AMD Phenom II970 or AMD A603400 CPU

[SheilaTX]

I am considering a new laptop for my son for use overseas at US mil bases. He wants quadcore, at least 2.0 Ghz and prefers AMD and ACERs. I'm debating between ACER AS 5552-7474 ($399.99, 4G, 320 GB, AMD Phenon II 970 quadcore, Radeon 4250) and the HP DV6-6110 ($449.99, 4G, 640 GB, AMD A6-3400 quadcore, Radeon 6520). I've read the Phenom II doesn't have a third cache, and then that it does. I've read it runs too hot. I've read that the A6-3400 is just as fast because it has hyperspeed (or whatever it's called). I've read it's better to get the larger hard drive. He does some gaming, runs lots of programs at once, will be taking some online courses, and has a quadcore desktop. Don't know if the HP is an older, renamed Compaq (he definitely doesn't want), and don't know what to do. Please keep the answers in layman's terms (educated and intelligent, but not tech-educated) please. Thanks for the help.

 

[sayantan]

go for a6-3400.Its good for lightweight gaming as well as multitasking.

 

[BlacKHawK3]

go for a6-3400.Its good for lightweight gaming as well as multitasking.

The 970 is a little faster but does run hot and the integrated HD4250 will not game well.

Go for the A6-3400, it has FAR better better integrated graphics, will game well, and will be plenty snappy for multitasking, in addition to running cooler and using less power. Compaq is made by HP (so its kind of related) but their product has been improving significantly recently.

 

[vitornob]

The 970 is a little faster but does run hot and the integrated HD4250 will not game well.

Go for the A6-3400, it has FAR better better integrated graphics, will game well, and will be plenty snappy for multitasking, in addition to running cooler and using less power. Compaq is made by HP (so its kind of related) but their product has been improving significantly recently.

+1 for A6-3400

 

[jaguarskx]

For gaming purposes, the A6-3400 would be the better choice. The CPU core is a bit slower than the Phenom II core, but the the graphics core will be faster than the Radeon HD 4250.

The performance in most games is limited by the graphic core rather than the CPU core. Unless of course the CPU core is so slow that it hinders the graphics performance.

 

[SheilaTX]

For gaming purposes, the A6-3400 would be the better choice. The CPU core is a bit slower than the Phenom II core, but the the graphics core will be faster than the Radeon HD 4250.

The performance in most games is limited by the graphic core rather than the CPU core. Unless of course the CPU core is so slow that it hinders the graphics performance.

I'm not sure how much time he'll have for gaming, but would the faster graphics core also affect videos and so forth? That would make quite a difference.

 

[BlacKHawK3]

Frankly, unless he is doing some serious number crunching on the CPU (not what you use a laptop for anyway) go for the A6-3400; for all-around performance including heat, power, gaming. video, it will be worth the $50.

 

[jaguarskx]

Both the Phenom II + Radeon HD 4250 and the A6-3400 can handle video playback without any issues. But the A6-3400 can handle games much better. Even if he will only play games a few hours a week, the A6-3400 would be the better choice of the two.

 

[SheilaTX]

Many thanks to you all for comments and advice. FWIW, now my son is saying even if the AG-3400M is better, it's still a HP computer (as opposed to Acer) and will die in a few weeks and so he doesn't want it. I may buy it anyway while it's on sale, and he can do his own research before insisting I return it. He obviously trusts Acer and not HP. We did have some lousy HP desktops a few years ago (now have Acer) but I hadn't heard bad things about their laptops. Anyone have anything regarding this - i.e. reliability of HP laptops?

 

[sayantan]

I do have a one year old HP (pavillion dv6) laptop with intel core i3 370M and AMD radeon 5650M. Sometimes it runs very hot while playing games and starts lagging all of a sudden.Also I have some issues with intel switchable graphics(which is obviously not going to be your case).And in the last few months the hard drive performance has also deteriorated.This is my first laptop so I don't know how other laptops will perform.

 

[SheilaTX]

+1 for A6-3400

Since my son is adamant he doesn't want an HP, how about a Toshiba with the same a6-3400 quad core? It's a little big at 17.3", but same specs (slightly more RAM, blue ray DVD player) for only $50 more ($499 instead of $499 with a $50 rebate)?

Too many choices!