I bought a new Acer Laptop off Newegg a few days ago. Today I noticed there was a new version of it. What should I do?

[Salzeda]

So, a few days ago I bought this:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315062

Because it looked like a great deal for the money.

A few days later, when it arrived, I checked online to make sure I got the correct item.

I noticed then that there was a link on that page to a "newer version" of the laptop:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315065

It looks like this new version has Windows 10, twice the VRAM, faster WLAN, lighter weight, a much higher screen resolution, and a slower-but-more-modern CPU.

It's also quite cheaper by $70.

Here's a direct link to a comparison page: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=Acer%20Laptop%20Aspire%20E5-573G&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1|34-315-062^34-315-062%2C34-315-065^34-315-065&percm=34-315-065%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

So, now I'm torn. Do I stick with the laptop I just bought and received? Or return for a full refund and get the newer version?

Help would be so great!

 

[TechyInAZ]

Tough indeed, if you do anything CPU intensive then stick with your laptop, if not then I personally would do the swap.

 

[Salzeda]

Tough indeed, if you do anything CPU intensive then stick with your laptop, if not then I personally would do the swap.

What would qualify as being CPU-intensive? There aren't any special applications I plan on using. Just web browsers, video players, and Steam for light gaming.

 

[jaguarskx]

The amount of VRAM actually does not make a difference when it comes to playing games. The nVidia 940m is not that powerful of a GPU and DDR3 VRAM is pretty slow compared to DDR5. 4GB of VRAM is great if the GPU itself was powerful enough to use that much and if it was DDR5 so that you can make use of ultra high graphics quality at 1080p resolution. The 940m is not powerful enough to play most games 1080p to begin with unless they are older games and are not very demanding. LoL is an example of a game that is not very graphically intensive so it should be possible to get 60 FPS at 1080p with very high graphic settings.

The dual core i5-5200u CPU is generally fine for most games especially if they are considered "light". Most games still only use two cores in a CPU, but there are some AAA or "big" games that can get better performance with a quad core CPU. The i5-5200u uses less power than the i7-4712MQ so it can provide you with better battery life and is less prone to overheating.

The new laptop with the Core i5 CPU has a 1080p screen which for me is a big plus because that means I can see more things on the screen at once due to the higher resolution when I am not playing games. Of course that resolution might be too high to get acceptable performance in certain games so you need to either lower the resolution, lower the graphic settings or both. When playing games at a lower resolution and stretching it to fill the screen the graphics will not be as sharp as if you were to use the max resolution. But if you have ever played consoled games, then you have already experienced this before.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 (and the older generations) rendered games at 720p then stretched it to 1080p on a HDTV. This stretching still happens with the XBox One and PS4. XBone has more games that are rendered at lower than 1080p resolution then stretched to fill a 1080p screen since it has weaker hardware specs compared to the PS4.

 

[Salzeda]

The amount of VRAM actually does not make a difference when it comes to playing games. The nVidia 940m is not that powerful of a GPU and DDR3 VRAM is pretty slow compared to DDR5. 4GB of VRAM is great if the GPU itself was powerful enough to use that much and if it was DDR5 so that you can make use of ultra high graphics quality at 1080p resolution. The 940m is not powerful enough to play most games 1080p to begin with unless they are older games and are not very demanding. LoL is an example of a game that is not very graphically intensive so it should be possible to get 60 FPS at 1080p with very high graphic settings.

The dual core i5-5200u CPU is generally fine for most games especially if they are considered "light". Most games still only use two cores in a CPU, but there are some AAA or "big" games that can get better performance with a quad core CPU. The i5-5200u uses less power than the i7-4712MQ so it can provide you with better battery life and is less prone to overheating.

The new laptop with the Core i5 CPU has a 1080p screen which for me is a big plus because that means I can see more things on the screen at once due to the higher resolution when I am not playing games. Of course that resolution might be too high to get acceptable performance in certain games so you need to either lower the resolution, lower the graphic settings or both. When playing games at a lower resolution and stretching it to fill the screen the graphics will not be as sharp as if you were to use the max resolution. But if you have ever played consoled games, then you have already experienced this before.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 (and the older generations) rendered games at 720p then stretched it to 1080p on a HDTV. This stretching still happens with the XBox One and PS4. XBone has more games that are rendered at lower than 1080p resolution then stretched to fill a 1080p screen since it has weaker hardware specs compared to the PS4.

Yeah, it's the increased screen resolution that really piques my interest because it just generally makes everything look better. That, and it's $70 cheaper which is nice for a college student trying to mitigate expenses.

And believe me I don't plan on using this thing for heavy gaming. I have a beefy desktop PC for that sort of thing. Mostly casual games like Hearthsone, or old-school RPGs like Fallout, Diablo 2, etc. I'm sure the 940M can handle games like that.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, the 940m and the i5-5200u will be fine for games like Hearthstone, Fallout 3 and Diablo 2.

There are potential issues with Fallout 3 and Win 10. So just be aware of that. The link below describes one possible solution.. at least it worked for the poster. I am in the middle of replaying FO3 and I don't want to be bothered with potentially breaking the game.

http/forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=36118577

 

[Salzeda]

Yeah, the 940m and the i5-5200u will be fine for games like Hearthstone, Fallout 3 and Diablo 2.

There are potential issues with Fallout 3 and Win 10. So just be aware of that. The link below describes one possible solution.. at least it worked for the poster. I am in the middle of replaying FO3 and I don't want to be bothered with potentially breaking the game.

http/forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=36118577

Okay, good to know. Thanks for the input!