Solved! Thoughts on Bang-for-Buck?

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LiquidInfinity

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Hi all,
I've been mulling over some laptop options and now am hoping to get some thoughts on my top few picks.

My needs are intermediate, at least modest gaming capabilities and modest mobility/power. Usually will be used to play video/office work, but being able to show up to a LAN party for some StarcraftII or Diablo 3, and portable enough to hang out at the cafe with minimal fuss is wanted.
Want to spend <$700, and try to get a good deal (high bang/low bucks).

Here are links to what I am looking at (suggestions outside of these welcome too). In ascending price order:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115982
(Phenom II N830, Radeon HD 4250)

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-L655D-S5110-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B0041O5WX6/ref=sr_1_2?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1302980978&sr=1-2
(Phenom II P940, Radeon HD 4250)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115984
(i5 480M, Intel Graphics)

http://www.amazon.com/A52F-XE6-15-6-Inch-Versatile-Entertainment-Laptop/dp/B004LQ1YNG/ref=dp_return_2?ie=UTF8&n=541966&s=pc
(i5 480M, Intel Graphics)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215037
(Phenom N970, Radeon 6650M)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115987
(i5 480M, Nivida GT 540M)

Thanks!!
 
Solution
ASUS A52F-XE6 and Toshiba Satellite L655D-S5110 have no gaming graphics card.

For StarcraftII / Diablo 3 the two best options:
Acer Aspire AS5742G-6600 i5 480M (2.66GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
Acer Aspire AS5552G-7641Phenom II Quad N970(2.2GHz) AMD Radeon HD 6650M
These two are pretty evenly matched in CPU power with a slight edge in GPU power to the GT 540M

Passmark CPU scores:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
AMD Phenom II N970 Quad-Core = 2813
Intel Core i5 M 480 @ 2.67GHz = 2765


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LiquidInfinity

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After further mulling, I've narrowed it down to these three:

Toshiba Satellite L655D-S5110

ASUS A52F-XE6

Acer Aspire AS5552G-7641

All are packing ~3-4hrs batt life, and should be able run Portal2/Diablo3, portability seems similar...

So that just leaves me with debating how much money to spend for some extra oomph and future-proofing. Thoughts?



 
ASUS A52F-XE6 and Toshiba Satellite L655D-S5110 have no gaming graphics card.

For StarcraftII / Diablo 3 the two best options:
Acer Aspire AS5742G-6600 i5 480M (2.66GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
Acer Aspire AS5552G-7641Phenom II Quad N970(2.2GHz) AMD Radeon HD 6650M
These two are pretty evenly matched in CPU power with a slight edge in GPU power to the GT 540M

Passmark CPU scores:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
AMD Phenom II N970 Quad-Core = 2813
Intel Core i5 M 480 @ 2.67GHz = 2765


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LiquidInfinity

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Thanks.
I was under the impression that the Intel Graphics could handle many current games on medium settings - not the case?
Although I am leaning more towards that Acer Aspire Phenom Quad/Radeon 6650 ($620) anyways, just need to do a little more homework and on Acer/quality of the build.
 
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