Touchscreen vs Dedicated GPU

[Jonathanese]

I just recently upgraded my laptop from an old Turion X2 after it literally blew smoke.

So I was caught between the Acer Aspire V3-571G-9686 and a newer Acer with a touchscreen and backlit keyboard with an aluminum chassis. Either one would be upgraded with 8GB of ram and a SSHD

For comparison

The one I got: http://
Core i7 3632QM
Geforce 640M
No Touch
No Backlit keyboard.
$630 was what I paid for the display system. Originally $800-$900

The other one(or similar): http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8182687&CatId=4935
Core i5 3337U
Intel HD 4000
Touchscreen
Backlit keyboard
Aluminum chassis
No DVD drive.
$600 new


I'm not TOO heavy of a gamer, but I do game. I'm an engineering student. My main concern was with FL studio, and its advantages with a touch screen, as well as windows 8's advantages. I went ahead and downgraded to 7 for my current laptop, leaving windows 8 on the original drive.

I just wonder if the extra performance is worth missing features.

 

[mc962]

i guess it depends on what you need. the gamer in me would say "hell no, don't you dare get a TOUCHSCREEN over a dedicated gpu"
But not everyone needs that gpu as they arent really playing games as much. I guess it depends on the games..personally I don't have a dedicated gpu on my desktop yet but the integrated graphics run the games without a single hiccup whatsoever on medium settings (havent tested higher) with maybe 2-5 degrees maximum rise in temperature (although it's hd 4600, so a bit better, im not sure how good ivy graphics are compared to them). If you dont plan to do intensive games and/or dont plan on highest settings then integrated might get you far enough (check how it runs online on those graphics before deciding), but of course the games will run much better in most cases on the dedicated gpu

Unlike most people who post about wanting a touchscreen, you actually seem to have a real use for it, so i wouldnt necessarily knock it out as quickly as i usually would

I personally had a similar choice: touchscreen laptop, pretty nice specs and build quality, but no dedicated gpu, whereas the alternative had much better hardware with dedicated gpu and still fairly decent build quality. I went with the alternative (while the hardware on the original plan was still pretty good, the one on the alternative was just too tempting to pass up). But I have no use for touchscreen other than as a fun little gimmick and maybe sketching some characters (and that being rarely and only when i need to google it and the mouse isnt cutting it). A lot of games might have issues running nicely without the dedicated gpu, but there are plenty that can run just fine. You just need to look at the stuff you want to use the computer for and if it really needs what you want.
It might help if you post a list of the games you want to play and people who know them could comment. Or google the website gamedebate and put in your computer information to see how the things run.

*A third and obviously more expensive option is: buy the touch laptop and then build a desktop with a nice gpu to run your games. Or maybe build a nice desktop with a touchscreen and buy a cheaper laptop that can be reserved just for mobility needs..i dont know your budget/lifestyle so i don't know how feasible this is for you

 

[Jonathanese]

As for the third option, I have a desktop with 16GB or RAM, a i5 3570K at 4.5GHz, A 64GB ssd cache, dual monitors, and a geforce 660. And it's interesting that of all the games I have and have played, I've been playing mostly Unreal Tournament 2004 the past few weeks. So of course it's at 32xAA, FXAA, 8xSS transparency, dynamic shadows mod, and ENB-series post-processing.

But yeah, like you said, the hardware was too good to pass up. I've never had an i7. And this was a limited deal in the Duluth store.

 

[Jonathanese]

As for the third option, I have a desktop with 16GB or RAM, a i5 3570K at 4.5GHz, A 64GB ssd cache, dual monitors, and a geforce 660. And it's interesting that of all the games I have and have played, I've been playing mostly Unreal Tournament 2004 the past few weeks. So of course it's at 32xAA, FXAA, 8xSS transparency, dynamic shadows mod, and ENB-series post-processing.

But yeah, like you said, the hardware was too good to pass up. I've never had an i7. And this was a limited deal in the Duluth store.