Budget gaming laptop? Is it possible?

[Gallagher1991]

Hey guys, i am looking to buy a laptop in about 2 weeks for college and i would be using it for Microsoft office programs, music, and watching movies in between classes and in my down time but i am also looking for one that can handle some gaming. I currently play Borderlands, Fallout 3, Starcraft 2, Darksiders, and some older games that anything could handle

Im not looking to max out these games but being able to play them at 30fps on low-medium quality setting would be amazing My budget is anywhere from $400-700. I am looking for the most for my money so intel, amd, whatever works better i will take. I will be buying it from newegg. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[wintermint]

17.3"
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215122

15.6"
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215113
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215119
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157877

Intel is obviously faster but AMD A-Series focuses more on graphics. It will handle games fine too.

 

[Gallagher1991]

Well, i don't need a 17.3'' screen so i guess im stuck between these two

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157877
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215119

Anything that would make one of these better than the other? Other than the Blu-ray drive?

 

[wintermint]

Well between the two I would go for the i5-2410m and the 540m because they'll have better performance imo. Intel is clearly ahead in the processing power. Between the 540M and 6620g.. .they're both mid range graphic cards but according to notebookcheck. The 540m placed in the higher Class 2 while the 6620g is in the lower range.

The other differences are memory (2gb) which shouldn't really matter. 140gb in HDD which may matter to you if you dont keep usb flash drive or external hard drive, and the blu-ray player. I did see that HP has Beats audios but that's probably overrated.

 

[Gallagher1991]

What about the 6650M vs. the 540M? I saw that their benchmarks are about the same so is it a toss up?

 

[WR2]

In spite of having 4 APU cores the A8-3500M lags behind the i5-2410 quite a bit in overall CPU power.
On the Big List of CPU mobile benchmarks the i5-2410 ranks #35 and the A8-3500M is #123.

For GPUs it's a closer match in performance but with the GT 540M having a convincing lead over the HD 6620G.
GT 540M ranked #98 and HD 6620G #125.
Keep in mind that with games which are a bit more CPU dependent (RPGs and Sims) like StarCraft II that gap might be a bit wider.

 

[WR2]

What about the 6650M vs. the 540M?

Where does the HD 6650M come into play?

 

[Gallagher1991]

I just looked at the 17.3'' acer that wintermint suggested and it had the HD 6650M and i was wondering if the performace was greater than the 540M. I would get the 17.3'' if the graphics were considerably better.

 

[WR2]

For $750 on the HP website: HP Pavilion dv6t 15.6-inch "Sandy Bridge" Core i3 2.1GHz Laptop
Core i3-2310M 2.1 GHz Sandy Bridge CPU & Radeon HD 6770M graphics.
Another $50 to move up into the Core i5-2410M CPU.

 

[WR2]

Because of the option for hybrid Crossfire that HD 6550M plus the integrated HD 6620G gives a hybrid combo called Radeon HD 6740G2.
The jury is still kinda hung on how well the hybrid drivers are working.

 

[Gallagher1991]

Thanks for all the help guys. I will definitely be doing some more research before i make my decision. I really can't go past $700 so i guess this one is my best bet so far

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215119&Tpk=Acer%20Aspire%20AS5750G-6496

I like the look of it so far and it should be able to handle everything i play with decent FPS.

 

[Gallagher1991]

Best answer selected by Gallagher1991.