Need help on choosing budget notebook

[xdeadpool]

So I'm planning to buy a new laptop for study and a bit of gaming. Found these 2 HP Stream 14 and HP Chromebook 14.
http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-Laptop-Natural-Silver/dp/B00MVJYK6S
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N3ODBBA/ref=psdc_565108_t2_B00MVJYK6S
These 2 laptops are perfect on prices and pretty good on specs. The chromebook has Nvidia tech so I figure that it would run games much better than the stream 14's R3 Graphics. But in contrary the Stream 14 has Beats Tech AND Windows, ya know Steam games and stuffs, and I dont think that Chrome OS can run Steam. Also if you know any other laptops that are as fine as these 2 (14-13inch screen, NOT ARM, 4gb RAM would be awesome since I cant upgrade RAM and especially a $300 price tag) Thanks a lot for helping, and spending time to read this text wall

 

[VicVega1]

If you're looking for a budget laptop I would suggest checking out Acer's stuff. They are usually cheaper than their equivalents of brands such as HP, Sony or Asus.

 

[xdeadpool]

If you're looking for a budget laptop I would suggest checking out Acer's stuff. They are usually cheaper than their equivalents of brands such as HP, Sony or Asus.

Can you suggest some models for me? I cant find a laptop that has an AMD gpu ( not dedicated, still better than Intel though) or even a decent gpu of any manufacturer

 

[VicVega1]

What's your price range?

 

[xdeadpool]

$350 max, oh crap i just accidentally picked your question as the solution

 

[VicVega1]

unselected
350$ is a tight budget for a gaming laptop unfortunately. Perhaps something used would be a good solution, if you're willing to buy second hand stuff of course. I'll take a look around the new ones in that range and get back to you in a few moments.

 

[VicVega1]

Here's what I could find:
http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-15--15-f009wm-Laptop/dp/B00L3EE1SO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1409699488&sr=1-1&keywords=hp+amd - cheapest one, E1 CPU with mediocre graphics
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-G505-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B00CRXZVEI - very similar to the previous one, smaller HDD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J0TQ86C/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00J1MH1D2&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0RFQVNXTECKA8BBDYWFX - pretty good AMD processor with integrated graphics, but a little over your budget
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KVLX0GE/sr=1-2/qid=1409699488/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1409699488&sr=1-2 - a lot over your budget, but it has a good quad core cpu and best graphics
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-K53TA-BBR6-2-3-DVDRW-W7HP/dp/B005RK5ZP8 - this is a pretty good one with dedicated graphics, but you'd have to go with used or refubrished
http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-g6-2210us-15-6-Inch-Windows/dp/B009AU2JIC - another one to be bought used, but has a fast dual core CPU, decent graphics
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009A8L0IE/?tag=squidutils-ipk-20 - expensive, I know, but perhaps to be found cheaper on sth like craigslist
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-G500s-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Laptop/dp/B00CRXZUCG - my favourite, one refubrished for 390$
Again, very hard to find a decent gaming laptop in that price range. Most of the ones I listed here will propably do for very casual gaming. If that's what you're aiming for (considering you should be focused on your studies and socializing ) you'll propably be able to pick something. If you're looking for more heavy gaming you'll need to spend more or revive your old laptop and buy a PS4
Also I suggest looking up some rankings, reviews for laptops, performance reviews for games you're interested in.

 

[xdeadpool]

Here's what I could find:
http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-15--15-f009wm-Laptop/dp/B00L3EE1SO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1409699488&sr=1-1&keywords=hp+amd - cheapest one, E1 CPU with mediocre graphics
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-G505-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B00CRXZVEI - very similar to the previous one, smaller HDD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J0TQ86C/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00J1MH1D2&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0RFQVNXTECKA8BBDYWFX - pretty good AMD processor with integrated graphics, but a little over your budget
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KVLX0GE/sr=1-2/qid=1409699488/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1409699488&sr=1-2 - a lot over your budget, but it has a good quad core cpu and best graphics
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-K53TA-BBR6-2-3-DVDRW-W7HP/dp/B005RK5ZP8 - this is a pretty good one with dedicated graphics, but you'd have to go with used or refubrished
http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-g6-2210us-15-6-Inch-Windows/dp/B009AU2JIC - another one to be bought used, but has a fast dual core CPU, decent graphics
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009A8L0IE/?tag=squidutils-ipk-20 - expensive, I know, but perhaps to be found cheaper on sth like craigslist
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-G500s-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Laptop/dp/B00CRXZUCG - my favourite, one refubrished for 390$
Again, very hard to find a decent gaming laptop in that price range. Most of the ones I listed here will propably do for very casual gaming. If that's what you're aiming for (considering you should be focused on your studies and socializing ) you'll propably be able to pick something. If you're looking for more heavy gaming you'll need to spend more or revive your old laptop and buy a PS4
Also I suggest looking up some rankings, reviews for laptops, performance reviews for games you're interested in.

Ah the first 2 deals seem nice enough., maybe I'll save up more money later. One last question though, can I switch from Chrome OS to Linux or sth to play Steam games? (The Tegra K1 Chromebook I mentioned earlier) Thanks a lot

 

[VicVega1]

Oh, I didn't say anything about those two you selected. Pretty decent machines actually. The Tegra is an interesting piece of hardware. The processor is faster than the quad-core AMD and if Tegra's graphics are as badass as advertised, I'd pick the Chromebook over Stream. And yes, I think you should be able to install Linux (either over Chrome or as a secondary OS. there are some limitations, but I don't know much about Linux and Chrome, so you'll have check on that). But they are not designed for gaming at all. Only 2GB of RAM, very limited drive space. There is a Chromebook version that comes with 4GB and I think the black one has a user accessible extra RAM slot, so you could upgrade to 4GB or even 8, but I'm not sure about that. The SSD could also be switched to sth bigger, but you'd propably lose warranty.
This might be helpful: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/laptop/3591011/bring-steam-gaming-your-chromebook/

 

[xdeadpool]

Oh, I didn't say anything about those two you selected. Pretty decent machines actually. The Tegra is an interesting piece of hardware. The processor is faster than the quad-core AMD and if Tegra's graphics are as badass as advertised, I'd pick the Chromebook over Stream. And yes, I think you should be able to install Linux (either over Chrome or as a secondary OS. there are some limitations, but I don't know much about Linux and Chrome, so you'll have check on that). But they are not designed for gaming at all. Only 2GB of RAM, very limited drive space. There is a Chromebook version that comes with 4GB and I think the black one has a user accessible extra RAM slot, so you could upgrade to 4GB or even 8, but I'm not sure about that. The SSD could also be switched to sth bigger, but you'd propably lose warranty.
This might be helpful: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/laptop/3591011/bring-steam-gaming-your-chromebook/

Storage isn't a big problem as I was going to buy a new external HDD anyway. And yeah the Tegra is actually much better than R3 Graphics, but it's based on ARM technology so I can't run Steam on it I'll look into some of the deals you suggested. I really really like the 2 laptops I chose earlier because of the sleek and fanless design, Macbook-ish but I suppose powerful laptops don't go with that (well except ultrabooks which are really expensive). Thanks a bunch man for helping me on this.

 

[VicVega1]

No problem, man.
Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCUoxGTLgbE like I said, I don't know much about Linux, but perhaps this could work. You'd have to dig into that.
An external HDD is good for storage, but not for applications and I imagine a 16GB SSD can be too small for some games.
You know, those chromebooks did come out with Intel Celeron CPUs I believe, but if you're going for integrated graphics AMD is a better choice. Too bad the ARM architecture is such a pain in the ass, given that the Tegra looks really powerful.