Affordable laptop for school

[christo492]

Hey there,

 

My girlfriend is looking for a new laptop for school and I thought I'd check here for advice.

We live in Canada and her budget is between 600$ and 700$ CAD. She's going to be using it for web browsing, office applications, watching movies and stuff. Oh and she wants it to run The Sims 4... She doesn't really want a Chromebook and prefers Windows. 

She's looking for solid build quality, nice looks and something that's going to last her a couple years.

 

Thanks!

 

Edit : touchscreen is not a must have either

[Krik00]

 

 

[sqzit]

Any lenovo laptop with the good keyboard on it. 

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1TS-000E-04TX7CVF&cm_sp=Homepage_BS-_-P10_1TS-000E-04TX7CVF-_-08222016

 

this is good.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, sqzit said:

Any lenovo laptop with the good keyboard on it. 

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1TS-000E-04TX7CVF&cm_sp=Homepage_BS-_-P10_1TS-000E-04TX7CVF-_-08222016

 

this is good.

That won't run Sims 4 though. Not at playable frame-rates anyway.

 

3 minutes ago, christo492 said:

Hey there,

 

My girlfriend is looking for a new laptop for school and I thought I'd check here for advice.

We live in Canada and her budget is between 600$ and 700$ CAD. She's going to be using it for web browsing, office applications, watching movies and stuff. Oh and she wants it to run The Sims 4... She doesn't really want a Chromebook and prefers Windows. 

She's looking for solid build quality, nice looks and something that's going to last her a couple years.

 

Thanks!

 

Edit : touchscreen is not a must have either

Your girlfriend wants the impossible. Feel free to tell her that. She can either

A) - save up some more money
or
B) - accept that Sims 4 won't run and get a ThinkPad

[Aereldor]

3 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

That won't run Sims 4 though. Not at playable frame-rates anyway.

 

Your girlfriend wants the impossible. Feel free to tell her that. She can either

A) - save up some more money
or
B) - accept that Sims 4 won't run and get a ThinkPad

What about those cheap Acer Aspire laptops with 940 MXs in them? I've seen them go for as low as $479 US.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Aereldor said:

What about those cheap Acer Aspire laptops with 940 MXs in them? I've seen them go for as low as $479 US.

Those are not durable and have horrible TN displays.

[sqzit]

2 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

That won't run Sims 4 though. Not at playable frame-rates anyway.

 

Your girlfriend wants the impossible. Feel free to tell her that. She can either

A) - save up some more money
or
B) - accept that Sims 4 won't run and get a ThinkPad

Not at 60fps, but I'm assuming if she's looking for a windows laptop, she's not a hardcore PC gamer. My girlfriend plays sims 4 on her 2009 junk acer laptop at 15 fps. Believe it or not, but most normal people simply don't care.

[ShadowCaptain]

1 minute ago, Aereldor said:

What about those cheap Acer Aspire laptops with 940 MXs in them? I've seen them go for as low as $479 US.

the 940mx is a piece of garbage it barely gets 40 fps on Sims 4 at 1080 medium 

[don_svetlio]

Just now, sqzit said:

Not at 60fps, but I'm assuming if she's looking for a windows laptop, she's not a hardcore PC gamer. My girlfriend plays sims 4 on her 2009 junk acer laptop at 15 fps. Believe it or not, but most normal people simply don't care.

It won't run well. Most non-techies get pissy when their new 700$ laptop can't play their games at 30fps

[Aereldor]

Just now, don_svetlio said:

Those are not durable and have horrible TN displays.

What about something like this? 

https://www.amazon.ca/Acer-Aspire-Windows-Bilingual-Keyboard/dp/B015XBKG8G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471876487&sr=8-1&keywords=amd+a10+laptop

[christo492]

Let's say she drops the gaming aspect.

Her best bet would be a Thinkpad ?

[don_svetlio]

Just now, christo492 said:

Let's say she drops the gaming aspect.

Her best bet would be a Thinkpad ?

Yes

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Aereldor said:

What about something like this? 

https://www.amazon.ca/Acer-Aspire-Windows-Bilingual-Keyboard/dp/B015XBKG8G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471876487&sr=8-1&keywords=amd+a10+laptop

Still shitty plastic, still horrible TN panel.

[Aereldor]

2 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

the 940mx is a piece of garbage it barely gets 40 fps on Sims 4 at 1080 medium 

Oh, stop it with the snobbery. 1080p 30FPS at medium is just fine for someone who only wants to play the game. 

And more importantly, she can't spend more than $700 CAD.

[Aereldor]

1 minute ago, don_svetlio said:

Still shitty plastic, still horrible TN panel.

Do you think she'll get an IPS panel and solid build quality AND a discrete GPU for $700 CAD?

I think she should just settle for playing with the onboard graphics. The game seems playable with the HD 520.

 

[sqzit]

just looked up some benchmarks, she should get about 45 fps on medium settings with the integrated graphics :http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-520.149940.0.html 

 

 

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Aereldor said:

Do you think she'll get an IPS panel and solid build quality AND a discrete GPU for $700 CAD?

I think she should just settle for playing with the onboard graphics. The game seems playable with the HD 520.

 

I think she should buy a durable ThinkPad with a good IPS screen... or save up 300$ more.

[Aereldor]

@ShadowCaptain- Oh, come on! 
 

 

[Aereldor]

Just now, don_svetlio said:

I think she should buy a durable ThinkPad with a good IPS screen... or save up 300$ more.

Are there any Thinkpads with discrete GPUs? I'm in the market for something that can edit videos, and can afford to spend a little more.

Or I could just wait for Black Friday.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Aereldor said:

Are there any Thinkpads with discrete GPUs? I'm in the market for something that can edit videos, and can afford to spend a little more.

Or I could just wait for Black Friday.

Of course. ThinkPad P50 has a 6820HQ (3.6GHz quad-core with HT) and a Quadro M2000M (same as a 960M). Cost? 3000$ or so.

[Aereldor]

4 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

Of course. ThinkPad P50 has a 6820HQ (3.6GHz quad-core with HT) and a Quadro M2000M (same as a 960M). Cost? 3000$ or so.

I said a little more- looking more at a 6700HQ and a 960M- around $800-900.

I'd have to everything I own and cash in all my savings, and I still wouldn't be able to afford a $3000 laptop. Also, with the 1060 laptops starting at $1300, I wouldn't want to.

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Aereldor said:

I said a little more- looking more at a 6700HQ and a 960M- around $800-900.

I'd have to everything I own and cash in all my savings, and I still wouldn't be able to afford a $300 laptop. Also, with the 1060 laptops starting at $1300, I wouldn't want to.

Well. Considering the 960M is 75W whereas the Quadro is highly binned and only 55W - you get what you pay for

Well. I'd say you could find a ThinkPad with a quad-core maybe in a W560? Or E560 with an AMD R7 M370 with 2GB of GDDR5

[ShadowCaptain]

8 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

@ShadowCaptain- Oh, come on! 
 

 

Sorry high at 1080p, it gets like 36fps

[Aereldor]

1 minute ago, ShadowCaptain said:

Sorry high at 1080p, it gets like 36fps

And low settings don't look bad at all. It also doesn't seem like the kind of game a lack of cutting-edge graphical detail would detract from.

And you don't need to play a game at 1080p 60FPS with ultra settings to enjoy it. Games can still be fun on low-end hardware.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Aereldor said:

And low settings don't look bad\ at all. 

That's at 720p though.