Help choosing Laptop

[Tisaab]

My son bought the following laptop and didn't have a clue what he was buying, only that the price was right! At $399 CAD he felt it was a good deal as it was reduced by a $100 for boxing week sale.

https/www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/laptops/all-laptops/asus-vivobook-x540ya-rs21-cb-15-6%E2%80%9D-laptop-with-amd-e2-7110%2c-1tb-hdd%2c-8gb-ram-and-windows-10---black-and-gold/p/108063864

(The price noted in the link above is now $70 more than he paid) He has about a week before his return back to the store expires.

Would this be a better choice and if so, like a lot better?

https/www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=323&productId=39282&sku=80XM0098CFOB

He has seen lagging while playing League and World of Warcraft. I now am trying to find something better for a little more $ Budget is about $500 CAD (Canadian dollars). So far I've just got myself confused with the amount of laptops that are out there, with all the different Configs etc.

Would this be a better choice...

https/www.visions.ca/Catalogue/Category/Details.aspx?categoryId=323&productId=39282&sku=80XM0098CFOB

Thought that someone here could help me out!

Thanks,
Calgary, Alberta
Canada

 

[SchizTech]

That laptop is definitely not ready for gaming; the AMD E2 processor is junk.

For gaming on a budget a higher end AMD processor offers better graphics than a laptop using an Intel chip without a separate graphics solution. This is what I found in the price range:

https/www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/laptops/all-laptops/asus-vivobook-x555ba-rs91-cb-15-6%22-laptop-with-amd-a9-9410%2c-1tb-hdd%2c-8gb-ram-and-windows-10---black-and-silver/p/108063873

 

[SchizTech]

The Lenovo laptop you just added is better than the original though an A9 or A10 offers a better balance of graphics and CPU performance in the price range. If you can stretch a bit more, maybe

https/www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/laptops/all-laptops/acer-aspire-e5-553-t96r-15-6%e2%80%9d-laptop-with-amd-a10-9600p-processor%2c-1tb-hdd%2c-8gb-ram%2c-amd-radeon-r5-graphics%2c-and-windows-10-%e2%80%93-bilingual---black/p/108071977

 

[lumineZ]

I am by no means a laptop expert but I can tell you this mutch that the laptop you found compared to the one your son found is about the same when it comes to gaming performance.

Both of them are not what I would call a laptop for gaming.

From the sites you have listed I will find what I would say is the minimum spec laptop with gaming in mind. And this will be low end gaming with no fancy details or high resolution...

https/www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/Details.aspx?categoryId=715&productId=38251&sku=FX53VD-RH71

https/www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/laptops/gaming-and-high-performance-laptops/msi-gv62-7rd-1834ca-15-6%E2%80%9D-laptop-with-intel%C2%AE-core%E2%84%A2-i5-7300hq%2c-1tb-hdd%2c-8gb-ram%2c-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050%2c-and-windows-10/p/108073661


Again as I say. This is a bare minimum in my book for gaming and they both might even cause lagging in World of Warcraft.

But stick around and wait and someone who is better at laptops might come around and help you better than I can

 

[SchizTech]

Minimum I could see with an add-on video card:

https/www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834316234

 

[Bob125484]

I recommend return the laptop. You help your son build the low cost gaming desktop.

 

[lumineZ]

I recommend return the laptop. You help your son build the low cost gaming desktop.

I belive he is looking at a laptop for a reason...

 

[Tisaab]

https/m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-x555qa-15-6-laptop-black-silver-amd-a10-9620p-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-10/11558810
Would this be a better solution to the one he bought? Its on sale... not sure if it would perform better tho!

https/www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/laptops/all-laptops/asus-vivobook-x540ya-rs21-cb-15-6%E2%80%9D-laptop-with-amd-e2-7110%2c-1tb-hdd%2c-8gb-ram-and-windows-10---black-and-gold/p/108063864

 

[SchizTech]

The Asus laptop linked from bestbuy is certainly better than the original. As the poster above said a high end gaming laptop is quite expensive but though he might not be able to play everything at high settings on that other laptop, it will easily be better than the original.

 

[Tisaab]

Minimum I could see with an add-on video card:

https/www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834316234

Is the following laptop similar to this:
https/m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-x555qa-15-6-laptop-black-silver-amd-a10-9620p-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-10/11558810

If so, are you saying to add a video card to the laptop? The bestbuy model is on sale from $649 CAD to $499, with the store having a few Open Box laptops for $449 CAD. If you are suggesting to add a video card, is this easy to do? Does it invalidate the Manufacturers warranty etc?

Thanks

 

[SchizTech]

With few exceptions - generally featuring systems that are rather expensive to start with - you can't install a graphics card in a laptop. Common laptops have the graphics either integrated on the motherboard or (nowadays) on the CPU with no slot to add a card. You'll be stuck with what you buy, aside from the ability to add ram or change the HDD (even upgrade to an SSD).

The laptop I'd linked to with a card, would have had that integrated into the board as well.

It's good you're searching thoroughly for the best deal in light of what I just said, though a sale price like the best buy that already seems to stretch your budget may be as good as you find. It will certainly game considerably better than the first choice.

 

[Tisaab]

Thanks for your input. Last nite after I posted the link to the $499CAD Bestbuy laptop, I noticed it had some not so positive reviews (see bottom of the linked page). This might be from folks not really not knowing what they are doing.... then again it might not. After all, Bestbuy does have 4 open box items which means someone didn;t like their purchase!

All in all and at the end of the day, would be nice if my son had a better budget so he could buy something that in a couple of years he'd still be able to play on! Until he does, it budget gaming 101! lolz

I think, I might go pick up the BB $499 https/m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-x555qa-15-6-laptop-black-silver-amd-a10-9620p-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-10/11558810 bring it home let him load his games etc., play around on it for a couple of days. If he feels it is better than the one he has now https/www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/laptops/all-laptops/asus-vivobook-x540ya-rs21-cb-15-6%E2%80%9D-laptop-with-amd-e2-7110%2c-1tb-hdd%2c-8gb-ram-and-windows-10---black-and-gold/p/108063864 then he can take it back!

He was asking if this would be better than the above Laptops: https/www.londondrugs.com/hp-17-inch-notebook-17-bs010ca---intel-pentium---silver---1ug29ua/L9622093.html?cgid=comp-laptopsandnotebooks-pclaptops I think it is an older model...!

 

[SchizTech]

I think, I might go pick up the BB $499 https/m.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-x555qa-15-6-lap... bring it home let him load his games etc., play around on it for a couple of days. If he feels it is better than the one he has now https/www.thesource.ca/en-ca/computers-and-tablets/la... then he can take it back!

Sounds fair enough. I just took a bit of time to browse reviews after you mentioned it. There are a couple of things that can be done to improve performance out of the box. First, uninstall whatever unnecessary junk the laptop was pre-installed with or even download a fresh Windows 10 image from https/www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/home and use the tool to create a flash drive installer, and perform a fresh installation of Windows

The biggest downer as far as specs that might cause it to underperform a bit relative to the other specs is the HDD. It's big enough at 1TB but a bit slow at 5400RPM. Note that while this would mostly hinder launch times but not have a great effect once a program or game is already running. It might feel a bit slower to browse Windows as a result but not hinder application performance greatly which depends mostly on the CPU, memory and sometimes (as with games), Graphics.

 

[SchizTech]

As to the one he suggested, the Intel integrated graphics is a step below AMD's integrated graphics. Since gaming is to be a use I generally looked at AMD units for that balance. The best gaming laptops feature a high end Intel CPU with a dedicated Nvidia or AMD graphics card - but as you saw earlier in the thread, are expensive.