Portable, Budget, versatile laptop

[notapoet47]

Hi!
I'm looking for a lightweight and affordable computer that I can use for a few things.

First, I am currently a college student, so something I can use to type papers and take notes.

Second, to play some games (mostly Age of Empires 2 & Sims 4).

Finally, I want to be able to take it on a hiking/backpacking trip through Europe and parts of Central Asia. I'd like to do some light photo editing with it.

My priorities are:
- Lightweight
- long battery length
- upgradable RAM
- Hard drive
- Under $700 (preferably under $500)

Would a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 or Lenovo Thinkpad work?

 

[jaguarskx]

Which Thinkpad are you referring to? Do you means the 10" Thinkpad 10?

 

[notapoet47]

Sorry! I meant "Lenovo Thinkpad X140e 20BL000BUS 11.6" AMD APU A4-5000 1.5GHz Ultrabook"

 

[jaguarskx]

The Surface Pro is the more powerful device and also more expensive for a reason... it uses hardware with higher specs.

The AMD A4-5000 APU is based on the Puma core (the successor to the Jaguar core) and are typically used for tablets and low end laptops. It is a pretty weak quad core processor with fairly a weak graphics core. A dual core Haswell generation Core i3 CPU can easily outperform the A4-5000. The integrated Radeon HD 8330's performance is about halfway between the Intel HD 3000 and the Intel HD 4000. That is less powerful than the Intel HD 4200 found in the Core i3 version of the Surface Pro 3 and the Intel HD 4400 in the Core i5 variant.

The Surface Pro 3 would be the better choice especially the i5 version if you want to play games. I have seen the Sims 3 played on the Intel HD 3000 and at best it is okay. I don't know what expansions were installed since I am not familiar with the game. The Sims 4 will likely have a little higher graphics requirements than the Sims 3 so you will want the laptop / tablet with the best graphics core.

 

[notapoet47]

Thank you for your help! From a budgeting standpoint, would the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 with an i5 processor work as well?

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, the core i5 version of the Surface Pro 2 will be fine. It has the Intel HD 4400 graphics core. I am guessing it should be fine to play the Sims 4 at 1366x768 with medium graphic settings.