Looks like I'm buying today.

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The unit will be used by a first year college student. Games played include Counterstrike, Cally to Duty, WOW and other common games I have never heard of and do not know the names of.

Which would you suggest? Both are the same brand, same housing, same screen, etc. The Intel Core i3 system is $50 more.

Intel® Core(tm) i3-350M
4GB DDR3-1066 RAM
320GB 5,400RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
Nvidia GeForce GT 330M
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

AMD Turion™ II X2 Dual-Core Processor P520
4GB DDR3-1066 RAM
500GB 5,400RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

I'm leaning towards the AMD unit. Any one have any thoughts about this? Other recomendations in this general range and cost? Thanks.

 

[Saga Lout]

The unit will be used by a first year college student. Games played include Counterstrike, Cally to Duty, WOW and other common games I have never heard of and do not know the names of.

Which would you suggest?

I only came in here because I thought the thread title meant the beers. Not much use recommending things from this side of the pond, I'm afraid.

 

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Thanks saga lout. Yeah, that was a Freudian slip from hangin' out with Issac, my dad, growing up. Happend every day about the time He got off work.

 

[rpg123]

The two systems are pretty evenly matched. The AMD system has a roughly 20% faster GPU, the Intel system has a roughly 20% faster CPU. Most games need the faster GPU. 1 vote for the AMD system.

 

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I am thinking the AMD system will support DX11. Also, the hard drive 500GB compared to 320 I like. I was thinking what unit would have the greatest upgradabilty possibility, although I have no intention of upgrading anything. I think the AMD X2 P520 would be comparible to a entry level mobile C2D T4300. I have used that C2D CPU (or similar) and the data processing power was good. So, the AMD P520 should process the Mobile Radeon 5650 pretty well? The AMD system is entry level multi media, but the unit is not the main gaming computer. Games should be reasonably playable, nothing super like. It will play games, yes?

http/www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Turion-II-P520-Notebook-Processor.33692.0.html

 

[rpg123]

The bigger hard drive is nice. It's difficult to upgrade laptops beyond ram and hd, so it's important to get what you want at the beginning. The P520 is one of the new AMD K10.5 laptop cpus that just came out this May/June. they have better battery life and performance than the old ones, they are still behind Intel's i series though. Some programs need all the cpu power you can throw at them and some need all the gpu power you can throw at them. On average though, games need more gpu. If you have more money to spend, an i5 with a 5650 would be better in cpu demanding situations, but the P520 is a good match with a 5650 in the majority of games and overall usage.

 

[badge]

Thanks for the great information. Less power draw and better battery life is also something I'm interested in. I was in hopes the P520 and the 5650 would be a nice combination at the level. That was my thinking and what pulled me in the direction of the AMD unit. Going to buy the AMD unit in a bit.

 

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Got the AMD unit. Now setting it up for a tuesday evening birthday present. OMG! AMD killz Intel!

 

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Well already have done a lot today to the unit.

Updated Windows 64
Uninstalled bloatware
Burned System Recovery Disc
Burned System Driver Utility Disk
Updated to CCC 10.7 mobility
Updated Realtek HD sound
installed Avira AV
Installed MS Word updated
Adobe
ccleaner
CPUZ/GPU
ran chk dsk
and a host of other system checks.

No games installed until Tues/Wed when I give it to my son for Bday. I will try and post back and reveal how his games run on the system. I know a freshly installed OS runs exceptionally fast, but I will say I was VERY surprised at the really quick performace this swell AMD/ATI provides. I'm impressed and I think for $599 this is a cool deal.

Here's the link if anyone is interested.

http/www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0337842

 

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Quick upate on gaming performance. I am told WOW is smooth with all settings on high and reaching the 60fps cap. Wow, I have no idea what that means. Wow, don't bother trying to explain it. Unless it's made by Whamo! I have no interest in gaming.

 

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