Asus K55VD and K56CB choice help

[mihai11]

Hi, I need help deciding between two Asus laptop models: K55VD and K56CB.
The hardware is as follows:

K55VD - Intel® CoreTM i5-3230M 2.60GHz, Ivy Bridge, 4GB, 750GB, nVidia GeForce 610M 2GB, 6 cell battery, nicer finish on the case.

K56CB - Intel® Core™ i5-3317U 1.7GHz (turbo 2.6ghz) Ivy Bridge, 8GB, 500GB, GeForce GT 740M 2GB, 4 cell battery, 22mm thick.

I am leaning towards K56CB because it's slimmer and has (I assume) a longer battery life and better hardware, but that processor is confusing me.

I'll be using it at school so it needs to be portable, but I also need it for fun and the occasional game (WoW, World of Tanks, Diablo III are a few).

Thanks in advance!

 

[Prostar Computer]

The 3317U is considerably slower than the 3230M. Both, however, are most likely BGA, which means there is no option to upgrade the CPU.

I don't know of any battery benchmarks, but from what I see in the specs, I don't see the battery life in the K56CB outlasting the K55VD. The CPU would allot for longer battery, though the 740M would not, and it has two fewer cells than the K55VD.

Also, the 610M is almost useless with Intel HD 4000 graphics, so if you want to play games, then the K56CB would get you better gaming performance with its 740M. The bottleneck then is the CPU.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yes, I agree with Prostar, the GT 610m is worthless. Benchmarks have shown the Intel HD 4000 graphics core is overall slightly more powerful than that crap. You are better off just getting a laptop without a dedicated graphics card at that point.

 

[mihai11]

In that case, would it be possible for you guys to recommend me a better computer (meaning decent cpu and better gpu) in the same price range?

Or even better, tell me at which point do the dedicated nvidia and amd graphics start to do well so I know what to look at.
On nvidia I should look above 700 models ? AMD, I don't know at all...

Thank you.

** My problem now is that I cannot find a compromise. Anything in my budget and even above is glued to one of these low end graphics card. My only option would be an ultrabook, but those are way too expensive. The closest thing to that seems to be the K56CB (slimmer and lighter).

I have been looking for the past hour and I cannot find anything worthwhile.

 

[mihai11]

Thank you for the option, however I am now considering getting a HP Probook 4540s with an i5 2.6ghz, 4gb ram and a Radeon HD 7650M with 2gb vram. The ram is just 1333 mhz and the HDD (like many models) is just 5400 RPM but I have an SSD i can swap it out with.

Any thoughts on the Probook 4540s?

I was also considering a Dell Inspiron 3521, Procesor Intel® Core™ i7-3517U 1.9GHz Ivy Bridge, 4GB, 1TB, Radeon HD 8730M 2GB. But again, low power CPU.

It's a bit frustrating. They either have one or the other. Can't find a good cpu+gpu combination.

 

[Prostar Computer]

Yeah, to get a decent CPU + GPU, you would need a budget of about $800 - $900 starting. Below that and something is most likely to be compromised.

 

[mihai11]

Thank you for the option, however I am now considering getting a HP Probook 4540s with an i5 2.6ghz, 4gb ram and a Radeon HD 7650M with 2gb vram. The ram is just 1333 mhz and the HDD (like many models) is just 5400 RPM but I have an SSD i can swap it out with.

Any thoughts on the Probook 4540s?

I was also considering a Dell Inspiron 3521, Procesor Intel® Core™ i7-3517U 1.9GHz Ivy Bridge, 4GB, 1TB, Radeon HD 8730M 2GB. But again, low power CPU.

It's a bit frustrating. They either have one or the other. Can't find a good cpu+gpu combination.

Probook 4540s i5 HD67650 is very good choive at $679 (original price $1200). But having dual graphic card is only good in theory, in reality it may cause you headache. Beside it is heavy at 8.4 lbs.

I can't find Dell Inspiron like your spec, if it is so cheap than it is too good to be true and it must be very popular. You have to be careful.

U-series processor usually for ultrabook like Dell Inspiron i14z-8001sLV . It doesn't mean that it is not capable of gaming. Don't be deceived by 1.9GHz. The processor is very capable of playing heavy games and it can boost itself to 3GHz. The platform/ultrabook is the problem.

I think you have to lower your expectation a little bit; making some compromises.

A Lenovo G580 is where I stopped at the moment i5-3230M 1TB 8GB RAM GT635M 2GB. Still waiting to see what's new in August.