ASUS A53SV-NH51 Notebook Intel Core i5 2430M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 640GB HDD 5400rpm DL DVD±RW/CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M

This has a 6750M and is $620:
Newegg.com - Recertified: HP Pavilion dv6-6184ca Refurbished Notebook AMD A-Series A8-3510MX(1.8GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 750GB HDD 5400rpm BD Combo AMD Radeon HD 6755G2 Dual GPU

[edit1754]

The Dell Vostro 3750 is worth a look.
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/vostro-3750/pd

Though it doesn't have a GPU powerful enough to run your game very well unfortunately, if you want to get one in your price range.

You could also look in the Dell Outlet for a refurb with the 525M GPU.
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...=2801&fid=7123

[DirtyMetis]

Wow, that's a really tempting build, edit1754 - but with tax it comes in at over $100 over budget. Hmmm, might have to see if I can come up with the difference - any idea how long the coupon would be good for?

Also, is there gonna be a big difference in performance between the i3 and the i5? I've heard so many good things about the i5 on the desktop side of things that I find myself constantly drawn to it. Hard to justify the additional $75 though...

Oh, and one more question, does the DV7t had a spot for a 2nd HD? As I continue to watch prices on SSD drop, I can't help but be tempted to have that option down the road. My google-fu leads me to believe it does, but wanted to confirm.

[deftrance]

Just an update: The ASUS K53TA Runs SWTOR beautifully... I'm currently running it on high with bloom disabled and it's quite playable... I haven't tested the exact FPS, but it runs very smooth. It gets a bit hot when I have it on my lap while playing on the couch, but that's to be expected and nothing a cooling pad won't fix. I did add in another 4gb stick for a total of 8gb of RAM, however.

[DirtyMetis]

Just an update: The ASUS K53TA Runs SWTOR beautifully... I'm currently running it on high with bloom disabled and it's quite playable... I haven't tested the exact FPS, but it runs very smooth. It gets a bit hot when I have it on my lap while playing on the couch, but that's to be expected and nothing a cooling pad won't fix. I did add in another 4gb stick for a total of 8gb of RAM, however.

That's good to hear, deftrance - as I'm expecting mine to show up on Thursday

After watching it go in and out of stock a couple of times on Newegg last week, I finally pulled the trigger and I'm glad I did; haven't seen it back in stock since I ordered it! At $400 it really looks to have the majority of the features I'm looking for and that gives me $200+ to start saving towards the next one. A reasonable compromise in my book - we'll see once I get it and play around with it a bit, there's always the RMA and go for bigger and better option if need be.

Having read quite abit about this model, it seems the general consensus is that the screen quality is pretty poor overall - is that something that could be improved by swapping in a different 3rd party LED at all? Just curious, seems like a worthwhile option to explore since I've got a few extra funds to play around with.