Better GPU or better CPU for gaming

[Qais Makani]

Hello guys,

I have been planning to buy a laptop for quite some time and I was planning on waiting till a better model fitting my price range would come out( I'm from India ). But now I can't wait any more.

I have been considering these two:

Dell Inspiron 7000:
Intel core i5 4200U, GT 750M 2 GB GDDR5 , 6 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD

HP Envy 15:
Intel core i5 4200M, GT 740M 2GB DDR3 64 bit, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD

Bote these notebooks have 1366 x 768 non-touch display and are for around the same price.

Which one do you think is better for gaming at that resolution? The benchmarks for GT 750M are much better but I'm in a dilemma because of the CPU. I've been told that ULV CPUs are horrible even for normal usage.

I'd really appreciate any help I could get.
Thank you.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

stay away from the envys, all of the hp laptops overheat like crazy, I had a few in the past and they all did it.

if that dell really has the 750m with gddr5 it will blow that other one out of the water no problem.

i wouldnt worry about the cpu difference,

 

[EasyAsANH]

I have a laptop with a GT 740M, actually with very similar specs to the HP and it runs games quite well on medium to high settings. Obviously the GT 750M is much better, but you may not even notice the difference if you play less intensive games. Personally, I would go with the Envy.

 

[dav_jw]

I say go with the better GPU (Dell Inspiron). The 4200U is far from a bad CPU, and is pretty much identical to the 4200M, except for the slightly lower clock speed (and power draw, of course). Most games are GPU limited, so will see better gaming performance from the Dell.

 

[Jameson Clark]

I would say the first one, you sacrifice a little on the CPU and storage but not as substantial of losses as the gains from the gpu

 

[06yfz450ridr]

I have a laptop with a GT 740M, actually with very similar specs to the HP and it runs games quite well on medium to high settings. Obviously the GT 750M is much better, but you may not even notice the difference if you play less intensive games. Personally, I would go with the Envy.

for the same price your rather have gddr5 vs ddr3 for the gpu any day

 

[Beezy]

+1 for DELL.
HP blows in my opinion everything of theirs that i have ever had (expect my compaq desktop 8 years old lol) has failed. My DEll on the other hand lasted much longer, and my dell inspiron is still alive and well (non gaming laptop i think 5400n)

 

[Jameson Clark]

I have a laptop with a GT 740M, actually with very similar specs to the HP and it runs games quite well on medium to high settings. Obviously the GT 750M is much better, but you may not even notice the difference if you play less intensive games. Personally, I would go with the Envy.

for the same price your rather have gddr5 vs ddr3 for the gpu any day

+1

 

[brodier54]

just a quick heads up , I owned the dell model you are describing and unfortunately it was a pretty slow laptop, I didn't like the design too much either and the driver support wasn't too great.

 

[Qais Makani]

So, the Dell will be better in terms of gaming performance but will it be slower when performing day to day tasks? I tend to multitask a lot with a lot of tabbed browsing and multiple applications. Will I observe significantly slower response from the system? I am a very impatient man. And I was told by a friend that he once used a ULV processor and it showed 100% utilization when he tried copying a huge file from one drive to another and the copying process was pretty slow too. Is it true?

 

[mp3061]

I tend to work on HP's and dells a lot I would chose the HP envy but if you can wait I suggest it and be a part of the HP student program. The discounts they offer during the summer on the student program will give you the ability to have a good graphics and a good processor. Also check the model one up if memory serves me right they do offer the 750 gpu if you go to the 2013 models. http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do

 

[Qais Makani]

@mp3061 I don't think the 750M model is available in India, and I haven't heard of a student program as well. I'll have to visit the official store and find out.

Also, is there any particular reason as to why you would recommend HP?

 

[06yfz450ridr]

the envy 17 I had would get so hot when gaming that it would lockup and freeze, thing was junk.

how about something like this? http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310660

what is your price range maybe we can find you better options. still think the dell is a better idea regardless,

 

[mp3061]

I like HP because they are a decent computer The problems I have had with them were all fixable within 5 minutes there support network is very good. Tear downs tend to be quick and simile. Know though only expect 2 to 3 years out of a laptop plan to replace it on this schedule just cause it leads you to less problems and it will mean you have updated technology.

 

[Qais Makani]

@06yfz450ridr The only laptops in my country that have a more powerful GPU than the ones I mentioned are the Lenovo y510 and the alienware series, both of which are way above my budget. If the y580 were available, I would've bought it without a 2nd thought.


@mp3061 Yep, I plan to keep this one for 3 years max. That's why I'm looking for a notebook that would last me that long and still be able to run games that come out during that period. But I also don't want it to become very slow and unusable because of a weaker processor. I'm really in a dilemma here.