Decent Laptop for around $300?

[trelwan]

I'm looking to buy a new laptop for around $300 and I know some people will say you can only get crappy laptops at that price, but I've got a 10 year old laptop right now so anything new will be a significant upgrade.

I'm just looking for something decent that will mostly be used to browse the web and it would be nice if it could handle playing basic games like Hearthstone and Mechwarrior Tactics. I don't care about battery life, or display size. Just looking for a good price per performance laptop.

I haven't really been following the latest laptop tech, so I'm kind of out the the loop and hoping that you guys can enlighten me.

I went to Walmart and they have an AMD E1 laptop for $300 and an AMD E2 laptop for $330 both with 4GB of RAM. That's all that was listed, there was no model or clockrate. Is the E2 much better than an E1?

I know those laptops are probably really bad, those have to be at least 3 generations old, right? But that is my starting baseline. In the back of my head I keep thinking I should just buy the cheapest AMD A8/A10 I can find and call it good, but maybe there is a better deal.

Am I right in thinking that all A10s are better than all A8s and > A6s > A4s > E-series?
As for Intel systems I have heard that the HD 4000 gpu is actually pretty decent, but I can't figure out where that would compare to AMD hardware.

 

[Prostar Computer]

Both of those E series AMD chips are shoddy. The A series APUs are definitely better all around, with the A10 being the most capable (so yes, you're correct).

The HD 4000 graphics are not as powerful as the A10 graphics, but here's the trade off: the A10's computational power (overall performance outside of the built in GPU) is generally inferior. The A10 is comparable to an i3, and even then, the i3 is a slightly better CPU. That said, games don't actually benefit from using an A10 over an i3 or i5 because the Intel chips, though their graphics capabilities are not quite as good, are more efficient processors, and therefore make up for weaker integrated GPU.(in layman's terms).

You get good value from an A10 or the like, still. I've seen i5 laptops go for a little over $400 on a good buy, so if you can stretch your budget at all, it would be worth it to go for that. Otherwise, an i3 or A10 should treat you well but will still be over $300 in most cases. A Pentium based laptop would be better than one with the E series CPU.

 

[trelwan]

Ok, that's helpful. If I can find a cheap i3 laptop with HD 4000 it would be good?

I have been doing more research and this completely blew my mind.
http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Accelerated_Processing_Unit_microprocessors
I thought there was just Llano -> Trinity -> Richland, but apparently there are a bunch of different sets of APUs.

I found this laptop that seems like a good deal? A4-5000 for $275.
http/www.walmart.com/ip/Gateway-Refurbished-Silky-Silver-15.6-NE52204u-Laptop-PC-with-AMD-A4-5000-Quad-Core-Processor-4GB-Memory-500GB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-8/33620178

But that A4-5000 might actually be really bad, the GPU seems really limited, but comparable to HD 4000?
I'm going to have to keep looking around and try and figure this out. Maybe I can find some better deals.

 

[Prostar Computer]

I think an i3 would absolutely treat you better than an E series processor. And yeah, the APUs have been around awhile and undergone quite a few architectural improvements and nomenclature. Good findings, by the way! It's always good to see people hunt for knowledge.

Reviews for that Gateway are so-so. I see 3/5 stars consistently on reviews. $275 is not bad - bear in mind it's a refurbished unit though. You can probably find a new model for around $350, but I understand you have what you have to work with. Shop around on Amazon and eBay, too. You may be able to find an Easter sale or something (because laptops are relevant to the Resurrection) in due time.