Is an AMD-based laptop worth choosing?

[Morgan MLGman]

Hello everyone,

I got a new job as an IT engineer in a large company which I start on 1st of October and I'm looking for a new notebook
I received a certain budget and the freedom to buy a laptop of my own choosing, after 3 years of work I will be able to change it to a new one and keep this one so I want it to be as good as it can.

I narrowed down the search to three models. As the budget is only expandable with my own money, I'd rather avoid doing that.
I will be gaming on it as well so it needs a dedicated GPU, it also needs an SSD + HDD combo, 16 gigs of RAM, 15.6" IPS display and at least a quad-core CPU (preferably with 8 threads).

On the Polish market, those seem like the best (and only) choices considering the budget but I don't know which one of these is the best:

1. Acer Nitro 5

Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 5 2500U (4C/8T)
GPU: iGPU Vega 8, dGPU RX 560X 4GB (it's the first time I've heard of this card, apparently it's a higher-clocked RX 560M but I'm not 100% sure)
RAM: 16GB (dual-channel)
Storage: 240GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD

2. HP OMEN 15-ce008ne


Specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ
GPU: iGPU HD 630, GTX 1050 4GB
RAM: 16GB (dual-channel)
Storage: 1TB HDD - I would have to add an m.2 drive on my own to the laptop because I cannot work without an SSD.

3. Lenovo Legion Y520-15

Specs:
CPU: i5-7300HQ
GPU: iGPU HD 630, GTX 1050 4GB
RAM: 8GB (single-channel) - I would have to add another 8GB DDR4 stick
Storage: 256GB M.2 SSD + 2TB HDD

There's also a fourth, most expensive option but it's probably not worth it:

4. ASUS GL553VD



I like the looks of it the most, but it has more specs that I'd need to upgrade myself:
CPU: i5-7300HQ
GPU: iGPU HD 630, GTX 1050 4GB
RAM: 8GB (single-channel) - I would have to add another 8GB DDR4 stick
Storage: 1TB HDD - I would have to add an m.2 drive on my own to the laptop


They all barely fit the budget in those particular configurations, if I choose the Intel/Nvidia laptops, I'd have to spend a bit from my own pocket for them to be complete packages (a.k.a. buy some missing storage. For that, I'd need to know that they're truly worth it...

So, anyone knows how the RX 560X 4GB stacks up against the GTX 1050 4GB that's in laptops? In terms of CPU power, I'd rather have the R5 2500U because it has 8 threads and a way better iGPU.

Any help would be appreciated, I'll be using this laptop for the next 3 years so I need it to be good and durable.

[Tibon]

Just my honest opinion, for the last 5 yrs i only trust thinkpad for a working laptop, especially i also do alot of on site work.

[genexis_x]

2500U is between 7300HQ and 7700HQ. TBH 7300HQ is a bit outdated

 

Unlike desktop cards, RX560X in laptops is only about the performance of 1050 mobile GPU

 

Asus GL553 is mediocre. Nitro 5 has CPU cooling issue and OK-good build quality. HP Omen ce has OK-good cooling and build quality while Lenovo Y520 is slightly better

 

Keep in mind that Ryzen mobile isn't optimized yet, you might have issues like bad firmware/BIOS, performance issue and poor battery life

[Crunchy Dragon]

13 minutes ago, Tibon said:

Just my honest opinion, for the last 5 yrs i only trust thinkpad for a working laptop, especially i also do alot of on site work.

ThinkPads are pretty robust, but they're also fairly pricey...

 

@Morgan MLGman:

Going by their desktop partners, I would say the RX 560x and 1050 are more or less on par with each other.

That Acer laptop looks pretty decent, it's probably the best specs you can get for the money going by what else you have listed.

[Morgan MLGman]

19 minutes ago, Tibon said:

Just my honest opinion, for the last 5 yrs i only trust thinkpad for a working laptop, especially i also do alot of on site work.

I currently have a Thinkpad T530 and it's way worse quality than my previos Dell Latitude E6420... But Dell laptops are too expensive for that budget to have decent specs...

6 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

2500U is between 7300HQ and 7700HQ. TBH 7300HQ is a bit outdated

 

Unlike desktop cards, RX560X in laptops is only about the performance of 1050 mobile GPU

 

Asus GL553 is mediocre. Nitro 5 has CPU cooling issue and OK-good build quality. HP Omen ce has OK-good cooling and build quality while Lenovo Y520 is slightly better

 

Keep in mind that Ryzen mobile isn't optimized yet, you might have issues like bad firmware/BIOS, performance issue and poor battery life

So the 2500U should be a better option then?
As for the GPU, well I only can choose a GTX 1050-based laptop so if the RX 560X is at least equal then it might be a good solution. I've heard TERRIBLE things about Nvidia's mobile drivers...
Anything in particular wrong with the Nitro 5?
 

 

19 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

 

@Morgan MLGman:

Going by their desktop partners, I would say the RX 560x and 1050 are more or less on par with each other.

That Acer laptop looks pretty decent, it's probably the best specs you can get for the money going by what else you have listed.

 

There's also the RX 560M, I managed to find somewhere that the RX 560X is the new branding name, and it has higher clocks than the RX 560M by about 73MHz. It's a 1024CU Polaris chip.

Do you think it's equal to the mobile 1050 in terms of performance?
 

[kokakolia]

I wouldn’t pick the Acer because I had similar hinges on my MSI laptop and they broke off because I was dropping my laptop into my bag like a brute. 

 

The Asus laptop looks good to me. It’s tough plastic all around

[Crunchy Dragon]

57 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

There's also the RX 560M, I managed to find somewhere that the RX 560X is the new branding name, and it has higher clocks than the RX 560M by about 73MHz. It's a 1024CU Polaris chip.

Do you think it's equal to the mobile 1050 in terms of performance?
 

From what I can find, just about the same in performance.

[Morgan MLGman]

1 hour ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

From what I can find, just about the same in performance.

So if that's the case, I prefer the AMD card because of drivers (my buddy has a gaming MSI laptop with a GTX 960M and he hates Nvidia's mobile drivers, literally hates them) so I hope they will be better here. Thanks for your help bro!

[App4that]

I'm a complete Lenovo fanboy, because they balance the line between prioritizing cooling, and not being a giant brick you carry around. Honeslty I use my Y700 for work in a dual boot config (windows/Linux) and the 6700HQ has never been a limitation. Rarely is time a larger factor than just getting it done. For time I use desktops that completely curb stomp any laptop. 

 

So, I guess my advise is worry less about the Intel/AMD and more about what it is you want and will be happy with. Make sure you can live with it going everywhere you do, and less about earth shattering performance that's the land of desktops. Don't sacrifice all the performance, just enough. Also kill all the drives with nuclear fire before doing anything else (fresh instal of any and all OS) to purge it of bloat. 

[genexis_x]

10 hours ago, kokakolia said:

I wouldn’t pick the Acer because I had similar hinges on my MSI laptop and they broke off

That's MSI problem. Their laptops have hinge issue for a long time

[Morgan MLGman]

4 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

That's MSI problem. Their laptops have hinge issue for a long time

Do you think the Acer should be good-enough in terms of build quality?

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, Morgan MLGman said:

Do you think the Acer should be good-enough in terms of build quality?

For Nitro 5 it should be good, but QC+QA in laptops nowadays is hit or miss (some models are even worse like Razer ones)

[Morgan MLGman]

1 hour ago, ZM Fong said:

For Nitro 5 it should be good, but QC+QA in laptops nowadays is hit or miss (some models are even worse like Razer ones)

This is important because I will be carrying the laptop with me for the next 3 years. Thank you very much.

I've heard that since the OMEN laptop is from HP, that it should be better quality-wise but I've never even seen an OMEN laptop irl so it's hard to confirm that. Do you think it might be true?

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, Morgan MLGman said:

I've heard that since the OMEN laptop is from HP, that it should be better quality-wise but I've never even seen an OMEN laptop irl so it's hard to confirm that. Do you think it might be true?

The new Omen 15 dc is excellent. The old models (2017) are kinda OKish

[Froody129]

Check out the Dell G series as well. Prices vary by country but they're generally well specced for the price and have not terrible battery life.

[Morgan MLGman]

32 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

Check out the Dell G series as well. Prices vary by country but they're generally well specced for the price and have not terrible battery life.

The cheapest 15" Dell G3 has similar specs but the only model in my price range would require me to upgrade it on my own because it's the most basic one Looks nice though

[kokakolia]

4 hours ago, Morgan MLGman said:

The cheapest 15" Dell G3 has similar specs but the only model in my price range would require me to upgrade it on my own because it's the most basic one Looks nice though

The Asus unit is just as nice. I know it’s good. The GL552 was a chunky plastic laptop that could take a beating. Cooling was average but not horrible however. 

[smooozie]

I bought nitro 5 (AN515-52-54DA)few days ago and I must admit it's nice piece of work BUT I noticed that my cursor is freezing constantly. Since this is gaming notebook it's almost impossible to play games where you need a mouse (for example LoL, CS:GO etc.) There is a main thread on intel forums:

https://communities.intel.com/thread/119093

and Microsoft forum:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-performance/intel-nvidia-laptop-freeze-problem/93e7004a-62b1-4211-8e37-4c136608865e?tm=1509222059465

 

PARTIALY SOLVED didn't work for me.

 

The cursor freezes frequently due to the Nvidia Optimus switching on and off dgpu. As far as I can tell this happens only with Intel + Nvidia + Windows 10 combination with basically any brand of laptops.

[genexis_x]

12 minutes ago, smooozie said:

The cursor freezes frequently due to the Nvidia Optimus switching on and off dgpu. As far as I can tell this happens only with Intel + Nvidia + Windows 10 combination with basically any brand of laptops.

This is a long time issue. And still no fix

[Morgan MLGman]

6 hours ago, smooozie said:

I bought nitro 5 (AN515-52-54DA)few days ago and I must admit it's nice piece of work BUT I noticed that my cursor is freezing constantly. Since this is gaming notebook it's almost impossible to play games where you need a mouse (for example LoL, CS:GO etc.) There is a main thread on intel forums:

https://communities.intel.com/thread/119093

and Microsoft forum:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-performance/intel-nvidia-laptop-freeze-problem/93e7004a-62b1-4211-8e37-4c136608865e?tm=1509222059465

 

PARTIALY SOLVED didn't work for me.

 

The cursor freezes frequently due to the Nvidia Optimus switching on and off dgpu. As far as I can tell this happens only with Intel + Nvidia + Windows 10 combination with basically any brand of laptops.

 

6 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

This is a long time issue. And still no fix

I sent the Acer 5 Nitro to the guy responsible for laptop purchases for new employees already so I cannot change it (unless he says that there's something wrong and that I need to send something else) but I'm glad I didn't pick Nvidia in the laptop, my friend has a GTX 960M in a MSI GE62 Apache Pro laptop and he curses them every time there's an update available - from what he says it's like: everything works kind-of fine, then a new update popup message appears and the next day something stops working fine until he updates the driver.

Besides that, a lot of weird stuttering, game crashes etc which drives him nuts.

I'm really happy I went with the AMD+AMD combo here because I wasn't aware of that stuttering problem. I'll also have only one driver for both iGPU and dGPU drivers which should help stability as well!

[genexis_x]

14 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

AMD+AMD combo here

Just keep in mind that AMD combo is still lacking efficiency in laptops compared to Intel+Nvidia

[Morgan MLGman]

3 hours ago, ZM Fong said:

Just keep in mind that AMD combo is still lacking efficiency in laptops compared to Intel+Nvidia

Yeah, I definitely won't be gaming on battery Although the CPU (R5 2500U) is quite power-efficient and the iGPU is quite powerful despite its a tad higher power draw,

From what I found about it: A Ryzen 5 2500U scored 137cb points in the singlethreaded test of Cinebench R15, which is only a bit lower than what the i7-7700HQ and Ryzen 7 1700 scored (both 144 cb). In terms of a multithreaded test it scored 574cb points and almost equaled the i5-8250U (also 4 cores and 8 threads).

In 3DMark 11 the Vega 8 integrated inside scored 3602 which is in between of the Geforce 940MX and the MX150, it's also over twice as fast as the Intel HD 620 that's inside the i5-8250U.
Power draw tests only make it better: The HP Envy x360 (in which the CPU was tested) draws maximum of 49,4W under load, while the HP Spectre x360 with a slower (dual-core) i5-7500U and a slower Geforce 940MX (than Vega 8) draws almost 75W

It's the dGPU that's not most efficient but I'd rather lose battery life than work with those drivers and issues of a GTX 1050 instead (because that's what I could choose besides the RX 560X). I'll be gaming only when connected to the power plug because of higher performance anyway...

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, Morgan MLGman said:

i7-7700HQ

144 cb

Hmm something's not right

[Morgan MLGman]

44 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

Hmm something's not right

Nah, it seems good. It really depends on the particular laptop model, because cooling and stuff like that  differ from notebook to notebook and I've seen scores ranging anywhere from 140 to 154cb for the 7700HQ.