Gaming Laptop under $500

[Shahmeer1234]

Hi guys
I'm looking for a gaming laptop under $500 or one no more than $520.It doesn't need to be able to run games like say Evolve,Battlefield Hardline, The Division, Rise of The Tomb Raider etc etc but it should be able to run games like for example Dishonored, Cod MW2, Assassin's Creed 3 and Skyrim at around 30-40 FPS at low to medium settings and older games like Cod 4,Cod WAW, Empire: Total War, Borderlands and Payday 1 at more than 40 FPS at medium to high settings.Weird variety of games I know but that's my steam library.
I was looking at the Asus X550ZA-WH11, HP Pavillion 15T, Acer Aspire E5 573G 52G3 and Asus X550ZA EH11.
Also quick question, does the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 cost around $500?
Any help would be appreciated.Thanks

 

[hang-the-9]

In your budget you need to run at low settings, and will not likely get to very good frames in that. For your price, the new A10 chips will likely have the best video performance. Of the systems were were looking at, Asus is the best brand. You can find the Lenovo prices either on their website or re-sellers like www.newegg.com. Often models that are just about to be replaced go on some heavy sales, so keep an eye out, I've seen Lenovo drop $200 off a $700 system before.

 

[Shahmeer1234]

Thanks.
So I should go with the WH-11 or 573G?
Because what confuses me is that the wh-11 is quad core 2.4 Ghz with the AMD R6 is supposedly as good as the 2.2 Ghz dual core with the Geforce 940m, with two less cores.How much does performance depend on RAM,Graphics card and processor speed?

 

[hang-the-9]

Thanks.
So I should go with the WH-11 or 573G?
Because what confuses me is that the wh-11 is quad core 2.4 Ghz with the AMD R6 is supposedly as good as the 2.2 Ghz dual core with the Geforce 940m, with two less cores.How much does performance depend on RAM,Graphics card and processor speed?

You listed everything that affects performance, it depends on all of those components. Look up benchmarks for the games you want for the systems and see what's out there for numbers.

The Acer with the 940m should be faster than the ASUS by about 20% in games. The catch there is that Acer is not as reliable of a brand as Asus.

 

[Shahmeer1234]

What about day to day use outside of gaming?Would it also be faster in other processes that require a lot of computer power?

 

[hang-the-9]

What about day to day use outside of gaming?Would it also be faster in other processes that require a lot of computer power?

The i5 / 940m system should be a bit faster than the A10, but probably not faster enough that you can compare the two side by side without a benchmark. Really does not matter. Budget is a bit too low for a proper system for games, in the price point I'd go with the more reliable system rather than look for one that is a bit faster than another.

To get to gaming systems you are looking about $700-800. There is a decent Dell system that we've been recommending with a 256 gig SSD and a 960M video card for $800 http/www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i7559-763BLK-Full-HD-GeForce/dp/B015PYYDMQ Has a 1080 screen, good speed, more reliable than Acer. Of course you are looking at a higher price, but laptops you get what you pay for, and no upgrade path for most of them. If you had a desktop you can get a cheaper this or cheaper that and upgrade in a year, laptops, what you buy now, you live with till you replace the full thing. Spending $500 now on a slower laptop that what you'd like, then a year later deciding it's too slow for you and buying a second one for $800, you just spent 1,300 on an $800 laptop.

 

[Shahmeer1234]

Thanks.Guess I'm gonna go with the X550ZA

 

[Nikita79]

For this budget, I will say u need to look for at low specs.
But for those you are looking, I will say the Asus one.