Need a little help picking

Christor

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
3
0
10,510
I know very little about the hardware and software side of laptops, and have been frantically googling the meanings of the different terms and things I should be looking for in a laptop, but I think I'm on the right track, just need advice on my final choice! My old laptop was an acer aspire 5741, intel core i3 330m processor, 3gb memory and 320 HDD with integrated intel hd graphics, which done everything I needed, all be it a little laggy on multiplayer FPS games and photo editing (less popular games, not COD or BF etc)

So my uses will include,
- amateur photo editing - raw therapee (nearly killed my old laptop when using it) and Gimp
-Games - very much restricted in my old laptop, I dont play many FPS, but I do like total war series ( would love to play the new rome 2, even lowest settings)
- University work, internet and watching films/tv online

-I have an external 1TB hard drive, which I can use for my photographs etc, so can I assume 500gb would be sufficient?
- Will I be really limited by 4gb, or is 6gb safer?
-Prefer to go for an i5 range of processor as this laptop wont be changed for 3/4 years minimum
- Got to buy it in the store - Budget is £500, can stretch a bit
- Dont care about size or weight or how it looks, it will be home bound and rarely taken away, so battery life is irrelevant.

Heres what I have seen so far:

HP Pavillion g6

http://

Toshiba Satellite L850 1VO

http://

There is a deal in my local PC world for the ASUS Zenbook for 549...and Id be happy to pay it, if you think its worth it?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/asus-zenbook-ux32a-r3037h-13-3-ultrabook-silver-19857251-pdt.html

the same applies here for the Aspire V3 571 here

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-v3-571-15-6-laptop-19414902-pdt.html?gclid=CIyRldCLsrYCFW_KtAodwAkARw&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~Laptops+%26+Netbooks~19414902&istCompanyId=9a35962d-802d-4e67-9721-0a3328ca1f02&istItemId=xtqwxttix&istBid=t&ef_id=UNtRIgAAUKQAx0PC:20130404224526:s

I know its alot to read, but im lost as to which to choose, on paper some look better than others, but in real terms Im not sure what it all means!

Thanks for any help in advance, I hope to purchase tomorrow
 

Christor

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
3
0
10,510
Has anyone got any recommendations they could make? Im swayed towards the Toshiba and HP now simply for price, but still lost as to whether they will be suitable for my needs
 

sucedaneo

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
12
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10,560
My personal opinion:

1º ACER Aspire V3-571 15.6

2º ASUS Zenbook UX32A-R3037H 13.3" Ultrabook™ - Silver

3º HP Pavilion g6-2390sa 15.6" Laptop

4º TOSHIBA Satellite L850-1V0 15.6" Laptop - White


 

sucedaneo

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
12
0
10,560


YEs, you paid a fair price, but you may have problems with newest video games and photo editing.
Intel Graphics 4000 is a integrated graphics card (integrated within microprocesor) that use RAM share memory for works.
In the next laptop you buy, pay for a dedicated graphics card.