grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580
Greetings. I am looking for a new laptop under 800USD. And I've got these 2, an Asus X450LD with a 1.6 GHz i5-4200u, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD, and NVIDIA GT 820m, the other one is a cheaper Lenovo G410 with a 2.5 GHz i5-4200m, same memory & HDD, but using an Intel HD 4600. Now, I have carefully read reviews and comparisons from CPUboss and GPUboss about these processors and the GT 820m, and I really like the features (though I can't really understand it), they're not the very good ones, but I think they're enough for non-gaming users. Also, I have researched more about integrated graphics by Intel and found out that they are hated by most gamers and other users. The opportunity of having an nvidia gt 820m is awesome for me, but it will kill my budget for buying an additional 4GB RAM upgrade. If I am to buy the 560USD lenovoG410, I will have a chance upgrading it to 8GB of RAM, but will take away my GT820m. I am really confused. If someone can help me choose between these two then I would be really grateful. By the way, the laptop will be daily used, at home and school, that includes my activities in Autocad (2D only), adobe photoshop, google sketchup, cyberlink powerdirector (video editing, slight & in rare occasions), office, and web browsing. I will not use these applications all at once. I am not a gamer. Oh, and I have difficulties typing correctly using English. Im from PH. Im expecting a response! Thank you very much.
 
Solution
The CPU doesn't make much of a difference as the only difference is the U and M suffix. You'll probably be better of with the i5-4200U and the GT 820M. The truth is, the 820M is just a much better GPU, and you won't need to add another 4 GBs of ram since you're not a gamer anyway (unless you open 40 tabs of google chrome and run other applications at the same time) and the 820M is a dedicated mobile GPU. If you're really tight on budget, you can go with the other one and just NOT add RAM.

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
The CPU doesn't make much of a difference as the only difference is the U and M suffix. You'll probably be better of with the i5-4200U and the GT 820M. The truth is, the 820M is just a much better GPU, and you won't need to add another 4 GBs of ram since you're not a gamer anyway (unless you open 40 tabs of google chrome and run other applications at the same time) and the 820M is a dedicated mobile GPU. If you're really tight on budget, you can go with the other one and just NOT add RAM.
 
Solution

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
Well, uhm, I'm wrong about the CPU part. (info from http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-4200U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4200M) Well, the i5-4200M performs a bit better than the i5-4200U. Anyway, choice is up to you if you wanna go with the better GPU or CPU.
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580
Yeah, the 4200m is better in terms of speed, but only got an integrated intel hd 4600. I'm afraid integrated graphics are not really helpful on today's applications because I can't find a good review or comment about that particular integrated gpu, most users love dedicated gpus. But battery consumption should be longer with an integrated gpu which is a good point for that lenovo right? Now, the only thing i need to know is whether the intel hd 4600 will perform good enough with the applications i mentioned? And if it does, I'll get another 4GB to make it 8GB. Thanks for the response.
 

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
Well, on both systems have Intel i5's so either way you get integrated graphics, although the i5 4200M's integrated HD 4600 graphics is better than the 4200U's Intel HD. However, the 820M will serve you better with the stuff that relies on the GPU. And anyway, the 820M only operates when it is needed and uses 4200U's intel HD when on light applications, so don't worry about battery life as much unless you actually are going to do some gaming in the future. Either way, any of the two should be enough for photo and video editing, 2D Autocad, rendering and other school/work stuff.
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580
As you said, 820m is a better gpu, but can I run those same applications on intelHD 4600 without any problems? is the 820m performs too much better than an intel hd 4600? Do their performance differ very much? If not much difference is present then I'll go with Lenovo with 2.5 GHz and intel 4600.
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580
Yeah, that makes things clearer between the two, so it is true that intel 4600 might not perform the way i want it to. I should go with Asus X450LC now, but I saw an Asus X550LN at villman.com, it has an i7-4500u with GT 840m, which is probably way better than Asus X450LC's i5-4200u with GT 820m. I will remove Lenovo G410 from my choices because I want more performance in video editing and autoCAD. What do you think of i7-4500u and 840m? it also has 8GB or RAM.

If I can only install an nvidia gpu inside lenovo g410, that would be really great.

Oh, nice to hear that bro, laptops here are diseased under 20,000. Sellers just want more money. :(
 

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
That's a pretty good combo, plenty for vid editing and more than enough for gaming. Yeah, if only laptop manufacturers made laptops with GPUs that can be swapped, that would be great. You're right about laptops under 20,000 being diseased, they give such mediocre performance.
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580

Absolutely. Now I should go for Asus, I just hope they are quality laptops, just like our previous acer. :) Got an Acer 4315 here, celeron 1.7GHz, 1GB ddr2, 60GB, staying alive and strong for 7 years, but I just need a better laptop. :) Thank you very much! :D check this http://www.benstore.com.ph/acer-aspire-v5-573pg-9610-15-6-inch-touchscreen-laptop-cool-steel/ :D
 

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
I've also been using an Acer for the last 6 years, the early Aspire 4736z! It's got a lot of scratches, the battery's ka-boom, we've had to replace the charger with a new one, the fans aren't working, the HDD had to be replaced, it was infested with viruses sometime 2010-2011, it was reformatted thrice, but it's still alive,! I'm going to get an Asus myself within this or next month, an A8-5550M with a Radeon HD 8550G + HD 8670M. The Asus is going to last, it's the leading manufacturer with the highest rate of reliability in a 3-year timespan. http://www.bitsonline.org/news/111-asus-leads-in-laptop-reliability-beats-all-other-competitors-
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580

I shall buy myself an asus laptop! :D but what do you think of lenovo laptops? reviews say their laptops are bulky. I'm convinced that ASUS is the best in reliability because they are one of the best motherboard manufaturer. I hope so.:bounce:
 

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
I bought an Asus X550DP last night, it's a good laptop to be honest, after updating all I need to update that is. I'll just have to add RAM in the future and tweak stuff here and there to get more performance out of it. My friend has a Lenovo, though I'm not sure which, but yeah, they're a bit bulky and large, not like Asus laptops that are sleek and thinner. On a general perspective, I think they're pretty good laptops too.
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580


Actually I'm not sure again which one to buy, some say i should get lenovo because i5-4200M is way better than i5-4200U and because it has a longer battery life. They also say that Intel HD 4600 is a good improvement for integrated graphics, though they not recommended it for gaming, which doesn't bother me bcoz im not a gamer.

If integrated graphics share its memory with the system, then maybe I can add RAM, that is, if it has an additional slot! How on earth could I know if there's a second slot. -_- And they are scaring me with GPU malfunction on laptops with dedicated graphics, just when I'm ready to embrace Asus. :|
 

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
I suppose the 4200M could compensate for what the HD 4600 lacks in power.I'm not sure about how effective adding RAM is with intel graphics, but extra RAM should boost it up when it's needed. Most laptops are already fitted with dual slots for memory, although I'm not sure about the 11.6' and below ones. Since you won't do any gaming and will probably need the battery life, the i5-4200M and HD 4600 will do.
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580


Ive read the specsheet of lenovo g410, i found out that it has 2 slots, i want to add additional RAM to boost some programs. What do you think of DDR3L? I will just endure the thickness of lenovo g410 -_-
Do you think the 6 hour battery is true?
 

hatsamshuz

Estimable
May 18, 2014
40
0
4,590
6 hours of battery? More like 4 and a half or so if you do medium to a lot of things at a time. I don't know about the light voltage ram though, power consumption mainly comes down to the CPU and the battery. How much are you going to pay for the DDR3L RAM? (and how much of it, what speed if you can provide information)
 

grimlockPH

Estimable
May 20, 2014
32
0
4,580


That will do. almost 4,300 pesos for an 8GB ddr3L 1600mhz. That'll be a total of 12 GB ram.

Hey, do you think I can order a laptop from abroad? :D