Opinions on prebuilt laptop for gaming

jostrom

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Mar 18, 2014
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Hello,

I am looking for a laptop for my girlfriend. She wants to be able to play the games The Sims 3, The Sims 4, Minecraft, From Dust, and probably Diablo III at some point though if D3 wasn't an option that's fine.

I have this laptop picked out:
http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-Computer--Quad-Core-Processor/dp/B00CDTVBJK/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1394330889&sr=1-4&keywords=discrete+graphics

I am only familiar with computer specs on a basic level. I know we need a dedicated graphics card too. Can you advise me on whether or not this is a good laptop to play these games? Medium settings preferred if possible. My budget is $600 at most but preferably lower since she also wants a case and a new mouse.

Thanks in advance!
 
huskers - yeah that one is way out of the budget. It doesn't seem to be much better than the one I linked though. Why is it so much better? Also I am not a fan of Acer in general.

zephyr - I don't remember seeing an A10 on Amazon but everywhere I looked they were all integrated graphics. It seems like it's impossible to find a prebuilt laptop with a dedicated graphics card.

I am pretty sure I wanna get this one but can I get some second opinions? I just wanna be totally sure.

Thanks!
 
AMD A-Series processors are "APU's" which are about equivalent to having a mid-ranged graphics card built into the laptop. If you can get a laptop with a discrete graphics card, definitely get it. But if you can't find one cheap enough, getting one with an A-Series processor will still get you good performance.
 


That's probably the best you can get in your price range. Down the line if it slows down you could replace the hard drive with a solid state drive too.
 
So this one, since it also has a 3GB graphics card, is kind of like having two graphics cards? An integrated and dedicated one? I heard that one of the developers has something called Crossfire where it uses both at the same time or something. I'm not too worried about a SSD, I've done fine up until now without needing one and I had my last laptop for 5 years. I'll keep it in mind though.

Gonna leave the thread open a little while longer just to get some second verification like I said :) I'll mark yours as the answer. Thanks Zephyr.
 


It's integrated and that memory is shared. The best you can do new is a an AMD apu at that budget. However if you really want a good laptop for gaming you could consider looking on craigslist for a gaming laptop. Many people have laptops at reasonable prices in the 550s, and if they allow you to test it and aren't shady I would go for one.
 
Thing is my girlfriend will *never* go for a used or refurbished laptop, regardless of why the person is selling it. She absolutely wants it new. I kind of agree with her that going new is the best option. Hmm so it's looking like I'll have to go with the previous one then? The first laptop I posted has a dedicated card right?
 
It's a processor with really, really powerful integrated graphics to put it simply. It will perform like it has a discrete graphics card. By "3171 MB total graphics memory", it means the amount of RAM the processor will use at its absolute max. With an APU, a small amount of RAM is dedicated to the graphics part of the apu. Definitely go with the last one.
 
I'm not sure. I know I can run some pretty graphically-intense games on my laptop with an A6 processor. FSX, Simcity, Minecraft, Spintires, and Civ 5 all run decently on medium-high settings. I haven't found a game that can't be run with AMD integrated graphics yet.
 
According to another forum (http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/Laptop-to-play-the-sims-3-and-expansion-packs-on/td-p/1991633) the game requires 128 MB of dedicated video memory to run. The AMD hd 8610g has none... So I guess it is back to searching 🙁
 
Basically an APU is your best route. With Laptops, you get what you pay for, there is no corners to cut without performance hits. The Sims will run on any a6,a8,a10 computer.

The one I linked above has a discrete (standalone) graphics card, which is why it is more expensive. An APU is a processor with a technically integrated graphics co-processor, but it is the best integrated there is.
 


The AMD has the 3GB. Some of the computer's RAM is dedicated to the APU.