Ideal Portable Laptop (also for light Gaming)

[splice123]

I've got a friend that wishes to purchase a laptop for college that's both portable and can play some recent games, like Bioshock Infinite, on relatively decent settings.

We've already found this Asus http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230597 which is both relatively powerful and fits the budget constraints of around 1k.

Although, I believe there may be a better laptop for budget, though I'm not entirely sure what laptop could fit the criteria of being relatively light, inexpensive, and powerful enough to play games.

 

[splice123]

I've got a friend that wishes to purchase a laptop for college that's both portable and can play some recent games, like Bioshock Infinite, on relatively decent settings.

We've already found this Asus http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230597 which is both relatively powerful and fits the budget constraints of around 1k.

Although, I believe there may be a better laptop for budget, though I'm not entirely sure what laptop could fit the criteria of being relatively light, inexpensive, and powerful enough to play games.

A macbook pro. The quad core non retina is just under 1k. Though its not really that light sadly. It has a geforce 650 for good gaming. and fits the budget. though all laptops are built for portability so having it being light can sometimes be bad, as most light thin laptop dont have good gpus. ultrabooks arent designed for gaming.

I see what you mean with the Macbook pro, but I accidentally forgot to mention that the buyer wishes to nab a laptop with an i7 processor. The pro does have an i7 processor with one of their models, but it seems slightly on the expensive side.

I searched a little bit more and found this deal on Lenovo http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y500/ for their weekly deal, which seems pretty nice.

 

[Maxime506]

This babe could provide enough power though, if u don't mind its 5lbs weight.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152393

has i5-3230m CPU (i5 is decent enough for gaming) and GTX 660M GPU

And...performance and light weight won't pair together with a laptop.

 

[splice123]

Fantastic, thanks for the help! Good thing that laptop went on a drop down deal and all. Though, what perks does the i7 have compared to the i5?

 

[Prostar Computer]

A 635M should be able to handle Bioshock Infinite on Medium settings with good frame rates. You can get a much more capable system for that budget, though. MSI and Sager/Clevo have some well priced systems with a better GPU; MSI has the GX60-3AE-216US right at $1k with an AMD A10 (5750M) and a 7970M. If you're okay with having an AMD system, then the 7970M is very capable card.

P.S. Lenovos are great (agreed with IownaLAPTOP there), but there ARE differences between the i5 and i7. An i5 is perfectly suitable for gaming, still.

P.S.S.

3570k is as good as an 3770k...

Those are desktop processors, not mobile. i5 CPUs are fine but in benchmarks and synthetic tests, they really are not quite as good as their bigger brother CPU.

 

[splice123]

A 635M should be able to handle Bioshock Infinite on Medium settings with good frame rates. You can get a much more capable system for that budget, though. MSI and Sager/Clevo have some well priced systems with a better GPU; MSI has the GX60-3AE-216US right at $1k with an AMD A10 (5750M) and a 7970M. If you're okay with having an AMD system, then the 7970M is very capable card.

P.S. Lenovos are great (agreed with IownaLAPTOP there), but there ARE differences between the i5 and i7. An i5 is perfectly suitable for gaming, still.

P.S.S.

3570k is as good as an 3770k...

Those are desktop processors, not mobile. i5 CPUs are fine but in benchmarks and synthetic tests, they really are not quite as good as their bigger brother CPU.

Yea, and with due consideration to it being a mobile platform, I would have waited to see later developments this year or early next year in the entire processor fiasco to see if these prices would have dropped more, but it's not my call of course.

I am, on the other hand, a little bit iffy with AMD's processors, not so much their GPU's, but their processors. The core by core performance doesn't seem as powerful as a conventional Intel processor, as indicated by various benchmarks, though I can't discount the prices of the individual AMD processor, which is fairly inexpensive.

 

[splice123]

A 635M should be able to handle Bioshock Infinite on Medium settings with good frame rates. You can get a much more capable system for that budget, though. MSI and Sager/Clevo have some well priced systems with a better GPU; MSI has the GX60-3AE-216US right at $1k with an AMD A10 (5750M) and a 7970M. If you're okay with having an AMD system, then the 7970M is very capable card.

P.S. Lenovos are great (agreed with IownaLAPTOP there), but there ARE differences between the i5 and i7. An i5 is perfectly suitable for gaming, still.

P.S.S.

3570k is as good as an 3770k...

Those are desktop processors, not mobile. i5 CPUs are fine but in benchmarks and synthetic tests, they really are not quite as good as their bigger brother CPU.

Yea, and with due consideration to it being a mobile platform, I would have waited to see later developments this year or early next year in the entire processor fiasco to see if these prices would have dropped more, but it's not my call of course.

I am, on the other hand, a little bit iffy with AMD's processors, not so much their GPU's, but their processors. The core by core performance doesn't seem as powerful as a conventional Intel processor, as indicated by various benchmarks, though I can't discount the prices of the individual AMD processor, which is fairly inexpensive.

AMD CPU's are no doubt brilliant in certain aspects. Pricing, for one. And another is how powerful they are, they may not sound it because of that price tag. They certainly do a good job. They dont stack up against intel though. I see why you prefer Intel, and AMD is a good brand. They're partly stuck under intel because they have weak marketing i think. Thats why they're not as popular. But that by no means they're still a great brand.

Of course. I wouldn't consider AMD a bad brand by any measure. Although, if I were to choose a processor for a desktop or laptop between AMD and Intel, I'd usually go for an Intel branded one instead because of my familiarity with it.

 

[Prostar Computer]

Funny - while I stand by what I said about the 7970M being a good card, I have more faith in AMD's CPU/APUs than their GPUs.

I suppose as the maxim goes: you get what you pay for. Definitely agree that AMD APUs do not stack up against Intel microarchitecture these days. But! They're still reliable. Where AMD needs to improve most is their driver compatibility. They lost a lot of market penetration with laptops due to their Enduro problems.

Whichever you go with, I hope it serves you well.