Please help suggest 15" laptops!

[PandaRoll]

I tried posting on reddit but my post kept getting buried so I have decided to post on laptop forums instead

Aside from the basic uses, I do some light gaming and I plan to use the laptop to do simple comic panelling. I will draw and color on my phablet then send pics to the laptop to resize and panel the strips. I play games like l4d2 (and l4d3 when it releases!) and dota so it'll be great if it can at least run those games nicely on medium settings!

My budget is about $450 and I'm hoping to use the laptop for uni (4 years or more if possible). A good battery life will be much appreciated. I'd like a laptop with a nice sound system too if it isn't too much.

The guy at an asus store recommended me the Asus x455l, and I've been looking at the lenovo ideapad 510 15" as well as some other asus laptops however the ones that I like are over the budget. BUT then again I know little to nothing about laptops! Please help I need to get one ASAP. I will be buying from Malaysia hence the low ass budget, our currency sucks. x_x

 

[jaguarskx]

The Lenovo IdeaPad 510 should be good enough since it has a 7th generation core i5-7200u CPU and Intel HD 620 graphics core. You unlikely to find a new laptop with a dedicated GPU for the equivalent of $450 USD... even in the US.

L4D2 uses Valve's Source Engine so it is not very demanding. I suppose playing that game at 1080p resolution with medium quality graphics should be possible.

You can click the following link for some benchmarks for the Intel HD 620.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-620.172256.0.html

 

[PandaRoll]

The Lenovo IdeaPad 510 should be good enough since it has a 7th generation core i5-7200u CPU and Intel HD 620 graphics core. You unlikely to find a new laptop with a dedicated GPU for the equivalent of $450 USD... even in the US.

L4D2 uses Valve's Source Engine so it is not very demanding. I suppose playing that game at 1080p resolution with medium quality graphics should be possible.

You can click the following link for some benchmarks for the Intel HD 620.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-620.172256.0.html

Thanks for replying! What about the Asus X455L? How does that compare to the Lenovo ideapad?

I definitely want the best specs for my money so are there any better options?

 

[jaguarskx]

I had trouble finding the Asus X455L... I suppose it is because it is only available in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. It uses an older 5th generation Core i3-5005u CPU which is not as powerful as the Core i5-7200u because it only has a max clockspeed of 2.0GHz vs 3.1GHz. The newer CPU's design also means its performance at the same clockspeed would be slightly better.

On the other hand the nVidia 920m is a little more powerful than the Intel HD 620. You can click the following link that compares the average performance of the two based on benchmarks from several different laptops from Notebookcheck.net. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

#1 - Laptops are tested with either a Core i5 or i7 CPU. Therefore, benchmarks for the nVidia 920m can be lower with a Core i3-5005u because the clockspeed is limited to 2.0GHz.

#2 - Laptops with the Intel HD 620 are tested with two sticks of RAM whether it could be 2x 4GB sticks of RAM or 2x 8GB sticks of RAM. When there is just one stick of RAM installed it runs at half speed. When two sticks of RAM is installed they will run at full speed which can give a 10% - 15% performance increase vs. one stick of RAM. But that varies depending on the game.


http/tinyurl.com/ha9kqto


It's a tough call when it comes to games. A laptop with a Core i3-5005u and nVidia 920m might perform equal to or slightly better than a laptop with a Core i5-7200u, the integrated Intel HD 620 and two sticks of RAM.

For other things besides games which are CPU intensive like batch processing image files or editing video, the Lenovo laptop with the Core i5-7200u will definitely provide better performance.

 

[PandaRoll]

I had trouble finding the Asus X455L... I suppose it is because it is only available in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. It uses an older 5th generation Core i3-5005u CPU which is not as powerful as the Core i5-7200u because it only has a max clockspeed of 2.0GHz vs 3.1GHz. The newer CPU's design also means its performance at the same clockspeed would be slightly better.

On the other hand the nVidia 920m is a little more powerful than the Intel HD 620. You can click the following link that compares the average performance of the two based on benchmarks from several different laptops from Notebookcheck.net. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

#1 - Laptops are tested with either a Core i5 or i7 CPU. Therefore, benchmarks for the nVidia 920m can be lower with a Core i3-5005u because the clockspeed is limited to 2.0GHz.

#2 - Laptops with the Intel HD 620 are tested with two sticks of RAM whether it could be 2x 4GB sticks of RAM or 2x 8GB sticks of RAM. When there is just one stick of RAM installed it runs at half speed. When two sticks of RAM is installed they will run at full speed which can give a 10% - 15% performance increase vs. one stick of RAM. But that varies depending on the game.


http/tinyurl.com/ha9kqto


It's a tough call when it comes to games. A laptop with a Core i3-5005u and nVidia 920m might perform equal to or slightly better than a laptop with a Core i5-7200u, the integrated Intel HD 620 and two sticks of RAM.

For other things besides games which are CPU intensive like batch processing image files or editing video, the Lenovo laptop with the Core i5-7200u will definitely provide better performance.

Alright, thanks again for the help. I guess the lenovo would be better for me in the long run. I'm a little confused though, the one I keep finding when I search it is this with an i7 processor and not i5..? .-. http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/500-series/510-15-inch/

 

[jaguarskx]

Probably because only the Core i7 versions are available for Malaysia.