HP 15-g163nr, AMD AMD Quad-Core A8-6410 APU, 8GB RAM, machine vs Toshiba Satellite L55-B5276 Intel® Core™ i5-4210U

[Tennisman555]

HP 15-g163nr, AMD AMD Quad-Core A8-6410 APU, 8GB RAM, machine vs Toshiba Satellite L55-B5276 Intel® Core™ i5-4210U

OK, Both have 8GB of RAM. 1TB HD, DVD burner. Main difference is the processor. Not using for gaming - mainly general use for my wife. The HP machine was $329 after rebate. The Toshiba machine was $449 after rebate. both from Staples.

Worth the additional $120 to go with the i5 over the A8?

I know the biggest advantage of the A8 is in gaming - we won't be doing any of that. Just general stuff. Mainly web surfing, MS Word, Excel, etc.

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[TheDualshock]

I would go with the AMD solution since it's that much cheaper and she won't be doing any intense tasks. You could use the saved up 120$ to put an SSD in there if desired.

 

[prospasta]

I just got the same HP but am now questioning my purchase, the processor speed and the HP brand, and wondering if I should look further for an Asus with an i5 and a touchscreen. Can't find the same specs in RAM or hd, or a DVD drive - they all have 4GB and 500 for at least $100 more.
Also have an Acer option.

Plan on using it for nothing heavy, basics, college student who is not a gamer, but rather video/music/youtube watcher, papers, Excel, etc. I'm worried about the HP reviews I now see online because he needs something reliable that won't crash and lose his school stuff.

 

[Tennisman555]

I would go with the AMD solution since it's that much cheaper and she won't be doing any intense tasks. You could use the saved up 120$ to put an SSD in there if desired.

Thanks! Great idea. Not sure I have the space to add SSD (or were you suggesting swapping out HD for SSD?)

 

[jaguarskx]

Actually for games the Toshiba with the Core i5-4210u and the integrated Intel HD 4400 is the better choice. Although the A8-6410 has 4 cores, they are rather weak in overall processing power compared to the dual core i5-4210u. The integrated Radeon R5 graphics core is almost equal to the Intel HD 4200 which means it is less powerful than the Intel HD 4400.

For general usage though the A8-6410 will be fine since none of the tasks you listed are processor intensive or graphically intensive.


As for the reliability of HP (or any brand name), it can be hit or miss depending on the specific model. I never had experience with an HP laptop. I have only owned an IBM ThinkPad (before IBM sold their division to Lenovo), a Lenovo IdeaPad and a Dell Latitude laptop. Never had any issues with my ThinkPad T41 other than the fact that the battery failed after 4 or 5 years of usage. My IdeaPad Y470 developed issues about 6 months after the warranty expired. First the battery capacity was cut in half almost over night. One day I was getting over 3.5 hours of battery life, the next day it was about 1.75 hours of battery life; but the battery is easily replaceable. Then the Geforce GT 550m graphics chip failed later on and caused the laptop to crash within 30 minutes regardless of what I was doing, even when left idling. The Dell Latitude 3540 will be a year old in January 2015, and I have had no problems with it thus far.

If you do a Google search on the phrase "consumer affairs bad reviews" and your choice of brand name, then you will come up with the number of "Top Complaints and Reviews...". For example:

Dell =2,354
HP = 251
Acer = 496
Lenovo = 351

 

[Tennisman555]

Thanks TheDualshock and Jaguarskx and everyone else. Great info. Think i will go with the HP machine. And TheDualShock - great idea using the extra money to put in an SSD. I expect you suggest I put it in the slot for the DVD drive. We likely won't do that because 1) my wife will hesitate to play with the system (my son put an SSD in his apple and it works great, and i am typing on a desktop machine set up with an SSD), and 2) one of the things my wife wants in the new machine is the CD/DVD drive, though no one needs these anymore.

This is a great site - thanks all for helping. Best, Mike

 

[WarsunGames]

Go with the AMD APU graphic can be pretty good.But for Toshiba they do not give many options in BIOS so you cannot change the memory capabilities.So you cant add more memory to graphics.But you can play good games on your system.install Graphics Driver 14.4 not the latest 14.12.it has issues.It is the best recommendation.