Is this a good budget laptop?

[scerab]

Hello,
I am looking at this laptop and wanted to see what the community thinks of this laptop.
Here is a link to the laptop. It is on sale for $250.

http/

I dont know when was this laptop released, how old is the AMD A9 9410 processor, or which generation is the R5 Radeon graphics card?
I did check the laptop out in the shop and in the Radeon settings, I saw that DDR4 is the type of memory and 80 MB is the size. Can it only be 80? Isn't that very low?
The windows is 10 (64) bit. Would 32 be better?
I want this laptop for some gaming and average use. I play Rome total war 2, Attila total war, Europa universities 4 and civilization 5. Can this support civilization 6?
Thanks.

 

[MikeLevin]

There is no way you can buy good laptop for $250, I spent around $1000 couple years ago for good notebook and it really worth that money. However you should find what for you need this lap top first

 

[scerab]

There is no way you can buy good laptop for $250, I spent around $1000 couple years ago for good notebook and it really worth that money. However you should find what for you need this lap top first

Thank you for your reply. Well the laptop is on sale. Before and after the sale it retails for $400. I know that it's not top of the line. But can I comfortably play on it the games I mentioned above?
Sorry I did not understand your last sentence.

 

[jaguarskx]

It is a recent laptop. The A9-9410 is more or less about the equal to a 5th generation Core i3 CPU. The Radeon R5 (Stoney Ridge) integrated GPU is considered to between the performance of an Intel HD 620 and nVida 920m. For $400 it is actually not bad performance for a budget laptop so for $250 it is actually a good deal.

I recommend you upgrade the 4GB of RAM to 8GB of RAM. With two sticks of RAM, the RAM will be operating at full speed rather than half speed with only one stick of RAM. That can generally improve integrated GPU performance by around 10% - 15%; but that depends on the specific game. Also, the 4GB is going to be used by the hardware itself, Windows 10, the game and integrated graphics. 4GB of RAM is basically not enough if you want to play games.

You want to Windows 10 64-bit. A 32-bit OS limits the usable RAM to about 3.4GB; the laptop's hardware generally needs around 0.6GB of RAM.

Civ 6 is rather demanding for integrated graphics. Best guess on minimum settings and assuming you install a 2nd stick of 4GB RAM you are probably looking at around 25 FPS.

 

[scerab]

It is a recent laptop. The A9-9410 is more or less about the equal to a 5th generation Core i3 CPU. The Radeon R5 (Stoney Ridge) integrated GPU is considered to between the performance of an Intel HD 620 and nVida 920m. For $400 it is actually not bad performance for a budget laptop so for $250 it is actually a good deal.

I recommend you upgrade the 4GB of RAM to 8GB of RAM. With two sticks of RAM, the RAM will be operating at full speed rather than half speed with only one stick of RAM. That can generally improve integrated GPU performance by around 10% - 15%; but that depends on the specific game. Also, the 4GB is going to be used by the hardware itself, Windows 10, the game and integrated graphics. 4GB of RAM is basically not enough if you want to play games.

You want to Windows 10 64-bit. A 32-bit OS limits the usable RAM to about 3.4GB; the laptop's hardware generally needs around 0.6GB of RAM.

Civ 6 is rather demanding for integrated graphics. Best guess on minimum settings and assuming you install a 2nd stick of 4GB RAM you are probably looking at around 25 FPS.

Thank you so much jaguarskx!
I like your suggestion of doubling the RAM.
You sure it possible?

 

[jaguarskx]

I can't find any information about how many RAM slots there are. It is possible that there is only one. The only way to find out is to buy it and open it up to check. If there is only one RAM slot, then I recommend you replace the 4GB of RAM with a stick of 8GB DDR4 RAM when you have the money.

 

[scerab]

I can't find any information about how many RAM slots there are. It is possible that there is only one. The only way to find out is to buy it and open it up to check. If there is only one RAM slot, then I recommend you replace the 4GB of RAM with a stick of 8GB DDR4 RAM when you have the money.

Any clue if this will void the warranty?
Is this one of those things that I can watch a YouTube video and do it lol? Or do I need a professional?
How much you think the RAM will cost?
Thank you so much

 

[jaguarskx]

Removing the bottom cover should not void the warranty unless for whatever reason HP decides to put "void warranty" stickers on the screws you need to loosen to remove the cover.... which would be unheard of. The following is a generic guide on how to remove RAM (if necessary) and install RAM. Hopefully the RAM in that laptop you want to buy is not soldered into the motherboard.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-lrI3Kswrs


4GB DDR4 RAM = $32
https/www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-PC4-17000-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B015HQ9TGW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1490740957&sr=8-3&keywords=8gb+ddr4+sodimm


8GB DDR4 RAM = $57
https/www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-PC4-17000-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B015HQ9TGW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1490740957&sr=8-3&keywords=8gb+ddr4+sodimm

 

[scerab]

Removing the bottom cover should not void the warranty unless for whatever reason HP decides to put "void warranty" stickers on the screws you need to loosen to remove the cover.... which would be unheard of. The following is a generic guide on how to remove RAM (if necessary) and install RAM. Hopefully the RAM in that laptop you want to buy is not soldered into the motherboard.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-lrI3Kswrs


4GB DDR4 RAM = $32
https/www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-PC4-17000-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B015HQ9TGW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1490740957&sr=8-3&keywords=8gb+ddr4+sodimm


8GB DDR4 RAM = $57
https/www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-PC4-17000-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B015HQ9TGW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1490740957&sr=8-3&keywords=8gb+ddr4+sodimm

I read the manual for the laptop. Here is a link,

http/

Here is the section about the RAM

Two non-customer-accessible/non-upgradable memory module slots DDR4-1866 dual channel support (DDR4-2400 bridge to DDR4-2133, and DDR4-2133 downgrade to DDR4-1866)

Supports up to 16 GB of system RAM in the following conƭgurations
● 16384-MB total system memory (8192×2)
● 12288-MB total system memory (8192×1) + (4096×1)
● 8192-MB total system memory (8192×1) or (4096×2)
● 6144-MB total system memory (4096×1) + (2048×1)
● 4096-MB total system memory (4096×1)

I guess this means I do have an empty slot of RAM. Can I add an 8 GB to it? Making the total RAM 12 GB?
The RAM chips you recommend are still suitable, right?
Thanks

 

[Guest]

Meanwhile in my country they sell tracpad laptops, yay!!! Jk yeah that laptop is good enough.

 

[scerab]

So what would you recommend?
Adding one 4 GB or one 8 GB chip of RAM?
I remember reading that two 4 GB RAM chips work better together. But I am not sure.
If adding a 4 Gb would imporve gaming by 10-15%, would the 8 GB improve it by a lot more? Just trying to see if it's worth it.
Thanks

 

[jaguarskx]

Here is the section about the RAM

Two non-customer-accessible/non-upgradable memory module slots DDR4-1866 dual channel support (DDR4-2400 bridge to DDR4-2133, and DDR4-2133 downgrade to DDR4-1866)

Supports up to 16 GB of system RAM in the following conƭgurations
● 16384-MB total system memory (8192×2)
● 12288-MB total system memory (8192×1) + (4096×1)
● 8192-MB total system memory (8192×1) or (4096×2)
● 6144-MB total system memory (4096×1) + (2048×1)
● 4096-MB total system memory (4096×1)

I guess this means I do have an empty slot of RAM. Can I add an 8 GB to it? Making the total RAM 12 GB?
The RAM chips you recommend are still suitable, right?
Thanks

No, you cannot install RAM in the laptop. It states "Two non-customer-assessible/non-upgradable memory slots". That basically implies the RAM is soldered into the motherboard. Therefore, you will be stuck with however much RAM is pre-installed in the laptop. You can play games with 4GB of RAM, but the limited amount of RAM means Windows will be swapping data back and forth between the hard drive and RAM as the amount of available RAM decreases for Windows, the game, other programs / processes running in the background and integrated graphics. This means there will be a bit of a performance hit because it takes time to write to / read from the hard drive.

When it comes to RAM there are three things to keep in mind:

#1 - Single Channel - 1 Stick of RAM = The RAM runs at half the full potential speed.

#2 - Dual Channel - 2 Sticks of RAM = The RAM will run at full speed. This can improve integrated graphics performance by 10% - 15% depending on the game compared to single channel.

#3 - The amount of RAM = Generally speaking, 4GB of RAM is bare minimum because games can use a lot RAM (depending on the game). 8GB of RAM is ecommended for reasons mentioned above. Two sticks of 4GB RAM for a total of 8GB provides better integrated graphics performance compared to 1 stick of 8GB of RAM.