So I am in the market for a new laptop that I can play some games on and have some fun with. My price range is about $900 so something priced around $800 or so with tax and shipping is best.
Through my shopping on the web I found two laptops which seem to fit the bill. They are exactly the same except for the motherboard. They are:
Core i5 460M (2.53GHz)-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115866
and
Phenom II Quad-Core N950(2.1GHz)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115864
I have been leaning towards the N950 because, while it runs at 2.1GHz, it is a true Quad core. It also has 3 spots for RAM instead of the 2 the Intel has so if I ever decide to bump up to 6gigs it would be easier and cheaper.
The games I play will probably be limited to SW:TOR (when it comes out), RTS's like Sins of a Solar Empire and Supreme Commander, And some FPS's like Black ops and maybe some Battlefield games.
However I recently asked one of my friends who knows more than I about computers and he said the Intel because it runs faster and has Turbo boost. He then corrected himself and said the quad would be better for RTS's.
So if anyone here has some input on which one or a completely different computer it would be much appreciated.
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In that specific scenario i'd go with the AMD processor equipped unit. You'll want to do something aobut that hard drive too though, 5400 rpm hard drives don't belong in anything, ever. They are too slow. I'd immidiatly swap it out for at least a 7300 rpm drive or a small SSD if you can get away with it.
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Thanks a lot. Since I was leaning towards that myself I'm going to go with the Quad. And I agree the Hard Drive is lacking and I was planning on buying an 500g 7200 RPM at the same time.
For the curious:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136692
For the curious:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136692
I'm usually an AMD person, but you said games, that i5 would probably do you better since most games out cannot use more than one or two cores. For pure multitasking the AMD would possibly win out, but it's close.
Here's some info from PassMark on those two cpus.
AMD Phenom II N950 Quad-Core 2,703
Intel Core i5 M 460 @ 2.53GHz 2,567
Also the i5 will turbo up to 2.8 Ghz, and clock per clock the i5 is already faster than the AMD. So unless you forsee using all 4 cores heavily, the i5 is better IMHO.
Edited, Nov 15th 2010 12:13am by ispanolfw
Here's some info from PassMark on those two cpus.
AMD Phenom II N950 Quad-Core 2,703
Intel Core i5 M 460 @ 2.53GHz 2,567
Also the i5 will turbo up to 2.8 Ghz, and clock per clock the i5 is already faster than the AMD. So unless you forsee using all 4 cores heavily, the i5 is better IMHO.
Edited, Nov 15th 2010 12:13am by ispanolfw
4 posts
Hey there :-D
As for gaming, I would definately go with the Intel i5. It's not only a bit more power then the AMD but... I just always liked Intel processors. I always used them, I use one now (6-core i7: absolute paradise for games) and will use them. Always.
Hope it helped!
Dominium
As for gaming, I would definately go with the Intel i5. It's not only a bit more power then the AMD but... I just always liked Intel processors. I always used them, I use one now (6-core i7: absolute paradise for games) and will use them. Always.
Hope it helped!
Dominium
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