advice on a core i5, GT 940m combination?

harithaj

Estimable
Dec 8, 2014
6
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4,510
So I'm due for a laptop refresh, and I've been looking at an acer e5-573g on newegg. It has a 5th gen i5, GT 940m and 8gigs of ram. For 470 bucks it's a great deal, but I live in Sri Lanka, And its gonna cost me exactly 600 dollars to get it from newegg via a middle man. This isn't exactly the deal of the century but it's still the most cost effective option I have.

I only need this by September, when my exams are over, and my primary priority is GAMING. I was wondering what the bottleneck would be in this system, the core i5 or the gt940m. If it's the core i5, should I wait for skylake? Would skylake laptops be hitting the shelves around September or by October at the very latest?

I intend to play new demanding games that are coming out over the next couple of years, albeit at 720p with shitty quality and at like 20fps even. So getting maximum performance out of this is very important.

What should I do? Also how much of a performance improvement would skylake give me?

And I'm also wondering if a 4th gen i5 and GT 840m combination would be better for gaming. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Solution
Just keep in mind that once you get the laptop, there are no upgrades except RAM and a faster hard drive possible. So if you spend 600 and don't like how it performs, especially if you are getting it on the grey market which means you will have a hard time with warranty support or returns, you are out 600. You may want to wait a bit, get some more money together and go up a notch in video card. Or get a desktop if you want gaming performance.

harithaj

Estimable
Dec 8, 2014
6
0
4,510
So waiting for skylake wouldn't make much sense then? 600$ is pretty much the upper threshold of my budget right now so anything higher than a 940 is out of the question. All the same some of these budget video cards can work wonders, I managed to play everything up to black ops 2 on a GT 420m. Thanks a lot for the input.
 
If $600 is all you can afford then that laptop is your best option since laptops with dedicated graphics generally start at over $600 and then you need to pay to get it shipped to your country. The Acer laptop you are currently considering is on sale which is why it is selling for less than $500.

There is no real point in waiting for Skylake. While it may be around 5% (about 10% vs. 4th gen) more powerful than a 5th generation CPU, you will still be stuck with a 940m / 840m graphics chip (both have virtually the same performance)... and you may not be able to buy a laptop with a dedicated GPU for less than $500 at that point in time unless you want to wait until Black Friday (November 27th) since that more or less kicks off the Christmas season sales.
 

harithaj

Estimable
Dec 8, 2014
6
0
4,510


Wait when you say both 840 and the 940 have the same performance, there must be at least a small upgrade right? I read that the 940 has a slightly higher clock speed or something. Because I can get one with an 840m locally for around the same price and it would sure beat having to ship it to the US if something goes wrong. Also would you happen to know if I could get the same deal with a site like Amazon or ebay, because the service im using to handle the deal ( they take care of shipping and customs clearance) adds an extra 40$ for purchases from newegg. Thanks a lot for the info.
 
Just keep in mind that once you get the laptop, there are no upgrades except RAM and a faster hard drive possible. So if you spend 600 and don't like how it performs, especially if you are getting it on the grey market which means you will have a hard time with warranty support or returns, you are out 600. You may want to wait a bit, get some more money together and go up a notch in video card. Or get a desktop if you want gaming performance.
 
Solution

harithaj

Estimable
Dec 8, 2014
6
0
4,510


I think I'll need all the performance I can get marginal or otherwise. but I've kind of decided to wait and see if it comes to Sri Lanka, rather than bother with the whole no warranty thing, plus paying nearly 150$ extra. Besides most of the time they sell it without windows here, so it might be cheaper, and I could just get windows for free the Sri Lankan way.

Thanks for your help :)
 

harithaj

Estimable
Dec 8, 2014
6
0
4,510
Hang the 9- you do have a point. It's probably best to see if it comes to Sri Lanka at least so I could get it with warranty, besides I don't need it till my A levels are over anyway so I can afford to wait a bit.
And its not a matter of saving up, it's just that 600$ is what I'm comfortable with spending on a laptop, particularly one by acer, who going from past experience dont really make the most high quality devices.

And I know a desktop would give me great performance at this price bracket but I do need something I can use for college as well , so I need portability. Thanks for the suggestions.