Light Gaming / General Purpose Notebook Recommendation?

Grovest

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Jun 22, 2009
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Hi,

I would appreciate help finding a new notebook. Here is what I am looking for:

  • Budget: $400 to $500
    Size: Midsize (14" to 17")
    Resolution: Minimum 720P resolution
    Brightness: Usable in indirect sunlight
    Portability: Moderate (suitable for use in car & home BUT not planning to carry it around)
    Battery Life: Not Important
    Gaming: Casual gaming - support for modern games like GTA on low settings
    Other Tasks: Wordprocessing & Web Research
    Storage Capacity: Not Important
    Usefull Life: Plan to get 2 to 3 years before replacing
    Optical Drive: Optional
    Flash Card Reader: Optional, but preferred
    Keyboard: Backlit Illuminated Keyboard
    Touchscreen: Optional, but preferred
    OS: Windows 8.0/8.1
    Brands: No real preference
    Country: Canada
    Timeframe: Noticed that a lot of new A8/A10 are coming - can wait a month if something new is expected
I purchased what I though would be the perfect notebook, but it turned out to have an unresolved WiFi problem. The 'near ideal' machine was:-

  • Acer V5

    Screen: 15.3" TouchScreen
    Battery Life: Real World 2.5 to 4 hours
    Memory: 6 GB
    Processor: AMD A6-5357M
    Video: AMD HD 8450G with 2 GB Dedicated Ram
    Price: $399
I had concerns with regards to even light gaming based on what I had read regarding the processor and video card specs BUT found that the combination easily outperformed a modern desktop with Intel i3 with Intel HD 4600 graphics.

The WiFi problem turns out to be an incompatibility between Acer BIOS and Qualcomm WiFi adapter hardware which has only partially been resolved by driver changes (problem is that the card powers down going into sleep mode after about 10 minutes of use even though the connection is still active - then about a minute later Windows wakes the card up and the connection is reestablished). Talking with Acer, the only 'real' solution is to replace the Qualcomm card with a Broadcom card or use an external USB WiFi card BUT they won't provide the card and if an end user does changes the internal card it will void the warranty. Acer explained that as the problem only manifests itself when running Windows 8.1 (not Windows 8 which machines using the card originally shipped with) their solution for machines shipped back to them under warranty is to simply switch the machine back to Windows 8.

Thanks!
 
Solution
I personally would go with a dell laptop as they are the best for budget end. Unfortunately I am not familiar with the canadian market and don't know which one is best. You may find it difficult to find a laptop that can play gta depending on which one you are talking about.
I personally would go with a dell laptop as they are the best for budget end. Unfortunately I am not familiar with the canadian market and don't know which one is best. You may find it difficult to find a laptop that can play gta depending on which one you are talking about.
 
Solution