Solved! Buying laptop for my nephew. Which one of these is best bang for the buck?

[dmavro]

This will be my nephews first computer. Ive been looking for one for around $350. Ive narrowed it down to these 5. I originally planned on purchasing something with a SSD drive and 8 Gb of RAM and wasn't really concerned with CPU or GPU. But now ive been doing some more research and im not sure if I should be concerned about GPU and maybe even CPU also. Here are the Specs and the Links....


1. HP 15.6-Inch HD Touchscreen Laptop (Intel Quad Core Pentium N3710 1.6GHz, 4GB DDR3L-1600 Memory, 500 GB HDD,Intel HD Graphics 620. -$336.88

2. Acer Aspire E 15, 15.6" Full HD, 8th Gen Intel Core i3-8130U, 6GB DDR3 RAM Memory, 1TB HDD, Intel HD Graphics 620. -$354.99

3. Lenovo Laptop Intel Core i3-8130U Dual-Core Processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050. -$339.88

4. Lenovo 320-15 - 15.6" HD - AMD A12-9720P, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB Hard Drive, Intel HD Graphics 500. -$349.75


5. 2018 Flagship Lenovo IdeaPad 320 15.6" HD LED Business Laptop, AMD A9-9420, 8GB DDR4, 128GB SSD, AMD Radeon R5. -$359.00


Hes young and will be using the computer to do homework and surf web mostly.But he loves watching youtube and making his on videos. When it comes to games i know he will want to dabble a bit but as of now he is really hooked on minecraft.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance and Happy Holidays!!

 

[CaptainVenomFTW]

I am going to give you my opinion on each computer listed in the same order you did.

1. The 15.6 inch HP is honestly not a good computer. I do not recommend to any of my customers to get a computer that has only 4 GB of ram. As Windows 10 will use about 2 GB of Ram to run the operating system. The computer will feel sluggish and take a while to load simple programs. The processor in the computer is not the best processor in the world, however, Intel has improved their Pentium processor line of the past years. 500 GB of hard drive is plenty if you are just wanting to store documents, videos, music, etc. The DVD burner is nice to have as most laptops today do not have them. Overall this is a basic computer that is meant for simple tasks and not much. The computer will have difficulties playing Minecraft and would have to be put in low settings to even be a little playable.

2. The Acer Aspire E is a complete step up from the previously listed HP you provided. This computer comes equipped with an i3 processor which is an upgrade from the Pentium in the HP computer. 6 GB of Ram will help when it comes to casual gaming and multitasking on the computer. The 1 TB (1000GB HDD) hard drive will give you plenty of storage for almost anything. Once again the DVD drive can be handy in some situations and is rare on today's laptops. Overall a better computer than the HP.

3. The Lenovo Laptop is a mixture between the HP and the Acer. You are getting that same i3 processor as you would in the Acer. However, you are downgrading to only 4 GB of Ram which can be difficult. You are getting the 1 TB hard drive which will allow you to store almost anything. Overall, this computer is better than the HP, but not better than the Acer.

4. The Lenovo 320-15 is a pretty nice laptop that comes equipped with an AMD A12 processor. I am not a big fan of the AMD processors, however, it is a better processor than the computers above have. This computer gives 8GB of Ram which plenty for games like Minecraft and running more complex software. Once again this computer comes with a 1 TB hard drive which gives you plenty of storage. Overall this is a well-equipped budget computer.

5.) The Lenovo Flagship is a very nice budget computer giving you an AMD A9 processor which is a downgrade from the previous Lenovo, but better than the ones listed before. This computer comes with 8 GB of Ram which is plenty for games like Minecraft and more complex software. The computer comes equipped with a 128 GB SSD, which you will notice the computer will run and boot up much faster, however, you don't have as much storage to save documents, videos, etc. You can always purchase an external hard drive to make up for that loss. The computer comes with an AMD Radeon R5 graphics which will help games like Minecraft smoother. Overall this is an excellent budget computer.

I believe that you should purchase the Lenovo Flagship along with a 1TB external hard drive to save other information on. My second choice would be the Lenovo 320-15. Finally, my third favorite would be the Acer Aspire E.

I hope you find this information helpful. If you have any further questions, please ask.

 

[dmavro]

I am going to give you my opinion on each computer listed in the same order you did.

1. The 15.6 inch HP is honestly not a good computer. I do not recommend to any of my customers to get a computer that has only 4 GB of ram. As Windows 10 will use about 2 GB of Ram to run the operating system. The computer will feel sluggish and take a while to load simple programs. The processor in the computer is not the best processor in the world, however, Intel has improved their Pentium processor line of the past years. 500 GB of hard drive is plenty if you are just wanting to store documents, videos, music, etc. The DVD burner is nice to have as most laptops today do not have them. Overall this is a basic computer that is meant for simple tasks and not much. The computer will have difficulties playing Minecraft and would have to be put in low settings to even be a little playable.

2. The Acer Aspire E is a complete step up from the previously listed HP you provided. This computer comes equipped with an i3 processor which is an upgrade from the Pentium in the HP computer. 6 GB of Ram will help when it comes to casual gaming and multitasking on the computer. The 1 TB (1000GB HDD) hard drive will give you plenty of storage for almost anything. Once again the DVD drive can be handy in some situations and is rare on today's laptops. Overall a better computer than the HP.

3. The Lenovo Laptop is a mixture between the HP and the Acer. You are getting that same i3 processor as you would in the Acer. However, you are downgrading to only 4 GB of Ram which can be difficult. You are getting the 1 TB hard drive which will allow you to store almost anything. Overall, this computer is better than the HP, but not better than the Acer.

4. The Lenovo 320-15 is a pretty nice laptop that comes equipped with an AMD A12 processor. I am not a big fan of the AMD processors, however, it is a better processor than the computers above have. This computer gives 8GB of Ram which plenty for games like Minecraft and running more complex software. Once again this computer comes with a 1 TB hard drive which gives you plenty of storage. Overall this is a well-equipped budget computer.

5.) The Lenovo Flagship is a very nice budget computer giving you an AMD A9 processor which is a downgrade from the previous Lenovo, but better than the ones listed before. This computer comes with 8 GB of Ram which is plenty for games like Minecraft and more complex software. The computer comes equipped with a 128 GB SSD, which you will notice the computer will run and boot up much faster, however, you don't have as much storage to save documents, videos, etc. You can always purchase an external hard drive to make up for that loss. The computer comes with an AMD Radeon R5 graphics which will help games like Minecraft smoother. Overall this is an excellent budget computer.

I believe that you should purchase the Lenovo Flagship along with a 1TB external hard drive to save other information on. My second choice would be the Lenovo 320-15. Finally, my third favorite would be the Acer Aspire E.

I hope you find this information helpful. If you have any further questions, please ask.

Thank you for taking the time. I was steering towards that one originally because it had the RAM I wanted and the SSD even though its small. I just thought some of the others might have had better value. Thanks again.