Which laptop should i get?

[AndkWilliam]

So i'm thinking of buying a new budget laptop, and i'm torn between this choices

Dell inspiron 14 - 3458

Processor: Intel Core i5-5200
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Graphics: Nvidia GT820M 2Gb
HDD: 500 GB

Price: $477


Asus A455LJ

Processor: Intel Core i-5200U
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Graphics: Nvidia GT820M 2Gb
HDD: 500 GB

Price: $477


Lenovo G50 80

Processor: Intel Core i7-5500U
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Graphics: AMD Radeon R5 M230 2Gb
HDD: 1TB

Price: $500
is the i7 and 1TB worth it?


Lenovo z40-70

Processor: Intel Core i5 4210u up to 2.70 Ghz
Memory: 4GB
Graphics: Nvidia GT840 2Gb
HDD: 1 TB

Price: $523

It's for occasional gaming, browsing, and unity.
I just want to get the best value for the price. Any ideas ?

 

[Calculagator]

If you are gaming, I would definitely go for the GT840.
I don't think the i7 is worth the cost over the i5. They are both dual-core CPUs. The main difference is a slightly higher clock on the i7.
I personally wouldn't buy a laptop without an SSD unless I planned to upgrade. The extra reliability and speed are worth the extra expense (I think).

I don't know anything about the screens or keyboards on any of these, but those would weigh heavily in my decision as well.

 

[naturesninja]

Try this:http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315131&cm_re=acer_940m-_-34-315-131-_-Product
It's a generation newer than the i5 4210u/840m system. i5/940m/1080p/8GB Ram/1TB HDD/AC wireless Best laptop you'll find in the price range at the moment. Especially at $490. The i7, like the previous poster said is a higher clocked ultra low voltage i5 5200u. The dedicated m230 GPU is fairly poor. The HD 5500 integrated graphics on the i7 might even be better most of the time than the m230.

 

[AndkWilliam]

If you are gaming, I would definitely go for the GT840.
I don't think the i7 is worth the cost over the i5. They are both dual-core CPUs. The main difference is a slightly higher clock on the i7.
I personally wouldn't buy a laptop without an SSD unless I planned to upgrade. The extra reliability and speed are worth the extra expense (I think).

I don't know anything about the screens or keyboards on any of these, but those would weigh heavily in my decision as well.

I see. They seem to have the same (2gb), does the model really matter (GT840 > GT820) ?

Well i never used SSD before and it's quite expensive , is it that better than HDD ?

 

[Calculagator]

Model is the really the only thing that matters for GPUs. Neither chip is powerful enough to really use even the 2GB. The only thing that matters for RAM on the low end of GPUs is whether they use DDR3 or GDDR5 with the later being around 50% faster for the same model of card.

In my experience HDDs in laptops are prone to failure: a little bump or drop at the right time and the whole drive is toast. Since SSDs have no moving parts, they can survive pretty much any physical abuse a normal laptop endures. SSDs are also much faster. Have you ever turned on your laptop and had to wait 15 minutes for updates to install before you can do anything or run a virus scan that brought your system to a crawl? SSDs basically eliminate the pain of these scenarios. Everything loads much faster and your computer will be usable even if some program is hammering your drive.

 

[AndkWilliam]

Try this:http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315131&cm_re=acer_940m-_-34-315-131-_-Product
It's a generation newer than the i5 4210u/840m system. i5/940m/1080p/8GB Ram/1TB HDD/AC wireless Best laptop you'll find in the price range at the moment. Especially at $490. The i7, like the previous poster said is a higher clocked ultra low voltage i5 5200u. The dedicated m230 GPU is fairly poor. The HD 5500 integrated graphics on the i7 might even be better most of the time than the m230.

Thanks, the laptop you recommend does have better specs and a better bargain. But i'm not sure of getting an acer laptop.

I may be a bit biased towards acer, my last laptop was acer and I had speaker, keyboard, driver problems over the last 4 years, and the customer service are just poor.


So i was thinking of switching brands, do you have other laptops you might recommend with around the same cost ?

 

[AndkWilliam]

Model is the really the only thing that matters for GPUs. Neither chip is powerful enough to really use even the 2GB. The only thing that matters for RAM on the low end of GPUs is whether they use DDR3 or GDDR5 with the later being around 50% faster for the same model of card.

In my experience HDDs in laptops are prone to failure: a little bump or drop at the right time and the whole drive is toast. Since SSDs have no moving parts, they can survive pretty much any physical abuse a normal laptop endures. SSDs are also much faster. Have you ever turned on your laptop and had to wait 15 minutes for updates to install before you can do anything or run a virus scan that brought your system to a crawl? SSDs basically eliminate the pain of these scenarios. Everything loads much faster and your computer will be usable even if some program is hammering your drive.

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

I think i'll stick with HDD for now. Laptops that include both are still way too expensive for me. I also need more from the storage capacity of HDD rather than speed from SSD.

Maybe i'll have a taste of SSD when i build a desktop pc

 

[velo3100]

I would say that the last one is the best.

 

[Chrisg34]

i think Lenovo G50 80 is best.

 

[naturesninja]

Try this:http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315131&cm_re=acer_940m-_-34-315-131-_-Product
It's a generation newer than the i5 4210u/840m system. i5/940m/1080p/8GB Ram/1TB HDD/AC wireless Best laptop you'll find in the price range at the moment. Especially at $490. The i7, like the previous poster said is a higher clocked ultra low voltage i5 5200u. The dedicated m230 GPU is fairly poor. The HD 5500 integrated graphics on the i7 might even be better most of the time than the m230.

Thanks, the laptop you recommend does have better specs and a better bargain. But i'm not sure of getting an acer laptop.

I may be a bit biased towards acer, my last laptop was acer and I had speaker, keyboard, driver problems over the last 4 years, and the customer service are just poor.


So i was thinking of switching brands, do you have other laptops you might recommend with around the same cost ?

There is an ASUS with similar specs http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232376&cm_re=asus_940m-_-34-232-376-_-Product. Shame you've had issues in the past with your Acer, as they usually provide driver updates a little longer than the other companies, but sometimes their BIOS can be finicky. I have three recent Acer models including the one I linked, and the only thing I have negative to say about them is their chassis is a little sub par and panel color was low gamut. The Z40-70 or ASUS are both good alternatives depending on what size you want. The i5 4210u and 840m won't be noticeably different than the 5200u/940m so you're good to go with either.