Best laptop under $500 [Still need help. Will select Best Answer]

LuckyTheLadyBug

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Jul 5, 2015
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4,560
Ayyyyyy Tom's

What are some good laptops under $500?

I will use it for general work and browsing but I would also need to be able to play some light games like Dota 2 and other Source games.

I would like it to be 1080p and a good size, nothing too tiny.

I am a desktop guy so i dont know jack about laptops.

Thanks!
 
Solution
You can get the following Asus X550ZA-WB11 for $450. It has a quad core AMD A10-7400p APU it's processing performance would be about equal to an Intel Core i3 CPU. The integrated Radeon R6 (Kaveri) is more powerful than Intel's mainstream HD 5500 graphics core. But less powerful an Intel HD Iris Pro graphics core which are only in laptops that are double your budget. The A10 APU consumes more power than Intel CPUs so battery life would generally not be as good as a laptop with an Intel CPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232500&cm_re=a10-7400p-_-34-232-500-_-Product


If possible, I recommend you bump up your budget to $570 so that you can buy the ASUS Laptop X555LB-NS51 which has a Core i5-5200u, nVidia 940m...
A $500 laptop will not have a 1080p screen unless you are willing to purchase a refurbished or used laptop such as the following. It has an Intel HD 4400 graphics core which is generally good enough to play source engine games, but probably not at 1080p resolution. You may need to drop the resolution to 1600x900 for good enough performance.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9625781&SRCCODE=WEBGOOPA&scid=scplp2664960&gclid=CjwKEAjw3uWuBRD_s-3a8-_h6j0SJAC-qgtH_uV3Znl-C2ZclzZ81rjb72DUByl41NGRIye3JK1_OxoCg8fw_wcB

 

LuckyTheLadyBug

Estimable
Jul 5, 2015
24
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4,560


Alright. 720p will be ok. DO you know of any ones new?
 
You can get the following Asus X550ZA-WB11 for $450. It has a quad core AMD A10-7400p APU it's processing performance would be about equal to an Intel Core i3 CPU. The integrated Radeon R6 (Kaveri) is more powerful than Intel's mainstream HD 5500 graphics core. But less powerful an Intel HD Iris Pro graphics core which are only in laptops that are double your budget. The A10 APU consumes more power than Intel CPUs so battery life would generally not be as good as a laptop with an Intel CPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232500&cm_re=a10-7400p-_-34-232-500-_-Product


If possible, I recommend you bump up your budget to $570 so that you can buy the ASUS Laptop X555LB-NS51 which has a Core i5-5200u, nVidia 940m graphics chip and a 1080p screen. All mobile core i5 CPUs are dual core CPUs, but it is more powerful than the A10-7400p. The nVidia 940m is far more powerful than the Radeon R6 (Kaveri) graphics core and it should allow you to play all Source Engine games at 1080p with high settings since the Source Engine is not that demanding. However, it is not good enough to play most modern games at 1080p.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232376


Click link below for benchmarks.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.13849.0.html?type=&sort=&deskornote=0&or=0&search=&month=&benchmark_values=&gpubenchmarks=0&professional=0&archive=1&dx=0&multiplegpus=0&showClassDescription=0&itemselect_6159=6159&itemselect_5539=5539&itemselect_5941=5941&condensed=0&showCount=0&showBars=0&showPercent=0&gameselect%5B%5D=336&gameselect%5B%5D=332&gameselect%5B%5D=334&gameselect%5B%5D=329&gameselect%5B%5D=324&gameselect%5B%5D=322&gameselect%5B%5D=316&gameselect%5B%5D=314&gameselect%5B%5D=312&gameselect%5B%5D=310&gameselect%5B%5D=308&gameselect%5B%5D=299&gameselect%5B%5D=297&gameselect%5B%5D=295&gameselect%5B%5D=293&gameselect%5B%5D=279&gameselect%5B%5D=277&gameselect%5B%5D=263&gameselect%5B%5D=249&gameselect%5B%5D=225&gameselect%5B%5D=217&gameselect%5B%5D=214&gameselect%5B%5D=208&gameselect%5B%5D=204&gameselect%5B%5D=112&gpu_fullname=1&codename=0&architecture=0&pixelshaders=0&vertexshaders=0&corespeed=0&shaderspeed=0&boostspeed=0&memoryspeed=0&memorybus=0&memorytype=0&directx=0&technology=0&daysold=0
 
Solution

LuckyTheLadyBug

Estimable
Jul 5, 2015
24
0
4,560


Here is the thing, I would be upgrading from a Sony Vaio VPCCW21FX with I think an i5 4gb of ram and a GT 310M. It is in need of a new hard drive and I was thinking that a cheap way is just to get a hybrid drive and have a cheap $60 upgrade. Is that even worth it?
 
If you feel that you Sony provides you with decent enough gaming performance, then it could be a viable option. However, I recommend considering a SSD drive instead of a hybrid SHDD (hard drive with SSD cache). A SSD cache can help read performance from the hard drvie, but only if the data is stored in the SSD cache otherwise the laptop must read the data off the hard drive itself.

A SSD will make you laptop (or desktop) feel much more responsive because of extremely high read / performance which means programs can launch much faster. It will not increase the performance of the CPU or the graphics chip. The downside is that they are still fairly expensive compared to hard drives even though prices have come down recently. A good 250GB SSD is fairly inexpensive at $100 or less for a decent one. But if you want to clone your current HDD to the SSD, then it will not be possible if you have more than 250GB of data. A good 500GB SSD can be purchased for less than $175.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148945

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148946
 

LuckyTheLadyBug

Estimable
Jul 5, 2015
24
0
4,560


Yeah I know. I have two SSDs in my tower (4690K and 780) a 240Gb 850 evo and a 120 840 evo.

I just thought of another option. When I chose to upgrade to win 10 on my desktop ill take my 120gb evo out of it and put it in as my primary drive in my Vaio, then use the old 2.5 inch HDD (or any other hard drive) as an external one (by getting an enclosure). That would be a cheap if I wanted to use my Vaio again.
 
It is a viable option and it will not cost you anything other than an external case for the 2.5" hard drive.

As stated above, if the Core i5 and nVdiia 310m still gives you good enough performance for general work and to play games, then there is no need to buy a new laptop.
 

LuckyTheLadyBug

Estimable
Jul 5, 2015
24
0
4,560


Thank a lot! I need a new car anyway so not spending anything will be good.