How am I going to do with this laptop?
Skip the bolded part if you're not in the mood for a back-story
[b]After 4 years of regretting my previous purchase of a laptop (I was 13 and promised a laptop for my 14th birthday so I picked the first one I saw), I've finally talked my parents into buying my a new one. However, they refuse to buy me a good Alienware laptop because they know that I wouldn't use it for school work (which I had convinced them I needed one for). So, we agreed that the laptop they'll buy will be relatively cheap but still have specs which won't make me cry at night. My current laptop is actually not too horrible but it's running like garbage compared to other 4 year old laptops. It's current specs (the important ones) are 1GB RAM, 120GB harddrive, Intel Core Duo CPU T2450 @2.00GHz, 32-bit Vista, and a graphics chipset that would make you wish you were blind.[/b]
These are the specs of the laptop that my parents agreed to:
Acer Aspire AS5250-BZ436 15.6"
- Windows 7 Home Premium - English/French (64-bit)
- AMD E-Series Processor E-350 - 1.6GHz
- 15.6" 1366 x 768 pixel resolution
- 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
- 640GB hard drive, integrated Super-Multi drive, 2-in-1 card reader
- ATI Radeon HD 6310 Graphics
- 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Gigabit LAN, Webcam
($348.99 CDN)
Now, I know that Acer's are a budget-brand laptop. However, will I be fine playing MapleStory with this? Or, should I try to talk my parents price up by another $200 to get a better laptop with a better processor? Also, I have never even seen the performance of a laptop that uses an AMD processor (my brothers laptops and mine are all Intel), so how good/bad are AMD processors?
Any and all advice/comments/critiques are welcome.
2 Comments • Newest first
@djpinc19: Thanks that actually helped a lot
[quote=How2Mob]will I be fine playing MapleStory with this?[/quote]
Yes. It might struggle with crowded locations granted the netbook-type CPU being used.
[quote=How2Mob]should I try to talk my parents price up by another $200 to get a better laptop with a better processor?[/quote]
That wholly depends on your needs and wants, although I do strongly favor a better CPU based on my experience with both netbooks and entry-level laptops. My recommendation if your go this route is to choose a laptop with a processor from either the Intel Core i3-2000 series or the AMD A-series. The former has the stronger CPU, but the latter has the stronger integrated graphics processor.
[quote=How2Mob]how good/bad are AMD processors? [/quote]
Each have their advantages over the other in the entry-level notebook segment. As previously stated, the Intel Core i3-2310/2330 has the stronger CPU, but the AMD A6-4100 has the stronger IGP. This makes the former better for everyday computing such as "school." The latter is better at 3D gaming and would be the better choice if you wanted to do frequent casual gaming with a game like LoL.
[quote=How2Mob]they refuse to buy me a good Alienware laptop[/quote]
From a gamer's perpective, a good Alienware laptop starts at the M14X, which has a base price of 1300 CAD (ouch.) Despite the M11X R3's impressive specifications considering its small form-factor, its not worth it at 1100 CAD when its more powerful relative can be had for 200 more. Nonetheless, neither laptop is attractive to mainstream gamers due to the hefty pricetag. At this budget, many serious gamers start opting for home-built desktops that pack much more computing and graphics power.