laptop and minecraft

[milkman5306]

I know this has been asked before but the links in the answers are mostly no good cause stock and availability are moving targets for laptops.
That said I have a 12 year old who is trying to play mine craft on a laptop that is probably 6 years old or so. Its a cmpaq with a celeron processor. He can at least login and kind of play but he says I basically sucks.
I wanna buy him something that is playable. Trying to stay 400 or under. For now all he does is play the one game I am figuring technology will advance faster than he desire for higher quality needed games so maybe in another couple years the budget and need will both go up. (That makes sense to me hopefully to anyone reading this also)

Here are a couple I have been looking at. I am not opposed to new or refurbished local or online. Kinda wanna stay laptop not desktop cause at times he and his buddies all gather at one house and play together, or so he claims. Kinda looking for a ok, steer clear , or check this one out. I know aminor bit about computers but most of what I know is outdated and probably not helpful.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216419

http/m.tigerdirect.com/products/8549133

http/m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=2854029&pid=1219079079760&ev=prodView

http/m.tigerdirect.com/products/7708021

 

[photonboy]

It's the GPU part that you need to concentrate on, for example many of the Intel models just use the integrated Intel GPU. For that, the best value would likely be a good APU (CPU and GPU) based model.

I'll see what's available.

 

[milkman5306]

Or how about these two
http/m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=2287004&pid=1219071221794&ev=prodView

This one last one is open box for $350
http/m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=2267869&pid=1219070764190&pcatId=abcat0502000

 

[photonboy]

I really couldn't find anything suitable below $400. I first looked at THIS:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312828

but this video said the APU wasn't really good enough (A6-5200):
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsKrUVnKLwk

If we get a better CPU then we get WORSE graphics. Minecraft may seem like it should run great on low-end hardware but that doesn't appear to be the case.

You can use the A6-5200 APU as the "not quite good enough" mark but I don't think you'll have much luck at $400 and below.

 

[photonboy]

The HP you linked with the A8-5500M is probably the best you'll find below $400.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Intel HD 4600 graphics core actually performs better than the Radeon HD 8550g. The following link provides ranking of mobile graphic cores / cards / chip based on performance benchmark or specs if there are no benchmarks.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

The Intel HD 4600 is ranked #203 while the Radeon HD 8550g is ranked #227. However, depending on which CPU or APU that is being compared the performance can actually be a bit different. For example, all Haswell generation Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs has the Intel HD 4600. They have slightly different clockspeed depending on the CPU model. Also the number of cores can also have an affect on the performance as well. All i3/i5 CPUs are dual core; some i7 CPUs are dual core while others are quad core (MQ, HQ, MX models). In a game like Crysis 3 the Intel HD 4600 will do better with a quad core CPU than a dual CPU since the game can take advantage of 4 cores. Clockspeed also has an affect as well. If the Core i3/i5/i7 CPU only runs at 1.7GHz, then the Intel HD 4600 would generally be lower compared to a Core i3/i5/i7 CPU running at 2.8GHz.

The performance of the Radeon HD 8550g is based on specs alone and the older graphics core it replaces. There are no actual benchmarks. That means it rank of #227 can change once there are actual benchmark results. I believe there are different APU models that has the Radeon HD 8550g graphics core. That means performance can vary with the clockspeed of the specific APU model as well.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html


It looks like for now the 17.3" HP Pavilion from Bestbuy with Core i3-4000m CPU is the best choice.

http/m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp;jsessionid=E5A1A1760F3A60AE622004D27331D9C7.bbmdotp-app31-117?skuId=2854029&pid=1219079079760

 

[jaguarskx]

Below is a link to a review of the less powerful Intel HD 4400 running Minecraft and WoW on a Sony Vaio Duo 13 with a i5-4200u CPU. The CPU has a base clockspeed of 1.6GHz, but Turbo Boost can increase it to 2.6GHz when only one core is being used. The games are demonstrated at 1920x1080 resolution.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQjfTzpqG90&noredirect=1

 

[photonboy]

IntelHD vs AMD APU:

In my experience, at the same cost a laptop with an APU is better than Intel HD graphics for games. I'm not sure the ranking you listed is a good guide.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to find a reliable ranking of gameplay either.

Here's a video of DOTA 2 running on a laptop with the A8-5550M APU. He got 60FPS during gameplay while not recording.
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLSOJcdwv0M

The A8-5550M is also compatible with the Mantle API which might prove a big deal for some games in the future. BF4 will use it (update may be this month) and I know of at least three other games in development. I do think it will succeed, but slowly.

 

[jaguarskx]

IntelHD vs AMD APU:

In my experience, at the same cost a laptop with an APU is better than Intel HD graphics for games. I'm not sure the ranking you listed is a good guide.

It's the only guide available. Notebookcheck is basically the only site the does extensive benchmarks on mobile graphic solutions.

The ranking for Richland generation APUs are only based on specs though since they have not don't any benchmarks yet. However, there are benchmarks for the Intel HD 4600 and AMD's former top dog APU integrated graphics core; the Radeon HD 7660D from the Trinity generation APU.

Looking back at my original post I realize that was not the link I wanted to provide since it only has synthetic benchmarks. The link below has actual game benchmarks.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

 

[jaguarskx]

The Intel HD 4600 is ranked #203, the Radeon HD 7660G is ranked #208. The link below shows the game benchmarks for those two iGPUs.

Notebookcheck: Intel HD 4600 vs. Radeon HD 7660G

 

[jaguarskx]

Since the main concern is Minecraft, the link below is a video gaming review of the Sony Vaio Duo 13 with a low voltage Core i5 and an integrated Intel HD 4400 (less powerful than the Intel HD 4600). The video shows gameplay at 1920x1080 resolution. World of Warcraft is also demonstrated as well at 1920x1080, but that game is more graphics intensive than Minecraft.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQjfTzpqG90&noredirect=1