Laptop - What matters?

[HNUT]

Hi -

I am hoping to get some advice from people who know a bit more than I do about current tech.

I am looking a general purpose laptop, that needs to be half decent for gaming on.. such things as Minecraft and Gary's Mod, for my son.

I had a budget of £500-600 and have now narrowed to down to the following:

For £587:

Lenovo G710 17.3-inch
Intel Quad Core i7-4702MQ 2.2 GHz,
8GB RAM,
1 TB HDD,
Nvidia GT720M

OR

For £660:

Dell Inspiron 17 - 7737
Processor: Intel® Dual Core™ i7-4510U (4M Cache, up to 3.1 GHz)
16GB RAM
1 TB HDD
LED Touch Display
Integrated Intel HD4400 Graphics

The main differences then are:
Dell has 16GB RAM vs the Lenovo 8GB Dell has only Dual Core processor (and an older one at that, as far as I can ascertain?) The Dell has touch screen (do I even want this..?) The Dell is an extra £70

Not sure which is the better make. Have had three Dells in the past and they are ok, though my Dell laptop lacks build quality.

How do the processors compare? I am no expert on processors:
i7-4510U versus the i7-4702MQ

Also, is a lack of Gigabit Ethernet port on the Lenovo important? What does that mean?

It's got to be half decent for gaming, with no noticeable lag.

Any advice on these makes/models/processors would be welcome

 

[Mr_Bombasticc]

Hi
I'd go for the Lenovo because:
- He won't need 16gb RAM if it's only for half decent gaming
- I don't know much about the CPU, but this site http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4702MQ-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4510U says the i7 4702MQ is better. Also the i7 4702MQ has more cores which can be benifitial.
- If your son really needs gigabit ethertnet port then you can always buy one of these http://plugable.com/products/usb2-e1000. They're a bit slower then a normal ethernet port, but it does the job.
- I would trust Nvidia more then Intel on the graphics, but not really sure about that one.

Good luck making a choice!

 

[HNUT]

Hi
I'd go for the Lenovo because:
- He won't need 16gb RAM if it's only for half decent gaming
- I don't know much about the CPU, but this site http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4702MQ-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4510U says the i7 4702MQ is better. Also the i7 4702MQ has more cores which can be benifitial.
- If your son really needs gigabit ethertnet port then you can always buy one of these http://plugable.com/products/usb2-e1000. They're a bit slower then a normal ethernet port, but it does the job.
- I would trust Nvidia more then Intel on the graphics, but not really sure about that one.

Good luck making a choice!

Thanks for the reply.

My son doesn't need Gigabit Ethernet... It was just something I picked up on in a review i.e. that it only had Fast Ethernet, and not Gigabit Ethernet, and I don't know what that means or if that matters?

I am not too worried about the RAM, as I can upgrade that later if need be, for about £70.

The other thing was whether a new laptop without a Touch Screen is going to old hat very quickly.

 

[gamerschmamer]

You could probably find a better GPU/CPU combo because of all the deals about now or at the start of the year. The 720 isn't much better than the integrated graphics and is already 2 generations behind the 900 series that are in the high end laptops. Look around for an 800 series gpu if your son likes to game. Also, 16GB of ram is unnecessary at the moment.

 

[Beezy]

You could probably find a better GPU/CPU combo because of all the deals about now or at the start of the year. The 720 isn't much better than the integrated graphics and is already 2 generations behind the 900 series that are in the high end laptops. Look around for an 800 series gpu if your son likes to game. Also, 16GB of ram is unnecessary at the moment.

this, look for something with a 850 or 860m graphics if you can. even an i5 paired with the better GPU would be way better