I'm looking to buy my son a Laptop for Christmas this year, but unfortunately I don't really know much about some of the specifications.
What he is looking to do, is play Skyrim & Minecraft on medium settings, maybe a few smaller games, and download a few mods. My price range is in the $500 neighborhood.
There are a couple that I had narrowed my search down to, but I just wasn't sure if they could do what I need them to.
The first was this HP Pavilion 17-e020dx for $399. It has an AMD A8-Series processor, 4G RAM, AMD Radeon HD 8550G Graphics and 750G Hard Drive. It also had a 17" screen, which I really liked.
However, I was told that 4G of RAM would not be enough for Skyrim, and I should go with at least 6.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavilion-17-3-34-laptop-4gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-anodized-silver/1739112.p?skuId=1739112&id=1219062510621
The second was an HP ENVY Sleekbook for $579 with 6G RAM, AMD A10-Series processor, AMD Radeon HD 8610G and 750G. Which I believe the guy at BBY told me had a dedicated graphics card and was a better card than in option 1. Not that I have any idea why that is better, I just know the card has a higher number.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy-sleekbook-15-6-34-laptop-6gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-modern-silver/9268048.p?skuId=9268048&id=1219007786107
The third at Best Buy was a Lenovo IdeaPad with a TouchScreen (he certainly does not need that) $529 6G RAM, 500G HD, Intel® 3rd Generation Core™ i5 which also had a faster speed at 2.6 as opposed to 2.1 for the others, and Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Thought this one was nice because it was a little cheaper than option 2, and the touchscreen was a cool feature. Just not sure about the graphics card, and it has the smallest screen at 14"
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-ideapad-14-34-touch-screen-laptop-6gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-graphite-gray/1751582.p?skuId=1751582&id=1219063244368
I also found something on Newegg:
An Asus F75VD-NS51 $499, Intel Core i5 3230M(2.60GHz), 6GB Memory 750GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 610M 17" screen. Which looks like a really nice Laptop, but again, I have no idea about that Graphics card. Plus I already have a ton of credit at Best Buy. But the more I look at this one, it has many of the features I'm looking for: larger screen, 6G, 750G HD. I just want to be sure about the graphics card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230988
Any advice about the these four and about graphics cards would be greatly appreciated.
...or any advice on whether I should forget these four and go with something else would be welcome too.
Thanks.
What he is looking to do, is play Skyrim & Minecraft on medium settings, maybe a few smaller games, and download a few mods. My price range is in the $500 neighborhood.
There are a couple that I had narrowed my search down to, but I just wasn't sure if they could do what I need them to.
The first was this HP Pavilion 17-e020dx for $399. It has an AMD A8-Series processor, 4G RAM, AMD Radeon HD 8550G Graphics and 750G Hard Drive. It also had a 17" screen, which I really liked.
However, I was told that 4G of RAM would not be enough for Skyrim, and I should go with at least 6.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavilion-17-3-34-laptop-4gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-anodized-silver/1739112.p?skuId=1739112&id=1219062510621
The second was an HP ENVY Sleekbook for $579 with 6G RAM, AMD A10-Series processor, AMD Radeon HD 8610G and 750G. Which I believe the guy at BBY told me had a dedicated graphics card and was a better card than in option 1. Not that I have any idea why that is better, I just know the card has a higher number.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy-sleekbook-15-6-34-laptop-6gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive-modern-silver/9268048.p?skuId=9268048&id=1219007786107
The third at Best Buy was a Lenovo IdeaPad with a TouchScreen (he certainly does not need that) $529 6G RAM, 500G HD, Intel® 3rd Generation Core™ i5 which also had a faster speed at 2.6 as opposed to 2.1 for the others, and Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Thought this one was nice because it was a little cheaper than option 2, and the touchscreen was a cool feature. Just not sure about the graphics card, and it has the smallest screen at 14"
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-ideapad-14-34-touch-screen-laptop-6gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-graphite-gray/1751582.p?skuId=1751582&id=1219063244368
I also found something on Newegg:
An Asus F75VD-NS51 $499, Intel Core i5 3230M(2.60GHz), 6GB Memory 750GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 610M 17" screen. Which looks like a really nice Laptop, but again, I have no idea about that Graphics card. Plus I already have a ton of credit at Best Buy. But the more I look at this one, it has many of the features I'm looking for: larger screen, 6G, 750G HD. I just want to be sure about the graphics card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230988
Any advice about the these four and about graphics cards would be greatly appreciated.
...or any advice on whether I should forget these four and go with something else would be welcome too.
Thanks.