Indecisive and looking to buy a gaming laptop -- please help!

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bbat24

New Member
I'm a second-time laptop buyer looking for a computer that will fit my needs. I play a handful of games, none of which are extremely demanding (Starcraft, mainly). My current laptop runs some, but not all, of the games I want to play at low-medium settings. I would like a laptop that can handle these games at higher settings and that will allow me to play the more demanding games that are released in the next year or two.

Any suggestions for a laptop that can do this at a price range of $700-$1200 would be very appreciated.

One that caught my eye while browsing was this Lenovo Y500, which is on sale right now :)

Description
IdeaPad Y500 Laptop - 59360241 - Dusk Black: Weekly Deal
Processor: 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor( 2.40GHz 1600MHz 6MB)
Operating system: Windows 8 64
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT650M 2GB
Memory: 8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6" FHD LED Glare Wedge 1920x1080
Pointing device: Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad
Hard Drive: 1TB 5400RPM+16GB SSD
Optical Drive: DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
Battery: 6 Cell Li-Polymer
Network Card: Intel Centrino Wireless N-2230
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Version 4.0
Warranty: One year
Form Factor: Notebook
Camera: Integrated HD Camera
HDMI: HDMI (Out)

Any input about this laptop or suggestions for another gaming laptop would be very helpful.

Thanks!
 
There is also a similarly priced Lenovo Y500 that has a different processor, a 2.6 GHz Intel i5, but a better video card option, a Dual NVIDIA Geforce GT650M SLI.

Would this one be more suitable for me?
 
most certainly. The $300 gets you an actual gaming GPU, a quad core processor, and a quality designed laptop. Saving the 300 you get dual core processor, 2 low end processors, and a questionable design at best.
 
wolfeking said:
most certainly. The $300 gets you an actual gaming GPU, a quad core processor, and a quality designed laptop. Saving the 300 you get dual core processor, 2 low end processors, and a questionable design at best.
Click to expand...

How important is the 16GB SSD on the Lenovo (I think it's strictly for the OS)?

Sorry, I'm new to buying computers and kinda afraid to make a big investment right now. Just wanna make sure I'm making the best decision :/
 
16GB is not enough for the OS alone. Windows 8 takes around 20GB unless you start messing with it (as in deleting stuff that could be necessary later). What that is is a buffer drive for teh HDD, and it will not make a big enough difference to justify the hassle in drivers and extra power consumed. Especially if it is a 5400 RPM drive to start with.

Either go for a 120GB (minimum) SSD or a 7200 RPM HDD. Not that buffer crap.
 
wolfeking said:
no. That is by no means better. It has a weak processor, and dual weak GPUs just scram microstutter.

Get this instead and be done. You will not match it for quality or performance in the same price range. http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP9130
Click to expand...

This one just went on sale on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mc=BAC-Criteo-_-Notebooks-_-Lenovo-_-34310660

As far as I can tell, the only difference is that it has a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M, whereas the Sager has a Nvidia GeForce GTX 670MX GPU with 3GB GDDR5 Video Memory. $300 cheaper.
 
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