Advice Need On A Budget Laptop.

Started by mongers, August 09, 2012, 10:34:22 AM

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mongers

Hi, I need some advice on buying a budget laptop; I need it for the usual web activities, plus a little bit of simple video editing and playing some games of a couple of years ago, like Napoleon total War and Civ5.

Other than my little netbook, which if fine for most day to day stuff, the only other 'modern' computer I have is an 5 year old dell that had some dual core athlon in so anything will be a big improvement on that.
Plus it's about time I 'upgraded' to window7 before 8 comes in. 

One laptop has an AMD A8-3530MX with 8Gb 750Gb  the other a Intel i3- 2350m 6Gb 750Gb. so which it best ?

Any other suggestions welcome, but another important consideration is I can't stand glossy or semi-reflective screens, I'd much rather go with the reduced 'multi-media' performance and have a matt screen with no reflections. 




"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Grey Fox

I'm out of the AMD line so no idea there.

However, if you want to game, do not get an I3, get an I5.
Colonel Caliga is Awesome.

Vricklund

What about graphics cards? Any of the above have a dedicated card?

The A8-3530MX (Llano family) not a bad budget processor. It's a pure quadcore processor with over clocking abilities (1.9GHz->2.3/2.4/2.5? GHz) and a built in graphics card. It's now going to be replaced by the new Trinity line - not a pure quadcore but higher clocked, better over clocking abilities and with a better built in GPU, also it's supposed to beat the intel processors in battery life. That being said the A8-3550MX isn't a bad deal, especially if it's coupled with a decent dedicated graphics card.

Don't know that much about the i3-line, it never interested me. I'd rather look at an older, more top of the line, Core 2 Duo if you're looking to save money.




mongers

#3
Quote from: Vricklund on August 09, 2012, 01:28:32 PM
What about graphics cards? Any of the above have a dedicated card?

The A8-3530MX (Llano family) not a bad budget processor. It's a pure quadcore processor with over clocking abilities (1.9GHz->2.3/2.4/2.5? GHz) and a built in graphics card. It's now going to be replaced by the new Trinity line - not a pure quadcore but higher clocked, better over clocking abilities and with a better built in GPU, also it's supposed to beat the intel processors in battery life. That being said the A8-3550MX isn't a bad deal, especially if it's coupled with a decent dedicated graphics card.

Don't know that much about the i3-line, it never interested me. I'd rather look at an older, more top of the line, Core 2 Duo if you're looking to save money.

V, thanks for that, useful info.

I'll go and have a look at some benchmarking sites, see what that is up to.

Found this:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4444/amd-llano-notebook-review-a-series-fusion-apu-a8-3500m/11
it suggests it might useably run a modest Civ5 game:

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

mongers

Well it, the Amd powered one, turned up earlier today; just had a bit of a play with it, never used windows7 but it appears to have a lot of XP options under the bonnet.

Downloaded the Civilization demo and it seem to run fine, though I'm not sold on the game yet, maybe even not enough to buy the retail game or the steam version !. 

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Grey Fox

Civ V is a steamworks game, all versions are the steam version.
Colonel Caliga is Awesome.

mongers

Quote from: Grey Fox on August 12, 2012, 06:48:54 AM
Civ V is a steamworks game, all versions are the steam version.

Thanks for that, yeah I meant in the sense of which 'version' is the better value; over here steam prices don't seem that competitive, on steam it's about $32 whereas the physical item is $20.   :hmm:
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Syt

It happens occasionally, I had that with Saints Row 3. In those cases I buy the physical version, and simply register the game on Steam by putting the code number in. Steam will then downloads/installs the game. Similar with Amazon.com bargains.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

viper37

Quote from: mongers on August 09, 2012, 10:34:22 AM
Hi, I need some advice on buying a budget laptop; I need it for the usual web activities, plus a little bit of simple video editing and playing some games of a couple of years ago, like Napoleon total War and Civ5.

Other than my little netbook, which if fine for most day to day stuff, the only other 'modern' computer I have is an 5 year old dell that had some dual core athlon in so anything will be a big improvement on that.
Plus it's about time I 'upgraded' to window7 before 8 comes in. 

One laptop has an AMD A8-3530MX with 8Gb 750Gb  the other a Intel i3- 2350m 6Gb 750Gb. so which it best ?

Any other suggestions welcome, but another important consideration is I can't stand glossy or semi-reflective screens, I'd much rather go with the reduced 'multi-media' performance and have a matt screen with no reflections. 





The AMD one is the better machine.  A more recent processor, with 8 cores, and 8gb ram.
I don't do meditation.  I drink alcohol to relax, like normal people.

If Microsoft Excel decided to stop working overnight, the world would practically end.

mongers

Quote from: viper37 on August 13, 2012, 01:47:27 PM
Quote from: mongers on August 09, 2012, 10:34:22 AM
Hi, I need some advice on buying a budget laptop; I need it for the usual web activities, plus a little bit of simple video editing and playing some games of a couple of years ago, like Napoleon total War and Civ5.

Other than my little netbook, which if fine for most day to day stuff, the only other 'modern' computer I have is an 5 year old dell that had some dual core athlon in so anything will be a big improvement on that.
Plus it's about time I 'upgraded' to window7 before 8 comes in. 

One laptop has an AMD A8-3530MX with 8Gb 750Gb  the other a Intel i3- 2350m 6Gb 750Gb. so which it best ?

Any other suggestions welcome, but another important consideration is I can't stand glossy or semi-reflective screens, I'd much rather go with the reduced 'multi-media' performance and have a matt screen with no reflections. 





The AMD one is the better machine.  A more recent processor, with 8 cores, and 8gb ram.

Yeah, that's the one I went with, it turned up the day before yesterday.

Downloaded some steam demos, and it seems to play the Civ5 Gods and Kings pretty well, that is in dx11 mode which seems prettier than d9; I shall have to get the full game to see how it properly copes.
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Vricklund

Quote from: viper37 on August 13, 2012, 01:47:27 PM
Quote from: mongers on August 09, 2012, 10:34:22 AM
Hi, I need some advice on buying a budget laptop; I need it for the usual web activities, plus a little bit of simple video editing and playing some games of a couple of years ago, like Napoleon total War and Civ5...
The AMD one is the better machine.  A more recent processor, with 8 cores, and 8gb ram.
"Only" four cores, no multithreading.

Quote from: mongers on August 13, 2012, 01:54:12 PM
Yeah, that's the one I went with, it turned up the day before yesterday.

Downloaded some steam demos, and it seems to play the Civ5 Gods and Kings pretty well, that is in dx11 mode which seems prettier than d9; I shall have to get the full game to see how it properly copes.
What manufacturer? I've had my eye on a cheap laptop myself but it seems it's always HP with AMD-processors around here and I've heard alot of crap about HP and laptops - overheating and outdated drivers mostly.

Arvoreen

I've gotten my kids HP laptops twice now, most recently last Christmas....never had any problems with overheating or old drivers...their older laptops batteries didn't last quite as long as I wished, but until they were dropped repeatedly, they all worked fine :D

Of course, I got them Intel based laptops both times...maybe there are issues with the AMD ones?

mongers

Quote from: Vricklund on August 14, 2012, 03:18:14 AMWhat manufacturer? I've had my eye on a cheap laptop myself but it seems it's always HP with AMD-processors around here and I've heard alot of crap about HP and laptops - overheating and outdated drivers mostly.

A Samsung, a slightly faster version of this:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/samsung-series-3-1045877/review#articleContent
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Vricklund

Quote from: Arvoreen on August 14, 2012, 08:39:08 AM
I've gotten my kids HP laptops twice now, most recently last Christmas....never had any problems with overheating or old drivers...their older laptops batteries didn't last quite as long as I wished, but until they were dropped repeatedly, they all worked fine :D

Of course, I got them Intel based laptops both times...maybe there are issues with the AMD ones?
Fine, I caved and bought the HP. :)

A8-3530MX with 8GB of RAM and a 1GB AMD 7690M graphics card for 5000 kronor, that's roughly 120 big macs. I'm getting my hands on it tomorrow or friday at the latest.

mongers

Quote from: Vricklund on August 29, 2012, 03:24:57 AM
Quote from: Arvoreen on August 14, 2012, 08:39:08 AM
I've gotten my kids HP laptops twice now, most recently last Christmas....never had any problems with overheating or old drivers...their older laptops batteries didn't last quite as long as I wished, but until they were dropped repeatedly, they all worked fine :D

Of course, I got them Intel based laptops both times...maybe there are issues with the AMD ones?
Fine, I caved and bought the HP. :)

A8-3530MX with 8GB of RAM and a 1GB AMD 7690M graphics card for 5000 kronor, that's roughly 120 big macs. I'm getting my hands on it tomorrow or friday at the latest.

:thumbsup:

Big Macs are a bit expensive in Sweden ?

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"