I5 3317u v.s. A8 4500m/A10

[trevatheruiner1]

Im looking at getting laptop for around 500$

Im pretty much narrowed down to two choices, the main difference being the processor.

Ill be playing WoW, and doing basic computer functions such as web browsing and watching movies maybe.

looking at this (418$)ASUS K55N the the A8-4500M, 6gbRAM - http/www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-Black-15.6-K55N-RHA8N29-Laptop-PC-with-AMD-A8-4500M-Processor-and-Windows-8-Operating-System/22099547

and this(500$), with the i5-3317U and 4gbRAM
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310649

Any suggestions? I looked at alot of benchmark things. Looks like the i5 is clearly better, but i heard the AMD integrated graphics is alot better... Is it good enough to justify the A8-4500M? Or would the A10 compare to the i5-3317U ?

 

[whyso]

The a10 is about equal (slightly less) to a low grade sandy bridge i5. Since the Ivy bridge ULVs have about the same performance as a standard voltage sandy i5 (the i5-3317U is about 10-15% slower than the i5 -2410m). So the cpu is about equivalent to an a10. The a8 is slightly weaker so the ULV cpu will be slightly stronger (giving more emphasis to single thread performance here because most of what you will be doing is single thread). The a8 graphics are approximately equal to a hd 4000 from the non ULV line. the a8 graphics will be about 10-20% better than the hd 4000 in the 3317U. A10 graphics are much stronger.

I would personally recommend you go with an a10 (make sure it has 8 GB ram so it runs in dual channel mode and you get better gpu performance). The cpu will be approximately as strong, and the gpu will be quite a bit stronger (40-60%).

 

[trevatheruiner1]

Oh gotcha with the Dual channel. My only limitation is money, not looking to spend more than 500$ probably. Do you think i can find an a10 with 8gb for that price?

 

[trevatheruiner1]

Is it hard to install another 4gbRAM in a laptop? Most of the ones im looking at say they are expandable to 8gb, or have 2 slots

 

[flank2]

to keep the overall cost down and have 8gb's your best bet is to upgrade it yourself. It's very easy to do, most laptops have a removable access cover that allows you to remove your memory/hard drive/wireless card.

check out this deal at tigerdirect http/www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=4977874&sku=A180-156414 $380 after rebate and ~$40 if you wanna upgrade to 8gb of memory

EDIT: most laptops only come with 2 memory slots and max them out, ex. say your laptop comes with 4gb the oem will likely use 2x2gb memory chips... so if you want to upgrade to 8gb you'd need to buy 2x4gb sodimms

 

[trevatheruiner1]

yeah i saw that in the ad today. You think it would be best to get the a8 with 8gb .......or a10 with 4-6gbRAM?

 

[whyso]

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434

Comes with a 7670m which is better than any apu (hd 4000 or a10).

You can do dual graphics (which may or may not work depending on the game but its better than nothing).