Cheap laptop for low end Steam games.

bobthebaptist

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Sep 1, 2011
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18,510
Hey guys, I'm in the market for a lower end laptop. I currently have a desktop that's perfect for my current gaming needs, i5 and 6970 but I'm looking for something that can run games like fallout(1), FTL and lower end indie games. I don't expect to be able to run games like BF4 or CS: GO on this and won't either. My budget would be in the 300-600 range but the lower, the better. Thanks!
 
Solution
Finding a laptop with Blu-Ray drive is not that easy especially since they tend to be in laptops that costs over $1,000.

The laptops that I recommended from Bestbuy.ca can play the games you want; although they are not 15.6" laptops. You can even play more recent games at low / medium at 1366x768 resolution. $1,000 can buy you a decent enough gaming laptop like the Lenovo Y510p with a quad core i7 CPU and a GT 750m graphics chip.

http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/

For something less expensive and still capable of playing the games you want you can get one of the following Z510 laptops starting at $619.

http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/ideapad/z-series/z510/
Check out bestbuy.com they have a 17.3" HP laptop for $400 that should suit your needs. There are two versions, one has the Intel core I3 with the Intel HD 4600 graphics core, the other has an AMD A8-5550M with the Radeon HD 8550m graphics core.

The Intel HD 4600 is actually the more powerful integrated graphics. The AMD A8 is a quad core CPU but it is relatively weak compared to Intel CPUs.

You'll have to checkout bestbuy since it would be very difficult for me to have several browser tabs open on a phone.
 

bobthebaptist

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Sep 1, 2011
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18,510



Alright thanks, I will take a look on their canadian site. I forgot to mention that I was in Canada. I'm still taking suggestions and I should have mentioned that I am leaning more towards something in the 15" department since my bag can only carry that and under. Though I will not brush aside bigger models if they have a better bang for the buck.
 
Assuming you are looking for something that is at most $400 CAD...

Toshiba Satellite C40D 14" Laptop - $400
- White (might be a bad thing)
- quad core AMD A6-5200 @ 2.0GHz
- Integrated Radeon HD 6490m (relatively weak)

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/toshiba-toshiba-satellite-c40d-14-laptop-amd-a6-5200-750gb-hdd-6gb-ram-windows-8-white-c40d-a-008/10257007.aspx?path=669513eb911b6958996a960520c9559een02


17.3" Asus X75VD-BB51-CB - $350 CAD
- Intel Core i5-3210m
- Intel HD 4000
- 1600x900 resolution screen
- Dedicated nVidia GT 610m (Believe it or not, the Intel HD 4000 is considered more powerful)

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-asus-17-3-laptop-featuring-3rd-gen-intel-core-i5-3210m-x75vd-bb51-cb-black-x75vd-bb51-cb/10209637.aspx?path=37374f60173b066b79700bcce661ca49en02

While the Intel core i5-3210m is only a dual core CPU, it is more powerful than the quad core AMD A6 APU. Additionally, the Intel HD 4000 is a little more powerful than the Radeon HD 6490m; the GT 610m ranks below the HD 6490m. However, the Asus is a 17.3" laptop which mean it is heavier and bulkier than the 14" Toshiba.
 

bobthebaptist

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Sep 1, 2011
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18,510


I actually wouldn't mind pushing a bit more to the 600$ range unless the price increase is not necessarily worth the performance increase.I could also possibly be able to come up with an extra 200 to 400 in the next months. I just don't know the brands to look for in the portable market. I built my rig with Intel and AMD GPU, it works great to this day.
 

bobthebaptist

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Sep 1, 2011
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18,510
1. What is your budget?
400-600 as of now. Maybe 1000 in a month or two. so I will say 600 to 1000 but if 1000 is overkill for what I want, I won't mind going down.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15''

3. What screen resolution do you want?
HD

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable.

5. How much battery life do you need?
The more, the better.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Fallout(1), FTL, Hotline Miami, etc (low end steam games) I do not expect to be playing games like BF4, Crysis, CS: GO, etc. and won't try either.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Music storage(2000+ songs as of now), video, netflix, crunchyroll, browsing and word editing. Nothing too demanding.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
I would like more than 500GB. 1TB would be ideal.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Newegg.ca Bestbuy.ca Futureshop.ca and anything else really.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
At least 4-5 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I would like a bluray rom and writer if possible. I will be watching movies and transferring my music collection.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
No preference. I just want the most reliable, better bang for buck and such. Build quality,etc. No apple.

13. What country do you live in?
Canada, Quebec, Montreal
 
Finding a laptop with Blu-Ray drive is not that easy especially since they tend to be in laptops that costs over $1,000.

The laptops that I recommended from Bestbuy.ca can play the games you want; although they are not 15.6" laptops. You can even play more recent games at low / medium at 1366x768 resolution. $1,000 can buy you a decent enough gaming laptop like the Lenovo Y510p with a quad core i7 CPU and a GT 750m graphics chip.

http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/

For something less expensive and still capable of playing the games you want you can get one of the following Z510 laptops starting at $619.

http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/ideapad/z-series/z510/
 
Solution

bobthebaptist

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Sep 1, 2011
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18,510
Alright, thanks a lot once again for helping me out this much. Just one last thing. Do you think in a bit over a month there will be better models than the two lenovos you posted ? If they're getting phased out soon, I wouldn't mind waiting the extra month. It seems like I'll go with one of those for now, they seem about right for what I need.
 
They are not going to be phased out until Intel released the next gen Broadwell CPU for laptops. No official release date yet for the laptop versions. Best guess is probably July / August 2014 at the earliest. Broadwell CPUs do not go into production until Q1 2014.