Need Help Finding the Best Bang for your Buck Laptop!

[jarblater]

Hi, and thanks for reading.

-I have a $400 dollar budget,

-screen resolution doesn't matter,

-but higher resolution is always better,

-I am replacing my XPS 1640 (Core 2 Duo P8600, Mobility Radeon HD 3670, 4 GB DDR3, 500 GB 5400 RPM, Windows 7) because I need higher performance, and I dropped it on the charger port so the battery no longer charges and when I tried to repair it I stripped one of the screws I needed to remove in order to be able to re-seat the charger port

-Battery life doesn't matter

-I will be playing games (Crysis 3, League of Legends, Star Craft 2: Heart of The Swarm, Bioshock: Infinite, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Planetside 2) in game settings don't matter as long as they are technically playable (35 FPS)

-I am considering buying from Xotic PC, TigerDirect and Newegg
--http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-business-government-laptops-ct-118_100_104.html
--http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=17&sel=Price%3BPrice5
--http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006740%20600165139%204019&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

-I plan to keep the laptop for as long as possible under optimistic circumstances, I will probably upgrade when I finish school in 2 years

-I have no preference over brands, manufacturers, etc. I just want the highest speed to price ratio I can possibly get

-I live in the United States

-If I can sell my current laptop I will not add what it sold for to my budget; I am studying my associate's degree right now and I am considering game development, I do not receive financial aid (yet), I am clumsy so the sturdier the better, I would prefer Windows 7 vs. 8

Thank you ahead of time for any answers, I appreciate all replies 😉
#Jarblater

 

[NCG-Sam]

Not much you can buy outright at that price range. May want to try www.nocompromisegaming.com

 

[JD88]

To be completely honest, you have no chance of playing any of those games listed at that price rang other than maybe League of Legends and WoW on low settings. Crysis 3 and Planetside 2 are completely out of the question.





The cheapest you could probably do it would be with the Lenovo Y400 or Y500 at $750.

The best I've found so far would be this :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310637

 

[jarblater]

After reading some reviews, I found out that the A8 4555 is the Bulldozer architecture, and the A8 4500 is Piledriver architecture with a better GPU.

I like your suggestion and I really appreciate it but I found this one right below it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230960

 

[jarblater]

Not much you can buy outright at that price range. May want to try www.nocompromisegaming.com

I submitted a quote request to NoCompromiseGaming, thanks for the pointer ;D!

 

[JD88]

After reading some reviews, I found out that the A8 4555 is the Bulldozer architecture, and the A8 4500 is Piledriver architecture with a better GPU.

I like your suggestion and I really appreciate it but I found this one right below it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230960

That's actually not true. The 4555m is also a Trinity APU based on Piledriver.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A8-4555M-Notebook-Processor.81873.0.html

The only difference is clock speed in this case. The one you listed is slightly faster, albeit a worse overall unit IMO.

If you could swing a little extra cash. This is a really solid deal:
http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/dell-inspiron-15r-core-i7-laptop/35236.aspx?config=43227

 

[jarblater]

After reading some reviews, I found out that the A8 4555 is the Bulldozer architecture, and the A8 4500 is Piledriver architecture with a better GPU.

I like your suggestion and I really appreciate it but I found this one right below it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230960

That's actually not true. The 4555m is also a Trinity APU based on Piledriver.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A8-4555M-Notebook-Processor.81873.0.html

The only difference is clock speed in this case. The one you listed is slightly faster, albeit a worse overall unit IMO.

If you could swing a little extra cash. This is a really solid deal:
http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/dell-inspiron-15r-core-i7-laptop/35236.aspx?config=43227

I wish I had a little extra on the budget otherwise I probably would get a much more decent system. I might be able to spare an extra $50, but any more than that and I'll have to use credit. (No big credit purchases for me until I'm out of school, maybe a game but not a laptop).

Is there anything out there (older systems) with give or take some equivalent to an i3 3220 and any DX11 discreet graphics? That's majorly what I'm trying to find.

Even a 4xx Geforce or a 5xxx ATI would be just fine compared to what I have now.

 

[jarblater]

I found a pretty good deal for a laptop with an A10 4600M! $439.00, free shipping, and no taxes! But, it's on Ebay! Here is the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Ideapad-Z585-A10-4600M-AMD-7660-6GB-750H-Win7-1-YR-Warranty-/221204807462?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3380d57f26

Would you guys trust this? It almost seems too good to be true.

 

[Brett928S2]

I found a pretty good deal for a laptop with an A10 4600M! $439.00, free shipping, and no taxes! But, it's on Ebay! Here is the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Ideapad-Z585-A10-4600M-AMD-7660-6GB-750H-Win7-1-YR-Warranty-/221204807462?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3380d57f26

Would you guys trust this? It almost seems too good to be true.

Hi

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole...its REFURBISHED 🙁

You NEED to increase your budget DRASTICALLY (think $1500 PLUS) for those games...or BUILD a GAMING PC...

All the best Brett

 

[jarblater]

I found a pretty good deal for a laptop with an A10 4600M! $439.00, free shipping, and no taxes! But, it's on Ebay! Here is the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Ideapad-Z585-A10-4600M-AMD-7660-6GB-750H-Win7-1-YR-Warranty-/221204807462?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3380d57f26

Would you guys trust this? It almost seems too good to be true.

Hi

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole...its REFURBISHED 🙁

You NEED to increase your budget DRASTICALLY (think $1500 PLUS) for those games...or BUILD a GAMING PC...

All the best Brett

Thanks for the reply

Why is it bad that it's refurbished?

I wish I could, but I can't increase my budget. So, I just need something that runs Skyrim and stuff like that, and I've seen some reviews of the A8 4500m playing Skyrim pretty smoothly, so I thought a step up to the A10 4600m would be relevant.

Also, I need something with mobility so I can do my homework wherever I am since I'm going back and forth between places. It's more for homework but I play games on my spare time, and I'm looking into programming. Basically I just need something that is more powerful than my current system, which has a P8600 and a Radeon HD 3670 in it.

(For me that fact that it can do at least 20 FPS on low settings is phenomenal!)

 

[Brett928S2]

I found a pretty good deal for a laptop with an A10 4600M! $439.00, free shipping, and no taxes! But, it's on Ebay! Here is the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Ideapad-Z585-A10-4600M-AMD-7660-6GB-750H-Win7-1-YR-Warranty-/221204807462?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3380d57f26

Would you guys trust this? It almost seems too good to be true.

Hi

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole...its REFURBISHED 🙁

You NEED to increase your budget DRASTICALLY (think $1500 PLUS) for those games...or BUILD a GAMING PC...

All the best Brett

Thanks for the reply

Why is it bad that it's refurbished?

I wish I could, but I can't increase my budget. So, I just need something that runs Skyrim and stuff like that, and I've seen some reviews of the A8 4500m playing Skyrim pretty smoothly, so I thought a step up to the A10 4600m would be relevant.

Also, I need something with mobility so I can do my homework wherever I am since I'm going back and forth between places. It's more for homework but I play games on my spare time, and I'm looking into programming. Basically I just need something that is more powerful than my current system, which has a P8600 and a Radeon HD 3670 in it.

(For me that fact that it can do at least 20 FPS on low settings is phenomenal!)

Hi

You NEED to THINK about WHY its refurbished,,,, something went drastically wrong with it and it was returned and repaired... 🙁

All the best Brett

 

[jarblater]

Well, this one on New Egg is $40 less,new, but it has the slower A8 4500m. Would you trust this one more?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230960

 

[Brett928S2]

Well, this one on New Egg is $40 less,new, but it has the slower A8 4500m. Would you trust this one more?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230960

Hi

NEW is ALWAYS better than a refurb.... imho...

All the best Brett