Is this laptop good?

[ntmhoang18]

hey guys, i'm gonna buy a new laptop this month, about 700usd for entertainment, internet surfing and playing casual game. but i don't know much about the cpu mobile platforms. Intel or AMD. here're two laptops, one is core i5 430m http/www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11539122&whse=BC&Ne=5000000+4000000&eCat=BC|84|56670&N=4017745%204294967277%205000107&Mo=7&No=4&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C, another is amd AMD Phenom N930 http/www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11539384&whse=BC&Ne=5000000+4000000&eCat=BC|84|56670&N=4017745%204294967277%205000107&Mo=7&No=1&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C, which is the best solution for me? Please help!!!

 

[necropolis]

The phenom is better as it is a Quad core compared to the I5 which is a duo core. Thus the AMD will process at almost 2x the speed other than that they are the exact same thing really.

 

[wa1]

I would say get the 2nd option, Phenom II X4 + ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Graphics is better than Core i5-430M + Integrated Intel HD Graphics (1st option).
Well, you could play games with better performance on HD4250 instead of Intel, not much but definitely better.

 

[lostandwandering]

Actually, they are both pretty close in terms of performance. The i5 has the higher clock speed + Turbo + HyperThreading. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile...004se=0&whetstone=1&wprime_1024=1&wprime_32=1

That being said, neither system will handle games that well. Integrated graphics are pretty weak, though the ATI solution i the second laptop is better. Since both processors are pretty similar, go for the second.

 

[ntmhoang18]

i've checked the mobile cpu benmark on some website and almost the better results were AMD Phenom.

 

[ntmhoang18]

here the pc world benmark, they said this laptop performance is under Core I3 330M, and the graphic performance is poor??? http/www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364554,00.asp

 

[lostandwandering]

here the pc world benmark, they said this laptop performance is under Core I3 330M, and the graphic performance is poor??? http/www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364554,00.asp

The benchmarks I linked and the one in the review are similar and are accurate. For productivity, the architecture of the i3, i5 and i7 processors is superior. In gaming though, it doesn't make much of a difference. However, the reason your HP system scored so low in gaming benchmarks is because it uses an Integrated Graphics Processor (the HD 4250). IGPs are NOT designed for games and should not be considered with that purpose in mind.

 

[$amurai]

I presume casual games means really casual, you're not going to get great performance out of an integrated graphics chip or a radeon 4250. But the radeon is better and the processors are about the same, so go for the second option.

 

[ntmhoang18]

Best answer selected by ntmhoang18.