Looking for a reliable mid-range laptop

footballcaleb · Feb 14, 2015

I am looking for a laptop for school and light gaming for $700 or less. The main things I want in it are a 4th gen i5 or higher, and I want the laptop to be pretty light and have decent battery life. I don't really need discrete graphics or anything too high-end. As an example of what I want, I really love the new Dell XPS 13 but it's a little too expensive. I would be willing to sacrifice a little extra weight and less battery life for the same general specs.

Thanks!

coovargo · Feb 14, 2015

Depending on what you're looking for, realistically it's difficult to get a laptop for light gaming, unless you're going to be playing 2D Indy games on the steam marketplace.

Here is an Acer Aspire that I would recommend for the 840M, if you need to meet budget.

http

/www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-572G-54S6-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B00MM2WA8O%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAI62SSPLIHX7AR6PA%26tag%3Dsnapsort-623-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00MM2WA8O

http

/www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N= 100025325&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

There's a list of comparable gaming systems, and it looks like most of them start at 700+, with 750 average for an 840M, which I would consider fit for light gaming. 820M is practically as basic as it gets, being only slightly faster than integrated. The 850M has roughly 300% more real world performance over the 840M, for example, bioshock infinite has 13FPS on the 840M and 29FPS on the 850M. I would recommend an 850M with a AMD chipset for light gaming and school work, but I don't expect you to spring for it:

http

/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232132&cm_re=850m_laptop-_-34-232-132-_-Product
http

/gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-850M-vs-GeForce-840M

footballcaleb · Feb 14, 2015

coovargo :

Depending on what you're looking for, realistically it's difficult to get a laptop for light gaming, unless you're going to be playing 2D Indy games on the steam marketplace.

Here is an Acer Aspire that I would recommend for the 840M, if you need to meet budget.

http

/www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-572G-54S6-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B00MM2WA8O%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAI62SSPLIHX7AR6PA%26tag%3Dsnapsort-623-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00MM2WA8O

http

/www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N= 100025325&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

There's a list of comparable gaming systems, and it looks like most of them start at 700+, with 750 average for an 840M, which I would consider fit for light gaming. 820M is practically as basic as it gets, being only slightly faster than integrated. The 850M has roughly 300% more real world performance over the 840M, for example, bioshock infinite has 13FPS on the 840M and 29FPS on the 850M. I would recommend an 850M with a AMD chipset for light gaming and school work, but I don't expect you to spring for it:

http

/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232132&cm_re=850m_laptop-_-34-232-132-_-Product
http

/gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-850M-vs-GeForce-840M

I actually wouldn't mind integrated graphics. I'd rather have a light laptop with good battery life than a heavier one with discrete graphics. What I really want is a sleek laptop with decent specs.

jaguarskx · Feb 14, 2015

You should consider the 14" ThinkPad E450 which starts at $550. Upgrading to the 5th generation Core i5-5200u and a 1920x1080 resolution screen will bring the price to $721. It weigh in at 4lbs and Lenovo states up to 8 hour battery life. Always take manufacturer's battery life with a grain of salt. It generally means no web surfing, music or movies and the screen is a 50% brightness or lower. In many cases it also means wireless is turned off to save power too. You can install another 4GB stick of RAM yourself later.

http

/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/e450/#tab-customize

footballcaleb · Feb 15, 2015

Thanks but I'm not a huge fan of the thinkpad design.

footballcaleb · Mar 4, 2015

For those that are wondering, I ended up getting a used Lenovo U430. Very impressed so far!

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