Hi there,
I have a budget of about 400-500 pounds to spend on a laptop. I know the basics of computer hardware but the in-depth stuff is lost on me so please bear with me when it comes to talking about hardware.
The laptop I want to buy will be used for general internet browsing, watching Films and some light/moderate gaming. Essentially I want a low-budget media laptop that can handle up-to-date games without having to scale the detail down so low as to take away from the gaming experience.
I'll list the three laptops I was thinking of getting and talk a bit about what I think of them and if you could offer any advice on where I could save money or improve the specs and help me decide between them then that would be much appreciated!
NOTE: I won't copy over the whole specs as anything I haven't modified will simply be left as standard - I am not interesting in adding more USB ports or getting a better sound card etc.
First:
Chassis & Display
Mirage: 13.3" Glossy HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
AMD® Zacate™ E350 Dual-Core Processor (1.60GHz) 1MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Mobility Radeon™ HD 6310 - DirectX® 11, Shared Memory Architecture
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
£415 inc. VAT
Pros: The cheapest of my three choices. Portable. Budget allows me a decent sized hard-drive with options to upgrade.
Cons: Small screen may detract from films/games. Lack of customisation in terms of processor and ram. Lack of cd/dvd drive may be slightly annoying but using an external drive isn't much of a problem either.
This is certainly a possibility. I like the fact that it is cheaper but I'm just worried that it won't be able to handle the games that well.
Second and third are either the 14.1" Xenon or the Gensis III 15.6" both in glossy and both with the same specs so far.
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2430M (2.40GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB
Memory - Hard Disk
320GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD3200BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
£496 inc VAT for the Xenon and £499.00 inc VAT for the Genesis
These laptops both have better specs than the mirage with options to upgrade the RAM to 8GB after I buy the laptop. The hard drive is slightly smaller but I have an upgraded processor. At the specs they are at the moment it seems like there isn't anything the Xenon has other the Genesis a mere £3 for the bigger screen. Or am I missing something?
If anyone has any comments/suggestions/improvements or anything really then they are very welcome!
Thanks,
Asa Samuel
I have a budget of about 400-500 pounds to spend on a laptop. I know the basics of computer hardware but the in-depth stuff is lost on me so please bear with me when it comes to talking about hardware.
The laptop I want to buy will be used for general internet browsing, watching Films and some light/moderate gaming. Essentially I want a low-budget media laptop that can handle up-to-date games without having to scale the detail down so low as to take away from the gaming experience.
I'll list the three laptops I was thinking of getting and talk a bit about what I think of them and if you could offer any advice on where I could save money or improve the specs and help me decide between them then that would be much appreciated!
NOTE: I won't copy over the whole specs as anything I haven't modified will simply be left as standard - I am not interesting in adding more USB ports or getting a better sound card etc.
First:
Chassis & Display
Mirage: 13.3" Glossy HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
AMD® Zacate™ E350 Dual-Core Processor (1.60GHz) 1MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Mobility Radeon™ HD 6310 - DirectX® 11, Shared Memory Architecture
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
£415 inc. VAT
Pros: The cheapest of my three choices. Portable. Budget allows me a decent sized hard-drive with options to upgrade.
Cons: Small screen may detract from films/games. Lack of customisation in terms of processor and ram. Lack of cd/dvd drive may be slightly annoying but using an external drive isn't much of a problem either.
This is certainly a possibility. I like the fact that it is cheaper but I'm just worried that it won't be able to handle the games that well.
Second and third are either the 14.1" Xenon or the Gensis III 15.6" both in glossy and both with the same specs so far.
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2430M (2.40GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB
Memory - Hard Disk
320GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD3200BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
£496 inc VAT for the Xenon and £499.00 inc VAT for the Genesis
These laptops both have better specs than the mirage with options to upgrade the RAM to 8GB after I buy the laptop. The hard drive is slightly smaller but I have an upgraded processor. At the specs they are at the moment it seems like there isn't anything the Xenon has other the Genesis a mere £3 for the bigger screen. Or am I missing something?
If anyone has any comments/suggestions/improvements or anything really then they are very welcome!
Thanks,
Asa Samuel