Hi Guys, Im looking for a "Family" laptop around the £300 mark and have narrowed it down to 2 laptops: http://www.ebuyer.com/349573-acer-aspire-5560-laptop-nx-rntek-001 http://www.ebuyer.com/391954-samsung-355v5c-laptop-np355v5c-a05uk And I need your help deciding which is a better for the money. Primarily the laptop is intended for web browsing and email and school work as I already have a dedidcated games PC upstairs. But you know how it is - you want to go and play but the missus moans you never spend any "quality time" together, which basically entails watching Eastenders together. So if I can get in a cheeky game of Diablo 3 or Dirt or even a BF during our "quality time" so much the better. As you can see they both have and AMD A6 processor and have roughly the same spec. The problem is the Samsung is only a Dual core against the Acers Quad but the Samsung is clocked at 2.7 as opposed to 1.5 on the Acer. The Samsung has the better 7520 GPU against the Acers 6520 but if you look at the comparison charts here: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A6-4400M-Notebook-Processor.71726.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A6-3420M-Notebook-Processor.61302.0.html they each have there own strengths and weaknesses. Im confused, the Quad seems the better choice for the money but the Gpu isn't as good. I've also heard that Acer build quality isn't all that. which would you go for?
If you made me choose between those two then I'd want to go with the Samsung but I'd be drawn to the Acer because it's better in the benchies. It may have a lesser GPU as you say but if the CPU can't keep up. But. I'd look at warranties and service arrangements ahead of minor spec differences when looking at a family laptop as both of these machines will serve that role equally as well. Disclaimer 1: Personally I doubt I'd buy either and would instead look to stretch the budget a bit more to get something with a better spec, or look at something cheaper. A laptop with slow quad cores or slightly faster dual cores... when these days everyone really wants fast quad cores - tough choices. I'd probably look at used / refurbs, something like a workhorse Dell where you can pick up an intel based 17" machine for ~£300. It'll be a brick at that price but for homework etc a 17" might be nicer. It comes down to cost vs performance (As always). If I didn't care about the spec (Because it was for web + homework) then I'd buy the cheapest of the cheap that will do the job and last a while. If I cared about the spec I'd be prepared to spend a little more to get what I wanted. Disclaimer 2: Maybe I'm not the person to ask seeing as my laptop is a maxed out retina macbook pro.
may be you aren't but thanks for the input. The budget really is around the £300 mark but a decent referb might do. Are there any particular sights to look at?
