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Mid range Laptop?

MrMonolitasMrMonolitas Member UncommonPosts: 263
My brother is looking forward in buying a new mid range laptop. The laptop is mainly for internet, movies which is capable running new games on mid/low graphics. I want it to last 3-5 years if possible. Hes not going to be using video or image editing software. So in this case I'm not sure If he need to go i7 or i5, or even go amd. Should I go i7 for future proof?
 My brother want to spend up to 650 euros, less if possible. 
He also have an old laptop, which is broken, maybe it is possible to salvage some parts from it, like ram and hardrive. Broken laptop is Acer aspire 7741G. 640gb hdd sata, 4gb ram dd3.
Basically I'm looking best bang for buck. 

Comments

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,531
    For performance purposes on Intel laptop processors, Core i5 versus Core i7 basically doesn't matter, though both are faster than Core i3.  Having a "U" at the end of the CPU name means it's a low power, low performance version.  That's good if portability is the concern, but bad for games.  Getting a QM or HM on the end of the CPU name means a quad core, and that's Core i7 only--and out of your brother's budget.

    If it has to be a laptop, I'd probably go with this:

    https://www.varle.lt/nesiojami-kompiuteriai/nesiojami-kompiuteriai/lenovo-thinkpad-e555-a10-7300-8gb-156-hd-1tb-radeon--1201488.html

    Quad core processor, integrated graphics that is actually good, discrete video card if you need it, 8 GB of memory (hopefully as two 4 GB modules, not one 8 GB).  If you're buying a laptop on a budget shy of $1000 or so, it's not a question of whether you get stupid configurations, but what is the least stupid configuration you can find.

    I'm relying on Google translate, so I'm probably missing some things, though.  From looking up the SKU on Polish sites, it looks like it's probably one 8 GB memory module, though that's less of a problem if you're using the discrete GPU.  It looks like it also might come with no OS, which could be another problem.

    Is there some reason why it has to be a laptop?
  • MrMonolitasMrMonolitas Member UncommonPosts: 263
    edited January 2016
    He's planning to travel with it, i tried to convince him to get a desktop, but he is stubborn on getting laptop. This one has only one year guarantee compared to asus or dell which has 3 year. 
    This laptop cost 599 euro, if you add 60 you can get geforce GT940 (2gb) i see benchmarks it outperforms radeon.
    Guarantee is important. 
    Thanks for your fast reply!
    550 and you get 920m 
    http://www.rde.lt/products/lt/150/43558/sort/1/filter/0_0_0_403/Inspiron-5558-15.6-i5-5200U-4GB-1TB-RU-LIN-nešiojamas-kompiuteris.html
  • SEANMCADSEANMCAD Member EpicPosts: 16,775
    I am not sure what I am about to say is the best option even for myself however it is what I have had for 3 years now and it works out really well.

    I have a desktop for serious stuff and I have a $200 Chromebook for laying around the couch internet surfing stuff. I am not suggesting its a solution but I am making the OP aware of it because for all things internet a Chromebook is one hella a deal.

    Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.

    Please do not respond to me

  • VrikaVrika Member LegendaryPosts: 7,999
    edited January 2016
    Any laptop is good for internet or movies, but running new games for 3-5 years from now on requires a lot of performance, especially a lot of graphic card performance. So focus on getting a good graphic card.


    Two questions about the laptop:
    1. How long battery life do you need?
    2. How large and heavy can it be?

    If battery life, size and weight are non-issue, then 15 - 17 inch laptops offer best gaming performance for money. If you need to have long battery life, then that limits choices and costs a bit more. If you need to have as small and light laptop as possible, then it costs a lot more to buy anything that runs modern games.
     
  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,531
    edited January 2016
    albers said:
    He's planning to travel with it, i tried to convince him to get a desktop, but he is stubborn on getting laptop. This one has only one year guarantee compared to asus or dell which has 3 year. 
    This laptop cost 599 euro, if you add 60 you can get geforce GT940 (2gb) i see benchmarks it outperforms radeon.
    Guarantee is important. 
    Thanks for your fast reply!
    550 and you get 920m 
    http://www.rde.lt/products/lt/150/43558/sort/1/filter/0_0_0_403/Inspiron-5558-15.6-i5-5200U-4GB-1TB-RU-LIN-nešiojamas-kompiuteris.html
    Look at the specs on the GeForce 920M:

    http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-920m/specifications

    Yeah, there aren't any.  The GeForce GTX 950M is the bottom of the line Maxwell chip.  Everything below that?  Further cut down bottom of the line Maxwell chip?  Rebranded Kepler chip?  Warmed-over Fermi chips that happened to be laying around?  Who knows?  Probably a lot of garbage bin chips that are ways to sell defective parts by disabling the parts that are defective.  What parts?  How much still works?  Will it be faster than integrated graphics?  Who knows?

    Benchmarks don't necessarily help you here.  Once you get down to the garbage bin parts that don't give official specs, Nvidia has been known to give exactly the same name to wildly different parts.  The part you find benchmarks on isn't necessarily related to the part you buy, even if they have exactly the same name.  That's not the case for GeForce GTX anything, but that doesn't fit your brother's budget.
  • MrMonolitasMrMonolitas Member UncommonPosts: 263
    edited January 2016
    Thanks you for your help. Sorry for late response. He decided and bought X555LB He got a good deal for this one. http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/X555LB/
    He is pretty happy with it :)
    Thanks again for your help!
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