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Best valued laptop in the $1500 range

T

timoseewho

Member
Hello fellas, I've been a bit out of the loop as far as laptops go, so what brand/model offers the best bang for the buck for a sub-$1500 laptop?

I don't plan on doing anything too hardcore on it, just casual gaming and school work.

Thanks
 
For us to be able to give you any good suggestions, you should flesh out your wants and needs some more. Do you want a desktop replacement, ultraportable, or something in between? Do you want good battery life? How about storage needs? What does 'school work' entail? Office and the like, or anything heavier? What about display size? Do you care about build quality, warranties or other non-performance aspects of the PC?

From your stated needs of "casual gaming and school work," I'd say $1500 is complete overkill.
 
Valantar said:
For us to be able to give you any good suggestions, you should flesh out your wants and needs some more. Do you want a desktop replacement, ultraportable, or something in between? Do you want good battery life? How about storage needs? What does 'school work' entail? Office and the like, or anything heavier? What about display size? Do you care about build quality, warranties or other non-performance aspects of the PC?

From your stated needs of "casual gaming and school work," I'd say $1500 is complete overkill.
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oops sorry!

it would be a desktop replacement, not too concerned with the weight, good battery life is a big plus, storage isn't overly important (256 should suffice), mostly office-like work with documents, 15"+ screen, and a good warranty is nice. i'm looking for something to last me a good 3-5 years🙂
 
What kind of graphical demands would your "casual gaming" entail? If they are light enough for integrated graphics, I'd go for a ThinkPad T540p - customizing one on Lenovo's site now, it's $1290 with a "3K" IPS display ($200 less if FHD TN is sufficient), i7-4710MQ, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD. Use the remaining ~200 of your budget to upgrade the RAM and add an SSD, and you'd have an amazing powerhouse of a laptop that should last you for years. If the integrated Intel graphics aren't enough, you can add a GeForce 730M for $130, bringing the total with the 3K display to $1407 or $1227 with the FHD display. Personally, I'd go for the FHD display and 730M, add a Crucial MX200 250GB for another $110 (Newegg), and 16GB DDR3L for another $110 (also Newegg). That brings your total to about $1450, not including shipping. If you're able to skip the dedicated GPU, you could even get the i7-4810QM, which gives you higher base and turbo clocks, plus a higher clocked IGP. Or, of course, you could go all-in, with the i7-4810QM, dGPU and the 3K display for $1530. With the SSD and RAM upgrade this brings you a bit above budget, but you'd be getting a superb laptop. Oh, and I'd recommend adding the Intel 7260AC wireless card over the standard Thinkpad 2x2 card.

ThinkPad quality is pretty much unbeatable, and the T series gives great bang for your buck as long as you're not fussy about weight. Sure, you can get cheaper laptops with the same components, if not better. But they will not last as long, nor perform as well over time.

Of course, if you need more powerful graphics than the 730m, you're out of luck with the ThinkPad T series.
 
Valantar said:
What kind of graphical demands would your "casual gaming" entail? If they are light enough for integrated graphics, I'd go for a ThinkPad T540p - customizing one on Lenovo's site now, it's $1290 with a "3K" IPS display ($200 less if FHD TN is sufficient), i7-4710MQ, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD. Use the remaining ~200 of your budget to upgrade the RAM and add an SSD, and you'd have an amazing powerhouse of a laptop that should last you for years. If the integrated Intel graphics aren't enough, you can add a GeForce 730M for $130, bringing the total with the 3K display to $1407 or $1227 with the FHD display. Personally, I'd go for the FHD display and 730M, add a Crucial MX200 250GB for another $110 (Newegg), and 16GB DDR3L for another $110 (also Newegg). That brings your total to about $1450, not including shipping. If you're able to skip the dedicated GPU, you could even get the i7-4810QM, which gives you higher base and turbo clocks, plus a higher clocked IGP. Or, of course, you could go all-in, with the i7-4810QM, dGPU and the 3K display for $1530. With the SSD and RAM upgrade this brings you a bit above budget, but you'd be getting a superb laptop. Oh, and I'd recommend adding the Intel 7260AC wireless card over the standard Thinkpad 2x2 card.

ThinkPad quality is pretty much unbeatable, and the T series gives great bang for your buck as long as you're not fussy about weight. Sure, you can get cheaper laptops with the same components, if not better. But they will not last as long, nor perform as well over time.

Of course, if you need more powerful graphics than the 730m, you're out of luck with the ThinkPad T series.
Click to expand...

thanks a lot for the response! i'm really just keeping an eye out for a cousin of mine, who's in the market for one hehe

as far as gaming goes, he doesn't quite have an idea YET, just anything Steam throws at him really lol, so i think he'd need dedicated graphics at least to cover it all

i was really just looking at somewhere to start my search haha, nothing too specific, just want some brands, models, with good reputation these days since there seems to be a lot out here now

so you're fairly confident in the T series eh?
 
My only concern is whether the graphics options are powerful enough. Other than that, this PC gives you a great cpu, good battery life, the option of a fantastic display, and quality, repairability and upgradeability in heaps. However, if new(ish) graphically intensive games at decent resolutions and quality settings is wanted, then the 730M will be a bit too weak - and then you'll have to look at a completely different class of PC (more of a light gaming laptop than a workhorse like the T series). If the gaming might be that demanding, I'd look for something with a GeForce GTX 960m, which balances price, performance and power draw in a very good way. I don't have any suggestions, but there are plenty of options out there 🙂
 
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