LaptopNinja- best gaming laptop for under $500?

[Garbo86]

https/laptopninja.io/finding-the-best-gaming-laptops-under-500-dollars/

Which of the laptops in this list do you think would be the best for gaming? I was eyeing the Acer Aspire E5-571G-38VF ($499.99):

Intel Pentium N3540 Quad-Core 2.16 GHz Processor (2 MB Cache)
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
1 TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
14-Inch Screen, NVIDIA GeForce 820M

and the HP Pavilion 17-E0 17-inch Laptop ($493):

AMD Elite Quad-Core A8-5550M Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon HD 8550G graphics [VIEW FRAMERATES]
17-inch diagonal HD+ BrightView LED-backlit display (1600 x 900)
4GB DDR3 Memory / 750GB Hard Drive / 1 Headphone-out/microphone-in combo jack

I'm trying to get a gaming laptop for under $500. It's a secondary machine, so storage isn't a big priority- I'm just trying to eke out as much gaming power as possible.

I'm comparing these to this inspiron 15 i15547-5033sLV Signature Edition ($434),
which I would be able to pick up for $434 because a friend accidentally spammed the 'place order' button and purchased multiples:

Intel Core i5-4210U
8GB memory/1TB HDD

http/www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Dell-Inspiron-15-i15547-5033sLV-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.308795000

Also, have I chosen a stupid price point? I'm wondering if I will get a much larger amount of gaming power if I went for something like this Acer Aspire V3-572-54S6 ($589):

Intel® CoreTM i5-4210U processor (1.7GHz/2.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
8GB DDR3L memory
1TB hard drive
15.6? HD widescreen CineCrystalTM display (1366 x 768)
NVIDIA® GeForce® 840M w/ 2GB DDR3 VRAM

https/laptopninja.io/finding-the-best-gaming-laptops-under-1000-dollars/

I'm just having a tricky time deciding because I can't tell which part would bottleneck what other part (ie do I want a dedicated GPU but only 4G ram or a integrated graphics with 8G ram?). Thanks.

 

[bootcher]

A $500 dollar laptop is not really a gaming laptop. A decent gaming laptop will start at around $1000,-.
For $500 I would consider buying a refurbished/2nd hand gaming laptop. If you must buy a new one, I suggest getting one with either a dedicated garphics card, or an AMD integrated graphics, the intel integrated graphics are lousy performers.

 

[jaguarskx]

It is worth pushing your budget to $589 to buy the Acer Aspire V3-572-54S6 if you can. The nVidia GT 840m is a lot more powerful than the GT 820m, though it is not what most gamers would consider a "gaming GPU". The GPU in a laptop cannot be upgraded with the exception of specific gaming laptop models that generally costs at least $1,400+ which have higher end removable GPUs that probably costs at least $300.

The more powerful the GPU the longer it can be used to play games before you feel that it's performance is no longer good enough and you start looking for a new laptop. So getting the laptop with the GT 840m instead of the GT 820m could mean you may postpone replacing the laptop by a year or two. The higher your expectations, the sooner you will want a newer laptop with a more powerful GPU.

 

[Garbo86]

Thanks, jaguarskx. What RAM/CPU would you pair with the 840m to avoid bottlenecking?

 

[jaguarskx]

The i5-4210u is perfectly fine for the GT 840m since it is not a particularly powerful GPU, but it provides decent performance in your price range.

8GB of RAM is fine you do not need any more than that for games.