Help Choose Between 2 Laptops

[bosch295]

Hi Guys, I'm looking to buy a budget laptop. The usage of the laptop (considered as 100%) will be approx. as following: 35% for work (mostly office apps+SAP ERP)+35% for multimedia (watching movies+photo editing)+30% for gaming (whatever latest games that are "playable" on the spec). I found 2 laptops within my budget which would probably suffice my needs, however they are somewhat different regarding their features. Let me lay out the specs of both for your convenience:

1) HP Pavilion 14-v226tx
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Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel 5th Gen Core i7-5500U (TB upto 3.1 GHz)
RAM: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce 840M (2 GB DDR3 dedicated)
Display: 14" diagonal HD WLED-backlit Touch Screen (1366 x 768)
Onboard Sound Enhancement: Beats Audio

2) HP Pavilion 15-ab032tx
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Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i5-5200U (TB upto 2.7 GHz)
RAM: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce 940M (2 GB DDR3 dedicated)
Display: 15.6" Full HD Anti-Glare Wide Screen LED Backlit Display Non-Touch (1920x1080)
Onboard Sound Enhancement: Bang and Olufsen (B and O Play)

Other Related Info:

Price difference is not much between them, so it's not an issue.

Graphics-wise the Pavilion 15 should be a tiny bit better than the 14, where as processor-wise the Pav. 14 is a little bit better than the 15 (I don't know which config. would be more suitable for my use)

Also my current laptop is a 6 year old HP HDX 16 (16" display with 1366x768 res., please don't hate me), so FHD screens are not an absolute requirement for me (having it would be good though, although I assume it'd impact gaming performance hugely on native res.).

Same goes for having 'touchscreen' option (would be nice to have it, but don't know if it will be extremely practical).

Weight-wise the 15.6" is about 200gms (.04 lbs) more than the 14", so not a big deal there either.


Can anyone please suggest me which one among these two I should go for? Thanks in advance.

 

[ahall1]

In my experience, I find processing power to be the most important to meet the criteria. Given that the RAM is the same for both laptops, and the graphics are comparable, I would go for the top one.

 

[ratulrahman]

I am going to give you a general solution. If your main purpose of the machine is to play games, then go for a better/bigger screen with higher graphical horsepower.
As I said i am talking generally. Now i dont know the technical details regarding the benchmark difference among those GPU's but the newer one is likely to be better. And as for the CPU, i believe once you enter the i7 arena, you wont likely face any cut backs in performance.

For resolution you can always lower it in game if the performance is not satisfactory. But a having higher res screen is always much much better.

Regarding touch, well i cant comment much on that. Its kind of preference. If its regarding gaming mainstream, the touch will add ZERO value.

So among your options I would suggest the 2nd one. Remember i am not giving my opinion based benchmarks of the CPUs and GPUs mentioned above. Its just the general logical way to decision making.

 

[bosch295]

@ahall1 @ratulrahman

Thank you guys for your replies. To clarify further, gaming is not my primary requirement. I just want my laptop to have the ability to handle older games well and play the (current-gen) lesser demanding games with playable framerate, that's it. Other than that I'll mostly be working on SAP (could more processing power be helpful for that?) and watching movies (i.e. working in windows only).

Any more insights from you/anyone else would be welcome. Thanks again.

 

[ratulrahman]

@ahall1 @ratulrahman

Thank you guys for your replies. To clarify further, gaming is not my primary requirement. I just want my laptop to have the ability to handle older games well and play the (current-gen) lesser demanding games with playable framerate, that's it. Other than that I'll mostly be working on SAP (could more processing power be helpful for that?) and watching movies (i.e. working in windows only).

Any more insights from you/anyone else would be welcome. Thanks again.

Sorry i replied without reading the whole post. I thought the 2nd laptop is i7 too. Well i am not sure how much CPU or GPU intensive the SAP is. But for gaming the 940m would definitely give little bit edge over the 840m. And once you enter the 1080p realm you cant even image using a screen with a lower res.
Are you sticking with HP only? look into other brands man.
Whats your budget?

 

[ratulrahman]

Sadly the Laptop section of the toms hardware is much less active that the desktop section. I wish someone with more experience would come forward help you.

 

[bosch295]

@ahall1 @ratulrahman

Thank you guys for your replies. To clarify further, gaming is not my primary requirement. I just want my laptop to have the ability to handle older games well and play the (current-gen) lesser demanding games with playable framerate, that's it. Other than that I'll mostly be working on SAP (could more processing power be helpful for that?) and watching movies (i.e. working in windows only).

Any more insights from you/anyone else would be welcome. Thanks again.

Sorry i replied without reading the whole post. I thought the 2nd laptop is i7 too. Well i am not sure how much CPU or GPU intensive the SAP is. But for gaming the 940m would definitely give little bit edge over the 840m. And once you enter the 1080p realm you cant even image using a screen with a lower res.
Are you sticking with HP only? look into other brands man.
Whats your budget?

My budget is around $850-$900 (50k-55k INR). And many of the good VFM models aren't available in my country (India). So no I don't have a fetish for HP but having owned one before I kind of like their designs better. But any other better option (spec-wise) which is available in my country at the same price range would be good too. SAP doesn't utilize GFX, but it's a RAM and CPU hogger as I've heard.
Also, I don't think the FHD screen provided with the 15.6" is an IPS one. And I've heard that TN FHD displays with anti-glare coatings make the images appear dull/unattractive. Is that True?

Thanks for your help.

 

[jaguarskx]

I have never use SAP ERP so I do not know how CPU intensive that is.

Having said that, I would choose the HP Pavilion 15-ab032tx primarily because it has a 1920x1080 resolution screen which means I would be able to work with large Excel files or any other type of document without the need to scroll around as much compared to a 1366x768 screen since the higher resolution means you can see more information on the screen at any given time. Scrolling to look for data can be extremely annoying and time consuming if that needs to be done often.

Sure, the dual core Intel Core i7 is a little more powerful than the Core i5, but for average usage you will not be able to tell the difference. The difference between the 840m and 940m is minimal. Sure having a 1080p will have an impact on gaming performance, but you can always drop the resolution down to 1600x900 or 1366x768. The 1080p is more practical for things other than gaming.

 

[jaguarskx]

Screens with an anti-glare coating means that colors will look muted / dull compared to a glossy screen. A glossy screen gives colors a "sheen" and make them look over saturated and makes the colors pop out at you. However, glossy screens are very reflective and have a lot of glare. Laptops with a glossy screen are best for indoor usage because outdoors the reflectiveness of the screen can be extremely annoying unless you are using the laptop in the shade. Laptops with anti-glare screens can be used anywhere because the light is not reflected directly back at you. The coating diffuses the light, but it can make text look very slightly less sharp compared to a glossy screen. So slight that you will likely not be able to tell the difference unless you concentrate on comparing an anti-glare screen and glossy screen of the same resolution side by side.

I've used laptops with a glossy screen and low resolution (1366x768) screens and I simply do not like them. I personally prefer a 1080p screen resolution with an anti-glare coating.