Is this laptop a good deal?

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DankNasty

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I'm considering ordering this laptop, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434
The price range is good and it has 2 gigs dedicated ram with the a8 processor, I don't really know that much about computers but on paper this looks good. I do some gaming like diablo 3, guild wars 2 etc and I also want to run some music production software like protools, vsts etc. Is this laptop too good to be true, also i've read that this uses crossfire technology even tho they dont list it in the specs. I also found this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314016 and am trying to justify spending the extra 100 dollars. Any advice or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Thanatos Telos

Thanatos Telos

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Actually, the A8 DOES have a dedicated card, the 7670m, which is different from the 7640G.
 
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JD88

JD88

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I was just looking back and noticed that. The question now is which is better, the 7670m in dual graphics with the A8 or a 7730m. I actually think the Lenovo might be more powerful but I'm going to research it.

I typically prefer just about anything over Dell but I still think the Dell is probably the best overall machine with the i5, backlit keyboard, additional RAM, and probably nicer chassis. It's also $50 more though.


UPDATE: According to Notebook check

A8 with 7670m (Lenovo)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7640G-HD-7670M-Dual-Graphics.81172.0.html

7730m(Dell)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7730M.72678.0.html

The Lenovo performs better in Diablo 3 and slightly better in synthetic benchmarks. Given it's price point, I would go with that since gaming is a big concern.

I do wonder if Guild Wars 2 would benefit from the extra CPU power from the i5 though before the GPU became a bottleneck. There really isn't any way to know.

 
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DankNasty

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Yea my main concern was the a8 processor i've always used intel in the past. Also i've heard that crossfire graphics on amds are problematic, if this is the case can't i simply use the 2gig dedicated card it comes with?

 
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JD88

JD88

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I doubt it. I'm not too familiar with how dual graphics work on a laptop, but my guess is that which unit is running when is determined in the Bios due to power saving features. Using the 7670m alone would also be weaker than the 7730.

On the other hand, the laptop has good reviews on Newegg so it might work perfectly and deliver a lot of performance for not much money. That's what AMD designed this system to do. It really is an interesting concept.
 
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DankNasty

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Honestly I don't mind spending the extra 50 if it's worth it like I said i was trying to convince myself on the one that was 600 but this dell seems like a really good deal.
 
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JD88

JD88

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Are you firm on that budget? There are some pretty good deals in the $700-800 range.

I recently purchased this laptop:
http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/y-series/y400/

It is an outstanding machine.
 
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DankNasty

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I wanted to stay around the $500 range, I play games but I am not a huge gamer. Also the second laptop i posted for $600 has the gt730m 2 gigs dedicated isn't that relatively good enough to play everything? I'd hate to miss a significant improvement by shorting it 100 bucks.

 
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DankNasty

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Yea i've been looking at that site to compare benchmarks. I know i'm gonna sound like a noob for this but I don't really know what all that stuff means other than the further down on that chart the better the card and on the games the more greenery the better lol. When I looked at the dual channel graphics they wrote that the quality can range from hd3000 to GeForce GT 635M which is kind of disconcerting. The reviews are good tho like you said and that kind of makes me want to take a chance especially since new egg rarely gets reviews like that.
Also I am not sure about the comparison between the quad core a8 vs the dual core i5.
 
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JD88

JD88

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Plus the games you are playing are not super intensive. Diablo 3 will run well for sure. I would imagine Guild Wars 2 will also but you may have to keep the settings down.
 
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Brett928S2

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Hi :)

I sell gaming laptops in my shops...

At your budget, pretty much anything you buy will play games on LOW at best (some not at all)

For a gaming laptop you NEED to add another $1000, or preferably build a gaming pc.... a LOT more gaming for a LOT less money....

Sorry to be brutal, but those are the facts..

All the best Brett :)
 
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DankNasty

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I know the brutal truth im starting to lean towards the second one I posted, the specs seem really good for the price i know i wont be able to run crysis 3 on ultra or whatever but i5 with 2 gig geforce730m seems good and underpriced am I missing something?

 
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JD88

JD88

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Nope, Nvidia is giving out a pretty good value with these new 700m series chips. Go for it.
 
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DankNasty

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Just one more thing before I pull the trigger it doesn't say on newegg or acer that this laptop is widi capable but i checked the processor on intels website it says that it is. Is that enough to go off of? Also the acer website says this laptop has 4 slots for ram upgradeable to 16 gigs while the newegg says 2 slots up to 8gigs.
 
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JD88

JD88

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As far as I know, if it doesn't say widi on the laptop I would assume it isn't. My Y400 has a widi processor but no functionality.

As for ram, I would go by what Newegg says. I don't know that you would ever need or want more than 8 anyway.
 
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DankNasty

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Yea ram wasn't a huge concern but I figure the widi would be cool as my tv has it. I was able to look at some of the acer manufacturer drivers that are downloadable for that laptop but don't come installed and one was wireless display of course acer won't talk to you until you buy their product and newegg tells you to talk to the manufacturer..

 
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DankNasty

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Well I tried to get it last night "sold out" lol while I was checking out it got removed from my cart. I tried again this morning still sold out. Guess i'll have to wait.
 
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DankNasty

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Oh hey I was looking at other stuff as I am unable to get my laptop right now and i was checking out your y400 (sick laptop). It should be widi capable i think the only requirements are the processor and it needs intel wifi which it says yours has(intel centrino) I think you should be able to download it off intels website and run it.
 
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JD88

JD88

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Thanks, I'll check it out. I know I saw some forums where there were people complaining that it wasn't even though Lenovo said it was going to be. Honestly, I haven't really looked into it much since then.

I'm loving the laptop so far. Right now, I'm looking into getting the second graphics card for the Ultrabay and test out SLI. Also, I've been able to overclock the stock graphics card from 790 MHz to 1150MHz which is is way past GTX 660m levels. With two of those, that would be an outrageous amount of graphical power in a 14" laptop that is this lightweight and portable. I don't even know of anything close design wise, much less price wise (under $1000)
 
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DankNasty

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That laptop has upgradeable graphics? Sick. How much was yours? Im probably gonna end up talking myself into getting this now if new egg doesn't get this acer back in lol. Just on looks alone with the red keys on the black... sleek.
 
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