i3 4000M + 840M vs i5 5200U + HD 5500

[jacknicholson]

Hi,

Apologies upfront, as I've noticed threads like this run rampant 'round these parts, however I couldn't quite find one that perfectly fit.

I've been looking around for a budget laptop and have narrowed my choices between two similarly priced items:

- An Acer, with an i3 4000M processor + GeForce 840M graphics

-A Lenovo, with an i5 5200U processor and integrated HD 5500 graphics

Now these are obviously both fairly weak specs, but I'm wondering which one you'd think would provide both an all-around better performance as well as some light gaming (maybe some older titles like GTA IV on low settings). Does the Acer's discrete 840M graphics (and i3 4000M) automatically trump the Lenovo's newer Broadwell i5 5200U / HD 5500 chip in every way?

Thanks all!

 

[gskill support]

That's a tough choice.. you really don't want to i3 for gaming, but you don't want that HD 5500 either. I suggest waiting for a deal with a better CPU GPU combo.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Core i3-4000m will be fine. It is clocked at 2.4GHz whereas the Core i5-5200u has a base clockspeed of 2.2GHz and max turbo boost speed of 2.7GHz.

The 840m is much more powerful than the intel HD 5500 so it will give you much better gaming performance.