Trying to buy a good PC for Collage & Gaming

[Mr. Winks]

I need to buy a new laptop, im going to the art institute in california and im in the Game Art & Disign program and i need a good computor that i can run maya and photoshop at the same time, im so busy with work and school the remander of my free time is spent gaming and im not caught up with the current computor models and updates, also it needs to run unity and other .engines. but my biggest problem at the moment is that im addicted to RTS games, like i just bought ROME 2 total war and my old laptop cant run it
My current laptop specs are:
Model: Presario CQ56 Notebook PC
Processer:AMD V140 2.30GHz
RAM: 5GB
System : Windows 7 64-bit
Display Adapter: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250

My current budget is like 600$ and id prefer a laptop so i can take it to school but i can live with a desktop if anybody can recommend a laptop or Desktop build i would really appreciate it.

[Hextravert]

Any $600-laptop will do.

[Mr. Winks]

i found this on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-E545-20B20011US-A6-5350M/dp/B00FU83YWS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1407747110&sr=1-1

[Hextravert]

The above-mentioned laptop can handle both Total War™: ROME II and fulfill your artsy needs.

[Mr. Winks]

seriously? can you explain why for me? i dont mean to be pushy i just need some info so i dont waste 400$ on a new computor.

[Hextravert]

It can run both Maya and Photoshop simultaneously, and it allows you to play your Rome II game, to boot.

What more could you ask for

[Mr. Winks]

........a cup holder?

[Mozendo]

The laptop you linked to isn't that great, expect to be playing games on low.
It sucks to say, but you're not going to find a laptop that can play games decently on anything but low for that price range. $750 minimum

Anywho here are two builds, one without OS, one with. They both rely on Mail-In rebates
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PNgn99 - Without OS
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9VGJpg - With

[Mr. Winks]

thank you :}

[_I_]

with the os, go for the pentium g3258 and 212evo
it can overclock to 4+ghz on air

gigabyte and asus have bios updates to allow overclocking on h81-h97 boards

[46 and 2]

if hes going to use maya and photo shop he needs a good GPU

[Mr. Winks]

i just need to figure out how im going to get the money for it.....my job barley pays for food and my parents help pay my rent and im going to have to be paying car insurence soon so im royaly ♥♥♥♥♥♥....worst 20th birthday ever

[Hextravert]

You already got $600 as we speak, so all you need is a little bit more.

[46 and 2]

also to play games decenty you need to buy a laptop more then 1000 bucks.

[Mr. Winks]

how do i already have 600$ Hex. and i know 46 and 2 im just trying to find a way around it.....if possible

[Hextravert]

Because you said, and I quote, ''My current budget is like 600$ ... .''