880m vs 970m Laptop... Deals

[Dazinek]

Okay, So i'm looking around for some good deals as i'm looking into buying a new "gaming" laptop that will last me some time... Not going to be doing major gaming, more of MMO's, along with school work etc.

Came across these two laptops which are refurbs, My budget is extremely tight.. Can really only afford $1200.

The two I found are refurbs, and I'm wondering if there worth the money.

(880m): http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232162

From my understanding that was Asus's flagship laptop last year. Tons of RAM, along with SSD's etc. 24gb of RAM(insane amount).

OR

(970m): http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232464&cm_re=970m-_-34-232-464-_-Product

Doesn't have a SSD, 16gb of RAM(Which is plenty). But does have a better GPU.

NOW my question to you all is, Would the 880m laptop be the better buy as it has more stuff with it? OR should I somehow punch out a extra 50 bucks for a 970m. I have seen the MSI Laptops that are 1300, But my budget strictly pushes me too 1200. 50 bucks would be a stretch for the 970m.

 

[americanbrian]

If super high detail gaming is not high on your priority I would go for the SSD and cheapness. You could even flog some of the excess ram and save a little bit more money on it.

If it is for productivity then the SSD is far the biggest time saver. The 880m is still a very capable GPU for 1080p gaming.

 

[americanbrian]

Also if you were to downgrade from the Blu-Ray burner you could recover even more cash from the extra features.

 

[Dazinek]

If super high detail gaming is not high on your priority I would go for the SSD and cheapness. You could even flog some of the excess ram and save a little bit more money on it.

If it is for productivity then the SSD is far the biggest time saver. The 880m is still a very capable GPU for 1080p gaming.

Only concern is, how long the 880m will last compared to the 970m. Game settings etc.

 

[americanbrian]

The performance delta isn't that high at all. They are both top-end cards.

 

[jaguarskx]

They are pretty powerful laptop GPUs. The GTX 970m is overall a bit more powerful according to Notebookcheck.net. Compared to desktop GPUs the GTX 880m is a little less powerful than the GTX 680 while the GTX 970m would be a little more powerful.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-880M.107622.0.html

 

[Dazinek]

Do you think, it's worth the extra for 10-15% power to go with the 970? Or stick with the 880m, save some cash on a ssd etc..

 

[jaguarskx]

If I was buying the laptop I would buy the laptop with the GTX 970m. A SSD is nice to have, but it does not improve game performance other than decrease load times and probably texture popping. You can always upgrade to a SSD whether it is a year or two years later.

The GTX 880m is soldered into the Asus ROG laptop so there is no away to upgrade it. Besides even if you were able to upgrade to the GTX 970m, the MXM version (not soldered in and requires a laptop with a MXM interface) probably sells for around $500 on eBay.