Can anyone help a beginner?

[Bosketball]

I know absolutely nothing about PC gaming as I have been a console gamer my whole life. I am trying to join the PC world but know NOTHING about it. Seriously nothing. I plan to save up around $600-$700 for a setup. In the meantime, I want to play CS:GO. My current laptop has these specs, but I don't know what any of these things mean or do:

Processor: AMD A6-5200 APU with Radeon(TM) HD Graphics 2.00 GHz

Installed RAM: 4.00 GB (3.46 GB usable)

System type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

AMD Radeon HD 8400/r3 series

Can I play? Any way to get the best performance out of this?

 

[genthug]

You'll be able to play, yes. It won't be at fantastic framerates that you see with newer systems, but you will be able to play CS:GO.

 

[dontlistentome]

1. An APU is a CPU with a GPU(videocard processor) built in. So does both things, general processing and game graphics. APUs are for systems where the buyer isn't going to add a videocard, or can't add a videocard. 2.00 GHZ is how fast it is.
2. Ram is your system memory, 4gb is standard, some people have more. The 'usable' amount is the amount Windows and other programs can use. It's less than 4gb because your APU videocard uses some for the graphics.
3. You have the 64 bit version of Windows, this is standard.
4. This is the type of graphics in the APU. It's an R3, and the R series goes from up to 9, so you can tell this is a basic level of graphics power, not especially fast.

To get the best performance you can do a few things. Make sure your laptop is in 'performance' mode in Windows power settings. Try to game while using the AC outlet, not battery power. Run at the lowest resolution and settings you can tolerate in your games. This video has more info.

 

[genthug]

As a followup of 2, it's also less because companies market in base 10 format instead of base 2, meaning that a gigabyte of RAM to them is 1000 megabytes, is 1000 kilobytes...is 1000...etc. Base 2, a gigabyte is 1024 megabytes, is 1024 kilobytes, etc.