600 or less laptop

[AVirusC]

Hey guys, im looking for a laptop that can play games like skyrim, borderlands 2 and civilization 5. I can pay no more then $600 and it must be from either Costco, bestbuy, newegg or Office Depot. Thanks

 

[patrick47018]

Don't see it: http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/u-series/u510/#customize

 

[AVirusC]

Your on it right now. Just go right to the tech specs.

 

[patrick47018]

Still has the 625M which is really low end. The 625M has 96 Shader the 8750M has 384 Shaders, the 625M is 1GB of DDR3 while the 8750M us 2GB of GDDR5. 625M core clock is 625MHz, the 8750M is 775MHz. The memory clock on 625M 64-bit@ 1800MHz while the 8750M is 128-bit@4500MHz. And also with the Acer you can run the graphics card and the APU is crossfire I believe. But the 625M will be horrible for games, the 8750M will be pretty good. And you can always upgrade the RAM in the Acer too

 

[AVirusC]

I'm going to get the laptop either today or tomorrow, I'm going to get the Acer. Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it.

 

[patrick47018]

Not a problem good luck and if you want to upgrade the RAM to 8GB, go with 1600MHz RAM and with a CAS Latency of 9: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178656

 

[AVirusC]

Is their any point in upgrading the RAM?

 

[patrick47018]

Only if you need to, which you probably won't. Just wait and see how much you use and also if the RAM that is comes with is 1333MHz, then you could probably justify upgrading to 8GB of 1600MHz

 

[IInuyasha74]

There is a point to upgradng RAM but it may or may no pay off for you.
First you asked about the processor, I touched on that in my last post. Yes the Lenovo has a better processor, but the performance difference isn't huge. Where the performance difference in the graphics is enormous.

Second, on the RAM it will give improved performance. In my desktop system Windows 7 after booting pretty much loads my entire OS into RAM, and practically all of ever application I run into RAM. Regardless of how many programs I run I don't see the system slow down. This is being said I have 16GB RAM and an i3 Ivy Bridge CPU. The CPU in your laptop of course will not perform as well as mine because you are on a laptop, but if you upgrade RAM it will still let windows completely upload itself and practically any program you run into RAM so they perform better instead of having to load pieces off the hard drive only as needed.

With my brothers desktop, that has a Sandy Bridge Celeron and performs actually a lot worse than your system on the CPU side, he upgraded from 4GB to 8GB and noticed a good amount of improvement in general system performance, when having multiple applications open at once, and while playing games. While your system will perform fine and seem wonderful with only 4GB, but by upgrading the system you will see even more performance.


As for patrick47018, it might be better to wait and see. The initial 4GB of RAM is built into the motherboard and cannot be removed and I do not think it can be disabled, but I am not sure. I do not know what speed it runs at, but even if it is 1333 I think you can probably raise the CL and frequency to match the other RAM.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Hey these may be pushing on your price range a little bit, but I have just found two more systems you may prefer instead. These systems changed in RAM and HDD size, but the biggest change is the CPU is now the faster a10. Price/performance I am not sure if it is worth it personally, but it is certainty close. The performance at average clock rate is 2.5 instead of 2.1.
This makes the systems %19 faster in sheer clock speed. Sorry if you have already purchased it, but just found these. One I had seen before but it was sold out for a while.
http/us.ncix.com/products/?sku=83175&vpn=NX.MCTAA.003&manufacture=Acer
http/www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V5-552G-X414-15-6-inch-Laptop/dp/B00DKFFLMY/ref=sr_1_164?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1377378997&sr=1-164&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&tag=shopamd-20

 

[AVirusC]

Is this a good option? http/www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=985888&is=REG&Q=&A=details

 

[IInuyasha74]

Is this a good option? http/www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=985888&is=REG&Q=&A=details

No, this is the worst choice. Compared to the $530 one off Newegg this one is worse in terms of both graphics and CPU performance.
The processor in this laptop is from AMD Trinity, while the processor in all of the other laptops is from AMD Richland. Richland performs significantly better in laptops. The a8-5557 CPU in the $530 computer on Newegg, despite being rated at 2.1 GHz which is .2Ghz lower than this system, will still perform better.

The graphics, in the $530 system on Newegg are based on the AMD Radeon 7000 series of graphics used on the desktop, sometimes called GCN. The graphics in this laptop are based off the AMD Radeon 5000 series used on desktops which are significantly older, created using a larger process (which leads to more power use, lower efficiency, and lower performance), and lower clock speed.

This laptop compared to the $530 system on Newegg is sort of like last years model. The one on Newegg is much better. The only reason I listed the others is because for their price they actually give a good bump in performance for the cost. If you want to play games, outside of the one on Newegg listed much earlier or the two I listed recently I would not recommend you buy any system, unless you decide you will not play games or you find a considerable amount of extra money.