A6-3420m vs. i5 2450m (Which is more important?)

[splatstrike23]

Hi, I am looking into buying a laptop for myself (I am in high school) for web browsing, videos (youtube), gaming, micro. office, etc.
So I was wondering which laptop would be more bang for the buck. I have an option of getting

1. Acer Aspire AS5560G-7809 NX.RURAA.001

So this laptop comes with a 1gb 7670m DDR3 graphics card and A6 3420m quad core 1.5ghz processor for the price (around $400). I am assuming that for my purposes, and since this computer can play battlefield 3 on medium, I think it is ideal.

However, I also found this laptop and am interested in it:

2. Acer Aspire V3-571G-6602

This laptop is also very good since it comes with
with an i5 2450m processor and a geforce GT 630m. I WOULD go for this laptop, BUT it costs about $200 more...

SO MY QUESTION IS: which one is more bang for the buck?
PLEASE ANSWER ASAP!!!

 

[jasont78]

Hi, I am looking into buying a laptop for myself (I am in high school) for web browsing, videos (youtube), gaming, micro. office, etc.
So I was wondering which laptop would be more bang for the buck. I have an option of getting

1. Acer Aspire AS5560G-7809 NX.RURAA.001

So this laptop comes with a 1gb 7670m DDR3 graphics card and A6 3420m quad core 1.5ghz processor for the price (around $400). I am assuming that for my purposes, and since this computer can play battlefield 3 on medium, I think it is ideal.

However, I also found this laptop and am interested in it:

2. Acer Aspire V3-571G-6602

This laptop is also very good since it comes with
with an i5 2450m processor and a geforce GT 630m. I WOULD go for this laptop, BUT it costs about $200 more...

SO MY QUESTION IS: which one is more bang for the buck?
PLEASE ANSWER ASAP!!!

battlefield on medium, on a really low resolution otherwise dont think so, remember laptop gpu are generally about half as powerful as the desktop variants, if you wanna play bf3 get a desktop compu

 

[splatstrike23]

Well, if you don't believe me, look it up on youtube. I didn't just make it up you know...so anyway, you didn't answer my question except for telling me something I wasn't asking for...
What's your answer?

 

[nbelote]

The 7670m is a slightly better GPU but that A6 is going to hold it back a lot. That combination will probably do worse overall than the i5/630m just because of that bottleneck.

BTW, most people here mock us "laptop gamers" because they worship desktops. Granted, desktops are FAR SUPERIOR IN EVERY WAY. I am not saying that as a jest, they truly are, but games can be played on laptops fine. I play most on High with my i7-2670QM and Radeon 6770m. You can't say it isn't worthwhile, since this is the only way I can play games (health issues prevent me from sitting at a desk to play games for extended periods of time).

 

[splatstrike23]

The 7670m is a slightly better GPU but that A6 is going to hold it back a lot. That combination will probably do worse overall than the i5/630m just because of that bottleneck.

But is it worth $200 more just for less bottlenecking?

 

[nbelote]

What's your price cap, and where do you live? If you're in the US I may be able to find you a better deal.

 

[thor220]

What about this?

Lenovo IdeaPad Z585 - $549.99
http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-261729U-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B0082PS2IM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1350189125&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop+a10+amd

That gpu is better than the 630m

 

[nbelote]

That is a good find, but not better than the 630m. I've gamed on them both, the 630m still came out ahead (even the weakened version of the 630m with fewer cores).

 

[thor220]

Maybe the system you used had little or slow ran, the apu is ram dependent.

 

[nbelote]

That may be true, it very well may have had PC3-10600 instead of 12800. The kid never told me.

 

[splatstrike23]

What's your price cap, and where do you live? If you're in the US I may be able to find you a better deal.

yes I live in the US. My price cap is probably $700.

 

[nbelote]

I will suggest this one, if you have $750 to spend. I have also used the 7730m, it's not based on the old architecture (6XXXm series) like the majority of AMD switchable graphics, and this includes the 7670m and the APU's 7660g. This one's based on the 7700 desktop series, just clocked a bit slower due to the laptop's thermal threshold. It smokes, and that i5 is nothing to cry over either.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131394

Edit: Use Leshcat's drivers, though... AMD's current support for switchable graphics is lackluster, though they are getting better (and the 7730m should be supported as it's the same architecture as their flagship 7970m).

 

[splatstrike23]

What's your price cap, and where do you live? If you're in the US I may be able to find you a better deal.

Really though, the lower the better because $700 IS REALLY REALLY PUSHING IT.
You see that I'm shopping around for something around $400 so it shows that I don't have that much to spend...
Anyways, thanks a lot!

 

[thor220]

That may be true, it very well may have had PC3-10600 instead of 12800. The kid never told me.

It's not that big of a difference, just that the a10 should be a bit faster than the 630m with a good amount of decent speed ram.

 

[splatstrike23]

I will suggest this one, if you have $750 to spend. I have also used the 7730m, it's not based on the old architecture (6XXXm series) like the majority of AMD switchable graphics, and this includes the 7670m and the APU's 7660g. This one's based on the 7700 desktop series, just clocked a bit slower due to the laptop's thermal threshold. It smokes, and that i5 is nothing to cry over either.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131394

Edit: Use Leshcat's drivers, though... AMD's current support for switchable graphics is lackluster, though they are getting better (and the 7730m should be supported as it's the same architecture as their flagship 7970m).

The thing is that at that point, I might as well cough up the extra $50-$100 to get a lenovo y480 or 580...the problem is that I don't really have that money...

 

[nbelote]

Really though, the lower the better because $700 IS REALLY REALLY PUSHING IT.
You see that I'm shopping around for something around $400 so it shows that I don't have that much to spend...
Anyways, thanks a lot!

Understood. In your scenario, anything with an A10-4600m will suit and get you medium settings. You'll see some priced slightly higher when coupled with 7670m in CF mode. Don't let this fool you: the benefit of CF with a 7670m is minimal at best, as most games don't and most upcoming ones won't support that sort of CF. And the microstutter is unbearable on those APU/GPU laptop CF setups. Just stick with a lone A10-4600m with it's onboard 7660g. You'll do fine, AND it keeps the price down.

That Lenovo listed above will blow you away, performance-wise. The Trinity-based APUs are truly something special, Llano was a nice preview to what can come though.


Edit: That 7730m will blow away a Y480 with a 640m LE without breaking a sweat and can challenge a Y580 and it's 650m. Also, get that Lenovo listed above. You won't find anything game-capable for much less than that as $400 laptops that come with APUs have 6520g's and those are TERRIBLE for gaming.

 

[thor220]

^^ Have to go with nbelote. For the price you can't beat what you are getting. Have been recommending ever since I got my hands on one, they are the best all-rounders.

here's that link againg:
http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-261729U-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B0082PS2IM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1350189125&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop+a10+amd

 

[nbelote]

Let me put it this way: that A10-4600m with its onboard 7660g can play my current addiction, Guild Wars 2, with ease at medium-to-high settings. It's a totally gorgeous game, the art is amazing and the effects are spectacular. If I know it can handle it, it'll do BF3 with no issues.

Just make sure you take out that 2GB RAM stick and replace it with a PC3-12800 4GB stick... get that dual-channel goodness! It shouldn't cost you more than another $25 (best to get two of the same type stick, so $50 if you want to play it safe):
http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1705086&CatId=4153

Here's the official Tigerdirect web page, so you can see it is PC3-12800:
http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4840047&CatId=4935

 

[thor220]

Lol yeah checked all over and $550 is pretty much it unless you have a coupon code. Figure out where you want to buy it then look for coupon/promo codes to help reduce the price.

 

[splatstrike23]

Understood. In your scenario, anything with an A10-4600m will suit and get you medium settings. You'll see some priced slightly higher when coupled with 7670m in CF mode. Don't let this fool you: the benefit of CF with a 7670m is minimal at best, as most games don't and most upcoming ones won't support that sort of CF. And the microstutter is unbearable on those APU/GPU laptop CF setups. Just stick with a lone A10-4600m with it's onboard 7660g. You'll do fine, AND it keeps the price down.

That Lenovo listed above will blow you away, performance-wise. The Trinity-based APUs are truly something special, Llano was a nice preview to what can come though.


Edit: That 7730m will blow away a Y480 with a 640m LE without breaking a sweat and can challenge a Y580 and it's 650m. Also, get that Lenovo listed above. You won't find anything game-capable for much less than that as $400 laptops that come with APUs have 6520g's and those are TERRIBLE for gaming.

I like what you're saying...but the question is how long will the 7660g last me? Also, what would you compare the 7660g to nvidia-wise? If I'm paying extra, I want to know how much longer I can use it for...
Finally, when are the new APUs coming out from AMD? I don't want to just get trinity and let them come out with something new relatively soon.
Once again, thanks.