Laptop Suggestions?

[Engineer]

So my parents are letting me pick out a laptop for my birthday. I want it for school and gaming. The budget is $1200 including shipping and the OS. Any suggestions?

[Dark Essence]

If you want it for school and gaming, then your begging for an HP Laptop.

[square-enix]

Originally Posted by Hydrogen

So my parents are letting me pick out a laptop for my birthday. I want it for school and gaming. The budget is $1200 including shipping and the OS. Any suggestions?

And by "for school", do you mean, "I want it so I can take it to school, where it could be stolen. When, I, a 13 year old have absolutely no need to buy a laptop for in-school use, at all."
or,
"I want a laptop for school use so I can browse the web at home for homework purposes and talking to friends."

Now, if it's option one, which shall be known as "in-school use", I would simply get a cheap laptop, enough to run some text-editor programs. No obscene amounts of space, high-end motherboard, processor, etc. The rest of the money would go into an affordable desktop.

If it's option two, I would build a desktop. If you're not into building (which is much better), you can go for one of the crappy "brand" name ones.
Simply look up the system requirements for whatever game it is you're planning to play, and the desktop specs should be above the requirements.

ex/ If the min requirement for a game is 256 RAM, 1 GHz, you would go for something with atleast 1G RAM, 2GHz
The boost in RAM meets the min but also ensures that the game will run smoothly, aswell as the multitude of programs you might have running in the background. The processor is the same concept. You don't want to barely meet requirements.

Laptops are a pain to upgrade and I'm not sure why anyone would play games on them. They also overheat like a bitch. Terrible for gaming.

For OS, I would not get Vista, because of numerous compatibility issues. XP works fine as is. Of course, it has a number of unwanted programs when you buy it "legit" but that's not the point. XP is sure to work. Vista is sketchy at best.

[Engineer]

Originally Posted by square-enix

And by "for school", do you mean, "I want it so I can take it to school, where it could be stolen. When, I, a 13 year old have absolutely no need to buy a laptop for in-school use, at all."
or,
"I want a laptop for school use so I can browse the web at home for homework purposes and talking to friends."

Now, if it's option one, which shall be known as "in-school use", I would simply get a cheap laptop, enough to run some text-editor programs. No obscene amounts of space, high-end motherboard, processor, etc. The rest of the money would go into an affordable desktop.

If it's option two, I would build a desktop. If you're not into building (which is much better), you can go for one of the crappy "brand" name ones.
Simply look up the system requirements for whatever game it is you're planning to play, and the desktop specs should be above the requirements.

ex/ If the min requirement for a game is 256 RAM, 1 GHz, you would go for something with atleast 1G RAM, 2GHz
The boost in RAM meets the min but also ensures that the game will run smoothly, aswell as the multitude of programs you might have running in the background. The processor is the same concept. You don't want to barely meet requirements.

Laptops are a pain to upgrade and I'm not sure why anyone would play games on them. They also overheat like a bitch. Terrible for gaming.

For OS, I would not get Vista, because of numerous compatibility issues. XP works fine as is. Of course, it has a number of unwanted programs when you buy it "legit" but that's not the point. XP is sure to work. Vista is sketchy at best.

Best would be option two, however, I would rather have a laptop since i have little space and it needs to travel with me. I can't find the system requirements (probably because the games are six months to a year off) but i know i want Starcraft II, Halo Wars, or Spore

[Oathy]

I'd be all over you to GET A MACBOOK GET A MACBOOK GEEEET AAAA MAAAACCCCCBOOOOOKKKK...if not for the gaming part.

If at all possible, try to get yourself one if you can find enough games that are Mac-compatible or Universal. Macs are...gah, can't even describe. Let's just say I'm NEVER going back to Windows.

[Dark Essence]

You Apple Freak......... >_>

[Agent007]

Yeah I just installed Vista 2 weeks ago and I'm not that impressed with it to be honest.

[mesmerized]

Originally Posted by Agent007

Yeah I just installed Vista 2 weeks ago and I'm not that impressed with it to be honest.

I've had vista on my laptop since I bought it. Its nothing to be proud of at all, actually some prefer xp to vista any day. Me its whatever in my opinion.

Now to the question... I have a dell inspiration. I love it, even though its not the most expensive or nicest computer in the world. It gets me from A to Z. You on the other hand have a budget, a very high one that I didnt have. My computer only cost, in the dell store, 700 dollars. I would say get something with good memory if you're a gamer. I can't play crap on my computer. Well, I can, but I cant have a lot installed on here with out my computer lagging. Also, if your a gamer, make sure you buy a wireless mouse. You'll thank me later.

[jgtufballssss]

I agree with you. We don't need to get a expensive and best one, just get a suitable and reasonable one for a school boy.
I think Dell is a good option for you to do some basic surfing/email/games/etc. And it also has some good service and long warrenty. Last month I just got a Dell Vostro 1000 for my brother who is a college student. I think you can try it, there are some other good Dell there
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[Altair]

Alienware: Area-51 m5550 Notebook - Learn More!
Done with 150 left over. =D

Edit// Better link
Alienware: Configure Your Area-51 m5550 High-Performance System Today!

[♥]

Originally Posted by Oathy

I'd be all over you to GET A MACBOOK GET A MACBOOK GEEEET AAAA MAAAACCCCCBOOOOOKKKK...if not for the gaming part.

If at all possible, try to get yourself one if you can find enough games that are Mac-compatible or Universal. Macs are...gah, can't even describe. Let's just say I'm NEVER going back to Windows.

You buy into trends so easily

I'd suggest anything other than a Macbook. They're pretty, but hardly useful for anything else. Read S-E's post, those are your best options.

[tetraalmasy]

I have a toshiba laptop (what kind dunno)
that I LOOOOVE
because I spilt gatorade on it
months ago
and the light burnt out
and it fizzed and
sparked
and the light shut off so I couldn't see on the screen AT ALL

but I turned my laptop upside down
over night
and the next morning
it fizzed
and sparked
and it's working fine now

^_^

I think it was $800
and the screen is fairly wide and it's thin so it's good

there are several usb ports
and a memory chip slot and cd thing
it plays dvds and burns them
it also comes with an internal internet router that you can turn on and off.

as for gaming? I don't PC game so I wouldn't know. But I think it's fine.

[houzukimaru]

Don't get a Macbook >.<
I had to get one for school. Basically anything > Macbook.
Just warning you x3

[Sky Bolt]

Originally Posted by Oathy

I'd be all over you to GET A MACBOOK GET A MACBOOK GEEEET AAAA MAAAACCCCCBOOOOOKKKK...if not for the gaming part.

If at all possible, try to get yourself one if you can find enough games that are Mac-compatible or Universal. Macs are...gah, can't even describe. Let's just say I'm NEVER going back to Windows.

Oathy's a Mac user? Cool!

You know, a MacBook Pro can be set up to run Windows on one partition for your games, or at least those that aren't for Macs (And a lot of good games ARE available on Mac these days), and you can still have MacOS on another partition, which is a far more pleasant OS to use, in my opinion.

That's basically the set up I have. You can use a program called Boot Camp to set up and manage the partitions. If it's not too late, I'd highly recommend this option.

[MosesMohs]

anything Dell
NOT GATEWAY
they suck
i've had like 10 gateways & all they all crashed within 4 months.
no gateways.
Dells are awesome.
<3