Dell XPS 15 or HP ENVY 15t-j100 Select Edition?

[coolfield7]

Hi, I'm browsing for a computer which is capable of runs some old ( 1, 2 year) games and all the other basic functions well. I've come across the Dell XPS 15 and HP ENVY 15t-j100 Select Edition; which one in your opinion is better?

The specs:

Dell XPS 15:

Processor: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3230M processor (3M Cache, up to 3.2 GHz)


Operating System: Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English


Memory: 6GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx1 + 2GBx1)


Hard Drive3: 500GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive + 32GB mSATA Solid State Drive

Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M with 1GB GDDR5 VRAM

Link: http/www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15-l521x/pd?oc=dncwx15bw7&model_id=xps-15-l521x

HP ENVY 15t-j100 Select Edition[

Operating system - Windows 8.1 64

Processor - AMD Quad-Core A10-5750M Accelerated Processor

Memory - 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)

Hard drive - 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive

Graphics card - 2GB AMD Radeon™ HD 8750M Discrete

Link: http/www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/cto.do

Thanks!

 

[Noaman Khalil]

Dell xps is your answer as it comes with i5 with 3.2ghz which out performs the a10, I was personally gonna buy this laptop hp envy but decided to get an i7 with discrete NVidia graphics because the amd dual graphics stops to work after a while and the dell xps comes with NVidia graphics with gddr5 memory which out performs 2GB AMD Radeon™ HD 8750M Discrete by a long shot if you want a bang for your buck there area few suggestions listid below from hp and dell.
http/shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E4T15AV?HP-ENVY-15t-j100-Select-Edition-Notebook-PC-ENERGY-STAR-
http/www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-3537/pd?oc=fncwc1204s&model_id=inspiron-15-3537

if you could give me more details of the specs and what are going to use it for I can give better alternatives

 

[coolfield7]

Thanks guys! My budget is around 800 USD. I want a computer which can play a lot of strategy games on high settings, like Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Company of Heroes 1 and 2, RUSE, etc. Not many first person shooters.
I've also come across the Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 laptop (http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y580/index.html#techspecs) it seems like a good computer. Do you think it's better than these laptops?

 

[Noaman Khalil]

Thanks guys! My budget is around 800 USD. I want a computer which can play a lot of strategy games on high settings, like Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Company of Heroes 1 and 2, RUSE, etc. Not many first person shooters.
I've also come across the Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 laptop (http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y580/index.html#techspecs) it seems like a good computer. Do you think it's better than these laptops?

An i5 @ 3ghz or more will be fine as you do not play demanding games I would recommend
http/shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E4T15AV?HP-ENVY-15t-Select-Edition-Notebook-PC-ENERGY-STAR-

you can customize and buy if you want graphics ,ram.hard drive etc and spend the extra cash on upgrades such as a ssd

 

[Noaman Khalil]

If you want higher specs, you should check out the ASUS X550LB. It's equipped with:

Intel Core i7 4500U
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
750 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
Nvidia GT 740M graphics
15.6-Inch Screen
5-hour battery life
$750

Even the Lenovo Y580 is a last generation model with an older processor and it doesn't look like they carry it anymore.

M8 this laptops slow you would just end up spending more

 

[coolfield7]

Ok. For gaming in general, what should I look for in a laptop? Graphics, RAM, what are the things to look for?

 

[coolfield7]

Ok. For gaming in general, what should I look for in a laptop? Graphics, RAM, what are the things to look for?

If it's an AMD CPU, you can usually just walk away, they don't touch the Intel processors.

i7 > i5 > i3. If it says something like i5-4200M, then it's a 4th gen mobile processors. If its i5-3xxx, it's 3rd gen. If it says something like i5-4200U, it's a ULV processor which is slower than the normal mobile procs. You usually want at least a 4th gen i5.

As for video cards, Nvidia's good cards start at the GT 740M, higher than that is better but more expensive.

6-8GB of RAM is all most people will ever need unless they are using some specific applications that require more.

Ok; sweet. Thanks both you guys, I really appreciate the help!

 

[Noaman Khalil]

Ok. For gaming in general, what should I look for in a laptop? Graphics, RAM, what are the things to look for?

If it's an AMD CPU, you can usually just walk away, they don't touch the Intel processors.

i7 > i5 > i3. If it says something like i5-4200M, then it's a 4th gen mobile processors. If its i5-3xxx, it's 3rd gen. If it says something like i5-4200U, it's a ULV processor which is slower than the normal mobile procs. You usually want at least a 4th gen i5.

As for video cards, Nvidia's good cards start at the GT 740M, higher than that is better but more expensive.

6-8GB of RAM is all most people will ever need unless they are using some specific applications that require more.

Ok; sweet. Thanks both you guys, I really appreciate the help!

Hey its nice to help someone but I would like to disagree with construct as a ulv processor does not have sufficient speed you need a "M" processor as they are faster ,but if you want to go with constructs option its fine then you can spend more on a ssd which will give you better performance (a sata 3@120gb+ would be fine) as far as the ram try to get ddr3 or ddr3l ram as they will give good performance inaddtion to get the hp envy i5 version is my best opinion it comes with the 800 series of NVidia graphics which is worth every bit as they are 4th gen i5+6gb ram which is sufficient for you and you save a few hundred bucks to buy an ssd,i am giving a newegg link for a good ssd as well it is below.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171741

btw ssd+i5+800m gpu+ram= the best you can get for 800 bucks I would though recommend spending 100 bucks more and getting -
http/shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E2E34AV?HP-ENVY-15t-Quad-Edition-Notebook-PC-ENERGY-STAR-
this machine has upgradability to 16gb ram in the future and has a great processor with the 800 series graphics ,I will be buying this after I get money as this is a perfect machine .
I really hope you slecet my option as it has a lot to offer to you ..........................(I play command and conquer generals ,zerohour)

 

[Noaman Khalil]

Ok. For gaming in general, what should I look for in a laptop? Graphics, RAM, what are the things to look for?

If it's an AMD CPU, you can usually just walk away, they don't touch the Intel processors.

i7 > i5 > i3. If it says something like i5-4200M, then it's a 4th gen mobile processors. If its i5-3xxx, it's 3rd gen. If it says something like i5-4200U, it's a ULV processor which is slower than the normal mobile procs. You usually want at least a 4th gen i5.

As for video cards, Nvidia's good cards start at the GT 740M, higher than that is better but more expensive.

6-8GB of RAM is all most people will ever need unless they are using some specific applications that require more.

Ok; sweet. Thanks both you guys, I really appreciate the help!

Hey its nice to help someone but I would like to disagree with construct as a ulv processor does not have sufficient speed you need a "M" processor as they are faster ,but if you want to go with constructs option its fine then you can spend more on a ssd which will give you better performance (a sata 3@120gb+ would be fine) as far as the ram try to get ddr3 or ddr3l ram as they will give good performance inaddtion to get the hp envy i5 version is my best opinion it comes with the 800 series of NVidia graphics which is worth every bit as they are 4th gen i5+6gb ram which is sufficient for you and you save a few hundred bucks to buy an ssd,i am giving a newegg link for a good ssd as well it is below.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171741

btw ssd+i5+800m gpu+ram= the best you can get for 800 bucks I would though recommend spending 100 bucks more and getting -
http/shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/E2E34AV?HP-ENVY-15t-Quad-Edition-Notebook-PC-ENERGY-STAR-
this machine has upgradability to 16gb ram in the future and has a great processor with the 800 series graphics ,I will be buying this after I get money as this is a perfect machine .
I really hope you slecet my option as it has a lot to offer to you ..........................(I play command and conquer generals ,zerohour)

The i7-4500U is roughly on par with an i5-4200M, so it's really not a downgrade.

Also HP makes notoriously low quality products, especially in this price range. I used to work for their tech support. Every physical issue (and there were tons) required us to print them a packing slip, and then they would get sent a refurbished model.

If you yourself are considering purchasing one of their products, I truly suggest you do not.

well you have experience , so would you give me an alternative - I need 2 gb dedicated NVidia graphics -i7 processor(3ghz-3.5ghz turbo freq) and a 8gb ram dingle channel within the price range od 600-800$