Looking for advice on budget laptop

aelien

Estimable
Sep 12, 2014
5
0
4,510
Hello,
I've decided to finally get a new laptop for school and to do some gaming on. I've been trying to figure out the best bang for my buck, and became overwhelmed by the conversations about AMD and Intel. As I understand it currently, Intel's hyperthreading and quicksync technologies make them a faster and more powerful, but more expensive choice. However, it makes it sound like AMD just won't handle much, or restrict you to lowest settings. All this talk about "benchmarks" is overwhelming. Frankly, I don't understand enough yet to know the impact of them or if it's even a perceptible difference.

My budget is ideally around $600. Currently I am looking at the HP Pavilion 15z model, upgraded to the AMD A10-5745 with 2GB Radeon R7 dedicated graphics. It comes stock with 6gb ram, but I can upgrade that.

Would this be decent for casual gaming, such as a few mmorpgs I find around the net, playing games like fallout3 on steam or day z? I'm open to suggestion with different laptops around the same price range. Thanks for any advice you guys and girls can offer.
 
Solution
Generally speaking from a processor performance point of view, Intel CPUs are more powerful than AMD APUs. However, for games as long as the CPU (or APU) does not bottleneck the GPU, then you should be fine. When playing games on a laptop with a budget it is better to choose a laptop with a weaker CPU and a stronger GPU than a laptop with a stronger CPU and a weaker GPU.

There are a few different dedicated Radeon R7 GPUs models for laptops. The M260 is the weakest; it's performance is a little better than the nVidia GT 640M LE and Radeon HD 8650m dedicated GPUs. It is weaker than the GT 640m / 730m and the Radeon HD 8690m.

AMD integrated GPUs and AMD dedicated GPUs can work together and it is known as "Dual Graphics". This will...

themaskofwraith

Distinguished
Apr 19, 2011
75
0
18,610
Where do you live?
and can u share the link for hp model?

assuming that you live in USA
i recommend you this
http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-572G-587W-15-6-Inch-Platinum/dp/B00K81O3PY/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-6

it has Gt840M it can run your games well
R7 m260 3dMark score 7,356 HP
Gt840M 3dMark score 10,165 Acer

Pros of Acer
1)40% high graphics power
2)intel CPU with 15W TDp, so more battery backup and more life span
3)8gb ram

pros of Hp:
1)good looks over acer one
2)750GB hdd over 500GB
 
Generally speaking from a processor performance point of view, Intel CPUs are more powerful than AMD APUs. However, for games as long as the CPU (or APU) does not bottleneck the GPU, then you should be fine. When playing games on a laptop with a budget it is better to choose a laptop with a weaker CPU and a stronger GPU than a laptop with a stronger CPU and a weaker GPU.

There are a few different dedicated Radeon R7 GPUs models for laptops. The M260 is the weakest; it's performance is a little better than the nVidia GT 640M LE and Radeon HD 8650m dedicated GPUs. It is weaker than the GT 640m / 730m and the Radeon HD 8690m.

AMD integrated GPUs and AMD dedicated GPUs can work together and it is known as "Dual Graphics". This will generally provide a little better performance than using the AMD dedicated GPU. However, there is a limitation...

"Dual Graphics" only works for DX10 and DX11 games. Playing any games that are DX9 or before will only use the integrated iGPU. The dedicated Radeon R7 will not be used and there is no way to force the laptop to the R7 instead of the integrated Radeon HD 8610G. Therefore, DX9 games like Skyrim will only use the iGPU.
 
Solution

aelien

Estimable
Sep 12, 2014
5
0
4,510
Thank you, that's some useful information. So, I should be looking for a laptop with a strong GPU, so long as it's not going to bottleneck at the CPU. I'll keep looking around for some better deals. The comparisons there really help as it gives me something to really look at.
 

themaskofwraith

Distinguished
Apr 19, 2011
75
0
18,610


always glad to help :)
 

aelien

Estimable
Sep 12, 2014
5
0
4,510
Okay, I've finally decided. Thanks for the suggestions and advice it's helped guide me in researching this. I ended up deciding on the HP 15z. I dug around on the internet quite a bit and eventually just landed on the conclusion that I like the HP plus the lack of a dvd drive was kind of a deal breaker on the Acer. I came across some youtube videos of people playing with this particular card/apu setup and it looks like it'll handle most things i want.

I read about AMD's Mantle project, though I'm not entirely sure how much that impacts the a10-5745m and r7 m260 setup, but it supposedly makes a difference on low-end apus if i understand correctly. I'm not going to go for the full hd 1080 lcd, because I doubt it'll be a HUGE difference and only make the CPU work harder than need be. This thing will probably see more class assignments than new and demanding game titles.

----update-------
Nevermind, I'm back in the market. I was blindsided by a "sale/promotion" end which spiked the price from $620 to $720. I was contented with the amd setup at $620, but I don't want to go $100 more for the same rig when I feel I can get more bang for my buck elsewhere. Am I retarded or does it seem like the laptop isn't really worth $720 given the other options like the Acer?