Is this good enough?

[Johnathon]

So I have been looking at various laptops which fits my budget (£250 - £330) and I came across an Acer Aspire V5-171 11.6" Laptop with the following specifications: Intel Core i3-3217U processor (1.8GHz, 3MB Cache), Windows 8, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD and Integrated Intel HD graphics. I only need a laptop to run the game Combat Arms EU smoothly without lag however some say the Integrated Intel HD graphics is rubbish and because the graphics card Is the most important thing in laptop gaming...Some help would be nice

Or will the Acer Aspire E1 15.6" Laptop be better: Intel Pentium (2.2GHz), Windows 8, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD and Integrated DDR3 SDRAM? (This has a faster processor speed but low RAM, and maybe some other things I haven't noticed) P.S, This is cheaper by £17 :3

 

[DelJo63]

Neither are the greatest. the Intel Core i3 is a better processor but slower than normal and the Pentium has a better clock rate but a very OLD architecture.

Personally, I would keep looking. I settled for a Dell with i3 2.53GHz, 4GB ram and 500gb hd.

 

[DelJo63]

Forgot to mentions:- *IF* you're buying a new system, get as much NEW technology as possible so you will get the most life of your system/$$/year

 

[Johnathon]

"I settled for a Dell with i3 2.53GHz, 4GB ram and 500gb hd." Can you tell me the name of that laptop?

 

[DelJo63]

Dell Inspiron 15 Intel N5040

 

[Johnathon]

I found your laptop on the Dell website but there is no specific details about it - like RAM, graphics card, HDD etc... Could you maybe link to the webpage?

 

[tipstir]

ACER laptops nothing wrong with getting those. I have ACER branded netbooks, desktops and laptops. Again ACER/GATEWAY also. Don't have to spend so much for a laptop today. You do need i3 dual core or AMD Dual Core, 8GB of RAM DDR3 don't get 4GB and if you do get 4GB make sure it can be upgraded to 8GB. HDD size min would be 320GB, mid would be 500GB and the best would be 1TB. Again make sure the laptop can handle HDD upgrades some can use SSD with a notebook kit. If you want to go for that tech.

USB2.0 or USB3.0 or both 2, 3, 4 slots
HDMI port
Screen: LCD/LED 1920x1080p don't get less than this for the panel
VIS: 15.6" don't get 11.6" and if you want 17.3" is good but large
Battery: 6 cell min and 12 cell mid some have 13 cell mid option

Web cam is a plus if you want to do skype an etc..

I recommend the ACER brand or better the ACER/GATEWAY models NE / NV (NE is cheaper) but still good.

 

[Johnathon]

8GB RAM is an overkill for my budget. I guess the better question would be, what is the best laptop for gaming on games like Combat Arms which is under £330 ($500)?

P.S I only play Combat Arms and Dragon Nest, just the two and no other 100MB+ games, I will also use YouTube a lot and Microsoft Office for homework etc.

 

[tipstir]

Well just make sure the laptop can be upgraded to 8GB. RAM specs should say: 4GB installed / 8GB max. When you decide on one.

 

[DelJo63]

Using the TaskMgr, it is easy to see that even my 4gb ram is more than enough, as only 1.45 gb is even in use. IMO, many users are convinced that max(RAM) is a requirement, but unless you're running a server with 100's of connections, take the pragmatic approach and save some cash.

 

[Johnathon]

Any recommendations under £320?

 

[tipstir]

Using the TaskMgr, it is easy to see that even my 4gb ram is more than enough, as only 1.45 gb is even in use. IMO, many users are convinced that max(RAM) is a requirement, but unless you're running a server with 100's of connections, take the pragmatic approach and save some cash.

What does the WIE read for RAM free from 4GB it should be 3.8GB if not then you have the bug issue with WIE which can be fixed. I own ACER/GATEWAY AMD Dual Core 4GB and ACER/GATEWAY Intel i3 Dual Core 8GB (this game with 4GB DDR3, for only $23 bucks for additional 4GB DDR3. Now it's 8GB DDR3 huge difference in performance. Again depends on what your doing with your laptop. Some can get by with 4GB only.

 

[misor]

For ~500$:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312442

for 600$+:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131393
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215615
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216457

the cheaper the laptop is, the more likely it will come with built-in graphics unit.
decide if you want to spend the extra cash for a better discrete gpu...
...or accept a faster intel cpu with a slower built-in hd graphics.
...or accept a slower amd processor with better built-in graphics.

 

[cliffordcooley]

the cheaper the laptop is, the more likely it will come with built-in graphics unit.
decide if you want to spend the extra cash for a better discrete gpu...
...or accept a faster intel cpu with a slower built-in hd graphics.
...or accept a slower amd processor with better built-in graphics.

Thats pretty much the whole story right there.

 

[tipstir]

I3 iGpu with 1920x1080p HDMI output to HDTV 40-inch there is no issue with GPU on games. You don't really need to speed a lot to get a good deal on laptop. AMD Fusion and the prior P-Dual Core series were find.