Which laptop has the best screen for under $500?

handymanshandle · April 14, 2015

While I really want to buy an RMBP (and I eventually will) but to get "meh" performance for a laptop I was wondering which one would be the best for photoshop (and some gaming [Like WoW and maybe a couple others]) I would suspect an AMD A8 6410 would get the job done (or a modern [4th or 5th gen] i3 or i5.) Though the R5 on the A8 would is still probably better than the Intel HD graphics...

I doubt my HP (i5 2430M) could really get the job done since WoW on "Good" settings, I only get like 25fps if I'm lucky. Whereas on the A8 6410 I've seen at most 45 fps on the same settings. The only thing that has really been an issue of one of my options is that the gradients are terrible and color reproduction is acceptable for what it is. (Which I suspect the screen where Lenovo decided to make a concession on since it's not a very good panel.)

Though I can suffice with just doing Photoshop, even though I'd love to do more than just basic gaming and ultra light content creation.

I figured that with the i5 2430M wouldn't be enough and mostly because of the iGPU, even though on Passmark the A8 preformed worse than the i5 that the HP has.

So what would be some good options in this price range? I would like it to have about 5 hours or more of battery power (if that's not asking for too much) and for it to be no more than 5.5 lbs...

John Luxston · April 14, 2015

While I really want to buy an RMBP (and I eventually will) but to get meh performance for a laptop I was wondering which one would be the best for photoshop (and some gaming [Like WoW and maybe a couple others]) I would suspect an AMD A8 6410 would get the job done (or a modern [4th or 5th gen] i3 or i5.) Though the R5 on the A8 would is still probably better than the Intel HD graphics...

If u can increase your budget a littel you can get a macbook with retina display. there are soo many pixels that your eyes cannot tell the different

Aniallation · April 14, 2015

If u can increase your budget a littel you can get a macbook with retina display. there are soo many pixels that your eyes cannot tell the different

$500 to $1300 is not "a little"...

SleathX1 · April 14, 2015

If u can increase your budget a littel you can get a macbook with retina display. there are soo many pixels that your eyes cannot tell the different

I assume you mean a used Mac, otherwise you're crazy. As Aniallation said,

$500 to $1300 is not "a little"...

handymanshandle · April 14, 2015

If u can increase your budget a littel you can get a macbook with retina display. there are soo many pixels that your eyes cannot tell the different

An entry level RMBP is not worth it and yeah $500 is the absolute most I would be allowed to spend.

$500 to $1300 is not "a little"...

I assume you mean a used Mac, otherwise you're crazy. As Aniallation said,

I updated it with some other request. I mean I hope I don't have to go the cheap route and just stick to photography until I could afford all the computing gear I was planning on buying mid 2016. The camera I don't really want to change unless there is literally no quality and function difference between the t3i and t5i. (Though that's a question for a different subforum.)