Looking for a durable gaming laptop.

[ubermensche]

Hey guys, in about a month or so I'll be moving out for college so I'm looking for a good laptop that can last me several years. My budget is between the 700 and 800$ mark and I came across this deal which looks pretty darn sweet.

Toshiba Satellite P850 15.6" Laptop - Silver (Intel Core i7-3630QM / 1TB HDD / 8GB RAM / Windows : 15" Laptops - Future Shop

But another thing that worries me is durability. Since I'll be pooling almost all of my resources into this baby, I'd like to know if this thing is solid enough. I'm probably gonna carry this thing around with me all the time and I don't want something broken within like 1-2 years and force me to spend another fortune on reparations.

And if you guys have other recommendations, please do show them to me. And I'm not the type who necessarily wants to be able to run all my games on ultra. I probably won't even have that much time to play all these video games anyways. Just make sure they match my criteria:
-700 to 800$ (900$ ones will be considered)
-Durable (probably not Toughbook style thing but still...)
-Decently good performance. I'll be really happy if I can play PR on highest settings (that'll probably be one of the only games that I'll be playing anyways).

[PricelineNegotiator]

Looks like a solid laptop. I bought a Toshiba Satellite myself about 4 years ago and it's still going strong. Price range was the exact same - $900 on sale for $800. It has a nVidia 630m which is pretty decent for a laptop. Also an i7 with 8 GB of memory @ 1600 MHz, you can't go wrong. I just bought my dad a laptop last week and I'd say this is a damned good deal. Go for it.

[Daniel]

You get the MSI Gaming GE60-i560M245 for ~ 700 € in EU, but don't know in Canada... has GTX 660 onboard...

http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00AMF6IGI

[PLODDITHANLEY]

I've got a MSI GX720 which has been running well for over 4 years. I found out after that it's nice and easy to take apart and its really simple to remove the GPU and heat sink, my computer was sold in the US as barebones 1127 so I guess that explains its easy maintenance construction.

However with all portables you must keep them clean, I even had to remove the fan heat sink and reapply heat paste to keep the inside of the fan clean.
If I had to buy another laptop I would look at how easy they are to take apart for cleaning as I've seen some that are horrible where the keyboard has to come of to perform the annual big take apart clean.

I think an SSD portable must be good for durability and reduced power consumption.

Make sure you get a numpad equipped one for mumble too.

15" is too small IMHO.

Both myself and a friend have had an Acer that the screen has broken on at 13 months freaky huh?

[ubermensche]

Looks like a solid laptop. I bought a Toshiba Satellite myself about 4 years ago and it's still going strong. Price range was the exact same - $900 on sale for $800. It has a nVidia 630m which is pretty decent for a laptop. Also an i7 with 8 GB of memory @ 1600 MHz, you can't go wrong. I just bought my dad a laptop last week and I'd say this is a damned good deal. Go for it.

Yeah same here. It really is a pretty damn solid laptop. BUT THEY'RE OUT OF STOCK. Apparently there is this other future shop that still has it. I'm gonna cross my fingers and check tomorrow morning. Or else I might go for this one:
Toshiba Satellite P870 17.3" Laptop - Silver (Intel Core i7-3630QM / 1TB HDD / 16GB RAM / Windows : 17" Laptops - Future Shop

The only difference between the 2 is that this one is 17.3". Honestly, I don't think that 2 extra inches is worth the extra 100$.

EDIT: Oh ****, and it has double the RAM. Didn't see that at first.

You get the MSI Gaming GE60-i560M245 for ~ 700 ? in EU, but don't know in Canada... has GTX 660 onboard...

MSI Gaming GE60-i560M245: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubeh?r

On Amazon Canada that thing is over 1,100$. So I don't think so. Thanks though.

15" is too small IMHO.

I have a 15" now and I think it's pretty good.

[L4gi]

Asus gaming laptops are awesome. Got myself a G75VW, so good <3

[LITOralis.nMd]

The Satellites have a soft top shell, which allows a lot of flex on the screen. It's not a deal breaker, but you have to be vigilant about it at all times. Do not say, grab the notebook by the screen corner to try to lift it up at a weird angle.

For the Toshiba, you're paying extra for a warranty and the windows OS license.

In your price range:
15.6
1600x900
8gb
i7 3630m or 4600m


Consider a 1600x900 screen if you aren't a engineering, finance or maths major. (Spreadsheets and a PITA to do with a small screen)

Some others to consider:
Lenovo Ideapad Y500 ...
look on EBAY.CA ,

MSI 15.6" intel gen 3 i5 with a GT650M

The ASUS slim series, ASUS N56VZ and others, but most are only 15.6-Inch 1366x768

,,,,,,,,,

If you are adventurous, you should be able to find a used laptop with
a GT650m GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

or a GTX660M NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

or a Radeon HD 8790M
or a GTX570m
or a GT740m


If you want to extend your options, look at the AMD A10 or A8 APUs + discrete GPU options
The battery life for general computing is quite nice, and the hybrid crossfire can play a good number of games at decent FPS and medium settings.

[ubermensche]

The one I initially wanted was out of stock, so I just bought this one:

Toshiba Satellite P870 17.3" Laptop - Silver (Intel Core i7-3630QM / 1TB HDD / 16GB RAM / Windows : 17" Laptops - Future Shop

[Daniel]

Can u provide new link (link not working anymore)...