Looking to buy an Asus laptop

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this forum, so forgive if I come of as sounding ignorant or clueless (I'm really not very knowledgeable in computers hah). I'm getting ready to start school this fall as a freshman in college and I want to purchase a laptop, specifically an Asus, for my studies (engineering major). I hope to use this as my primary computer while at school, besides the ones offered at the computer labs of course. I game extensively on my pc at home, specifically Team Fortress 2 (and a bit of L4D2). So, although immense, raw power isn't my priority, I'd still like to get a good performance when playing TF2 while also being able to keep up with my school work. Portability, battery life, and specifications all seem to be pretty tough to balance out because I don't want to sacrifice one over the other. The one laptop that's very appealing to me is the U30JC: I like the 13" display, the Optimus graphics card technology sounds very convenient, and the battery life is decent. However, does the i3 processor hold it's own? By that I mean is it worth buying the U30JC when I can instead spend a little extra money on something like the K42 Series K42JV-X1, boasting greater specs yet sacrificing a bit of portability and battery life? I am open to ANY suggestions or advice for an Asus laptop that can best suit me in the future. I only ask that the laptop is no greater than 15".

Thank you so much for even taking a look here, I know that my wall of text isn't very appealing nor am I confident that I worded myself very clearly If you have any questions, please ask me so I can do my best to explain myself a little better. Thanks again

-MuffinCakes

MuffinCakes01 Newbie

ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --