Notebook university (€600)

[Nicholas Oob]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop for the next year of school. I'm studying abroad, so a desktop is not an option. I was hoping the fine folks at Anandtech could help me out.
I live in West-Europe but I'm travelling to NY/Miami this month, so buying something in the US is an option as well.
I have some requirements:

• Budget: €600 (already have a desktop at home, spending more would be a waste probably?)
• Be able to handle light-medium gaming (LoL, Steam games,...)
• Be able to handle math-related programs (MatLab, R, possibly others)
• Will be used for other general computer usage: browsing, Youtube, watching series/movies,...
• No touch screen

I've tried to aim for a good bang for buck and I've come across the Dell Inspiron 17 5000 Series
Reasons I chose this one:

• Fits the budget
• 4th generation i5 processor is exactly what I need, I think
• 17" for series/movies and I don't need to carry it around a lot anyway

Unfortunately the reviews at the Dell site don't sound too convincing. I was wondering if anyone has a better suggestion, agrees with the Dell choice or should I wait longer for other 'Back to school' actions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nicholas Oob]

Anyone?

 

[Piroko]

Some thoughts:
You'll probably get more for your money in the U.S.
Matlab/Simulink will run just fine on anything Haswell
Not sure if you'd be happy with just the HD4400

 

[spat55]

Doesn't look like a bad laptop for the money, but like Piroko said I think you might be able to get more for your money in the US, reason also being is that the Euro to the Dollar is quite strong I believe?

 

[Nicholas Oob]

Yeah that's why I added I'm going to the States this month, what are some of the notebooks you have in mind then?

 

[Burpo]

http://www.adorama.com/ASX750JADB71....KKfuhz-Hzw_wcB

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Envy-17T...00912790?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item417ed74a96