Good performing laptop around or under $600

[Ajeff37]

1. What is your budget?
Less than $600 preferably

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.6"
Also must have a keypad and a mouse that has buttons distinct from the track pad, hate using integrated ones.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Higher the better but not really a big deal

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable

5. How much battery life do you need?
2-4 hours

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Skyrim on like medium graphics would be the benchmark

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Nothing harder than playing the odd game

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
500gb minimum

9. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible at least 2 -3 years

10. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD ROM

11. What country do you live in?
Australia but I have a friend in the USA who is flying out here soon and is willing to take a laptop purchased in the USA with them so laptops from the US are viable.

My laptops (Lenovo Y570) malfunctioning and I'm pretty sure the motherboards dead, so I'm looking to find a replacement if it is unrepairable. I'm also in the middle of building a gaming desktop PC which might continue depending on how much the laptop sets me back so I don't really need the laptop to be able to play games on the highest settings because I'll have my desktop. I would just like it if gaming on them for short periods of time would be plausible.

Other than that it would only be used for writing assignments, browsing the internet, watching movies & tvs and little things like that.

Thank you in advance

 

[jaguarskx]

$600 USD is pretty low since you are not going to be able to buy a laptop with dedicated graphics. But I am pretty sure the situation would be worse in Australia since electronics prices seems to be higher there.

Newegg is a popular site in the US. For under $600 there are the following two laptops. Both of them have an AMD A10-5750m APU with the integrated Radeon HD 8650g which is the most powerful integrated graphics core at this time. Their resolution is 1366x768 and both come with 6GB of RAM.

Lenovo G505s vs. Acer Aspire V5 V5-552-X814 - Comparision

There are some difference other than the price:

1 - The Lenovo only supports up to 8GB of RAM, but the Acer supports up to 12GB. 8GB is typically enough for gamers.
2 - The Lenovo's mousepad has mouse buttons, the Acer does not.
3 - The Acer lacks a DVD drive, which is partially why it is also lighter.

It would seem that #2 and #3 knocks the Acer out of consideration.

 

[jaguarskx]

The performance of the Radeon HD 8650g is basically between the nVidia GT 540m and GT 550m.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8650G.87916.0.html

 

[jaguarskx]

Alternatively, you can buy a used Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 for $600:

http/www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y570-15-6-Laptop-PC-i7-2670QM-750GB-HDD-8GB-RAM-Windows-7-/171197240804?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item27dc2695e4

If you know for certain the motherboard is the problem, then you can buy a replacement motherboard for $190.

http/www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ideapad-Y570p-laptop-motherboard-LA-6882P-intel-HM65-nVidia-GT-555m-DDR3-/271355218026?pt=Motherboards&hash=item3f2e08086a

 

[Ajeff37]

Thank you very much the Lenovo 505s looks just like what I'm looking for if mines completely buggered.
Haven't been able to get the laptop checked yet but if it is the motherboard, i think I'll just replace the motherboard. Cheapest option by the looks of it.
My roommate told me though if it's my cpu i'll have to buy both a new motherboard and a cpu is this correct?

 

[jaguarskx]

A damaged CPU does not necessarily mean the motherboard needs to be replaced as well. CPUs usually do not fail unless it has been running very hot.

 

[nforce4max]

It is very rare for a cpu to fail even if it has been running hot and AMD fails more often than Intel but both fail much less often than others. $600 doesn't buy much bang unless it is used, a used Alienware is actually a good move as they are easy to tweak and parts are not too difficult to come by. Throttle stop and a decent quad does wonders when gaming with a older gpu.

 

[Ajeff37]

I have taken to laptop to a repair shop and he also came to the conclusion that the motherboard is probably fried ($50 well spent -.-). I'm looking at purchasing the motherboard jaguarskx suggested but I've been told that there may issues with taking a cpu from one motherboard and connecting it to another. Will I run into this problem as the motherboards are exactly the same model number?

 

[jaguarskx]

You should not have any problems as long as the motherboard supports the CPU you want to install. Since your CPU is just going into another motherboard designed specifically for the Y570, then there should be no issues.

 

[Michela Angle]

i suggest you this amazing list of Best Laptop For Less Than $600 2014 for student and gaming too

http/topbestbox.blogspot.com/2014/01/best-laptop-for-less-than-600-2014-for.html