is this laptop good?

Anselm

szam_ wrote: »

Probably, i'll be honest though, i've not looked at desktops in about 5 years so i have no idea about price ranges and hardware, and when i have had a glance, it was for building my own PC so i only ever looked at parts, you could probably build a machine for around the same price as the laptop which would probably be better performing - i'd imagine there are some great offers out there, however i can't look at the moment as i'm glancing the forums in between calls at work and can't really be looking up PC specs and prices until later on when it goes quiet.

Someone else may be-able to help on that front however.

It's ok don't worry about it, I'm not interested in building a pc anyway

bertie1989 wrote: »

I7 processors have intel hd 4000 graphics, can play quite a lot of recent games see here :http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intelhdgraphics4000_2500/sb/CS-033387.htm

I have intell hd 3000 and to be fair plays newish stiff quite well

I've just seen a video of the hd 3000 playing shogun2 Total war, so I think we can infer the hd 4000 will play shogun2 and Rome total war no problem.

Cheers both.

Anselm

gonzo127 wrote: »

if games are a priority then AMD A series are better than intel as their integrated graphic are superior to intel,

but you do lose out on pure processor power - however for most people a AMD will be quick enough for everyday tasks, they only start to make a difference if you regularly do things such as ripping video, lots of photo editing etc (more serious work)

really it all depends on what your major wants are for it

Games aren't a priority, its for uni work but I wanted to be able to play the games mentioned as an aside as I like strategy games.

Would I get a better deal with an AMD A series I.e. same cost but better gaming? (Like I said I'm not bothered about playing crysis et al on max)

gonzo127

Anselm wrote: »

Games aren't a priority, its for uni work but I wanted to be able to play the games mentioned as an aside as I like strategy games.

Would I get a better deal with an AMD A series I.e. same cost but better gaming? (Like I said I'm not bothered about playing crysis et al on max)

in general when relying on intergrated graphics a AMD A series processor will give better gaming performance because the intergrated graphics are simply better than intels, for example in most instances the latest HD4000 chipset included on the top of the range ivy bridge intel chips do not usually beat AMD's previous generation of A series processor (Llano - graphics code 6xxx) let alone the latest A series chips (Trinity - graphics code 7xxx) however there is the odd title that goes against this trend.

this being said the processor power of the AMD chips is less than intels which should be considered, as the 'top of the range' of the A series processors usualy trades blows with the Core i3 processors when it comes to processor power, so the laptop you have linked with a i7 would decimate a AMD A series laptop in pure processing power

all in all the one you have linked is good value, it will play rome total war, and would probably play most current games with low detail setting, and on top of that the processor will fly through most things you want to do, so really is down to how much games matter and if just being able to play them is acceptable or if you like to have the eye candy turned up a bit

(to make matters more complex for around £400 you can sometimes find a laptop with a intel core i3/5 processor but also a dedicated graphics card which of course would can be more powerful than the A series processor in gaming)