Laptop for $300

[flamefire999]

I already have a nice desktop but I travel quite a bit and like to go to peoples houses. I don't wanna lug my desktop to someones house so I decided to get a cheap laptop. I found this laptop: http://www.amazon.com/15-6-Inch-Dual-Core-2-16GHz-Laptop-500GB/dp/B00L49X8E6/ref=dp_ob_title_ce . Will it be able to play LoL and Minecraft and minimum settings?

 

[sparestuff]

Yeah should be fine for those games, if a macbook pro which I have can run LoL at med/high settings and minecraft at med/high settings that computer can too.

 

[Mike Friesen]

Yes, but barely. The celeron is an intel atom based part with only 4 eu's. It'll push only ~20 to 35 fps in minecraft, and it'll do slightly better in lol.

Edit: those two were used. Sorry.

Actually, if you don't mind giving your money to best buy, things are cheaper there.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-laptop-intel-celeron-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/7288011.p?id=1219262036899&skuId=7288011&st=categoryid$pcmcat247400050000&cp=1&lp=3

Well, it seems like this is actually the best deal, sorry for so many long links. Not sure how toshiba's are, but they're leaving the consumer laptop market and I think their laptops are cheaper because of it.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba-satellite-15-6-laptop-amd-a6-series-4gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-jet-black/7352007.p?id=1219265947913&skuId=7352007&st=categoryid$pcmcat247400050000&cp=2&lp=9

 

[flamefire999]

I refuse to use toshiba's. I've had 2 of their lower end laptops and they both had hard drive and motherboard issues within 3 months of use. I still had the warranty so I got it fixed and then sold it. That's how I got to this point. Trying to find a cheap laptop is tough :/ . And that's all the FPS I need. I won't be doing any hardcore gaming, I just don't want to be left out. I don't care if it plays at 10 or 15 FPS sometimes. This is the best one I've found in 2 weeks of looking.

 

[jaguarskx]

Do you mind purchasing a used laptop from eBay that has a 2 year warranty? I found the following Dell 15.6" Inspiron 3000 for $300 + free shipping. It has a Core i3 CPU which I assume is the Core i3-4030u that is pretty common for the laptop model (probably the only CPU "choice"). That means it has the Intel HD 4400 graphics core.

The Intel HD 4400 is actually not too bad considering it is an Intel graphics core. You will not have a problem playing Minecraft at 1366x768 resolution.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Inspiron-3000-15-6-Including-2-year-Drop-Spill-Protection-Plan-/111496292175?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item19f5b2674f


Here's is video of someone playing Minecraft on a Sony VIAO Duo 13. Granted it has a Core i5 CPU (probably the i5-4200u), but it still has the Intel HD 4400. Additionally, the game is being played at 1920x1080 resolution so it is much more stressful than 1366x768. He also demos WOW with it, but he does not recommend playing WOW with the Intel HD 4400.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQjfTzpqG90


Here's is a link to someone demoing LoL on the Surface Pro 2 with the Core i5-4200u. Gameplay is at 1920x1080. Click "Show More" to see other games the person played on his Surface Pro 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOBeiNhVnA


If the Core i5-4200u can play games decently with the Intel HD 4400 at 1920x1080, then a Core i3-4030u with the Intel HD 4400 should not have much problems playing games at 1366x768.

 

[jaguarskx]

I have tested the HD 4400 on my Dell Latitude 3540 with Star Trek Online, Mass Effect 3, and a little bit of Skyrim. The laptop has a Core i5-4200u and a Radeon HD 8850m, but I disabled the Radeon and I also disabled speedstep so that the CPU only maxes out at 1.6GHz instead of 2.6GHz.

Playing those games at 1920x1080 was not really very good. However, Star Trek Online plays fine at 1600x900 resolution with a mix of low and medium graphic settings (mostly low though). I had no problems with Mass Effect 3 at 1600x900 resolution except for a bit of mouse lag with a wireless mouse. I forgot how to fix that issue off the top of my head since I got that before on a different laptop so I just plugged wired mouse. Skyrim plays best at 1366x768 resolution with low graphic settings, but I am sure if I modded the game with lower resolution textures and other performance enhancing mods I can make it playable at 1600x900 resolution.

 

[flamefire999]

I was hoping to get a new computer. I'm not sure if I mentioned this but I will only be playing Minecraft and a little LoL. Those aren't very intensive games. I really liked this laptop because of how light it is. I want to be able to slip this into my backpack and go places for a few days without having to use my iPhone as my main computer. I also want to play games with friends. I won't be using this much as I have a desktop so that's why I was going with the cheapest one I could. I might also play a little GMod but that's with almost no add-ons.