Which is better for casual gaming?

[arzo_1130]

Right now I am looking at 2 laptops for everyday use and some light gaming on Dota 2, Elder Scrolls Online, Day-Z, etc. I dont really mind playing on low-medium settings so which of the two do you guys recommend or which is better? If you guys have others to recommend please do link another laptop, my budget is less than $400. Thanks!

Toshiba (AMD)

Acer (Intel)

UPDATE (2 more):

HP (Intel)

Toshiba (Intel)

HP Pavilion

Lenovo i5

 

[olliesimmonds]

option 2

 

[Scizor119]

I would go with the A8. Better integrated graphics.

 

[olliesimmonds]

from experience intel HD has been better! intel is usually cooler and last longer. and in my opinion a lot better than AMD!

 

[olliesimmonds]

Neither of them would be appropriate for casual gaming! i would suggest and desktop gives you a lot more options!

 

[quandao93]

dota 2 would be light gaming on a low end laptop for 400 bucks. The other 2 games, I would not be surprised if the laptop actually explode. I second on the post above me.

 

[Scizor119]

I agree with that last statement, but you need to spend more on a laptop to get decent graphics. Look for something with dedicated graphics.

 

[arzo_1130]

I'm actually liking the Intel one more because my last laptop was an AMD and it would always heat up really fast and it couldnt play many games but thats because of its 1GZH processor.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Acer Aspire V5 with the 4th generation Core i3-4010u and the Intel HD 4400 is actually more powerful than the quad core A8-6410 and the Radeon R5.

The A8-6410 APU is actually is actually a low power (15w) consumption Beema APU which is basically the successor to AMD's low power Jaguar series APUs. It is not the same as the Kaveri generation APU such as the A10-7400 APU. Even though it is a low power quad core APU, it's less simple design makes it about equal to a 2nd generation Core i3 CPU.

The Radeon R5 graphics core is considered marginally less powerful than the Intel HD 4000 graphics core. The Intel HD 4400 has roughly about 25% better performance than the Intel HD 4000 which also makes it more powerful than the Radeon R5 graphic core.

 

[jaguarskx]

Best Buy is selling a 15.6" Dell Inspiron laptop that is both slightly more powerful and also less expensive than the Acer Aspire V5 and it also has a touchscreen. I trust Dell's quality more than I trust Acer's quality. The laptop goes on sale for $300 beginning Nov. 27th.

The Core i3-4030u is 200MHz faster, but it still only has the Intel HD 4400 graphics core.

http://blackfriday.bestbuy.com/?category=doorbusters2&filter=&sub_cat=Laptops&cat=Computers%20%26%20Tablets

 

[jaguarskx]

The link below is a video for how Elder Scrolls Online performs on the Intel HD 4000 so you should get better performance with the Intel HD 4400. Single player Elder Scroll games traditionally perform better with Intel CPUs vs AMD APUs and CPUs; with the same game graphics card (in desktops) the performance difference is generally at least 15%. I think ESO uses a modified version of Oblivion's game engine, but I am not sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrGjscZUJfs

 

[arzo_1130]

Best Buy is selling a 15.6" Dell Inspiron laptop that is both slightly more powerful and also less expensive than the Acer Aspire V5 and it also has a touchscreen. I trust Dell's quality more than I trust Acer's quality. The laptop goes on sale for $300 beginning Nov. 27th.

The Core i3-4030u is 200MHz faster, but it still only has the Intel HD 4400 graphics core.

http://blackfriday.bestbuy.com/?category=doorbusters2&filter=&sub_cat=Laptops&cat=Computers%20%26%20Tablets

Great find, I also trust Dell's quality more than Acer's because my last laptop was an Acer and it didnt turn out too well. I dont know if I will be able to even get that since it may be a doorbuster deal and I wont be able to camp out. What do you think about these laptop?

HP 350 G1

Toshiba Satellite Intel

 

[jaguarskx]

I would not write off the Dell Inspiron just yet... You may be able to order it online, but you will probably have to wait until Nov 27th when Best Buy updates their website to reflect the sale price.

The HP 350 G1 seems to be pretty good. If it is within your budget then go for it. It comes with Win 7 installed, but also has a license for Win 8.1; great if you do not like Win 8.1 for whatever reason. The Core i5-4210u can clock itself up to 2.7GHz when 1 core is used or 2.5GHz when both cores are used. That makes it potentially 600MHz to 800MHz faster than the Core i3-4030u which means it can last you longer before you feel that it is too slow and want to upgrade.

I do recommend that you install another stick of 4GB of RAM because it can help improve gaming performance by about 10%; but it depends on the game. That's because integrated graphics uses system RAM. When there is only one stick of RAM it operates at half speed which slows down the transfer of data a bit. Two sticks of RAM means the RAM will be operating at full speed to give around a 10% boost in performance; depending on the game.

Additionally, with only 4GB of RAM you may get warnings from Windows about low memory when playing game. For example, I play Star Trek Online with my 15.6" Dell Latitude 3540 which has 4GB and a dedicated Radeon HD 8850m with it's own 2GB of RAM. Even though the graphics chip is not using system RAM I sometimes get low memory warnings and a few time the laptop even freezes; not very often, but it has happened. Upgrading with another stick of 4GB of RAM solved that problem. However, Mass Effect 3 never gave me any low memory warnings.

 

[arzo_1130]

I would not write off the Dell Inspiron just yet... You may be able to order it online, but you will probably have to wait until Nov 27th when Best Buy updates their website to reflect the sale price.

The HP 350 G1 seems to be pretty good. If it is within your budget then go for it. It comes with Win 7 installed, but also has a license for Win 8.1; great if you do not like Win 8.1 for whatever reason. The Core i5-4210u can clock itself up to 2.7GHz when 1 core is used or 2.5GHz when both cores are used. That makes it potentially 600MHz to 800MHz faster than the Core i3-4030u which means it can last you longer before you feel that it is too slow and want to upgrade.

I do recommend that you install another stick of 4GB of RAM because it can help improve gaming performance by about 10%; but it depends on the game. That's because integrated graphics uses system RAM. When there is only one stick of RAM it operates at half speed which slows down the transfer of data a bit. Two sticks of RAM means the RAM will be operating at full speed to give around a 10% boost in performance; depending on the game.

Additionally, with only 4GB of RAM you may get warnings from Windows about low memory when playing game. For example, I play Star Trek Online with my 15.6" Dell Latitude 3540 which has 4GB and a dedicated Radeon HD 8850m with it's own 2GB of RAM. Even though the graphics chip is not using system RAM I sometimes get low memory warnings and a few time the laptop even freezes; not very often, but it has happened. Upgrading with another stick of 4GB of RAM solved that problem. However, Mass Effect 3 never gave me any low memory warnings.

Thanks so much for your help! My choices are narrowed down to 3 and I'll have to see which one I can get a hold of.

Best Buy Dell Inspiron

Toshiba L55

HP 350 G1

 

[jaguarskx]

The Toshiba L55 is pretty good. For $50 more you get 2GB more RAM and 250GB more storage space.

If you can swing $400 and perhaps around $45 later for a stick of 4GB RAM, I would get the HP 350 G1 because it does have the more powerful Core i5-4210u.

 

[arzo_1130]

The Toshiba L55 is pretty good. For $50 more you get 2GB more RAM and 250GB more storage space.

If you can swing $400 and perhaps around $45 later for a stick of 4GB RAM, I would get the HP 350 G1 because it does have the more powerful Core i5-4210u.

Thats probably what I will do since the L55 only has a 3 hour battery life. Thanks a lot!