(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Hey NGU, my wife's birthday is coming up and one of the things I'm going to get her is a new laptop. I don't want to spend more than $2500 total. I'm looking for suggestions on what to buy. It can be Windows or Mac. We're familiar with Windows but having a Mac might be cool.

-good battery life
-good specs (8GB RAM, SSD hard drive, i7...as future-proof as possible)
-good fit and finish
-13-17" screen with good display

It'll mainly be for personal use like gaming, watching movies, surfing the web, etc. I'm currently leaning towards a 15" MBP with Retina Display, any opinions on this? I'll rep everyone who gives me a suggestion with reasons and a link!

Don't use my thread to up your post count.

To be honest, building a PC for your wife will make your wife want to love you forever. I mean, with a laptop it's soo expensive just to get 8GB of ram with a awesome gpu and such, while building a PC you can actually have twice the power and she can have alot of options when using it. If you really are looking for a laptop though, I would choose a Sony Vaios laptop:
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I use to own a Sony Vaios laptop and it was awesome until it died later on for using it too much (it's a old laptop :p)

Asus laptops:
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My mother has the cheap ones and it can play games on medium graphics so I can imagine that this PC can play games even more powerful.

Cost won't be a problem.

I have a gaming PC for hardcore games. She can use it whenever she wants but wants a laptop since it's portable...wants to be able to take it to work, to a coffee shop, on a plane, etc... Needs to have good resolution for watching movies or Netflix.

That Sony doesn't have the best reviews, idk about it. Asus is almost 10lbs. I'm really looking for something with an SSD and good specs...not something you'd get off the rack at Best Buy.

Repped.

How much does thickness matter? Because alot of super high specced laptops are a little beefier and if that along with the gaming part is moderate Sager makes some monster specced laptops for a fair price and are good quality, but if battery is big a macbook or a maybe a Asus zenbook or similar ultra book also consider a surface pro 2.

Hmm... I don't know if you have microcenter where you live, but they do sell some good laptops there and sometimes on sale also.

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Has 256 GB of SSD, i7 intel 2.4ghz, 16GB of DDR3 ram ...


I ain't sure if they do sell Macs there, I tried looking for a laptop but it doesn't show SSD in the specs .

Thickness and weight would be best if minimized. I want it to be portable and not a pain to carry around. I know the MBP is really thin, weighs about 4-5 lbs, and still has 8 GB of RAM, an SSD, good display, etc. Maybe about a maximum of 1.25" thickness and 6lbs.

MBP seems to be the frontrunner. Does Mac OS get annoying as a lifelong Windows user? Are most popular games on Steam compatible on a Mac?

Would 16GB of RAM be worth it or would it be complete overkill? Consider the fact that it cannot be upgraded down the road. Only $200.

RAM isn't very dependent on a lot of things unless she's going to be using it for more powerful productivity software like Photoshop or Final Cut, even then my Macbook Air can run both of those simultaneously quite well (I've always appreciated Apple's particular attention for RAM management).

For the actual laptop side of things, you want a think and powerful laptop with a good screen....then comes the battery issue. See, it's going to be hard to fit in everything without making it either bulky due to a larger battery, or other sacrifices that go elsewhere.

For gaming here is what I suggest (keep in mind these are not the best you can get for the money SPEC wise, rather they are more "chic" and more convenient, for example thinner):
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You're not looking for a full out gaming laptop, so I'll skip the 3 inch thick desktop replacements as I like to call them.

For productivity, almost any ultrabook will suffice, if you want to go the Mac route, the Retina MBP is by no means a poor performer, it's just not really ideal for the best price/performance ratio.

Final Suggestion is either a MSI GS70 or a Retina MacBook Pro for her needs. One has a larger screen, the other has a nicer screen, one is more powerful while one is more chic and has better battery life.

Thanks for the post brah.

I think I'll go with the Retina 15" MBP. I'll read up on what people suggest for specs. I think I'll upgrade the processor to 2.3 ghz from 2.0 ghz and might just stay with 8 gb ram. I don't want it to be outdated in a few years when I can spend the money now. I'm thinking the "omg shiny, it's so pretty" effect of the MBP will matter more than specs though lol...just another accessory.