Mobile Rig Recommendation

[LeftEyeNine]

Hello,

Recently my family decided to reward me with a laptop for something I don't have a single idea about.

So I went with an ASUS K52JT series notebook with the following configuration:


Intel Core i7 740QM (1st gen.)
4 GB DDR3
500 GB HDD
ATI Radeon HD 6370M
15.6'' HD-LED WXGA

However, after 10 days of the purchase, following a 20-minute-long lag at Windows boot, I discovered bad sector(s) on HDD and RMA'd the portable rig.

Now that the return is accepted, I'm eligible for choosing the very same rig anew or the following laptop I came across with for which I'll have to splash some more cash:


ACER AS7750G
Intel Core i5 2410M (2nd gen.)
6 GB DDR3
640 GB HDD
ATI Radeon HD 6650M
17.3'' HD WXGA


As obvious, the latter has certain advantages such as a bigger HDD, a bigger monitor, a better GPU and a newer gen. CPU of lower class.

Would it be worthwhile to spend that extra cash ? Or would downstepping from a 1st gen. i7 to a 2nd gen. i5 for those advantages be unnecessary ?

Thanks in advance.

[Lemur]

Hmm, usually the problem with a laptop (gaming-wise) is that the video card is mismatched with the resolution of the screen. Meaning, there are more pixels than the GPU is really comfortable pushing around. The CPU is usually not the (primary) issue.

I'd say trading an i7 for a more recent i5 is an easy move if the GPU is markedly improved. 90% of the time on a laptop you're GPU-bound, not CPU-bound.

-edit-

A bit of lazy Google-fu isn't turning up gaming benchmarks for me, but here's the basic numbers: 6370M (http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6370M.40970.0.html) and 6650M (http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6650M.43962.0.html). Looks like the 6650 is a big step up. No-brainer.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Yeah. Neither of those is a portability champion of battery life, so you're not really losing anything there.

[LeftEyeNine]

Lemur votes for ACER.



Yeah. Neither of those is a portability champion of battery life, so you're not really losing anything there.


?

[Tellos Athenaios]

I concur with Lemur's opinion, given that neither laptop offers battery life worth caring about.

[LeftEyeNine]

I couldn't care less about battery life, Tellos. So it's not a concern at all.

How about this one ?

http://www.packardbell.com.tr/pb/tr/TR/content/model/LX.BTK02.004

[Tellos Athenaios]

Well it seems to be in the same ballpark as the other i5 model you posted, but my Turkish isn't exactly up to much more than lucky guesswork. Doesn't help that the model number only brings up more Turkish stuff with Google.

[Husar]

Couldn't find any info on a graphics card on that page, nothing that even looks like a graphics card.
I usually assume when they don't mention it, that's because it's not worth mentioning, like an integrated one. :shrug:

[LeftEyeNine]

Sorry the only detail that page does not manifest was the graphics chipset. That rig has an ATI Radeon 6650M on it.

[Centurion1]

be very careful i have a decent laptop about a year old with 4gigs of ram and a 2.4 ghz processor and thought i was good to go for gaming. yeah no.

its graphics card is appalling. it is integrated graphics and it sucks. i play all the recent game son the lowest settings (though touche to it being able to play stw2 with even the lowest settings) and i am afraid to play even the oldest fps. (i can play tf2 actually)

that being said i was wondering if i could even do anything about the graphics card i read they are impossible to upgrade because they are usually soldered to the motherboard. does anyone know anything i could do?

i sort of blame the industry for this they dont have as clear or concise numbers for graphics cards and you often are left wondering what exactly you have. This coming from someone who has built a computer for themself before (i just went with what was exspensive) by comparison processors hard drives, ram capacity and power...... all easy to understand. simply telling me radeon 5500x doesnt really enlighten me too its abilities. saying 2.6 ghz does however.

so any advice for a pissed off man. (i figure since this is about laptops its the best place).

[Lemur]

it is integrated graphics and it sucks.
All integrated graphics suck. Well, with one exception (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion), but that's a whole different bit of business.

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing you can do about your laptop's graphics, beyond buying a different computer. Sorry.