Reddit reviews Lenovo Y50 59418222 16-Inch Gaming Laptop (2.8 GHz Intel Core i5-4200H Processor, 8 GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Windows 8.1) Black

The Lenovo y50 would be ideal, but it is a little over your hard limit.

here is a list I put together of some gaming laptops. The 7th option down is a Lenovo Y40 and it would provide the best situation for your type of work. Good battery life, decent gaming performance, portability, etc.

Gaming laptops are hard to find with sufficient power below $1000. If your budget is not flexible, then the closest thing you'll find is the Lenovo Y50 i5 version, which is around $900 and has a pretty good GTX 860M GPU. For the money, the performance is quite good, though the screen leaves much to be desired.

The Lenovo Y50 will be your best bet. You can get the i5 model for under 900 bucks from Amazon or Newegg. If you want to know how games would run with a GTX 860M, then check this site. Scroll down and you will find some fps values in popular games.

Hey,

I found this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K

Looks like it even has a better graphics card and its cheaper.
it does have an i5 instead of an i7, but like KallyWally said,
you can safely go down to an i5.

First of all, the Razer Blade is kind of bad (to put it lightly) in terms of price:performance.

Since your budget is higher than most of the mainstream laptops, you can have almost anything (certainly much better than what Razer offers).

If money is no object, there are usually two options:

1. Portable gaming notebooks (if you are restricted by travel especially) like the MSI GS60(GTX870M + quad core) for $1800 or the Lenovo Y50(860M + dual core) for $900.
   
   
2. Huge, crazily powerful desktop replacements like the Asus notebooks, or the MSI ones that aren't in the GS series. I remember though that one of the MSI models is horribly flawed because it only has one fan to handle so much heat, so watch out.
   
   The crazy notebooks are usually closer to $3000 now, but they can pack the 880M, which cannot be had in the more desirable thin form factor. Also, they can have good performance at a reasonable price. These are between a desktop and a laptop in portability, and are also somewhat cost-efficient.
   
   It used to be that all gaming notebooks came in this massive form factor, but now the medium-high end graphics can be put in a smaller chassis, and this is almost always more desirable over the monsters that used to be. The portability sometimes comes at a premium, for example the GS60 with the 870M goes for ~1800 while you can get that performance for ~1200 in a less desirable form factor.
   
   The Y50 is extremely cost efficient. If you want a cut-down model with a so-so processor, the Amazon model for $900 is very cost-effective. The 1080p display is pretty bad, although for the cost/performance, you can't really complain. Since your budget is described as <$2000, I imagine this is not for you. There is a model with a higher resolution display that fixes the poor performance of it in that regard
   
   Over at Lenovo's website they have all the configurations at decent prices. The second one from the left for $1129 is probably the best (though with the 1080p display). 16GB of RAM and 4GB of VRAM is unnecessary and only adds to cost. The 1TB HDD is more useful, and warrants an upgrade from the first model. The SSD is limited to 8GB from the factory, and I recommend buying your own mSATA SSD to use. The 250GB 840 evo is nice.
   
   The 860M is technically an upper-mid range GPU, and may not perform to your expectations. Unfortunately, the next step up, the 870M, costs quite a bit to get in a portable form factor. I only know of the GS60 that manages to do this, and it typically costs $1800 (Also the Blade for $2200). This is kind of unreasonable for such a performance jump. Still, if you compare the GS60 to the Blade, you are still getting a good deal, so it's not that bad. If you expected to spend $2000, you will be well-served by the GS60 for $1800. It's basically a Blade with a lower-resolution screen for $400 less.
   
   One thing about the GS60: It gets hot. most of the thin gaming notebooks do, but the GS60's underside on the 870M model can cause burns. It's quite cool when web browsing and such, but during gaming, you need to watch out. The palmrest is pretty cool too, even when gaming, so you just have to make sure to NEVER use it on your lap while gaming.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409444859&sr=8-1&keywords=y50

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here is the laptop I have, I think it should be good enough to run streams at 1080p.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1416632950&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

Can't beat the savings right now. This has an i5 if you wanna bump up to an i7 it's just over 1000 before tax.

Here, you'll only get about 4 hours websurfing time after tweaking the settings.

Go for this since you need the most graphics power you will need. If the weight is too much you can go with this.

If your scholarship has to be directly allocated to buy a computer, 1000 is more than enough.
RAM isn't the biggest factor in running programs like Solidworks and AutoCad, it's your graphics card. I'm was a regular poster on /r/SuggestALaptop (you should go here if you have any further questions). These laptops are 15.6 inch and relatively bulky, because portable laptops sacrifice performance for light weight and battery life. I assume you're willing to trade performance for those things.

First, decide if you need a laptop or desktop. The desktop will have better performance, but the laptop will be more portable. You stated that you want a laptop.

Acer Aspire V15
This would be a great buy. It has a Mid-High range GPU, 1TB hard drive to store all your files. If you want you could buy a laptop with an SSD but I would argue it isn't worth it since you're on a budget.

Asus N550JK
This laptop has a touchscreen, and has the best quality display out of all 3 laptops. If you have to do color specific work, this is the laptop to get. It also has a touchscreen, but the weakest GPU out of all 3.

Lenovo Y50
This last laptop is one of the most popular gaming laptops on the market, mainly due to the branding, backlit keyboard, etc. Many people complain about the display on this laptop, but it has a good price to performance ratio. The processor on this one is weaker than the other 2. There is a model with a stronger processor but it's over your budget.

Usually I would recommend the Lenovo Y50, but that's a great deal on the Acer. I would recommend that one personally because of the discount right now. With regards to the previous poster, my older brother is an ME, he does a lot of Solidworks/AutoCAD stuff and he often talks about how his laptop is convenient for him to work on, so if you feel a laptop would be really beneficial then I would buy one.

If you have any more questions you can message me or visit /r/suggestalaptop .

This Acer should be able to accomplish that.

If you want something closer to the higher end of that budget, the Lenovo Y50 offers much higher graphical performance with a 1080p screen. It was under 900 about a week ago, maybe it'll dip again.

I was looking at the Envy's also, but wanted a beefier video card just in case I wanted to play some future games. I settled on the Lenovo Y50 line, 15" screen, 1tb hd +8gb solid-state, 8gb DDR3L and a GTX860M card. Plus is has your critical features (except not sure about taking apart, but I'm pretty sure with all laptops they are hard to take apart unless specifically made for gaming or something like Alienware, I don't know). Im going to the store later today and check them out in person, and maybe buy one.

Heres a model for $899, but it has a I5 processor (for $100ish more you could get an I7)
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Laptop-59418222-Black/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406232926&sr=8-3&keywords=lenovo+y50#productDetails

I own an Acer and I like it a lot. I would strongly consider purchasing another Acer laptop. It works as it should and the quality is pretty good, all things considered. Acer used to be a terrible brand with terrible customer support and terrible build quality, but at least the build quality has gone up. As far as I know you'll go through hell trying to get through customer support, but that can be said about a lot of brands. Plus the warranty that comes with Acer laptop's is nothing special, if you think you'll break it you're better off going with a third party insurer.

Some Acer laptops have a few minor issues. When I got mine, windows update was a little messed up and while the solution wasn't difficult at all (I knew the problem existed when I bought the computer and I thought it was a fair trade off for the price I was paying). I've heard of some of their laptops having reversed volume keys, or touchpad drivers being wonky at first until updated. Definitely check the reviews before purchasing. To me, these little defects aren't deal breaking at all and I don't mind them. You can update/fix software, but there's nothing you can do about slow hardware. Acer tends to be a lot cheaper than other brands when you compare build quality and amount of ram, CPU, dGPU, etc.

EDIT: here's some more suggestions:

Lenovo y50 much more powerful than the Acer, but comes in a much larger package. Less battery life to. Think of this as a workstation, rather than a portable ultrabookish laptop. That said, it's not too ridiculously heavy. The nvidia 860m will run most games on medium-high.

Here's the i7 variant of the v7-482pg pretty much the same deal, but barely under budget.

IMO if you need power and portability under $1000 Acer is your best bet. They seem to target the budget portable gaming market, niche as it is. The next step up in power starts at $1800 with the MSI ghost pro (15.6 inches but only 4.3 pounds, i7, 870m) and goes up to the razr blade.

There are a lot of choices with gaming laptops so it would be good to list out the specific games you're thinking about and how you would use the notebook. Do you have a size preference? Does it need to be portable? Are you going to need a long battery life?

Like I said, there are a ton of great gaming notebooks, but here are a few that are in your price range.

• Acer Aspire V7-582PG-6479 Good screen, battery life, and weight but mid GPU so fine for Minecraft, not a good choice for graphics intensive games like Watch Dogs, etc.
  
  
• Gigabyte P35K-CF1 Great screen, noise under heavy load.
  
  
• Lenovo Y50 15.6 Honestly, the Y50 is probably your best choice for price/performance. Screen is crappy, but apparently simple to replace and the GTX 860M is a terrific GPU for most games at decent FPS performance.
  
  

That's just the selection offered directly from Lenovo. Here's a model with i5 on Amazon.
You may prefer to use Amazon for faster (if you have prime), more reliable shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1420401844&sr=8-1&dpPl=1&dpID=51KWtM1fnJL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

OP either processor will suit your needs well. The i7 models are a bit better, but i5 will run WoW and Skyrim fine.

Another laptop I was considering was the Lenovo Y50, which has similar specs. The biggest difference I see is that while the ASUS computer has a better processor, the Lenovo one seems to have a better graphics card.

I'm not very technologically versed, so is there an obvious winner between the two? Or is it a matter of preference? (the $70 difference is a non-issue)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00K6ZIO2K&linkCode=as2&tag=hubpages00b7e-20&linkId=KAZCHSXOWOMIG5VS

I looked at that one, but a lot of reviews I read said that the keyboard had some issues. On top of that, most people were saying that it got very hot quite easily. I will still look into it though!

Another person suggested this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=psdc_565108_t1_B00IAA5BSS
do you think it would be good for me?

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1427220081&sr=1-1&keywords=lenovo+y50

Here's a link to the one i was talking about btw. And Amazon has a 30 day return policy and the seller for that one is lenovo themselves. So I think it has warranty? Just check to be sure though.

By the way, there's also an option for 1k dollars for a y50 with a higher resolution display here
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Y50-Laptop-Computer-Generation/dp/B00K71W5SC

Hey man going for a laptop is fully respectable. There are just some people who want a laptop even though it's just going to sit around their house all day which doesn't make very much sense.



Anyway, those are both bad choices. If your primary intention besides the basic stuff (word processing, browsing the internet, etc.) is just gaming, then you don't need an i7. It is an absolute waste of money, and you are looking to get the best GPU you possibly can within your budget.



This is still a Lenovo one that is within your budget, but the GPU is significantly better than the GPU in either of the other laptops you picked. http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Please don't buy one with integrated graphics card. That's if you don't want to play at 30 fps with medium-low settings. This is way better: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421016614&sr=8-1&keywords=lenovo+y
(this was the result of a 2 second search on amazon)

edit: also found this:http://www.amazon.com/GL551JM-DH71-GeForce-GTX860M-Optimus-Technology/dp/B00MMMMMX2/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1421016869&sr=1-4&keywords=asus

Or maybe this Lenovo? http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1422391763&sr=1-1&keywords=lenovo+Y50#productDetails

Lenovo Y50 owner here. Love the laptop. No SSD, but its a great laptop either way. I have a gaming desktop build, so I dont use the laptop all day or anything, but with a GTX 860M, Backlit Keys, 1080P Display (note: colors are a little washed out and viewing angles arent fantastic), and solid construction you cant really go wrong with it. If you like to game, it does pretty well there too.

I've had it for about 6 weeks or so, no issues at all whatsoever. (though I DID drop an SSD in after a few days of use...)

Also, I see someone has mentioned a Lenovo Yoga 2 pro. I just bought one for my boss at work. Its a great ultra-portable laptop, with a great screen BUT I feel that its a little to sluggish for my taste. Even the i7 model with 8GB of ram and the 256GB SSD, it just seems a little under powered for a laptop nearing $1200. Though the battery life is probably significantly longer than the Y50...

It's only $899 here. No prime shipping though.

The lenovo y50 is a decent Laptop for gaming that is quite affordable. I have one for when I travel for work. It will play most games flawlessly. The only game i had to significantly turn the graphics down was ARMA 3 but that game is poorly optimized in my opinion. Again it will be no where near the performance of a 1k desktop but if you want a laptop, this is your best bet in my opinion.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1417550849&sr=1-1&keywords=lenovo+y50

Well if you are looking for a laptop then this one should do the trick.

It's pricy (980$ from Amazon, 940$ if you are ok with other retailers) but awesome for the money, it will serve you for a long time, any application will bend to its will and it will let you play any modern game at a nice framerate. Low weight and a nice battery too, all things considered!

Hi, thank you so much for doing this!

I'm looking to get a new laptop for school/gaming (hopefully one able to handle relatively new games with decent cooling system) and I was looking at Lenovo. Would this laptop be better than this one?
Or is [this] (http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-inch-Touchscreen-Laptop-59418265/dp/B00K6ZIL0U/) sufficient?

i7, 1.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, Intel® HD Graphics 4400 vs i5, 2.8GHz, 8 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M vs i7, 2.0 GHz, 8 GB RAM, and a mystery video card!

Thanks for the suggestion. I just found something slightly cheaper than the MSI that looks like it may play it: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=psdc_565108_t1_B00K6ZIMPE but i still wonder if its worth the price.

I took about ~20 mins and looked around and that seems like a good deal at that price I can't find anything that beats it. The only thing I could find that was close was this. This is 900$ but has a 860m instead of the 850m and a i5-4200H instead of an i7-4712HQ. The CPU on the one I found is slightly worse so since you plan on doing minimal gaming I think the one you found is better I thought I might as well show you this one since I found it.

oh, those ones were refurbished, although this one is about $1000 so it still seems like a pretty good deal

this one

I planned to replace the 1TB HDD with a ~100 gb SSD and use an external HDD.

You might check this out. The Lenovo Y50 is highly recommended for some good gaming.

Amazon has the Lenovo Y50 on sale for $900 today!

Great bang for your buck.

Nope. An i7 CPU doesn't really say anything; some of the older i7s are pretty weak by today's standards and some are complete overkill for gaming. That graphics card is very weak as well and won't run any current games well. This Lenovo laptop costs around $900 and will play games better than a Xbox One. There are probably other gaming laptops with an even better price to performance ratio so you should probably do some research.

Hey

Opt for the Lenovo Y40 or the Y50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHOU2LdlC-A
Base model costs $900
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Laptop-59418222-Black/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406963246&sr=8-2&keywords=y50

Y40
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Y40-Laptop-Computer-DOORBUSTER/dp/B00KNM52JO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406963278&sr=8-1&keywords=y40

I just looked it up on Amazon and I couldn't find the single card edition, but I did find a dual card i7 edition laptop that's ~$1020. And there's also a link to an i5 if you want to save $75.

This is the best deal I could find on a dual card i7.

Here's the i5 edition.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Gaming-Laptop-59418222/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410569526&sr=8-1&keywords=lenovo+y50

I think I'm going to buy this:

Lenovo Y50

I'm based in the UK and the same laptop is around $1,400 instead of the $900 over there.

My Dad is going over to the USA next month so I'll order it and he can bring it home with him.

The MSI GT60 Dominator is quite the powerful machine and it should fall within your price range (I don't know about availability in your country)

However, it is 1.7 inches (4.5 cm) thick and it weights 7.7 pounds (3.5 kilos). Might not be portable enough for you. The fans can also get quite loud if you're pushing this thing to the limit. It's a fine machine and has a fantastic price/performance ration but it's not exactly portable.

Edit: I myself just picked up this Lenovo Y50 and a lot of people seem to recommend it very highly, along with the N550JK that was already mentioned here. The only thing people seem to dislike is that the screen, while 1080p, is of lower quality than some other machines. I'm talking about less than average viewing angles and colors. However, this isn't such an issue for me.

The Y50 comes in many variations, most with an i7 processor and some with 16gb of ram.

lenovo y50 sounds like the best choice for you http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=QAFLDG7ZXB2W&coliid=I1RLYNBDCI92E6

thanks but i think that a backlit keyboard might be a must for late night typing. any other suggestions? i have looked at the lenovo Y50 but its a tad pricier than i'd like\

link: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-Inch-Laptop-59418222-Black/dp/B00K6ZIO2K/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

How about this? I think you could max out TF2 with this.. I don't really know what price range you're looking for though...