Looking for an entry level gaming rig

[jessec1993]

I’m looking at purchasing a new laptop. It originally started as just looking for a cheap laptop to surf the web as I have a fairly decent gaming desktop already. But being the typical male that I am I wanted to go bigger where I can play games if I want. A touch screen convertible would be amazing but that is going to severely reduce performance per dollar. I recently found an Acer An515-51-522L I can pick up off a friend for roughly $400 and not sure if I should just grab that or spend a couple extra more bucks and buy a new laptop. Any recommendations for under $700 for a gaming/multimedia rig and or possibly a great deal on a convertible laptop?


Or should I not even waste my money on an entry level gaming laptop and buy a nice spec’d Laptop without a dedicated gpu in it


Much appreciated in advance

 

[Barty1884]

The Acer you mentioned for ~$400 has a GTX1050 and, provided it's in good shape, you're not going to find anything remotely "gaming" (by 2018 standards) for less.

Doesn't sound like something you *need* though, assuming your gaming desktop has decent spec?

What, specifically, do you want the laptop for?

 

[toshibitsu]

Normally, brand new "gaming" laptops with a decent video card start around $1,200. Ones with entry level cards(like the 1050) you can usually find around $700 - $800+.

Of course second hand/refurbished systems are a completely different story.

 

[jessec1993]

My main goal with the laptop isn’t gaming but I do have the idea of gaming on it here and there my desktop rig is a slightly bit older approx 4 years old now but still has no issues with anything I throw at it. I know I won’t find anything as good as that in a laptop for up to the $700 range. Yeah for $400 I know I won’t be able to beat it but haven’t been able to find much about that laptop and was curious about it. I will be doing a bit of searching and reading manuals and stuff like that as I work on cars as a side hobby which is where the convertible and touch screen came into place. But I would also like it to be fast and reliable. Maybe I look for a decent rig without a dedicated gpu and touch screen. I’m kind of in the middle on both hoping to get some help. I’ve been on these forums for a while but it wasn’t letting me log into my old account for some reason so I had to start up a new one.

 

[jessec1993]

I’m not mainly worried about running maxed out settings and I probably won’t play anything super intense on it (Pubg,Fortnite, maybe some other FPS or RPG) how are the new intel 7th gen integrated graphics cards? The hd 620 I do believe they are?

 

[Barty1884]

While it's entirely your call, I don't see any *need* for a laptop for you.... gaming or otherwise.

If you want something more portable (cheaper "gaming" laptops typically are not very portable), touch screen etc.... especially for use which working on cars etc.... Wouldn't a tablet do the job for you just fine?

For $400, the Acer is a pretty great deal....... but even a great deal for the money makes little sense if you really have no need for it.

I’m not mainly worried about running maxed out settings and I probably won’t play anything super intense on it (Pubg,Fortnite, maybe some other FPS or RPG) how are the new intel 7th gen integrated graphics cards? The hd 620 I do believe they are?

The 7th Gen chips have either HD610, 620 or 630, depending on the chip.
Something like an i5-7300HQ has the 630.

They're decent enough. Older titles are no problem at 1080p..... thinks like Rocket League or similar (relatively) low demanding titles can be played at low settings 1080p, 30ish FPS (a generalization, and will vary between titles, of course). PUBG is going to be near impossible at any decent resolution/graphical setting on even the HD630 though.

An option, in the near future would be the new chips with integrated AMD Vega graphics. Not sure if there's many laptops out just yet (retail anyway).... but they'd be a worthwhile consideration. Going to cost you more than the $400 laptop though!

 

[jessec1993]

The car part won’t be as important as searching the web and or massive amounts of typing my iPad isn’t cutting it due to needing certain software for car related hookups. And my old laptop also isn’t cutting it anymore because I’m used to having a good rig that loads stuff quite quickly.

 

[jessec1993]

My thing is I’d prefer the computer to be a little overkill especially if it’s a decent deal seeing as even for that cpu in a decent laptop is roughly $500-$600 with touch screen. Because there will be those times where I wish it would be able to handle certain things and it can’t handle it

 

[Barty1884]

Ok, what *specifically* do you need the laptop to be able to do?

If it needs to be available for car hookups, it likely has to be portable & have decent battery life?
If that's the case, a "gaming" type laptop, probably isn't the best idea.

If battery life isn't a huge concern (ie you're always near an outlet), the the Acer you mentioned, at $400 is a pretty great deal.

 

[jessec1993]

Specifically I need it to
Be quick
Full Hd for a good resolution to read diagrams
Portable isn’t a huge deal since I won’t be constantly off charge but atleast a few hours with a slight load on it would be nice
Also able to do some light gaming on some modern games
Not super big as sitting inside a car with an 18” laptop isn’t the most convenient

Kind of looking for it to do a mix of both what a basic laptop will do but also kind of be able to game every so often.

Stream to a bigger screen if needed but that’s not a huge concern

I’m sorry about being all over the place on this one I basically feel like I need to just buy two laptops to do what I need lol.

I have seen those new Yoga’s that are a convertible with a dedicated gpu in them but they’re slightly over my price range unless you know of something that is close to that for less?

 

[jessec1993]

That Amd Vega you were talking about could you enlighten me on that slightly more or if you know of a link where I’d be able to find more info about it?

 

[Barty1884]

The Intel+Vega laptops:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davealtavilla/2018/01/18/early-test-of-hybrid-intel-amd-cpu-in-dell-xps-15-laptop-showcases-powerful-tag-team-chip/#2427f6ef1fa9

Basically, it's an Intel CPU, with AMD graphics. More powerful than Intel's own HD6xx offerings, but falls short of a discreet GPU.

Full HD, a few hours on battery with a decent load, 15" or something and capable of HDMI out shouldn't be a problem.
The tradeoff, a lot of the time, is gaming performance.

Something like this could be viable:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834316244

940MX (a 2016 released, mobile GPU), so not the best GPU in the world, but for some lower settings 1080p modern gaming, is more than capable.

For a modern, desktop equivalent, it's (loosely) in the same ballpark as something like a GT1030.
Older comparisons would put it in AMD HD6790 territory.

 

[jessec1993]

Ahh I see yeah I saw a laptop with the AMD Ryzen and Vega integrated graphics but like you said always was worried because back when I was big into computers a integrated graphics card was never any good for really anything. I will look into that one you sent me.

Here is the link to the one I found with the Vega and Ryzen chip https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy-x360-2-in-1-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-hp-finish-in-dark-ash-silver/6124570.p?skuId=6124570

Because yes I would be willing to slightly lose gaming performance for a touch screen and even more portability but don’t want to sacrifice to much where it can’t even play minesweeper lol