Would this be a good buy? Laptop edition [specs included]

[The Other Colbert]

I know what you're thinking, "what a terrible thread title." I have finally graduated school and have a little extra money to spend on upgrading my PC. My last computer is a IBM thinkpad that is 6 years old and rightfully falling apart.

So the search begins.

I need a laptop due to the type of job I have, but I also have a special spot in my heart for gaming. (I own a xbox 360, so this computer doesn't need to handle extreme game demands.)

The computer I'm looking at:

It's a Sony Vaio F series, here are the custom specs:

*Intel® Core™ i7-820QM processor (1.73GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.06GHz

*Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit

*640GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)

*8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333

*Blu-ray Disc™ player/burner

*16.4" VAIO Display (1600x900) with NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M GPU (512MB VRAM)

Now the only game that I will likely run on this system is the new Starcraft 2. The 310m is the only card they will let me upgrade to (and it's a entry level graphics card.)

So would this be a good buy for less than $2,000?

[The Other Colbert]

If no one responds, I'm going to get a macbook to piss everyone off.

[TerriblePizza]

Its overpriced IMHO.

[DirtyMagic97]

Buy a Mac.

[Seamonk]

Pro tip: Never get a laptop to do anything strenuous as defined by the following:

1. Gaming

2. Any Activity that can raise the temperature of the CPU Core by 5 or More degrees Celsius

3. Doing an activity in a seated position in front of a desk.

Now if you want to get it so you can pick it up from your desk and sit in bed with it in front of you and want to pay nearly 600+ dollars more for that ability alone, then go ahead.

I'd rather you get a cheaper laptop for your job-in-mind, and build a desktop for any other activity. This way you don't fear any loss of data when something happens when playing starcraft and whatnot.

[SorthNarolina]

I agree, if you want to do PC gaming then build your own desktop and then buy a cheap ass laptop for work and web surfing.

You could build a bitching machine with a Monitor, speakers, keyboard & mouse for about $1400.00 and then get a great laptop for $600.

Seriously don't even bother getting a laptop that expensive it's a terrible investment. A terrible, terrible, investment.

I did the exact same thing with my brother, I built him a pc and got him to buy a cheap laptop and he's much happier.

[The Other Colbert]

Thanks for the feedback!

Honestly I've never been fortunate enough to have this kind of money to spend on a computer... so it's been a little overwhelming.

I have many people saying that a Macbook Pro would be the best option (I'm just not completely ready to sell out to apple without a justifiable cause)

I'm going to be moving around a lot so building a desktop is a little out of the question for now. I want to be able to spend this money wisely and end up with a high performance laptop that wont be outdated for at least 5 years. Haha I have had easier times getting a car.

[Zaximus]

Thanks for the feedback!

Honestly I've never been fortunate enough to have this kind of money to spend on a computer... so it's been a little overwhelming.

I have many people saying that a Macbook Pro would be the best option (I'm just not completely ready to sell out to apple without a justifiable cause)

I'm going to be moving around a lot so building a desktop is a little out of the question for now. I want to be able to spend this money wisely and end up with a high performance laptop that wont be outdated for at least 5 years. Haha I have had easier times getting a car.

I don't see a laptop NOT being outdated in 5 years. Big reason is you can't really upgrade the video card in it.

If Starcraft is all you plan on playing, find the bare min requirements and see if there's a cheap laptop. But yeah I'd get a desktop if I was you. Someone said 1400 but you can easily build something for less than that probably and still play the games you want.

[SorthNarolina]

Thanks for the feedback!

Honestly I've never been fortunate enough to have this kind of money to spend on a computer... so it's been a little overwhelming.

I have many people saying that a Macbook Pro would be the best option (I'm just not completely ready to sell out to apple without a justifiable cause)

I'm going to be moving around a lot so building a desktop is a little out of the question for now. I want to be able to spend this money wisely and end up with a high performance laptop that wont be outdated for at least 5 years. Haha I have had easier times getting a car.

It will be outdated in 2.5 years max. I promise. Buying a high performance PC is already a pretty poor investment but a high performance laptop is a cardinal sin of thriftiness.

Computers depreciate very quickly so if your going to spend 2000 dollars on one then you want to make sure you can make it last. Laptops don't last because like others have said, you can't upgrade them(at least easily).

Just post laptops you are looking at on here and ask opinons. Also go to tomshardware.com and join the forums there since you'll get more responses.

[Razzy]

Pro tip: Never get a laptop to do anything strenuous as defined by the following:

1. Gaming

2. Any Activity that can raise the temperature of the CPU Core by 5 or More degrees Celsius

3. Doing an activity in a seated position in front of a desk.

Now if you want to get it so you can pick it up from your desk and sit in bed with it in front of you and want to pay nearly 600+ dollars more for that ability alone, then go ahead.

I'd rather you get a cheaper laptop for your job-in-mind, and build a desktop for any other activity. This way you don't fear any loss of data when something happens when playing starcraft and whatnot.

This. Although my HP laptop I bought for college has been holding up pretty well. 2 years and still going strong, even though I've been using it to game. Sometimes I'll have memory failures that more or less freeze up Vista (stupid OS) because I'm putting the poor thing through so much. The CPU and battery will also often get so hot that just touching that area of the laptop can burn you. I won't even use it without my cooling pad anymore, or i'm afraid that the circuits might fry while I'm playing a game. I seriously have a singe mark on my wrist from a metal vent lining on the back I received two weeks ago. Oh, and I also burnt so many DVDs that my drive no longer writes. I'm just hoping I can prolong its life for a few more years.

I like that I can take it with me places as I am constantly going back and forth between Northern and Southern CA, but for the same price, a little above $700, I could have bought a pretty good desktop. I would never spend more than a grand on a computer, or any electronics really.