£550 Laptop Spec

[toonarama]

Hello all

I am looking to purchase a basic laptop for my son (to keep him off my PC!) - his needs are pretty simple

a) homework (general office applications)
b) games (nothing too heavy - football and train sims)
c) video editing

I have come up with the following (see below) but would ideally like to add a dedicated graphics card.

My main question is would I be better off sticking with 8MB Ram OR

dropping to 4MB Ram and including a dedicated GC GT635m


Many thanks for your help



Chassis & Display
Genesis IV: 15.6" Matte HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3230M (2.60GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
Intel® HD Graphics 4000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB


Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Quote Value:

£516.00

 

[Toxophilix]

Yes, I think the GT-635M + 4GB RAM will meet your son's needs better than the Intel HD4000 and 8GB.

Even though the 635M is not a particularly high-end discrete graphics card it will still handle a much wider range of games than the Intel graphics (not least because Nvidia's driver support is much better than Intel's).

As to the RAM, 4GB will be fine for general office use and gaming and light video-editing (and the machine as a whole is not going to be suitable for heavy-duty video-editing). Also, if you get the RAM in the form of a single 4GB stick then you can very easily and cheaply add another 4GB if it seems necessary.

Btw, if you get the GT-635M then you have the option to spec a 1920 x 1080 screen. That adds more to the cost. Nice though.

 

[toonarama]

thank you