Question Looking for a decent option for an entry level laptop.

[ashdejan]

1. What is your budget?
~200$? I'm looking for used, usable. Not really going for anything crazy or recent.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Any

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Any, pref 1080p but not mandatory.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable

5. How much battery life do you need?
Standard or lower, i don't mind.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Low/Medium. Benchmark being maybe Witcher 3 or RDR2 900/720p Low and under. Up to PS2 Emulation. Stuff like that. I just wanna get the most out of it.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Nothing more than browsing, hd video playback, light gaming etc.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
128Gb SSD+ (I have external ssd's so doesn't matter just enough for win and basics)

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
https://www.kupujemprodajem.com/
(The only usable site for used parts in my area)

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as it can run basic stuff now that's all that matters. I don't mind using it only for video playback 5 years from now.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
None

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
No laptop brand pref but in terms of specs, I'd prefer a Ryzen, with as good of a Vega igpu as i can get.

13. What country do you live in?
Serbia

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I found plenty of Laptops with R3 4300U,3250u, R5 3500U/2500U for about 100-150$ (Which is kinda what i was looking for). But looking at all the benchmarks i just got lost, in some APUs, vega 6 out performs a vega 8 and i just ... don't know enough about the laptop scene to know which is best to go for. I'm just trying to figure out which APU is the best to chase in that entry level price range because i don't know when i should prioritize CPU and when GPU for it's effect on the performance.

 

[USAFRet]

~200$? I'm looking for used, usable. Not really going for anything crazy or recent.

$200, used market.
There is nothing we out here can really recommend.
If I say "this particular Lenovo"...and that is not available...useless recommendation.

It completely depends on what is available at this particular moment, at whatever platform you will be buying from.

 

[ashdejan]

Would it be possible to recommend the APU i should be chasing? That would be enough for me . Or like , is there a list ranking laptop APUs based on performance? I honestly just wanted to ask about that but i read in the rules that it's better to give that ^ kind of opening post .

 

[USAFRet]

Would it be possible to recommend the APU i should be chasing? That would be enough for me . Or like , is there a list ranking laptop APUs based on performance?

"APU"?

Basically, buy the best laptop that is available in your market, at a price you want to pay.

Or, give us a short list of what is available, and we can probably recommend the best choice.

 

[ashdejan]

Is that not what a cpu with integrated graphics is called in a laptop? Idk the terminology.
I found a list of all the available ones that kinda fit what i need. What would be the most recommended here? While prioritizing raw performance over anything else. I'd rather get a 720p screen with more power than a 1080p screen with less power, laptop.

HP Elitebook 735 G5, HP 15-db1107nm, Asus VivoBook M433d, HP probook 445 G7 ,Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-13ARR, Medion E14302 MD63600, Lenovo Thinkpad E585, Lenovo Thinkpad A485, HP 255 G7 (9TV27EA) ,Lenovo Thinkpad A285, Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga, Lenovo T490,Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z),Lenovo V15-ADA,HP elitebook 745 g5, Lenovo ThinkPad E495.

 

[USAFRet]

Is that not what a cpu with integrated graphics is called in a laptop? Idk the terminology.
I found a list of all the available ones that kinda fit what i need. What would be the most recommended here? While prioritizing raw performance over anything else. I'd rather get a 720p screen with more power than a 1080p screen with less power, laptop.

HP Elitebook 735 G5, HP 15-db1107nm, Asus VivoBook M433d, HP probook 445 G7 ,Lenovo IdeaPad 720s-13ARR, Medion E14302 MD63600, Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 1873, Lenovo Thinkpad E585, Lenovo Thinkpad A485, HP 255 G7 (9TV27EA) ,Lenovo Thinkpad A285, Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga, Lenovo T490,Asus VivoBook 15 (X505Z),Lenovo V15-ADA,HP elitebook 745 g5, Lenovo ThinkPad E495.

Of that list, which do YOU think has the best specs, and why?

At your price point, there likely isn't a lot of of actual performance difference.

 

[ashdejan]

I noticed that some of these list with Ryzen 7 models, but in reality they come with Ryzen 5. And out of them all, i figured the ThinkPad E495(R5Pro3500U Vega8),HP elitebook 745 g5(R5pro2500U Vega 8),Lenovo V15-ADA(R5-3500U Vega 8) are the safest bets. Or at least i thought they were, until i saw the fact that the HP ProBook 445 G7(R5-4500U Vega6!) outperforms them in gaming (Not a lot but in some cases just enough to go from 26-27fps average to 32 average which made the gaming smoother), and that kinda confused me so i came here to try to figure it out, get the opinion of people who know about this stuff. I am not sure when to value raw specs, when to value newer tech more, how important is a higher CU count, how important is a higher clock speed etc. etc.

 

[USAFRet]

I noticed that some of these list with Ryzen 7 models, but in reality they come with Ryzen 5. And out of them all, i figured the ThinkPad E495(R5Pro3500U Vega8),HP elitebook 745 g5(R5pro2500U Vega 8),Lenovo V15-ADA(R5-3500U Vega 8) are the safest bets. Or at least i thought they were, until i saw the fact that the HP ProBook 445 G7(R5-4500U Vega6!) outperforms them in gaming (Not a lot but in some cases just enough to go from 26-27fps average to 32 average which made the gaming smoother), and that kinda confused me so i came here to try to figure it out, get the opinion of people who know about this stuff.

And there lies the issue.

We out here have ZERO idea of the specifics of these used systems.

 

[ashdejan]

Yeah i think i misjudged how to open up the thread. In reality i just wanted advice on which laptop Ryzen CPU and it's corresponding iGPU to focus on in this entry price range, not really a buying guide, but i thought i had to post this way since i noticed people requesting that in other similar threads.

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah i think i misjudged how to open up the thread. In reality i just wanted advice on which laptop Ryzen CPU and it's corresponding iGPU to focus on in this entry price range, not really a buying guide, but i thought i had to post this way since i noticed people requesting that in other similar threads.

In your used market at the $200 price level, it only matters which specific ones are available at this moment.

Buy the best one.

 

[ashdejan]

Starting from about 130$ R5 2500U>3500U>4500U is all available with like 30$ between each upgrade, 5500U is a 60$ bump above 4500U. And there are a bunch of R3 like 2200U/2300U/3250U about the same as R5 2500U at 100-150$. What i was wondering is, around Witcher 3/RDR2 720p Low specs, which would be the most value? Like, would it be better to get a 3500U laptop, or spend the extra 30ish $ and get a 4500U to secure smooth fps. Is the difference between the 4500U and 5500U big enough to maybe upgrade to that, while focusing on the price per frame, or would sticking with 4500U be enough? How would the PRO versions fit into this? Would it be worth it to look at newer gen Ryzen 3 since 5300U out performs 3500U for example?

 

[USAFRet]

Starting from about 130$ R5 2500U>3500U>4500U is all available with like 30$ between each upgrade, 5500U is a 60$ bump above 4500U. And there are a bunch of R3 like 2200U/2300U/3250U about the same as R5 2500U at 100-150$. What i was wondering is, around Witcher 3/RDR2 720p Low specs, which would be the most value? Like, would it be better to get a 3500U laptop, or spend the extra 30ish $ and get a 4500U to secure smooth fps. Is the difference between the 4500U and 5500U big enough to maybe upgrade to that, while focusing on the price per frame, or would sticking with 4500U be enough? How would the PRO versions fit into this? Would it be worth it to look at newer gen Ryzen 3 since 5300U out performs 3500U for example?

And looking at only the CPU is not even close to the whole solution.

HDD vs SSD? How much RAM? etc etc etc.

The whole system is in play.

 

[ashdejan]

Ofc, but i don't worry about the rest, since pretty much everything else in my case, either doesn't matter or can easily be upgraded. So i'm focusing my choice on the aspect that would be difficult to change, unlike ram for example, and going from there. If i find a CPU and iGPU combo that fits my needs i can adjust everything else around it. Not to mention it seems like most of the listings tend to already come with 8/16 gigs of ram, a 1080p display and a 256+ ssd which fits my needs just fine. But i have that damn fomo going, where i'm worrying about "well what if i just spend a bit extra and upgrade this just in case", and i end up spending 500,600$ on a laptop that i realistically only need for about 3 weeks every 6 months for very basic functions.

 

[USAFRet]

Ofc, but i don't worry about the rest, since pretty much everything else in my case, either doesn't matter or can easily be upgraded. So i'm focusing my choice on the aspect that would be difficult to change, unlike ram for example, and going from there. If i find a CPU and iGPU combo that fits my needs i can adjust everything else around it. Not to mention it seems like most of the listings tend to already come with 8/16 gigs of ram, a 1080p display and a 256+ ssd which fits my needs just fine. But i have that damn fomo going, where i'm worrying about "well what if i just spend a bit extra and upgrade this just in case", and i end up spending 500,600$ on a laptop that i realistically only need for about 3 weeks every 6 months for very basic functions.

Again...
Buy the best one that is available today, that fits in your budget.

From your list above, Dell vs HP vs Lenovo is irrelevant. All similar.
YOU choose one.