Low budget laptop for programming and decent gaming

[rgnr]

Howdy, folks! Basic question: Are these lappies good for programming, and, if yes, which would you go for?
Poll:
Lenovo IdeaPad g510, i5-4200m/3550m+4g+500g+15.6" - $525/$425
HP Pavilion, A10-5750M+8g+1tb+17.3" - $600

 

[kanewolf]

For programming, the underlying hardware CPU and memory will be less of an issue than the quality of the screen and the keyboard. A faster CPU will improve compile times in large software development, but a bad keyboard or display will hurt your productivity more. My recommendation would be to get the biggest screen with the highest resolution possible.

 

[Videographer]

Get none of those, get the best secondhand thinkpad t4xx t5xx or w5xx you can afford, they are all much better built than those "cheap" laptops. If I had to pick one it would be HP A10, but I think for the money you can do better.

 

[velo3100]

I would go with the A10 laptop as the cpu is the most important thing for programming. Of course this will depend on the applications you write

 

[rgnr]

Upd: I'm starting with python. Also I live in Israel, so ebay with its new import charges policy is not an option.

 

[rgnr]

Anyone? :-(

 

[velo3100]

As I have said above I would go with the hp Pavilion.

 

[kanewolf]

Anyone? :-(

A couple of us have given you opinions. Apparently they aren't the answer you are looking for. Why do you believe anybody (other than you) can make a better choice ? Only you know your tolerance for spending an extra $350 or for toting the extra weight of a 17 inch laptop over a 14. Most of the criteria for choosing one specific item (car, chair, meal, laptop) are internal to you....

 

[rgnr]

After further thinking, I decided to leave only 2 competitors - HP Pavilion, A10-5750M+8g+1tb+17.3" - $600 and Lenovo IdeaPad g510, i5-4200m/3550m+4g+500g+15.6" - $525/$425. 4200m beats 3550m, but is the difference worth $100? Dunno how much 17.3 differ from 15.6. On the other side 8650G outperforms 4600 by 40%. HP win this one. Also HP weights slightly less, than Lenovo (2.2k vs 2.5k) Again HP wins. Guess HP uses plastic and Lenovo puts alluminium, but not sure. Aluminium is more preferable. Plus Lenovo is the former IBM, which is originally a computer manufacturer, but HP is a fax/printer manufacturer. Lenovo wins? Also there's a question of build, ventilation, design and feel. Currently I have Pavilion DV6-1350, and I'm not satisfied with its design. Keyboard is not chicklet. Also ventilation is poor/non-working at all. Heard its a typical issue with HPs. BTW, how huge is the difference between 8G an 4G ram? Finally, is there any difference between single ram setup vs dual ram setup?

 

[velo3100]

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. The $100 difference is not going to make much difference in performance when gaming or programming as they are dual cores.
2. The size difference is something you will notice when gaming and writing code.The bigger screen will allow you to see more of the game and more lines of code at a time rather than scrolling up and down all the time. I would go for the bigger screen if you write lots of code. For gaming its really up to you.
3. The lenovo has the advantage when it comes to build as aluminium will conduct heat a lot better than plastic which impacts performance in games.
4. Personally for the ventilation the lenovo wins as I have heard that hps are not suited for gaming as they overheat
5. Yes there is a difference between 4 and 8 gigs of ram. You will notice this when playing gpu intensive games or when compiling a large program. I would go for the 8 gigs as a safeguard
6. Yes there is a difference in single and dual ram setup. If the ram is in single setup then the gpu can't use its power as efficiently. You will notice a drop in frame rates in games. I would get the dual for this reason.

 

[rgnr]

as they are dual cores.

Isn't it that Intel's dual core equals to AMD quad?

 

[velo3100]

as they are dual cores.

Isn't it that Intel's dual core equals to AMD quad?

I don't really know as I have never used a laptop with amd cpu or gpu.

 

[rgnr]

as they are dual cores.

Isn't it that Intel's dual core equals to AMD quad?

I don't really know as I have never used a laptop with amd cpu or gpu.

Yo, vello, I've got Lenovo G50-70 on 3558U and 8Gb Ram. It came without any OS. Which OS would be optimal to install Windows 8 or Windows 7? Not a huge fan of Windows, when there's a Linux Mint/Crunchbang nearby, but sometimes there's a need