So, laptop shopping, can you guys help me?

[The Stonker]

Sooo, I want to be able to play Dragon age, Mass effect 2 (3 as well) and just the reccent games over the years because mine is crap, really, it's shit, trust me.
So I've got these 3, can anyone look over the speccs and see if they're any good?

Acer
932$
Notebook - Acer em G640G-P344G50Mnks Notebook
Processor - AMD Athlon II Dual-Core Mobile Processor 2.2GHz P340
RAM - 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM, expandable to 8GB
Hard Drive - 500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
DVD writer - 8xDVD Super Multi DL Writer
Screen - 17.3''HD Cine + LED crystal screen with 1600x900 resolution
Video Card - ATI HD6650 1GB DX11 HD3D super powerful gaming graphics card with all the latest technology
Sound system - 2.0 sound system built with 2 good speakers
Keyboard - Good keyboard with shortcut keys and mouse snertinæmri
LAN - Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Wireless - 300Mbps WiFi N wireless networking 802.11bgn
Battery - 6-Cell Li-ion battery with up to 3 hours battery
Camera - 1.3MP Integrated Crystal Eye webcam and MIC
Card Reader - Integrated card reader for most memory cards
Interface - 3xUSB2, VGA, HDMI HDCP and more links
Weight - only 3.3kg

Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Warranty - 2 year consumer warranty on a laptop - 12-month battery warranty

932$

Laptop Acer Aspire 5742G-373G32Mn
Processor 2.4GHz Intel Core i3-370M - Dual core with 3MB cache
Memory 3GB (1024 + 2048) DDR3 1066MHz 204pin - expandable to 8GB
Hard Drive 320GB SATA 5400RPM Hard Drive quietly
Scribe DVD ± RW writer who also writes CD-RW
Monitor 15.6 "Widescreen WXGA LED Cine crystal with 1366x768
Video Card 512MB AMD Radeon HD 5470 DirectX 11 graphics card with hyper memory
up to 1GB
Speakers Sound system with 2 speakers
Another 102 keys keyboard, full size, the numerical level
Another touchy feely mouse control with 4-way scrolling
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN
Wireless Integrated wireless LAN 802.11bgn the antenna in the screen
Camera Integrated Acer Orbicam 1.3MP camera operator
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
3xUSB2 interface, HDMI (HDCP), card reader, VGA, SPDIF, etc.
Weight only 2.6Kg, W 381 x D 253 x H 34mm
Battery Li-ion battery, ending up to 3 times
Another 2-year warranty on the computer, 12 mo. warranty on battery


Toshiba.

932$

Processor.@2.53GHz Intel Core i3-380M - Dual core with 3MB cache
Memory 4GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz 204pin - expandable to 4GB
Hard Drive 500GB @ 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive quietly
Writer @ 8xDVD ± RW Dual Layer writer who also writes CD-RW
Skjár@15.6 "Widescreen WXGA LED screen with a 1366x768 16:9
Video Card @ 512MB AMD Radeon HD 5470 DirectX 11 graphics card with hyper memory up to 1GB
Speakers @ Sound system with 2 speakers
@ 105 keyboard keys full size keyboard with numeric table
Mouse @ touchy feely mouse control with 4-way scrolling
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN @
@ Wireless Integrated wireless LAN 802.11bgn the antenna in the screen
Integrated VGA Camera @ camera operator
@ Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Connection @ 2xUSB 2.0, VGA, card reader etc.
Weight @ only 2.3KG, B 380 x D 254 x H 35.6 mm
@ Battery Li-ion battery, ending up to 4.5 hours

They do all cost the same, so I want to thank you if you could help me with this since well...
I'm indecisive too be honest.

 

[JezebelinHell]

Check the benchmarks on the CPUs and Video cards.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

Personally I am not big on Acer. I had an older Toshiba Satellite Laptop that ran quite nicely for nearly 10 years and it was abused during the last 5 since it was just a something to play around on when I wasn't at my desktop. But that actually says nothing about current models.

 

[Appleshampoo]

It's close between the top one and the bottom one.

The top one has the better graphics card, and the bottom has the far better processor.

The top one also has the better screen, as a bigger screen is more appealing to me personally, so I'd go with that one. However, the games you listed aren't going to look amazing on any of those machines, simply because if you want to play games on a laptop, you better be willing to buy a damn good laptop to do it.

So my vote - The first one.

My advice - Get a desktop

 

[Najos]

I'd say the first Acer, just because the screen is bigger and the video card is ATI, which is what I like. BUT, I have had a problem with my current Acer laptop. Then again, it was under warranty and they got it fixed pretty quickly.

So kind of a tie between the first Acer and the Toshiba. I would rule the middle one out altogether, it isn't any better than the first Acer and the cost is the same. Smaller screen, GPU isn't as good, less RAM, and you're still getting the same brand.

Edit: Yeah, get a desktop if you can. You can definitely PLAY those games on any of the laptops, but probably at mid-level settings at best. You could spend the same on a desktop and build a beast of a machine.

 

[infohippie]

If you're going to buy a computer to game on, a desktop would really be a much better choice. Cheaper, more powerful, much better heat dissipation, upgradeable (very important) which laptops generally are not, or at least not much. Is there a reason you want to get a laptop?

 

[EricL]

The top one has a far better GPU being a sort of mid-range one, while the bottom two have entry-mid level GPU's however, the i3 CPU's in the bottom two laptops are far better than the top one making them better for playing games like Mass Effect. So you should definitely upgrade the CPU in the top one if that's an option as it'll play games far better. I'm assuming the prices are in USD? If so I would recommend one of these as I'm not sure about ACER quality and Toshibas definitely are terribly built, ask anyone at my school with mandantory TOSHIBA laptops.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230089
If you're serious about gaming and don't care about portability, definitely get a Desktop, they are far cheaper.

 

[renegade7]

I haven't had good experiences with Acer. Asus, on the other hand, has a great line of gaming laptops in that same price range (using one right now). I've also heard great things about the Alienware M11x, if you're willing to drop a bit of extra cash.

However, if this is solely a gaming machine, I would recommend you get a desktop. It will be far cheaper for that same amount of power, plus you can upgrade individual parts, which is very important because the minimum hardware you'll need for the latest games changes like every 4 months.

But, there are reasons you might want a gaming laptop, if you're a student or you travel a lot, but the drawback is that you might have to nerf the settings on new releases as the tech requirements go up.

 

[Angerwing]

What country are you from? Those laptops seem way over-priced. 932 for an i3, 512mb graphics machine? Jeez.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

Well, if you believe the adverts they will just come straight to your house, with your perfect laptop!
So you can never get away...
But they all seem rather expensive, and i'd just go for the one with the biggest memory and graphics processor if you want to play games on it.

 

[The Stonker]

If you're going to buy a computer to game on, a desktop would really be a much better choice. Cheaper, more powerful, much better heat dissipation, upgradeable (very important) which laptops generally are not, or at least not much. Is there a reason you want to get a laptop?

Oh yes, I need it for school and such, so I will have to get myself a laptop.
So the top one ey?
Well the reason why it costs so much is because I'm from Iceland and guess what?!
Our economy is shit.

So, more people inclined towards the top one? But that's the thing, on which one will last me longer when it comes to gaming.

(p.s. I just want the games that I listed to run smoothly btw).

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Do not get an AMD processor.

I've had two, including the current one, the first was drastically underpowered and I've had to make serious changes to get the current one up to freezing only a couple of times per day.

(it only freezes momentarily, but it's a pain in the arse since it happens so often)

 

[Sleekgiant]

snip

If you want to run those games you better get a Quad Core Processor. I have about the same model Acer and it barely ran Portal 2 on shit graphics.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215120

This is more of what you will need I believe

 

[The Stonker]

snip

If you want to run those games you better get a Quad Core Processor. I have about the same model Acer and it barely ran Portal 2 on shit graphics.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215120

This is more of what you will need I believe

Quad core means that you have 2 duo cores and that you can run 4 different programs at acceptable speeds.
I've asked my computer wizard friend (he freaking makes screens and just stuff out of nothing) and he told me that the Toshiba computer is quite nice, that he ripped one to shred and he was quite happy with the content =P
SO I'm going to thank everyone and i'm going to get a Toshiba.

 

[Sleekgiant]

snip

If you want to run those games you better get a Quad Core Processor. I have about the same model Acer and it barely ran Portal 2 on shit graphics.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215120

This is more of what you will need I believe

Quad core means that you have 2 duo cores and that you can run 4 different programs at acceptable speeds.
I've asked my computer wizard friend (he freaking makes screens and just stuff out of nothing) and he told me that the Toshiba computer is quite nice, that he ripped one to shred and he was quite happy with the content =P
SO I'm going to thank everyone and i'm going to get a Toshiba.

Lolno, your computer wizard friend is wrong.

All programs run off the multi-cores, not a single core they choose to, so the more cores that can split up the job, the smoother it can run, to put it in simplest forms.

Enjoy barely playing Minecraft with a Dual-Core running at the most 3.75ghz combined.

 

[The Stonker]

snip

If you want to run those games you better get a Quad Core Processor. I have about the same model Acer and it barely ran Portal 2 on shit graphics.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215120

This is more of what you will need I believe

Quad core means that you have 2 duo cores and that you can run 4 different programs at acceptable speeds.
I've asked my computer wizard friend (he freaking makes screens and just stuff out of nothing) and he told me that the Toshiba computer is quite nice, that he ripped one to shred and he was quite happy with the content =P
SO I'm going to thank everyone and i'm going to get a Toshiba.

Lolno, your computer wizard friend is wrong.

All programs run off the multi-cores, not a single core they choose to, so the more cores that can split up the job, the smoother it can run, to put it in simplest forms.

Enjoy barely playing Minecraft with a Dual-Core running at the most 3.75ghz combined.

Hey that's hillarious.
Since my computer runs Minecraft finely, do you know what that means?
That means my computer can run it and do you know what I have?

1.8ghz duo core intel i5 blabla.
Then I have a ATI card which has burned out. Bascilly it's crap.
So relax matey, I know what I'm doing.