Starting a course in the fall and I need a laptop for it. Of course I only finalized this after I got a new desktop, but whatever.

The minimum specs they're asking for is:

i7 (they don't specify a generation, which I thought was funny)
16GB DDR4
500GB SSD or 1TB HDD
minimum graphics is a NVIDIA GTX 780M

What would ya'll recommend?
Particular brands you would stick to or avoid?
Particular places you would buy from or stay away from?

I'm looking to not break the bank here, so the lower the price point the merrier.

Here.

looks great, but I need windowz 10. can ths run it thank you

:P

That's too regional, I guess.
A whole bunch of folks will say avoid, let's say, Alienware since it's overpriced cr*p andonandonandon; others will state that a "laptop... for... G-G-AMING?! R u nUTz"?! is for maniacs and non-gamers - whatever that means- and etc but I say go for it. It's a solid config. Been laptop gaming for more than two decades, no regrets.

HP, Samsung, Sony and Dell lappies, from personal experience, never ever failed on me. But that's, well, me.
Some crappy local brands, however...

Laptop Gaming might end up being cheaper over Desktops since Bitcoin miners buy up the newest graphics cards and thus inflate the prices. I've got an MSI laptop myself and its doing great, although they are a bit pricey they stand behind their products with ~3 year warranty, Acer also make great laptops and if it wasn't sold out at the time I'd have an Acer gaming laptop instead. The worst is Toshiba laptops, avoid their Satellite series at all costs.

So what sort of budget won't break the bank?
How portable need it be?
Screen size?

I'm of the "go big or go home" camp, mostly because I don't get to go home so I may as well go big. But that's not for everyone.

One caution: mine is a 17" gaming laptop with a large chassis for better cooling. Problem is finding a good cushioned backpack into which it will fit. So far, none do so I'm still using a rolling office-on-wheels type bag. If you need better portability then you might be better off with a 15" or 16" chassis and a 17" bag. Or keep searching for a larger bag.

DDR4 and the power of a 780M. The two and only and cheapest combos you will find like that will be DDR4/970M or DDR4/1050ti. Anything less than those 2 GPU's will perform slower than the 780M, even the midrange 960M.

Heh didn't know that. See? Always thought it was a superior product in terms of overall quality -had some Toshiba tvs and devices over the years and they were all pretty darn good - and stuff.
My bad ;P

Time to pay 200 dollars more for a laptop because it's "gaming"!

Ibuypower has good loadouts for gaming laptops.

ASUS ROG laptops are big, ugly, and durable.

MSI GT series are shiny and less durable and have SteelSeries keyboards, which are actually really quite good.

Lenovo laptops are essentially the 2006-era Nokia phones of laptops. They're ugly, people will make fun of you for having them, but if you need to take a bullet, throw that thing in the way and it'll barely get scratched.

I have had bad experiences with different HP computers (due to overheating), so I can't recommend them, but maybe it's just anecdotal evidence. I switched to Asus and no problems so far.

Maybe this tech youtube channel will help: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVYamHliCI9rw1tHR1xbkfw/videos

In any case, consider what you're gonna be using it for. Looking at the specs you posted, it seems to be a bit too much for the average student needs right? If you just need it for productivity work you can easily find yourself a nice chromebook, or a linux laptop, or a cheap notebook like the huawei matebook x or the Xiaomi Mi Notebook Air. You can also consider the anti-laptop pro-environment approach and go against the system by using a nice notepad like the good old times ಠ_ರೃ

MSI GE Series for "cheap" still mobile laptop, GT Series for more powerful but bulkier and heavier comp, GS Series as "Very mobile" gaming laptop or Asus ROG Series. Owning an Asus ROG G752 (my daughter) and MSI GE 72VR at the moment and both are really good and for me and worth their price.

If $200 bucks moves you up from - for example - an integrated GPU to a discrete GPU that will turn games from a slideshow to a smooth experience...