Existential dilemma between two laptops (PLEASE help me people)

Ivan51011

Estimable
Jan 1, 2016
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4,510
Hi, newbie here :) looks like a great site.
I'll start with a difficult dilemma (at least for me, I don't know shi* about this). I'm between these two laptop models, same price, same overall specs, differences:

· Acer Aspire E5-571G
CPU - Intel Core i5-5200U (2 cores, 2.2GHz (2.7GHz with Turbo), 3MB cache)
GPU - NVIDIA GeForce 820M, 2GB DDR3
RAM - 4GB (DDR3) [possibility of upgrade to 8GB]
HDD - 1TB (SATA 2.5" 5400 rpm)

· HP 15-AF107ns
CPU - AMD A8-7410 (4 cores, 2.2GHz (2.5GHz with Turbo), 2MB cache)
GPU - AMD Radeon R5 M330, 2GB DDR3
RAM - 8GB (DDR3L SDRAM)
HDD - 1TB (HDD 5400 rpm)

I know both of them will bring me about the same satisfaction when it comes to average activity (browse, office, music, video) but I want to know which one is THE BEST for GAMING and HEAVY DUTY ACTIVITY. I am aware that these laptops aren't meant to heavy-game with, but they are the only two options I have available, and I really want to put my money in the one that will fulfill the task better. When it comes to gaming, which one will provide the best experience, performance and graphical capabilities? When I push it to the limits, which one will perform better? Do I need to make my decision based in the brand, too?

Believe me I have been looking for the answer for quite a few hours, looking at the specs individially and in conjunction, benchmarking everything, searching in forums, but I'm still not satisfied. Overall, people prefer (by little) the i5-5200U over the AMD one, and in terms of graphics the AMD radeon r5 m330 seems a little bit better than the nvidia one, but I think the differences are so small that the answer is in the little details, which I don't know shi* about and I don't know how to approach to them. So I'm going crazy here people, I really don't know what to look for anymore :') I'm not able to see the big picture with my very limited knowledge, so please help me. I have until tomorrow to decide.
 
Solution
The HP does a bit better at gaming and for heavy multitasking will pull ahead due to four physical cores and the 8GB of RAM. Also factor in that I think AMD iGPUs Crossfire with the discrete one so GPU performance is more than a M330+i5. So even though for general use the i5 is a bit better the A8 wins for gaming and multitasking.
Mar 30, 2015
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The HP does a bit better at gaming and for heavy multitasking will pull ahead due to four physical cores and the 8GB of RAM. Also factor in that I think AMD iGPUs Crossfire with the discrete one so GPU performance is more than a M330+i5. So even though for general use the i5 is a bit better the A8 wins for gaming and multitasking.
 
Solution

Ivan51011

Estimable
Jan 1, 2016
4
0
4,510



Thank you very much man :) exactly what I needed to know.

But let me ask you this: what if the i5 had 8GB of RAM instead of 4? I have the possibility to add more RAM to it. Would that change your choice?

I was starting to think the Acer would be a better option because of HP's bad reputation when it comes to laptops.