Should I buy a laptop with Dedicated graphics ?

[shijilt]

First of all I have a gaming Desktop PC, in which I play all games.
Recently I bought a laptop (ACER ES1-521-AMD A4 quadcore, 12 GB RAM, SSD) to use as my secondary PC and it didn't perform as I expected. Even browsing internet lagged!! I sold it after few days.

I am web developer/blogger.
I will use 2-3 web browsers daily with multiple tabs open
I will play movies in my laptop
I wont be traveling with it, it will stay in my room.
I might keep the laptop on most time - that is the main purpose.
I may/may not play games in my laptop.

Does a graphics card improve anything other than gaming and rendering?
Should I buy a laptop with i3 CPS and 930m GPU ?
or
Should I buy a laptop with i5 CPU and HD 5xxx GPU ?

I know 930m is not powerful, I know i3 is not powerful. But I dont need an i7/980 laptop as a secondary PC!!

 

[TechyInAZ]

Oh boy, LOL yeah the A4 is about quad core ATOM speed, so no wonder it was so slow with all your programs open.

The GPU does NOT improve anything other than gaming and rendering/acceleration. So if you aren't going to use those, don't buy a laptop with one.

The i5's turbo boost should help quite a bit compared to the i3.

 

[shijilt]

Oh boy, LOL yeah the A4 is about quad core ATOM speed, so no wonder it was so slow with all your programs open.

The GPU does NOT improve anything other than gaming and rendering/acceleration. So if you aren't going to use those, don't buy a laptop with one.

The i5's turbo boost should help quite a bit compared to the i3.

Thanks for the reply.
What is your opinion about AMD A8 or A10 ?
Compared to an i3 or i5 ? 5th gen

 

[jaguarskx]

The Carrizo series A8 and A10 APU quad core APUs are overall about equal to a 5th or 6th generation Core i3 CPU; examples are the A8-8600p and A10-8700p.

The Carrizo A8 and A10 APU have graphic cores that are slightly more powerful than the Intel HD 5500 (5th gen) / HD 520 (6th gen) graphic cores in the Core i3 / i5 / i7 CPUs.

 

[spruce11]

umm...some high-end games require dedicated graphics. you'll need to check that out before you buy the laptop.