Reddit mentions of Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-76YK 15.6-inch Full HD Notebook (Intel Core i7, NVIDIA 940MX, 8 GB DDR4, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home 64-bit Edition),Black

i recommend getting this i7 beauty, the Acer Aspire E 15 15.6inch Full HD, Intel Core i7 processor with the NVIDIA 940MX, 8GB ram DDR4 with is upgradeable and 256GB SSD which brings storage and speed to boot your programmes,softwares and apps very quickly

Something as low budget as the Acer Aspire E 15 would do a fantastic job for you.

You aren't going to get ThinkPad level quality at this budget, but you can get the Acer Aspire E15-575G which will play your games, get really good battery life, and comes with a 256GB SSD.

I'll jump on this thread as another prospective buyer. Looking to upgrade off a 2009 Macbook Pro, and know very little about PCs and specs.

Also looking to be able to run Civ 6 and a few other similarly intensive games for under $800.

How does this Acer stack up to this Dell?

this nice Acer Aspire E 15 would be ideal for your tasks. it has a good i7 cpu, there wont be a need for you to install more ram because it comes with a decent 8GB DDR4 ram, it also has a very fast and power efficient 256GB SSD and a nice NVIDIA 940MX gpu.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F1Z78GM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hey, so my younger brother was starting his junior year of college a few years back and he was a CS/Computer Forensics major. This was the laptop he hand picked as a gift because the one he was previously using couldn't do everything he needed it to. He never had any problems and still uses it today at work in his programming job. He has never had to upgrade or change anything in it. Even if you do not want this one, i fell like it will be a good framework to go off of. Hope it helps. He just graduated this summer and was using this laptop everyday.

This Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575G-76YK with the i7 processor, 8 GB RAM , fast 256 GB SSD etc will do a great job for you. It has all the criteria you have set out and definitely will not lag in completing the tasks you have to complete. I should also say, it has a wonderful battery life.

That particular GPU should be OK for school work and light gaming (Think Dota/ League of legends kind of stuff); it won't handle 4K graphics IIRC, and would be poor choice for CAD work; but for everything else should be fine.

Something like this is probably along the lines of what you're seeking. There's tons of choices in the market right now :)

Perhaps this, it comes with a 256GB SSD which will help chew through the data a little faster than a normal HDD would.

I would recommend this Acer Aspire E 15, since it comes with Intel Core i7-6500U Processor (Up to 3.1GHz)
15.6-inch Full HD Display, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX with 2GB DDR5 VRAM(will be more than enough for both games you mentioned)
8GB DDR4 Memory(great for multi tasking), 256GB SSD(great fot loading and booting speeds),
Windows 10 Home(latest version)
Up to 12-hours Battery Life(that is what the listing is claiming, but I think 8-9 is more accurate with moderate usage)

I would recommend the Acer Aspire E15 for $700. It has extremely powerful specs that will work extremely well for your needs with a skylake i7 processor, 8gb of ram, 940MX graphics card, and 256gb ssd. It also has a full 1080p display, a backlit keyboard, and an extremely long battery life.

It also has pretty decent build quality, and a USB C.

If you want to save a bit and don't think you'll need a USB C - I would recommend the HP 15 for $595. It has identical specs, but no backlit keyboard, a shorter battery life, worse graphics card (you don't need a good one though), and no USB C. It does have a better display though.

Acer Aspire E 15 with i7 and dedicated graphics. 256 GB, you can add an HDD, 8 GB RAM, 1080p 15.6 inch display.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01F1Z78GM/ref=s9_psimh_gw_d0_g147_i1?pf_rd_p=1c5f02ae-183e-4906-990b-5a293310a66c&pf_rd_s=blackjack-personal-1&pf_rd_t=Gateway&pf_rd_i=mobile&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=MG9AJK0S352FNPMHVAQB&th=1&psc=1

I just picked up the Acer Aspire E 15, and so far I'm loving it. Fairly powerful for a student on a budget. Cost me about $700.00 all said and done, which is fabulous for what it is.

I'm using what I was given, an Asus A55A.

What I would prefer: This Acer to get that sweet SSD drive speed, solid performance and a spare hard drive slot.

Have a look at this Acer laptop - https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575G-76YK-15-6-inch-Notebook-Windows/dp/B01F1Z78GM/

6th Generation Intel Core i7-6500U Processor (Up to 3.1GHz)
15.6-inch Full HD Display, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX with 2GB DDR5 VRAM
8GB DDR4 Memory, 256GB SSD; Memory Speed - 2133 MHz
Windows 10 Home
Up to 12-hours Battery Life

I've shopped around online to see what's available. I recently went into Best Buy to actually get a feel for some of them so I don't just buy a laptop without having some sort of experience of it. I've narrowed it down to: Lenovo Yoga, Acer Aspire, and some version of a Dell Inspiron 5000. I'd prefer a 15" display, but it's not 100% critical.

Here's the link to the amazon site for this laptop

I second this recommendation.

Perhaps this one?
It's on the lower end of your budget, but it's pretty good.

what you guys think about this two?

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-NVIDIA-Windows-E5-575G-76YK/dp/B01F1Z78GM/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1469128390&sr=1-3&keywords=1080p%206500u&refinements=p_36%3A2421887011

https://www.amazon.com/K501UW-AB78-15-6-inch-Full-HD-Gaming-Glacier/dp/B01DT49XN8/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467082455&sr=8-1&keywords=k501%20960m

Only looking to play LoL maybe CS:GO but I doubt it, you think this would do well? https://www.amazon.ca/Acer-Aspire-NVIDIA-Windows-E5-575G-53VG/dp/B01F1Z78GM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=GC9PW5AZW5ZP0C2XD58R&ref_=pd_aw_vtph_147_bs_tr_1&linkCode=ll1&tag=3918-20&linkId=252b4f160fbda6815dfbd14780c4fd74

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F1Z78GM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=24RA3QM1K2ANL&coliid=IQJ8J5IUPNW15&psc=1

I would definitely suggest i7 verison of Acer aspire E 15

It has evrything you're looking for except an optical disk which you can buy external one. It should be able to run your gaming requirements with relative ease. It's not too heavy or bulky and has a very good battery life rated at 6-7hrs general usage scenarios.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-NVIDIA-Windows-E5-575G-76YK/dp/B01F1Z78GM Best thing out right now - latest Skylake i5 processor, a decent graphics card, SSD (awesome for boot time and programs), 8 GB of RAM and you're looking at an extremely respectable specifications at this price

Look out for the ACER Aspire E15. It's being sold at Amazon for 700$.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01F1Z78GM/ref=psdcmw_13896615011_t3_B01M18UZF5?th=1&psc=1