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See two laptops I like online and can't decide on which to buy. Both have what I want for a price I can afford, but I'm not sure which is the better brand.
The Acer Aspire is $57 more expensive and comes with 12GB of memory. It uses an AMD A9-9420 3 GHz; Dual-core processor (I just copy/pasted that).
The HP Jaguar comes in at $57 cheaper with 8GB of memory. It uses an Intel Core i3 7th Gen processor with 2.40 Ghz speed. Has a few more features than the Acer, like CD Drive (so can watch some DVDs I have on it), touchscreen, and bluetooth enabled.
Besides those differences, both laptops have the bare minimum with what I want and both are recommended brands. Both have 1TB hard drive capacity and both are up to date with Windows 10, though knowing Windows they'll both be updated prior to actual use. Both are same screen size. Regardless of laptop, I'll be buying an external hard drive sometime in the future so the memory isn't too big of a concern.
If it matters, I will definitely be playing the Sims 2/3/4 on it as well as Stellaris heavily. I can't read computer lingo well, so can't tell which is better for me. And advice or suggestion?
HP > Acer.
There's no way to know how well games will run on these because you didn't offer enough info. If you seriously want help, post links to the laptops.
For a laptop that will play games like that WELL, not just meh... you should be spending a minimum $650.
Budget is at least under the $650 mark, since I'm gone for work often and really don't make enough to be spending thousands, plus I don't see the point in it especially considering technology changes so rapidly and the $1500 laptop could become quickly outdated.
That and I'm a "ones mans trash is another mans treasure" shopper, so I'm looking at manufactured refurbished with warranty and a return policy, in case I get (and hopefully won't) a busted laptop.
We got this one a couple of months ago and my 14 year old has been quite happy with it. He's not a huge gamer but it works well for what he does do, and I've been very impressed with it when I've used it for non-gaming things.
Here's the link to the thread I had when I was shopping, I got some good advice that might be helpful for you
Budget is at least under the $650 mark, since I'm gone for work often and really don't make enough to be spending thousands, plus I don't see the point in it especially considering technology changes so rapidly and the $1500 laptop could become quickly outdated.
That and I'm a "ones mans trash is another mans treasure" shopper, so I'm looking at manufactured refurbished with warranty and a return policy, in case I get (and hopefully won't) a busted laptop.
I am pretty good at finding deals online.
I check these sites daily for many things including technology items
On both of those sites you can jump directly to any category like Computers/Laptops, they are listed on the top.
As for refurbished laptops, I found this one to have some of the best deals and I don't mean just price but value. You can buy an extra warranty for like $20 for a year. Something that I would recommend with refurbs. They also offer upgrades like more RAM and bigger HDD's. https://refurbees.com/
Edit: You didn't list any specs other than the CPU so I don't know what's important to you. Here's one
Intel Core i5-8250U 1.6GHz Kaby Lake R quad-core processor
17.3" 1920x1080 (1080p) LED-backlit display
8GB RAM & 1TB hard drive
DVD burner
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
$588 at the moment https://deals.dell.com/mpp/productde...04486714663851
It's a big screen, I prefer a smaller one. Kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop.
See two laptops I like online and can't decide on which to buy. Both have what I want for a price I can afford, but I'm not sure which is the better brand.
The Acer Aspire is $57 more expensive and comes with 12GB of memory. It uses an AMD A9-9420 3 GHz; Dual-core processor (I just copy/pasted that).
The HP Jaguar comes in at $57 cheaper with 8GB of memory. It uses an Intel Core i3 7th Gen processor with 2.40 Ghz speed. Has a few more features than the Acer, like CD Drive (so can watch some DVDs I have on it), touchscreen, and bluetooth enabled.
Besides those differences, both laptops have the bare minimum with what I want and both are recommended brands. Both have 1TB hard drive capacity and both are up to date with Windows 10, though knowing Windows they'll both be updated prior to actual use. Both are same screen size. Regardless of laptop, I'll be buying an external hard drive sometime in the future so the memory isn't too big of a concern.
If it matters, I will definitely be playing the Sims 2/3/4 on it as well as Stellaris heavily. I can't read computer lingo well, so can't tell which is better for me. And advice or suggestion?
Just don't.
Neither of those laptops are any good for gaming. Sims isn't that intensive. It'll run okay at 1366x768 on medium settings.
Stellaris just do not do it. Unless you're only going to play on small maps just forget it. It's all CPU. Get something with a decent CPU. Get something like the Dell G3/G5. Go for the i5 8300H if you're on a budget. The i7 8750H is a bit faster single core turbo than the i5 8300H but not amazingly. Mostly it's just six cores in stead of four, which is useless for gaming. The i3 at 2.4 ghz with no turbo is going to be like watching paint dry. Can't really compare Intel/AMD, and even comparing Intel to Intel for Ghz between generations is pretty useless.
I check these sites daily for many things including technology items
On both of those sites you can jump directly to any category like Computers/Laptops, they are listed on the top.
As for refurbished laptops, I found this one to have some of the best deals and I don't mean just price but value. You can buy an extra warranty for like $20 for a year. Something that I would recommend with refurbs. They also offer upgrades like more RAM and bigger HDD's. https://refurbees.com/
Edit: You didn't list any specs other than the CPU so I don't know what's important to you. Here's one
Intel Core i5-8250U 1.6GHz Kaby Lake R quad-core processor
17.3" 1920x1080 (1080p) LED-backlit display
8GB RAM & 1TB hard drive
DVD burner
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
$588 at the moment https://deals.dell.com/mpp/productde...04486714663851
It's a big screen, I prefer a smaller one. Kind of defeats the purpose of a laptop.
Problem with the U processors is they have very, very low base clock speeds. It's device to device on how high a turbo clock they can run indefinitely which mostly depends on how many watts a given manufacturer will shove down a "15 watt" CPU and for how long. Mine will happily churn away at 25 watts for hours, so not surprisingly it outperforms most "15 watt" CPUs at a toasty 96-100 degrees. The H series processors hold turbo much better, which is basically all that matters on something like Stellaris. If it can only turbo to 3.4 GHz for 5 seconds and then settles down to 2.4, it's all kinds of slow.
Dell G3 or Acer Nitro 5, basically same thing -- pick your exterior design preference -- are slightly more expensive but that gets you an i5 8300H and GTX 1050. Both are really good value for the money, especially if you can plug them into a monitor when you're not using them as a laptop as they have awful screens. Thus is life when you want to be significantly under the $1,000 threshold where you get way more options for gaming laptops.
Neither of those laptops are any good for gaming. Sims isn't that intensive. It'll run okay at 1366x768 on medium settings.
Stellaris just do not do it. Unless you're only going to play on small maps just forget it. It's all CPU. Get something with a decent CPU. Get something like the Dell G3/G5. Go for the i5 8300H if you're on a budget. The i7 8750H is a bit faster single core turbo than the i5 8300H but not amazingly. Mostly it's just six cores in stead of four, which is useless for gaming. The i3 at 2.4 ghz with no turbo is going to be like watching paint dry. Can't really compare Intel/AMD, and even comparing Intel to Intel for Ghz between generations is pretty useless.
So.... how much is this all costing me?
Im not spending a lot for a laptop, but im not a huge enough gamer where it NEEDS to run flawlessly on my system.
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