New laptop for second year of school, light gaming

[ILOVELEMONS]

I need a laptop for my second year of Uni, my old one died. I play LoL alot and diablo and TF2 occasionally.

1) What is your budget?
$700-$1200

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:Almost everything
b. Dislike:HP, Compaq, Gateway, Any lenovo with reverse Fn and Control keys

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
Only redistributed

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Coding
LoL/Diablo/Indie Games/TF2
Movies
Music
Streaming
Surfing


7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Both

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
LoL/Diablo/Indie Games/TF2 maybe Dota 2 when it comes out

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

I'd prefer 6+

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

No visuals needed

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer?
HIgher is better, but I dont mind 1366x768 even

13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?
Dont care

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

not really

15) When are you buying this laptop?

Preferably soon, definitely before August

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?

Uh at least 2 years

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?

I like to have space, so at least 500 gigs, but an mSata or second hard drive bay for an SSD would be nice

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD Burner, Blu-ray Reader or Blu-Ray Burner?

Neigh

[ComradeNF]

I'd look into the Sony S13 or the Lenovo Y480.

[ILOVELEMONS]

The s13 looks Vaioble (badum tss) but the y480 I was suggested by my cousin, and it seems a little heavy/chunky (bigger than my old timelineX) and has crap battery according to him

[humanstory]

If you're willing to wait until july/august, the Asus UX32VD should be on the Microsoft Store (so you'd get a free xbox = sell it on ebay for $200 = machine costs 1200 total). The UX32VD has a rebranded gt525m as the graphics card, which is definitely fast enough for LoL, TF2, etc (I play both of those on my 520m no problem).

Also it's an ultrabook so nice and small and light, plus a gorgeous 1080p.

[User Retired 2]

Keep an eye out for a 14" Gigabyte U2442N. It has a 900P LCD, GT640M full powered CPU plus a Thunderbolt port. The Thunderbolt port will allow attachment of a desktop video cards ("eGPU") so you'd have no problems gaming on the system. A high powered GTX670 will provide more graphics power than any current non-SLI/XF gaming notebook.

Same could be done with some other Thunderbolt-equipped systems: 11.6" Acer W700 1080P-IPS tablet, 14" Lenovo T430s (900P, NVS5200M) or 15" Macbook Pro. I'm keeping a list of Thunderbolt-equipped notebooks in the thin-and-light link in my sig.

[ILOVELEMONS]

Keep an eye out for a 14" Gigabyte U2442N. It has a 900P LCD, GT640M full powered CPU plus a Thunderbolt port. The Thunderbolt port will allow attachment of a desktop video cards ("eGPU") so you'd have no problems gaming on the system. A high powered GTX670 will provide more graphics power than any current non-SLI/XF gaming notebook.

Same could be done with some other Thunderbolt-equipped systems: 11.6" Acer W700 1080P-IPS tablet, 14" Lenovo T430s (900P, NVS5200M) or 15" Macbook Pro. I'm keeping a list of Thunderbolt-equipped notebooks in the thin-and-light link in my sig.

Been looking at this one, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, and I've been looking at the t430s also. But I like this one (its my favorite from the sticky thread so far) for its msata port.

[ILOVELEMONS]

If you're willing to wait until july/august, the Asus UX32VD should be on the Microsoft Store (so you'd get a free xbox = sell it on ebay for $200 = machine costs 1200 total). The UX32VD has a rebranded gt525m as the graphics card, which is definitely fast enough for LoL, TF2, etc (I play both of those on my 520m no problem).

Also it's an ultrabook so nice and small and light, plus a gorgeous 1080p.

hrm I never thought of the free xbox, thats genius. My only concern is its lack of ports and second drive bay along with that 1.7 ghz cpu speed. Have you had any experience with it?