student and casual gaming laptop. need an advice

Boris P

Honorable
Sep 2, 2013
6
0
10,510
Hello friends, I'm looking for the most optimal notebook for my needs.

Facing dilemas of whether I should be looking for gaming specs at all because casual gaming on a laptop is awful coming from a strong 22" pc.

Anyway, the pc is mainly for college, office, YouTube stuff like that.
The only game I play is dota2.

I really like the idea of the light and portable 13.3" notebooks, however, I'm afraid it would be too small for the casual gaming.
Also, $$ wise.. I see its so much easier to get a cheap 15.6 laptop that would run dota2 than a 13.3

I'm from Israel, costs are bumped up than the original cost.

I can afford a laptop like HP probook 430 g1 W/out an OS.
The lenovo E330 thinkpad...
I don't need an os, no cd/dvd drive either..

Would like to hear some suggestions, opinions and your subjective experience with 13.3" displays.

Thanks ;-)
 

Boris P

Honorable
Sep 2, 2013
6
0
10,510
Thanks for replying.

I prefer a non-touch display, and also the u430 is quite expensive here.

Couldn't find the acer in Israel online shops

The lenovo g510 - I found and it's quite attractive, though being 15.6" and 2.6kg is quite a downer.

The most attractive side of the 13.3 is being very light weight, though good hardware gets real expensive - I'm not looking to upgrade except maybe an SSD.

14" are somewhere between both in weight and specs so I might go for that.

According to the notebookcheck website, dota2 can run decently on intel 4400 which I'm happy about.

Hope it isn't too much
 

Boris P

Honorable
Sep 2, 2013
6
0
10,510
The path of finding the ideal laptop may be super hard ^_^

Been looking around again, would like to get some insight about the differences (maybe) or what's worth over the other:

Lenovo ThinkPad E330 .vs Lenovo U310 Ultrabook

E330 specs :
Either Intel® Core™ i3-3120M Processor 2.5ghz or Intel Core i5-3210M 2.5ghz
4gb ram 1600mhz, 500gb 7200rpm
Intel hd 4000
1.8 kg

U310 specs:
Intel Core I3-4010U 1.7Ghz
4GB DDR3 1600MHZ
16GB SSD + 500GB 5400RPM
Intel 4400 Haswell GT2
1.7kg
(also has Windows 8 which I'm not fan of !!!)

U310 pros for me;
looks awesome, 4400 graphics (though the low cpu might be interfering?)
weight, though only 100 grams is nothing probably.

E330;
Cheaper, better cpu ? (I don't understand the difference except the 1.7ghz .vs 2.5ghz)
no SSD but the hdd is 7200rpm versus 5200, plus I can add my own SSD right ;)
 

Boris P

Honorable
Sep 2, 2013
6
0
10,510
Hello mate,

I've done some quick check and I'm afraid this product isn't supported by Lenovo in Israel, there are only couple of stores selling this laptop and I've heard some stores sell but customers face problems when it comes to warranty and dealing with support.

I've never used the service of usa2me, sounds very attractive because ALL notebooks in Israel are much more expensive.
But I'm not sure I'm up for dealing with warranty issues, the laptop being supported in my country or not, or shipping the laptop back to US in case I get unlucky getting a defect model.

With that being said, I'm really toward that E330 Thinkpad, reading very good reviews about it.
The only thing concerns me is the Intel 4000HD, Although - lots of people say it would run Dota2 on low-mid settings no prob.
If I'd get the E330 - I probably add 120gb SSD to it.

I still wonder about the HP's Probook 430.
E330 Pros over the E330; 1.5kg over 1.8kg weight, Intel 4400HD over intel 4000HD.

Now, I've no idea if E330's 2.5ghz from the 3120M series is better than Probook's 1.7ghz 4010U.

the E330 comes with better HDD rpm.

other than that I don't know, ThinkPad's E330's red trackpoint is probably a plus as well especially for fast writing (in lectures etc..)

Are there any other 13.3" or 14" laptops in the class of these laptops worth checking ?

The prices of E330 and HP Probook are almost the same here.