happy fathers day stultus

if you can bring your desktop with you for games I'd just do that and get a more portable laptop

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Like frkn said, try to get your normal PC there, putting that kind of money on a laptop is quite literally a horrible idea.

I'm not gonna sperg out and bring my desktop to a co-ed dorm

i can't recommend a 17 inch, especially for college, because they are absolutely massive. 15 inch are more reasonable for being portable, and since you can get the same 1920x1080 resolution that 17 inches have, the display seems more crisp

personally, i've had the best results with a laptop i ordered from ibuypower. one of the things that bothered me was most other laptop companies have moved to being media player focused with the f1-f12 keys having the brightness/volume/etc shit as the primary function. this means you have to hold fn + press them if you want to use the f1-f12 keys in games. ibuypower's also have numpads which is nice for gaming

i went to see their pricing just now and from the base build you can get 2.7GHz processor, 8GB ram, 2GB video card, and 750GB 7200rpm hard drive for $1175, which is within your budget

they have other builds you can customize but the base build was the only one without a non-removable fingerprint sensor inbetween the touchpad's mouse buttons. if you actually use the touchpad (someone else has to pls) it makes it incredibly fucking difficult to both left and right click at once (e.g. playing demo) with just your thumb. so definitely go without it

Pick a manufacturer you like and build your own off their website. There's no need to get a 'gaming' laptop from alienware or whoever.

I got a Lenovo thinkpad 4 or 5 years ago with an i5 and a dedicated video card (instead of on board) and that thing is still useful. Runs tf2 at ~80 fps and other games decently well. Cost me $800 and still chugs along despite its age.

With a budget of $1200 you should be able to get a pretty solid machine.

There's no such thing as a gaming laptop despite what idiots, Dell, and Razer want you to believe (with the latter two cashing in on the former).

I honestly like Slim's choice the most, and with the extra money you could grab yourself a copy of Win7, a 7200 RPM laptop HDD to switch out from that 5400 RPM one, and a laptop cooler (because laptops get fucking HOT when put under strain).

If you're not an Acer fan, there's this number from Lenovo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312439

Then there's this one from MSI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152393

Although I'm pretty sure the Lenovo is going to get hardware-destroying hot under load and the backlit keys are flashy and annoying, while the MSI one just has those two red lines on the back of the monitor that are supposed to look cool or something, although the standard 7200 RPM is a plus. The MSI one also plays blurays which is always cool.

Half the guys in my dorm brought desktops freshmen year, nobody judges. The girls didn't really have desktops but they didn't give a shit if you do

This is like saying there's no such thing as a gaming computer. There's a big difference between laptops that do and don't have dedicated GPU's.

asus/msi/gigabyte, or bust

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834233015

i7 / 15.6 screen @ 1080p / GTX660M / 8gb ram, friend just picked this up its sweet

Thats not what he's talking about. Most manufacturers that I've seen offer dedicated GPU's or on-board when you are building it on their website.

Alienware and Razer will take a laptop with decent hardware, tack on a cheesy case and some extra LED's and charge an extra $400 for the 'hardcore' edition.

Seriously, just cart your PC there, and get a cheap ultrabook or something to take to class for notes.

pretty much nobody gives a shit if you cart your pc there, i knew a dude who straight had 2 mech keyboards and a giant desktop and was diamond at scII and nobody bothered him about it

Like other people are saying, it's not a big deal at all in college. Hell, my freshman year I told my tower, 2 monitors, laptop, a leather chair, and a 32 inch TV, oh and these absurd Klipsch 5.1 computer speaks before they died that had two 10inch subs that would shake the our hall.

http://mediacdn.shopatron.com/media/mfg/3579/product_image/1af5bf82c832120895da4434047a033f.jpg?1371417326

People knew that I played games and never cared, in fact, I would say that having that setup helped a bit. Always easier to explain to girls that you have a nice movie watching setup in your single, instead of spending time with their roomate in their room.

I'd also highly recommend just taking your existing rig with you. Buy a small, portable laptop for use when you're out of your dorm. Don't make the same mistake I did and buy a "totally sick" laptop with an 18.4" screen that works like crap 2.5 years later...

Also, it should be said that college is not like HS, you're going to want a shitty small and good battery life laptop (Ie, NOT a gaming laptop) since you're going to have to walk all over campus with it and a few classes worth of books.

Oh and as far as I could tell, there was never really people that just picked on people for stupid stuff life having a nice computer or being a nerd in classes or in the dorms.

macbook pro 13inch with the special processor thing is great, would not reccomend any bigger though as it gets too heavy and big. i play tf2 on mine (i use trackpad) and get a consistent 230 fps in 24 player badwater with all the lowest settings. i also have a 15 inch mbp because i thought it would be better for tf2 but i keep on getting 30 fps so i would definitely not recommend it.

I got a Lenovo Y500 for $900 last year. Good stuff, although it drops below 100 frames during heavy action at times. There aren't any laptops with 120hz monitors if you're used to that, though. At least I don't think.

But as already mentioned, just lug your desktop there and get a netbook or something. In me and my friends experiences, people in college are way more mature and levelheaded than high school.

you aren't going to get any women anyways, just take ur desktop and accept your fate.

Also save money. I used a laptop through my first 2 years of university and actually doing work on a desktop is amazing once you know what a laptop is like.

Tbh its pretty inconvenient to move a desktop across the country like jack is(washington-georgia holy shit wtf), and especially when you are a freshmen, where housing for the year after is completely different as well. I can understand a 8 hour drive to take your desktop to college like what weeble did (who actually got called a nerd for playing matches rofl), but when you know you're gonna repack everything by the end of the year anyways, its simply not worth it.
With that being said, don't get a tablet, look into the lenovo y500 and certain asus models. I've personally never had problems with either brand, but can't say the same for acer and msi. Plus if you are going to any college in the 21st century, I doubt you will have trouble finding a place in the classroom to charge your laptop.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312439