$400 Gaming Laptop?

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kassuba39

kassuba39

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Nov 27, 2012
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Hello! Is it possible to get a Laptop that can game on graphics equivalent to an Xbox 360 on the budget of $400. I am willing to buy used or refurbished. I'm planning to play games like Skyrim and Fallout. Thanks for your time!
 
Solution
dscudella
People need to stop suggesting desktop builds (especially if they don't have an HDD or Optical drive) when the OP didn't ask anything about desktops.

kassuba39 asked about a LAPTOP for $400. Respect the OP and answer the question.
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I know you said laptop, but in truth your better off with grabbing a desktop....much easier to cool and for $400 you can get a Phenom II X4 955 Build.

Edit: You could consider HP for a good laptop. I own one and it seems to run very good, in fact the only problem I ever had for it was the battery loosing charge easily (which I fixed with a new battery).
 
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550 Ti. Joke GPU. No you simply can't get a good laptop for $400, then why would people pay more than $400?
 
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Thats a great idea! Shame that the OP can't do that.

However I found a decent refurbished for $499, and I would like the other forum members to a pprove

HP Pavilion m6-1035dx Notebook AMD A-Series A10-4600M(2.30GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 640GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 7660G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256535
 
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I would stay away from the refurbished HP since there are better new alternatives. I had a friend who managed to pick up a Samsung 15.6inch, 8 GB ram, 750GB HDD, A10 4600m for $479 over blck friday at best buy [it was online too, not just in store so no lineups =)] There was also a similar Toshiba model going for about the same. The OP should wait for one of those and grab them if prices drop again near Boxing Day. That was in Canada though (expect to be roughly the same in the states).

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?poid=2000044676&src=ANEM&cm_mmc=SF_Google&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=feeds&CAWELAID=1602042479

The a10 4600m is the minimum for 720p gaming @ low/med settings. The a8 4500m is low settings. The a6 4400m only has a "dual core" cpu
Benchs for the a6 4400m
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7520G.71728.0.html
 
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What I imagine whenever I see a good deal on a used gaming laptop:
"Oh crap my laptop over heated and the gpu fried, it won't even turn on!"
"Hrm, google laptop overheated... oh I can just wrap it in a towel and shove it in the oven to fix it... oh, but the fix won't be permanent... hrm..."
"Ebay, what's my laptop worth? 500$! Sweet time to get rid of this junk while it still runs!"
 
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Truth. Second-hand laptops are a big pail of fail.

Kassuba, you've gotta stretch your budget to at least $500 for a new laptop that will play games. (Do you really want to get your friend a super-cheap/old-probably-ready-to-die laptop for Xmas?)
 
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The worst problem here is that people are quoting $400 desktops missing important things like screens. You cannot compare a "headless" build to a laptop. You must include a screen to even begin to compare.

For the OP... the laptop you will be looking at in the $400 range will not be a gaming laptop. It will be an economy laptop with an APU that can game to some degree.

As long as you understand that your budget severely limits you in this case, and that even $50 desktop GPUs or lower-end APUs will be outperforming the laptop in question, it IS possible.

As of now, I cannot find anything quickly under $400 that isn't a netbook-level cpu/gpu. The closest I found was a Gateway with an A6/7520G for $443.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215950

It is theoretically possible to find a deal or refurb to drop it below $400, so keep your eyes open, but even then the A6 isn't going to set any land speed records.

The others I found below $400 have netbook-level processors and GPUs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310622
That's a Lenovo G-series with an E1-1200 and 7310. (not really recommended for gaming)

A refurb or friend selling an old laptop might be doable, but those are risky business. Even if the seller is honest and gently used his laptop, an older laptop is closer to the end of its useful life. Furthurmore, you are more than likely going to be disappointed with gaming on such hardware.
 
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If you follow the link, that's an A6.
That's even more expensive than the Gateway I listed, which was already over the budget.

If you put the A10 in, it pushes it to $580.


Even refurb A10 laptops are over $500.
 
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The main thing when considering a Laptop for "gaming" is to look at the Graphics. A dedicated GPU (or APU) is mandatory (with dedicated RAM) if you're trying to achieve playable framerates.

Check out this CHART for a full list of graphics adapters.

The system RAM & HDD can always be upgraded, so you're priorities should be GPU, CPU, RAM (in that order).
 
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the absolute best you can get is the refurbished m6 1035dx from walmart for $450
this laptop comes with amd A10 4600M and the APU 7660G graphic card with 6gb ram.

on the bottom of this page it shows the benchmarks for this graphic card and it can play skyrim on low settings I actually got this laptop and it handles games well FOR ITS PRICE. he can overclock that gpu a bit too.

overall for $450 this is REALLY the best you can do in my opinion. others may help you on other things.
I researched for over a week to choose laptops for myself and others for holiday. I am not aware of used laptops look on ebay.com for used laptops (i wouldnt recommend buying a used one tho)

good luck and if you need help finding a used laptop on ebay let me know ill see what i can do.
 
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If you are savvy with a screwdriver and soldering iron repairing laptops isn't that hard. Remember that they get moved a lot, so connections and mounts get loose. Just don't mess around with something that's been dropped.

If the outer shell has a crack or chip in the plastic, it's all bad.
 
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If you can truly get an a10 for $450, it likely is your absolute best deal.
(do we have a link for the deal for the refurb laptop?)

The A10 actually has about as good of a GPU built into it as you will be able to afford with this budget.

The only issue is dealing with refurb. Refurb is a toss-up... some of them are just barely opened units where the battery didn't work or a piece of RAM was bad. (easy replacement) Others have major problems. (bad paste job andgot cooked, someone dropped it, etc.)
 
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