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Purchasing Laptop Inquiry

Masterade
By Masterade
in Phones and Tablets
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     Lurking around, I found that signing up for this forum would be very beneficial in the long run. SOOO... as one of my first few posts, I would like to ask a question concerning the laptop I am purchasing.

 

     Orginally, I was browsing for a laptop that is fairly small (14" in. maximum) with a budget $700-ish for school-usage and gaming. It needs to portable otherwise I would be cramming my backpack up with my laptop rather than my textbooks and school work haha. So far, I already made the order for a Lenovo Z40 (i7 version) for $730 (including tax; link here: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z40/?sb=:000001C9:00011E08:#techspecs). It is not expected to be shipped out until July 28th and will arrive on August 4th (estimate).

 

     What are your guys' thoughts on it? Do you think it is a laptop that is worth my money for what I am looking for? I strived for it to be more than 2.0GHz as well as a good GPU so I can do secondary things like gaming as well as designing in AutoCAD and such in a small, portable laptop.

 

EDIT: Thanks to whoever relocated the topic for me! :)

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That laptop looks great.

Good allround performance and the GT 820M will give some performence in games but not much.

I think you should go with a high grade APU based laptop instead if you will be gaming on it.

My Gaming PC

|| CPU: Intel i5 4690@4.3Ghz || GPU: Dual ASUS gtx 1080 Strix. || RAM: 16gb (4x4gb) Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600Mhz. || Motherboard: MSI Z97S Krait edition. || OS: Win10 Pro
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Trust me, Im an Engineer

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That graphics card is really awful, you won't be able to game moderately on it.

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You are going to be hard pressed to do more than some pretty basic games like minecraft on that laptop. Its based on the same architecture as the 540m, a graphics card that is not only outdated, but even in its time wasn't very good. The Z40 was more or less designed for media consumtion, not really gaming.

 

For reference: The 820M is probably ~10% better than the Intel 4600 integrated graphics

Dang, that's a shame. I was under the assumption that all Intel HD Graphics are not very good.

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The 820M will be about as good as a top of the time APU (disreguarding intel iris pro graphics), plus you get the dedicated memory so you dont have to sacrifice some ram to the graphics card which is obviously a plus

The AMD CPU's codenamed "Kaveri" can handle BF4 at ultra with acceptable framerates.

The 820M is not even close to a gtx 660 and i dont think the gtx 660 can handle BF4 at ultra with acceptable framerates.

My Gaming PC

|| CPU: Intel i5 4690@4.3Ghz || GPU: Dual ASUS gtx 1080 Strix. || RAM: 16gb (4x4gb) Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600Mhz. || Motherboard: MSI Z97S Krait edition. || OS: Win10 Pro
________________________________________________________________

Trust me, Im an Engineer

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That graphics card is really awful, you won't be able to game moderately on it.

Are you sure? I've seen a video of Battlefield 4 being played on it and it looked fine to me.

 

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

 

That laptop looks great.

Good allround performance and the GT 820M will give some performence in games but not much.

I think you should go with a high grade APU based laptop instead if you will be gaming on it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834257805

^ I was looking at this one as well.

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That laptop looks great.

Good allround performance and the GT 820M will give some performence in games but not much.

I think you should go with a high grade APU based laptop instead if you will be gaming on it.

This. Low-end discrete GPUs usually aren't really worth it. They're better than what Intel integrates (except Iris Pro but that'll cost you) but not by much. If you want to go low budget an APU is nothing to sniff at. The processor side of things is slightly less efficient than Intel's but you get better value for your money by not buying both a mediocre integrated GPU and a mediocre discrete card. You will robably sacrifice some battery life though so it's not all perfect.

I cannot be held responsible for any bad advice given.

I've no idea why the world is afraid of 3D-printed guns when clearly 3D-printed crossbows would be more practical for now.

My rig: The StealthRay. Plans for a newer, better version of its mufflers are already being made.

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The new Haswell graphics aren't bad, but they aren't very good for gaming. What games do you plan on playing?

 

Hm. I plan on playing Battlefield 3 & 4 (just naming the game that I assume would be most graphic intensive).

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I will play a game of BF3 with my Integrated HD 4600 graphics and tell you how it runs, and you should get equivalent or slightly better performance than I did.

Alright, thanks!

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That laptop looks great.

Good allround performance and the GT 820M will give some performence in games but not much.

I think you should go with a high grade APU based laptop instead if you will be gaming on it.

Kinda stuck here. I don't know really which APU-based laptop I would choose that fits the criteria of 14" max with a max of 5lbs.

I browsed around a lot and haven't really found one with a good price.

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Kinda stuck here. I don't know really which APU-based laptop I would choose that fits the criteria of 14" max with a max of 5lbs.

I browsed around a lot and haven't really found one with a good price.

Im not sure if there is any laptop with 14" and max 5lbs.

I dont think there is any that small and light with a good price that is powerful enough for gaming.

My Gaming PC

|| CPU: Intel i5 4690@4.3Ghz || GPU: Dual ASUS gtx 1080 Strix. || RAM: 16gb (4x4gb) Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600Mhz. || Motherboard: MSI Z97S Krait edition. || OS: Win10 Pro
________________________________________________________________

Trust me, Im an Engineer

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The largest Kaveri based laptop that I know of right now is packing a A10-7300. I am certain that the FX-7600p laptops will run in the $800 range. Tho a laptop running this APU upgraded to 2133 MHz memory would be quite a beast at playing games at laptop resolutions. Especially once you factor in Mantle is supported on these new APU's. I personally am waiting for the FX-7600p to make its way into the market.

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Well, at least it's not the WORST lol.

 

Im not sure if there is any laptop with 14" and max 5lbs.

I dont think there is any that small and light with a good price that is powerful enough for gaming.

There might be a few but probably skyrockets out of my price range haha

I just remembered. The ASUS zenbooks do fit criteria but they definitely exceed my budget.

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OK. Played a Game of BF3 using Intel 4600 Graphics

 

Low Settings, 1920x1080: 15-20 FPS (Not playable)

 

Low Settings, 1280x720: 25-40 FPS (Playable)

 

So, turn down the res to 1280x720 and you should be able to play BF3 on low (not sure about BF4 sorry)

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it very mcuh.

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So, seeing as the laptop of my choice is not the best. Does anyone have any specific laptops that fit my criteria of 14" max., 5lbs. max., and $700-ish price range? If you don't, that's completely fine. Whatever I just chose to buy is definitely better than my current laptop.

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So, seeing as the laptop of my choice is not the best. Does anyone have any specific laptops that fit my criteria of 14" max., 5lbs. max., and $700-ish price range? If you don't, that's completely fine. Whatever I just chose to buy is definitely better than my current laptop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314592

This looks good if you are fine with intel 4400 graphics.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231342

This looks good with intel 5000 graphics but it is a 15,6" 5,1lbs laptop at $750.

My Gaming PC

|| CPU: Intel i5 4690@4.3Ghz || GPU: Dual ASUS gtx 1080 Strix. || RAM: 16gb (4x4gb) Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600Mhz. || Motherboard: MSI Z97S Krait edition. || OS: Win10 Pro
________________________________________________________________

Trust me, Im an Engineer

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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314592

This looks good if you are fine with intel 4400 graphics.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231342

This looks good with intel 5000 graphics but it is a 15,6" 5,1lbs laptop at $750.

They look good. Just the GHz amount bothers me.

 

Sorry if I seem too picky, but I would like to have what will benefit me the most in my situation for the money I'm using, ya'know.

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Wow it is hard to find laptops with somewhat decent graphics with 14" displays, I found this but it is over your budget, but if it has the 750m you should be having a good gaming experience.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K2O4UMS?cache=881947f8bb28e28e776d08241330c746π=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&qid=1405289654&sr=1-7#ref=mp_s_a_1_7

Main PC:

ASUS F1A55-M LX, AMD A6-3500, (2x2)gb Kingston HyperX Blu DDR3 1600mhz, Seagate Barracuda 500gb 7200rpm, 
 Corsair CX430M, Cooler Master Elite 343, Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

Netbook:

Lenovo Ideapad S10-2, Intel Atom N280, (1x1)gb DDR2 667mhz, WD Scorpio Blue 250gb 5400rpm, Zorin OS 9 Lite
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Small laptops usally have low Ghz simply becouse everything is so tightly packed so the heat doesnt have anywhere to go.

You dont really have much choice with a budget of $700ish.

My Gaming PC

|| CPU: Intel i5 4690@4.3Ghz || GPU: Dual ASUS gtx 1080 Strix. || RAM: 16gb (4x4gb) Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600Mhz. || Motherboard: MSI Z97S Krait edition. || OS: Win10 Pro
________________________________________________________________

Trust me, Im an Engineer

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Dang, that's a shame. I was under the assumption that all Intel HD Graphics are not very good.

They're not that bad either.. Intel HD3000 #4Life! :D <-- (Not really)

The most common result of insufficient wattage is a paperweight that looks like a PC

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You are going to be hard pressed to do more than some pretty basic games like minecraft on that laptop. Its based on the same architecture as the 540m, a graphics card that is not only outdated, but even in its time wasn't very good. The Z40 was more or less designed for media consumtion, not really gaming.

 

For reference: The 820M is probably ~10% better than the Intel 4600 integrated graphics

 

The 820M is actually slower but does have dedicated VRAM :D

 

@Masterade the 820M is probably usable for some gaming. Just expect to run things at lowest settings. It is honestly not made for gaming at all tho. Understandable at that price for the laptop. The CPU is good tho :)

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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They're not that bad either.. Intel HD3000 #4Life! :D

 

#IntelIrisMasterrace!!!

Owner of a top of the line 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Dual Boot OS X El Capitan & Win 10):
Core i7-4558U @ 3.2GHz II Intel Iris @ 1200MHz II 1TB Apple/Samsung SSD II 16 GB RAM @ 1600MHz

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#IntelIrisMasterrace!!!

I thought iris wasn't out yet, man I'm behind

The most common result of insufficient wattage is a paperweight that looks like a PC

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Well, I guess that solves it. I concluded (through discussion) that the laptop I chose was really the only thing that would work for me.

 

 

Thanks everyone for your input! I'll look around a bit more still.

/thread

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