Laptop Advice: AMD vs Intel

Hey chaps and chapettes


I need some advice on what laptop to buy, specifically about the processor and graphics card types.

I have around £650 to spend but that really is the top end of my budget, Currently I'm using a 5 year old Compaq Presario CQ60 and it is just really poor but I can't complain because it was cheap when I bought it.

Here are a few I've been looking at, I won't necessarily be buying them from PC World but they do layout the specs quite well on their site so I've found it useful for browsing.

HP Envy - Intel® Core™ i5-3210M (2.5 GHz (up to 3.1 GHz with TurboBoost), 3 MB L3 Cache) - 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) - 2 GB DDR3 dedicated AMD Radeon HD 7670M - 1 TB SATA 5400rpm - £629.99

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-envy-m6-1178sa-15-6-la...

HP Pavillion - Quad-Core AMD A8-4500M processor (1.9 GHz, 2.8 GHz with Turboboost, 4 MB L2 cache) - 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) - AMD Radeon HD 7640G Discrete-Class
up to 4.98 GB of dedicated RAM - 1 TB (SATA, 5400 rpm) - £399.99

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-2213sa-15-...

HP Pavillion - Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (2.5 GHz, 3.1 GHz with Turboboost, 3 MB L3 cache) - 6 GB
Upgradeable to 8 GB - Intel HD Graphics 4000 Up to 1.65 GB of dedicated RAM - 1 TB (SATA, 5400 rpm) - £429.97

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-2210sa-15-...

I do want to do some gaming on the new laptop, nothing really intensive but I play a LOT of Football Manager and it is so slow to process on my current laptop and the 3D match engine is just a no go for me so I want something that will make it much better for doing that.

Feel free to suggest other laptops that you think are better options to me but could someone please point out to me why a very similar spec HP Envy to the Pavillion with the AMD over £200 more expensive when the only real difference I can see is the processor.

And if someone could please advise on what is the best processor to go for because from what I've seen the Quad Core AMD is pretty good compared to the Dual core i5.

Thanks for any help anyone gives me with this, it's much appreciated.