Low budget (gaming) laptop. Need help choosing! Lenovo IdeaPad G780 vs Asus X75VC-TY010D

[tzu_wu]

Hello,
I've been looking for a laptop in the rage of 600$ and my searches narrowed down to these two options:

Lenovo IdeaPad G780 17.3"
CPU: Ivy Bridge 2020M@2.4 GHz
RAM: 4GB DDR3@1600 MHz, upgradeable to 8GB
HDD: 500GB @ 5400 RPM SATA II
GPU: nVIDIA GeForce GT 635M 2GB
PRICE: 634$
http/www.oktal.ro/laptop/lenovo-ideapad+g780+ivy+bridge+2020m+4gb+500b+nvidia+geforce+gt+635m+2gb+freedos+dark+brown-o93651.html

and

Asus X75VC-TY010D 17.3"
CPU: Sandy Bridge i3-2370M@2.4 GHz
RAM: 4GB DDR3@1333 MHz, upgradeable to 8GB
HDD: 500GB @ 5400 RPM SATA II
GPU: nVIDIA GeForce GT 720M 2 GB
PRICE: 625$
http/www.oktal.ro/laptop/asus-x75vc-ty010d+i3-2370m+4gb+500gb+nvidia+gt+720m+2gb+freedos-o94095.html

The Lenovo has a weaker CPU but a better GPU and the Asus has a better CPU but a weaker GPU, at least as far as I can tell by all the research I did.

The laptop will be mostly used by my gf for internet browsing, watching (hd) movies, excel work and other regular girly usage, but I will occasionally use it for playing games like Skyrim, Hitman Absolution, GTA 4, Grid 2, Arma 3, Assassins Creed 3, etc. Now, I'm not interested in playing those kind of games on high settings, low or medium will suffice.
Battery time is not important since it will be used mostly at home. I'm much more interested in the overall quality of the product, since we'll be using it for at least 4-5 years and I kind of want it to be a durable efficient machine.

Which one would fit my needs better?
Are there any other 17.3" options I should look at in the 600$ (500euro) price range?
As far as I know, Asus products are of a better quality when compared to Acer (not sure about Lenovo) and this is the reason I prefer a lower spec but a better quality.

Thank you!

 

[Prostar Computer]

I don't think you're going to get good frame rates in games as demanding as Skyrim - even on low settings. Performance is going to be comparable in games between the two laptops; the Asus will outperform the Lenovo by a bit in everyday tasks.

 

[tzu_wu]

I don't think you're going to get good frame rates in games as demanding as Skyrim - even on low settings. Performance is going to be comparable in games between the two laptops; the Asus will outperform the Lenovo by a bit in everyday tasks.

Thank you for your answer. I was hoping those laptops would do a better job at gaming than my old pc (Intel Core 2 Duo E8600@3.0GHz, nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS with 256 vRAM and 4GB DDR3 RAM). With this configuration I was able to run Skyrim on lowest settings @ some 20-30 fps, maybe because I have installed a cooler on the GPU, but still, it only has 256 memory compared with 2GB on those laptops.

 

[Prostar Computer]

Yeah, to be fair, vRAM plays less of a role in games than people presume. What's more important is clocks, shaders, etc.

Technical tirade aside, what will hold you back in either system in gaming is actually the CPU. The 635M is capable of decent frame rates for Skyrim, but Skyrim is optimized to take advantage of CPU resources quite a bit, so an i3 or Pentium is going to hurt your FPS.

All things considered, it will still be playable on either machine.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-635M.66964.0.html <- scroll to the bottom and find Skyrim. You can see FPS with different laptop configurations.

I hope that helps!

 

[John Connor3]

I don't think you're going to get good frame rates in games as demanding as Skyrim - even on low settings. Performance is going to be comparable in games between the two laptops; the Asus will outperform the Lenovo by a bit in everyday tasks.

im running a p500 which is crappier than the 780 i believe and skyrim plays jusr fine on low, no lag nothing