GeForce 840m vs. GT 740m

[kgrace]

These are the two laptops I am considering and what it comes down to is the GPU-CPU trade-off...
This is the link to the HP Envy 15t-j100:
http/www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/G1L49AV?HP-ENVY-15t-j100-Quad-Edition-Notebook-PC-with-Windows-7-ENERGY-STAR-

This is the link to the HP Envy 15t:
http/www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/G0T95AV?HP-ENVY-15t-Laptop

I would go with the upgrade to the 840m GPU on the 15t, making its price comparable to the j100. Both computers should satisfy everything I want to do outside of gaming, which is where my problem lies. Is the downgrade on the CPU worth the upgrade on the GPU? I know this is normally answered yes, but I have a few concerns:
(1) Some sites I have visited believe that the 840m is no better than the GT 740m, or even worse. Is this true?
(2) The j100 has an i7 quad core compared to the 15t's i5 dual core. Does that make up for differences in the graphic cards?
(3) Some sites say graphic cards work better when paired with certain CPUs, is this a factor?
(4) Heat - is it true that a quad core produces more heat, therefore when paired with a dedicated GPU, forming an issue?

If there are other factors please elaborate, but all other specifications are negligible for the most part.

Thanks in advance.

 

[03321]

There are more differences between these two models than just CPU/GPU. As far as those concerns go, though, you are correct to say that usually a GPU upgrade means more than a CPU upgrade for gaming. However, the performance upgrade from the Dual Core 4510U to the Quad Core 4700MQ is easily more significant than the difference between a 740M and 840M. The i7-4510U processor is designed to use significantly less power at the expense of performance. You could upgrade the 840M further to an 850M, but at that point you are talking about spending an extra $100 or so over the 15t-j100.

As for other discrepancies, the 15t-j100 comes with Windows 7 vs. the Windows 8.1 Pro on the 15t. Not sure if this matters to you, you should be fine either way. Also, the 15t-j100 comes with a 6-cell battery that HP claims gets up to 9hrs 45min (sounds a bit high) against the 4-cell battery with up to 4 hours offered in the 15t. It's up to you how much these things factor into your decision, I know that I almost never use a laptop far from a plug for extended periods of time.

Overall, I would recommend the 15t-j100 over the 15t from a performance perspective. The 15t with i7 4510U and 840M will use less power (lower power bills if that means anything), but you will still probably end up with less battery life.

 

[03321]

I also meant to mention that you should keep in mind that both the 840M and 740M will only reach low to medium settings on current games if that is an important consideration to you.

 

[kgrace]

Thanks! After a (relatively) quick scan of the web, these seem to be the best machines in my price range ($500-800). I don't play many intense games, mostly League of Legends and a little WoW and GW2, which all, from my understanding, don't require the most potent graphic cards.

I've only heard bad things about Windows 8 (compared to 7) so I am fine with 7.

Battery life isn't the most important thing, because as you said, I'm never more than 4-5 hours away from an outlet.

My only follow up would be - is going for the 850m better than both previous options, considering the type of gaming I will be doing?

 

[03321]

An upgrade to the 850M probably depends mostly on how likely you feel it is that you will want to play a more graphics-intensive game at medium to high settings. For LoL the 740M is plenty. WoW and GW2 should be fine as well with the possible exception of large-scale raids/PvP.

Even with the 850M in the 15t system, you still have a processor that is noticeably lower in performance.