ASUS Laptop R500DR or X55C

[T4FR]

I want to buy my first laptop but I am doubting between these two from ASUS:

R500DR-SX115V
CPU: AMD A8 - A8-4500M
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7640G (onboard) + AMD Radeon HD7470M (discreet)
8 GB RAM, 15,6 inch, 1TB HDD, Windows 7 home premium
549.00 euro
http://www.scheerenfoppen.nl/nl/computer-en-telecom/notebooks/asus/r500dr-sx115v-notebook/p45773

X55C-SX008H
CPU: Intel Core i3 - i3-3110M
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 4000 (onboard)
4 GB RAM, 15,6 inch, 320 GB HDD, Windows 8
549.00 euro
http://www.scheerenfoppen.nl/nl/computer-en-telecom/notebooks/asus/x55c-sx008h-notebook/p46123

Use:
I want to use the laptop mainly to do task like surfing, MS Office, youtube and I want to be able to play oldish games as Rome Total War, Battlefield 2, Age of Empires 3 and Medival 2 Total War on high(est) settings. If it could play the upcomming Rome 2 Total War on low settings that would be a nice bonus.

These are the ceapest available ASUS, in shops in my town, I could find that should be able to do those tasks. The GPU seems the weakest parts in laptops and they dont seem to sell any beter GPU's in laptops under 700 euro. The R500DR seems to have the best GPU, but since I read about microstutter in multi-GPU set-ups I fear these a bit. Which is the laptop to go for?

 

[xXTheHolyCowXx]

I think you should take R500DR-SX115V but its up to yourself, obviously =)

 

[T4FR]

What is your reason to chose the R500DR-SX115V?
Do you think microstutter will not be a problem?

 

[xXTheHolyCowXx]

If you take my advice, you shoud't be buying one of those laptops .
You can get a better laptops for half the price off those who is in your town.

Insted you shoud buy a laptop over the internet.

Like the Acer Aspire V3-571G-6407 it can play Elder Scrolls with out to much lag.
you can buy it for about 403 Euro's.

Thats just my thoughts

 

[T4FR]

If you take my advice, you shoud't be buying one of those laptops .
You can get a better laptops for half the price off those who is in your town.

Insted you shoud buy a laptop over the internet.

Like the Acer Aspire V3-571G-6407 it can play Elder Scrolls with out to much lag.
you can buy it for about 403 Euro's.

Thats just my thoughts

Any advice is welcome!

The reason I choose for an ASUS was that it is a brand with good quality laptops. Acer on the otherhand seems to be one of the worst brands, at least that is what I read on the internet. The reason I looked at a local store was that I want to be able to communicate with a shop when I have problems with my laptop. With internetshops one can read a lot of stories of unanswerd e-mails, costly telephonenumbers where people don't help you etc. BTW, the R500DR-SX115V seems to be around the same price at even the most cheap webshops.

Having said that, do you now of any laptop models to look at beside Acers? And of any reliable webshops that are available in The Netherlands?

As said:
Any advice is welcome!

 

[xXTheHolyCowXx]

If your looking for a cheap but good gaming laptop, Acer is the ideal choice.
Maybe this video will change you mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkAYCI9hPZk
This is a betty good Acer Pc the Acer Aspire 5755G.
On the other hand, if you like Asus so much i will recomend ASUS X53E-RH91 great gaming pc, or the ASUS A53Z-AS61 they are the
greates from Asus i know of.

Hope this was useful