Need a laptop suggestion

sepulveda

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2009
2
0
18,510
I am mainly buying this laptop for school work, but if I can get some gaming out of it then all the better.

I don't run heavy games and I am limited on budget right now to 400-500 but would rather stay lower.

These are two options that I am considering

Lenovo
Intel Core i3 4030U (1.90GHz)
4GB Memory
500GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 4400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834317619

HP
Intel Core i3 3110M (2.40GHz)
4GB Memory
500GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 4000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834258152

As far as I can tell the Lenovo has a better GPU and HP has a better CPU. That much I can decipher on my own, but I really have no idea which would have a more positive impact on performance.

Firstly, I would like to know which of the two would be better. After that, any suggestions are welcome, but please take into consideration my price range and that it will be mostly used for school as I mentioned.

Thank you all very much.
 
Solution
The second laptop is much better due to its higher-frequency processor. Although the inegrated graphics card in #1 is slightly better (the Intel HD 4400 vs the 4000) the low-powered U processor will bottleneck you majorly when playing any games with it. Either way, do not expect to get near good gaming performance with either laptop, as an integrated graphics card is not very powerful compared to independent. It is difficult finding a laptop for that price with an independent graphics card. You can play modern games on lowest settings and games from 5-7 years ago with mediu to high.

Play mild games like Age of Empires III (and probably not Battle Field 4, although you can actually play 25-30FPS on lowest settings)

turkey3_scratch

Estimable
Herald
Jul 15, 2014
571
0
5,210
The second laptop is much better due to its higher-frequency processor. Although the inegrated graphics card in #1 is slightly better (the Intel HD 4400 vs the 4000) the low-powered U processor will bottleneck you majorly when playing any games with it. Either way, do not expect to get near good gaming performance with either laptop, as an integrated graphics card is not very powerful compared to independent. It is difficult finding a laptop for that price with an independent graphics card. You can play modern games on lowest settings and games from 5-7 years ago with mediu to high.

Play mild games like Age of Empires III (and probably not Battle Field 4, although you can actually play 25-30FPS on lowest settings)
 
Solution

sepulveda

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2009
2
0
18,510
Good enough for me. Thanks! One more question I would like to pose if you are still around. In my past experience, I haven't found HP to be very long lasting. I will most likely get the HP regardless, but how do feel HP laptops rank in terms of quality?