A laptop for Skyrim

[KR_811]

I'm getting a new laptop soon and I can't afford a real gaming laptop. My budget is only $800. I want to play skyrim on a MEDIUM Setting at the highest.

The laptops I'm considering:

Dell Inspiron 15R 5520 (I am familiar with Dell and their service)
- 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (3M Cache, up to 3.1 GHz)
-6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
-500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
- Intel® HD Graphics 4000
* With a 2 year complete protection plan this is just under $800*

TOSHIBA Satellite L875-S7245
- Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz
- 4GB Memory 640GB HDD
- AMD Radeon HD 7670M
*$699*

Lenovo G780
- Intel Core i5-3210M 2.5GHz
- 4GB Memory 500GB HDD
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M
*$629*

ASUS A53SD-NS51
- Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz
- 6GB Memory 750GB HDD
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 610M
*$729*

HP g6t-2000 Select Edition Series
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2450M Processor (2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz)
Graphics card 2GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7670M Discrete-Class Graphics
Memory 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
*$704*

Which is the best choice? Are there better choices within my budget?
Thanks.

 

[splatman213]

hmm, well the dell is out for sure, overpriced for sure, the lenovo is nice for the money, but gfx might be a weak point, the toshiba is nice too, plus my 2004 toshiba laptop is running fine ( thought not my primary lol) so they r reliable, shop around im sure you can find a better deal, but the i think the toshiba will be good, anyway look on logicbuy, they show nice deals from time to time also. and just to reiterate, dont go for the dell. ive had too many problems to reccomend

 

[jaguarskx]

For $849 (excluding taxes) you can get the Lenovo Y580.

http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=AC523278A4F13F27A84F5F5622D1AC7A

It has a quad core i7-3610QM and more importantly a nVidia GTX 660m which is enough to play Skyrim on high.

The nVidia GT 660m is much more powerful than the Radeon HD 7670m which is the most powerful graphic card of all the laptops you listed.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-660M.71859.0.html


Going over budget by just $49 will get you a very powerful laptop for the money you are spending... or you can spend $800 or less for a mediocre laptop for games.

---------------------------------------------

Never go for a nVidia GT 610m, the Intel HD 4000 is actually a little more powerful than that piece of turd.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Id want at least a 650M

http/www.lpc-digital.com/sager-np6110-features.html

But Id go a bit higher....list price of the model below is $920 but they can't publicize the "Max discount"

http/www.lpc-digital.com/notebook-review-members-military-and-student-discounts.html

Customize to your specification

http/www.lpc-digital.com/sager-np6350.html

15" Full HD LED-Backlit Display
nVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 660M with 2GB GDDR5
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M Process
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 4GB
500GB Seagate Momentus XT 7200RPM 500GB Hybrid SSD / HD (w/ 4GB SSD Memory)
8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Removable 8 cell smart Lithium-Ion battery pack 76.96Wh
igh Definition audio interface
S/PDIF Digital output
1 Built-in Microphone
2 Built-in Speakers made by Onkyo
THX TruStudio Pro Sound System
Full sized isolated keyboard with Numeric Key Pad
Three instant buttons for WLAN on/off, Mute, CCD Camera on/off
Independent GPU button, support UMA and Optimus mode
Integrated Touchpad with Multi-gesture and Scrolling function
1 HDMI 1.4a output Port
1 CRT output Port
2 USB 3.0 Ports
1 USB 2.0 Ports
1 eSATA Port (USB 3.0 Combo)
1 Headphone Jack
1 Microphone Jack
1 S/PDIF output Jack
1 RJ-45 LAN (10/100/1000Mbps)
9-in-1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/SD/Mini-SD/SDHC/SDXC)
1 MiniCard Slot for WLAN module
Built-in 2.0M Digital Video Camera
kensington® Lock
Integrated Fingerprint Reader

 

[KR_811]

For $849 (excluding taxes) you can get the Lenovo Y580.

http/shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=AC523278A4F13F27A84F5F5622D1AC7A

It has a quad core i7-3610QM and more importantly a nVidia GTX 660m which is enough to play Skyrim on high.

The nVidia GT 660m is much more powerful than the Radeon HD 7670m which is the most powerful graphic card of all the laptops you listed.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-660M.71859.0.html


Going over budget by just $49 will get you a very powerful laptop for the money you are spending... or you can spend $800 or less for a mediocre laptop for games.

---------------------------------------------

Never go for a nVidia GT 610m, the Intel HD 4000 is actually a little more powerful than that piece of turd.

What about these?

HP g6t-2000 Select Edition Series ($704)
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2450M Processor (2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz)
Graphics card 2GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7670M Discrete-Class Graphics
Memory 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Hard drive 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive


HP ENVY Ultrabook 6t-1000 ($795)
2nd gen Intel(R) core(TM) i5-2467M Processor + AMD 2GB Radeon HD 7670M Discrete-Class Graphics
GB 1600MHz DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)
500GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache



HP Pavilion dv6t-7000 Quad Edition Entertainment Notebook PC ($815)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 630M Graphics with 1GB GDDR3 memory [HDMI, VGA]
8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
750GB 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection

 

[jaguarskx]

As I said, the nVidia GTX 660m is a more powerful graphic card than the Radseon HD 7670m. It's not even a contest. The same can be said of the GT 630m... no contest and it's generally slower than the Radeon HD 7670m.

Skimping $34 - $56 on order to save money is a huge mistake if you are interested in playing games on a laptop. The graphic card in a laptop cannot be replaced unless you buy one of those $1,500+ gaming laptops and most of them do not allow you to upgrade the graphics card either. And laptop graphic cards are very expensive if you can find them.

Spending the extra $34 - $56 now means you do not have to upgrade as quickly as if you bought a laptop with a weaker graphics card. Would you rather an extra small sum of money now so that you buy a laptop may last as long as 3 - 4 years for games? Or save that small lump of cash now and you may decide in 1 or 2 years that you need to buy a new laptop that has a more powerful graphics card to play games?