Need some quick & dirty advice in choosing between these 4 used gaming laptops

[Spiritos]

Hi,

While I used to keep track of hardware and built my own desktops I've been out of the loop for quite some years and now suddenly find myself at a loss when having to decide on a new (used) laptop. I am currently backpacking and as such am a bit in a rush to buy one as the one I had died on me and since I'm in lockdown in a live-in position at a hotel in the middle of nowhere of Scotland I am crawling up the walls without one. I just can't seem to get my head around the detailed correlation of CPU i5/i7 and GPU's at the moment so I really need some advice.

Obviously I did some research and narrowed my choices down to four laptops on Ebay. 400 GBP is about the maximum I can spend. I realise these choices won't let me play the latest games at high settings but nor do I need to. I also use my laptop for some music production (Ableton and guitar travelling with me) so while I'm aware for eg. 16GB would benefit me better than 8GB and storage are components to consider I really just would like someone to be so kind to have a quick look at these 4 choices and tell me if I'm on the right track with these options and I'm not overlooking a huge difference in performance. Essentialy I would be happy if someone would just give their opinion in the form of a top four . If someone is willing to provide a bit more information as to why to their choices that would ofcourse be appreciated but like the title says, I am more than happy with a quick and dirty top 4 as I need to buy one asap. Thanks for taking the time in advance!

1.Dell Inspiron 15 7000 7570 15.6" Intel Core i7-8550u 256Gb SSD & 1TB HDD 16GB
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Ins...-i7-8550u-256Gb-SSD-1TB-HDD-16GB/362955576823
2.Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming 15.6” i7 Core 7th Gen Gtx 1050ti 1TB HDD & 16GB Ram
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Ins...-Gen-Gtx-1050ti-1TB-HDD-16GB-Ram/153881336427
3. DELL INSPIRON 15 7559 I5-6300HQ
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GOOD-CON...258029&hash=item216c61b42d:g:UKMAAOSwCFBegLfB
4. Lenovo ideapad 700 15.6 FHD Gaming Notebook i5-6300HQ 12GB 128GB SSD+1TB Nvidia
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-i...6300HQ-12GB-128GB-SSD-1TB-Nvidia/153851533282

 

[tennis2]

You'll want a dGPU for gaming, so #2 it is!

 

[Spiritos]

Thanks! That makes sense indeed to have a dedicated GPU. That said, all these laptops are marketed as gaming laptops even if they have iGPU's. Would I still be correct assuming these four choices are sort of in the same bandwith performance wise or are there massive differences in performance in your opinion?

 

[tennis2]

Don't trust some Ebay lister's marketing jargon.

You can certainly play games on all these options, but there are large differences in gaming performance here.

#2.

 

[Spiritos]

Thanks again for the advice! I do try to focus on the actual specs rather than the jargon but as said I am at a total loss comparing the i5/i7 x-generations in proportion to the GPU. I know some games require more RAM either from the GPU or DDR, I understand for music production any of these GPU's will do just fine but I can't put it in a context other than googleing x vs x . Would you by any chance happen to be able to provide a link which will help me build some frame of reference for understanding the ratios?

 

[tennis2]

Notebookcheck.net is where I go for all my laptop reviews and such. Here's a page detailing the 1050Ti which also references the GTX965M (which itself is obviously better than the 950M in system #4)

As far as CPU specs. Aside from architectural (IPC) improvements, Intel's "ark" repository is oftentimes helpful by simply googling the CPU you're looking for and the Intel ark page is generally the first result.
i7-8550U (system #1)
i7-7700HQ (System #2) Here's the notebookcheck.net review of this laptop
i5-6300HQ (System #3&4)
Unlike desktop CPUs, laptop ones rarely run for extended periods of time at the advertised "max turbo frequency".
"U" denotes Intel's low-power lineups, generally 25W TDP
"H" denotes their higher power lineups, generally 34-45W TDP. Gives you higher base/sustained frequency. IIRC, the H-series CPU have more tweaking options as well.

When all else fails, going to google and typing "xxxx review" works. Even though I read PC his model with a GTX1050 (non-ti)hardware reviews (literally) every day, it's difficult to maintain a sense of performance comparisons across multiple generations of products.

 

[Spiritos]

Thanks bud! Truely appreciated you taking the time to help me out and provide some contextual info. In the meantime I've indeed been reading up on reviews and indeed your recommendation is by far the best. Annoying factor ofocurse is the bidding on Ebay and with still three days to go it's already near 400 GBP so I expect it to rise above my budget.

With that in mind the Dell Inspiron 15 7559 i5-6300HQ and Lenovo ideapad 700 15.6 FHD Gaming Notebook i5-6300HQ 12GB are for the grabs if I just place the order and while I realise making decisions based on time pressure are not the best, I also am taking in account my current lack of distraction gaming and bingewatching wise

So I am leaning towards taking one of the two latter options but will -with the info you provided- try to look for a better more informed new alternative posted, Again, much thanks!