15.6" college laptop for gaming + 4 hours battery life

[ComradeNF]

General Questions

1) What is your budget? $1500 max, but I prefer $1000-1200
2) What size notebook would you prefer? 13-15.6"
3) Where will you buying this notebook? California, USA
4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like? It doesn't matter
5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed? No
6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook? Gaming, surfing the web, typing in documents
7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both? Taking it to different places sometimes, but usually on my desk.
8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games? Battlefield 3 and Skyrim
9) How many hours of battery life do you need? At least 4, but ~6 preferred. I will also be purchasing an additional battery for the laptop.
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? Online is fine
11) What OS do you prefer? Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? 1600x900, 1920x1080
13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen? Preferrably matte

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you? Not really
15) When are you buying this laptop? In 1-2 weeks
16) How long do you want this laptop to last? 2-3 years

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive? 500GB+. Would love an mSATA drive as well, but not necessary.
18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD Burner, Blu-ray Reader or Blu-Ray Burner? I don't need one, but it's fine if it comes with one.




I'm basically looking for a gaming laptop that weighs under 6lbs and has around 4 hours of battery life. I would love a removable battery as well so I can have 2 of them, just in case. So far I am looking at the HP DV6T with the GT 650m, the Lenovo Y580 with the GTX 660m, and the MSI GE60 with the GTX 660m. I won't be using a laptop cooler so I wouldn't mind a good cooling system either. It's fine if the laptop gets warm, but not to the point where my hand will burn.

Also, this laptop is for college so I expect the build quality at least to be decent so it won't fall apart if I put it in my bag.

Any recommendations?

[DaCM]

Those 3 models are pretty much all in this category, however I'm not sure if any of them could last much longer than 4 hours on battery. Personally I've been looking at the MSI and if the gamer design doesn't annoy you, it's a great choice.

[ComradeNF]

Those 3 models are pretty much all in this category, however I'm not sure if any of them could last much longer than 4 hours on battery. Personally I've been looking at the MSI and if the gamer design doesn't annoy you, it's a great choice.

Actually the MSI is perfect except for one thing: The trackpad is a piece of garbage. You need to use a mouse at all times. The keyboard is excellent though. Out of the 3, the GE60 has the worst battery life though. I could at most get 2.5-3 hours on lowest screen brightness and wi-fi on. The HP would have the best battery life out of the 3 but it is the most expensive. Including tax it comes out to $1377 for me with all my needed upgrades. Also, the HP has the lower end GPU out of the 3.

[RefinedPower]

personaly id go with the lenovo... plus right now its 3 year warranty is like $55 and with coupons you can get the fully tricked out verson for around $1050 which is a pretty great deal.

the only issue with the Y580 that i can think of is the HDD placement, it gets a little warm. Its right between the CPU and GPU. there is a big thread in the lenovo forum about how heat affects HDD (some say higher heat is actually good for them) so il let you decide on that one. A few people have turned the DVD drive bay into a HDD bay though which seems to completely remove the issue.

[vaillant]

I like the GE60 because it's the most portable and probably has the best cooling of the three laptops you listed (citation needed). My friend has a GE70 and he says he rarely experiences heat problems. If you decide to re-paste it with some better thermal paste, I doubt you'll have a problem with heat.

My friend's HP heats up a lot when playing games like League of Legends... I think it's the same model as the one you are considering and another friend has a Y580 that doesn't get overwhelmingly hot either.

I would definitely choose between the Y580 and the GE60. My own preferences is the GE60, which I will most likely be purchasing in the near future.

[rommel1942]

Sounds like you should get a Sager 9150, stock is $1300 at exoticpc.

Maybe a little bit overweight for what you want but it's only an extra pound or so. 670 card is good, matte screen for an extra 30 bucks,

[DaCM]

Yep, if portability doesn't matter you can get a stock spec NP9150 with the GTX 670m. It's significantly heavier than the other listed options though and battery life doesn't reach 4 hours.