Decent laptop to play World of Warcraft budget of $800+/-

I had purchased a Lenovo Z710 2 weeks ago which kept encountering blue screens of death when my son played World of Warcraft. Specs are Windows 8 64-bit, I7-4700, 2.4 Ghz, 8gb RAM, both Intel HD 4600 & Nvidia GEforce GT745M graphics, 1TB, 17.3" screen with 1920 x 1080p for $800 which really seemed like a pretty good deal. It only worked for a 24 hour period with no blue screens with fps up to 100-105. However, too many BSODs so I returned it.

I am, therefore, once again in the market for another laptop. Even looking at all the black Friday ads out there, I can't find anything close to those specs in the $800 range. It looks like I would need to go to at least $1000. My son is paying for part of this 'Xmas' gift so that is why $800 is the agreed upon price. He also wants to be able to bring it to friend's houses so that is why laptop and not desktop.

When I returned the laptop, the tech guy at the store told me a couple of things & it kind of made sense, but could some of you share your thoughts on this?

1. 2.4Ghz might not be enough. If I could get something faster, that would be better. So, even though I was getting a laptop with I7-4700 w/ 2.4Ghz, there are I5 processors w/ turboboost which could bring the Ghz to 3.0 or 3.1. Should I focus on the processor or the Ghz or both? I'm confused.

2. Amd-A10 could be the same if not faster than I7-4700 processors. Don't need to focus on the brand, but how fast. Is this true?

3. My son really wants the graphics card to be Nvidia. Are there laptops out there with non-Nvidia graphics cards that would be equally as good? I know I can check notebookcheck to do a comparison, but a lot of the laptops in the $800 range seemed to carry the Intel HD graphics ONLY. If I want it to have a Nvidia graphics card, I am paying more than $800.

4. I might need 16gb of RAM instead of 8gb according to tech guy. Do you agree?

This is the closest I could find to meeting most of my needs but I haven't been able to find any decent (if any) reviews on this:
Amazon.com: MSI Computer Corp. GP70 2OD-027US;9S7-175812-027 17.3-Inch Laptop: Computers & Accessories

If this wouldn't be good enough, anyone else have any other suggestions? If I go up another $100, would I have more options?

Any help/knowledge-sharing would be sincerely appreciated by the non-techie parent. Thx!

I have done some research online and have come up with the following understanding (please correct me if I am wrong):

1. GDDR5 is better than DDR3 for graphics. The Lenovo Z710 I bought above had DDR3. Even though it had 2GB for graphics, that had no impact on the graphics RAM. Is this true? (Just wondering if RAM brought on my BSOD).
2. Nvidia GTs are DDR3 and GTXs are GDDR5. Not sure if that generalization is true but that is the case for my laptop which was DDR3 for the GT745M graphics card that came with it.

Now, if I could convince my son to go with a desktop, I did see that costco has this wireless desktop that seemed to 'meet' important specs for gaming (I'll actually need to buy a monitor):

Dell XPS 8700 Desktop | Intel Core i7 | 1GB Graphics

It has 16gb RAM, it's wireless (but not portable), I7-4770 3.4 Ghz, Win 8 64-bit, 1gb Geforce gtx 645 gddr5. Does this desktop seem good for gaming?

Your opinion/thoughts would be appreciated.

Howdy,

World of Warcraft's system requirements are fairly low so you don't need an insane rig to play it. Here a few though that are close to the price range

MSI Notebook Official Website | G Series - GP60 2OD-052US Gaming Notebook / Laptop

IdeaPad Y410p High-Performance 14" Multimedia Laptop from Lenovo | Lenovo (CA)

IdeaPad Y510p High-Performance 15.6" Multimedia Laptop from Lenovo | Lenovo (CA)

The y510 is interesting in that later on down the road, you can add a 2nd video card and run them together in SLI mode for a quick upgrade.
This one here comes with 2 graphics cards:
Lenovo Y510P Core I7-4700MQ 8GB 1.0TB+8GB SSHD 15.6in Full HD Dual SLI GT750M 2GB Win8 Notebook

Something else to consider... the GTX 645 in that desktop has only marginally better performance than the GT745m in the Lenovo 710 you mentioned. Now... looking that the specs of that Lenovo by the way.. it should be able to run Warcraft without an issue, and I think the bluescreens may have been due to other factors.

Hopefully that helps, feel free to ask any other questions, I've been a laptop gamer for years

Thank you for your suggestions. Now my son is willing to go for a desktop. I've been reading elsewhere that 8gb is really enough for WoW. That is the only game he plays. Would you suggest a different desktop with a better graphics card with 8 gb (but could be expanded later)? Since our budget is $800, that would leave $700 for the desktop alone (need to now buy a monitor). Any suggested desktops would be appreciated. Not interested in building my own even though I keep reading that it is relatively easy. Thx!

I found this one on NCIX...
I'd take choose to Take off the 64GB SSD and replace with a higher volume mechanical drive.

NCIX.com - Canada's Premier Computer Store - Online PC Discount Store, Buy Computer Accessories