TR Forums

Hey,
I want to get everyday laptop for (multi-tab)browsing/movies/light work. Maybe some old games. But I want to get at least 2~3 years of comfortable use out of it.
(I don't care too much about battery time. I do care a bit about weight. Decent screen quality would be nice as well. I don't care about touchpad, I'll use mouse. And basic peripheral ports are fine. Camera/mic don't care too much either. 256gb SSD is also enough for now. )

What I can't decide is whether it's better to go for integrated GPU cheap laptop and add SSD/Ram to it as needed, or pay a little more and get entry level gaming one. (To have a bit more power than I need for smoother experience).

On a cheaper side Acer Aspire E 15, 15.6" with i3-8130U, 6GB RAM Memory, 1TB HDD seems to be universal favorite in reviews. I would first swap HDD with SSD, and add Ram as needed.

But I'm not sure i3 and integrated card will hold up too well, especially with 4k videos etc.

On the other hand, for ~300$ extra I can get entry level gaming laptop with 8gb ram, ssd and 1050ti. Which should be plenty fine for my needs. But I did have some bad experiences with entry level gaming laptops. Mainly of them overheating and as a result disintegrating over time. But that was when I used them for gaming/intensive work tasks. Would overheating still be a problem with lighter use?
I was thinking something like Acer Nitro 5 or MSI GL62M


Has anyone had experience with those types of laptops? How are they in everyday use? I could use any advise.

Thanks.

What do you mean by "older" games? Also, I would pay more attention to HEVC support, pushing 4k isn't as big of a deal in non-gaming. Any 6th gen Intel cpu or newer will do it. I would look for a solid i3-i5 with a HDD and then upgrade it to an SSD. With the prices of SSD's lately, the big players in laptops have too much inventory at too high of prices to drop in a 1 TB for the prices they are going for right now. One thing that pays off big: good sound. I had an HP latop with Beats audio. For a laptop, it was tremendous. I am not a big fan of Beats headphones or what-not, but the sound was no-joke good (for laptop speakers).

Have a look at this Lenovo 330 with Ryzen5-2500U, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, 1920x1080 15.6" screen for $500
Here's TR's review of the Ryzen5-2500U

I can pretty much guarantee you right now that the Acer Aspire E screen is going to be complete garbage. I'm not even satisfied with their Aspire 5 lineup.

Thanks

What do you mean by "older" games?

Not of this decade, or even not of this century stuff

Have a look at this Lenovo 330 with Ryzen5-2500U, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, 1920x1080 15.6" screen for $500
Here's TR's review of the Ryzen5-2500U

I'm a bit rusty on AMD stuff. That should be kind of equivalent of i5/mx150 ?

Another option would be Dell Outlet:
https://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSal ... 114&~ck=mn

Sometimes you can get a pretty decent discount for overstock or used/reconditioned equipment.

I use a lenovo t420 with (2nd gen i5) 8gb ram and a 256gb ssd.
Works fine for netflix, hulu, dvd's etc.

Has a nice 100dpi screen at 1600x900.

You could get the slim version of the same. It is also built like a tank with a magnesium chassis, I doubt it will ever really die. Lots of spare parts available on ebay.
So far the only real repair I've had to do to both laptops is new hinges.

I really prefer to buy used business class laptops from Dell, HP, or Lenovo that are 2nd gen core I5 or i7 or newer and just stick more memory and an ssd in it and call it good.

I stay away from amd unless it is a newer model laptop with a ryzen core.

I just bought a Lenovo Miix 310 for 110 euros with 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC. It's quite an army more powerful than the Netbook I had for the past 8 years, and it's completely silent (quite nice when trying not to wake anyone at night).

It's ultimately up to what you're used to, and the compromises you're willing to accept. I'll mostly be modding WarCraft 3 and uploading projects online, for which it will absolutely sweep the field in performance compared to what I've been working with.

It can do 4k, according to Intel. Of course, the i3 performs an order of magnitude better, but that's just what people have come to expect. All the reviews of modern hardware exaggerate the sluggishness of devices, when in reality there is a lot of opportunity to save tons of money by buying something older.

Star Brood wrote:

It's ultimately up to what you're used to, and the compromises you're willing to accept.

Yeah, thats what has me confused. I'm mostly used to mid/high end gaming desktops. So ideally I'm looking for comparable comfort in terms of browsing, movies etc. (to handle those basic tasks nicely, I'm not looking for laptop that can match gaming desktop in gaming/intensive work apps.)

For example so I could have browser with ~10 tabs open + movie player + messaging apps + lets say a text editing app. And so I could alt+tab among them smoothly.
is SSD empowered i3 enough for this?, or it's better to get basic gaming laptop and have extra power for future proofing and peace of mind.

With that use, I would look at an i3, SSD, and 16gb ram. The extra ram will help when things are as you describe.

Realistically, you can't upgrade the GPU in laptops. If you think you might need a decent one for even one or two games, I'd get a gaming machine. Even newer games will play fine at 1080p with a GeForce 1050 or 1050Ti, so an entry-level machine should easily handle older games.

Gaming laptops will usually come with a decent amount of RAM, so you don't have to worry about an upgrade out of the box. Anything under 8 GB will be awful; that's just how things are now.

That MSI model you linked looks pretty decent to me. Their brand doesn't carry a price premium like Asus does. I personally avoid Acer, as their quality tends to be more hit-and-miss, so if you're strongly considering the two you've linked I'd lean toward MSI.

hellwalker wrote:

Have a look at this Lenovo 330 with Ryzen5-2500U, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, 1920x1080 15.6" screen for $500
Here's TR's review of the Ryzen5-2500U

I'm a bit rusty on AMD stuff. That should be kind of equivalent of i5/mx150 ?

See the TR review I linked in that post. Short answer, the Ryzen5-2500U is slightly slower than the 8th Gen i5-8250U, but not by much (still faster than 8th gen i3), and 2x faster than Intel HD620 graphics in the i5-8250U but 65% as fast as the MX150 (the MX150 chip is a 10-25W TDP in itself though).

Seems to me the Ryzen5-2500U would fit your needs pretty well for light gaming (where you'd probably want something better than integrated Intel HD620 graphics) and yet provides good CPU performance. Pair that with the included 256GB SSD to make everything snappy and a 1920x1080 screen (quality is likely middling, but that's what you get in the <$800 price range). All that for $500 is a good price.

BTW, just about every brick-and-mortar store that sells PCs carries the Lenovo 330 line if you want to check it out in person before buying. I like Best Buy.

If you want to step it up a notch, Microsoft store has the Dell G3 15 for $650. i5-8300H, GTX1050Ti, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD. I'd recommend adding a 256GB SSD for $70 (there's an empty M.2 slot IIRC). The price is good for the hardware you're getting, even if it's WAYYY more than what [it sounds like] you need.
Here's the notebookcheck.net review of the Dell G3

Keep in mind that 8th gen Intel stuff is i+1 compared to 7th gen and prior. i5-8250U and i5-8300H is now 4C/8T, i3-8130U is 2C/4T with hyperthreading (previously i5-7200U) etc etc.

I just purchased a Certified Refurbished Dell Inspiron 15” 5000 (5575) from the outlet for $446.85 with coupon code "1415inspcw9". I think this was a pretty good deal. I'll probably add an M.2 at some point. I plan on using this for Fusion 360, some small coding projects, auto/motorcycle tuning, and light gaming.

Tech Specs:
AMD Ryzen 5 2500U Processor (Quad Core, 2GHz, 6MB, 15W)
AMD Radeon Vega8
16GB (2x8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 Non-ECC
1TB SATA3 2.5inch 5.4K RPM Hard Drive
15.6 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Truelife LED-Backlit On-cell Touch Display
Tray load DVD Drive (Reads and Writes to DVD/CD)
42 WHr, 3-Cell Battery
Dell Wireless Card (802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 1x1)
Windows 10 Home 64bit English

In case you haven't bought it yet - I would suggest thinking a little backwards. Getting a good Dell Latitude E74XX business class laptop could be a good move (specially the E74XX, not others). These are pretty good, although no the most lightweight, and all come with 3 years warranty. I still use an E7440.
They are usually available refurbished and sometimes even lightly used from Dell Outlet or someone on eBay. Just make sure the warranty is transferable