Which laptop is better for gaming?

Level1Techs INBOX.deb
1

All of them are the same model technically

but have a few different options.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313739

      $930

  • Intel Core i5 4200M (2.5GHz)
  • 6GB Memory 1TB SSHD HDD
  • Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT755M Discrete Graphics (SLI), 2GB Dedicated DDR5 VRAM
  • 1920 x 1080
  • Windows 8.1

 

  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313584

    $1000

  • Intel Core i7 4700MQ(2.40GHz)
  • 8GB Memory 1TB + 8GB SSHD Hybrid Drive
  • 2 x NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M (SLI)
  • 1920 x 1080
  • Windows 8

An i7 instead of an i5 but sli 750m instead of sli 755m. 8GB ram instead of 6 also but I have 8GB of ddr3 laptop ram sitting around my house so thats not a problem to me.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313740

   $1100.

  • Intel Core i7 4700MQ (2.40GHz)
  • 8GB Memory 1TB SSHD HDD
  • Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT755M Discrete Graphics (SLI), 2GB Dedicated DDR5 VRAM
  • 1920 x 1080
  • Windows 8.1

gets the sli 755m from the first one otherwise same as second.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313741

$1180

  • Intel Core i7 4700MQ (2.40GHz)
  • 16GB Memory 1TB SSHD HDD
  • Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT755M Discrete Graphics (SLI), 2GB Dedicated DDR5 VRAM
  • 1920 x 1080
  • Windows 8.1

16GB ram instead of 8. 

 

My brother needs a new one and he says it has to be a laptop not a desktop. Not sure which is best. I doubt he'd need 16GB of ram, even my big rig only has 8 and I've yet to have a problem and its a a 7950 and 2500k overclocked.  Dunno if the i7 is worth the cash over the i5 for a laptop. Yeah not sure which is best...

 

2

I'd opt for the $1100 option if playing intense CPU-bound games, otherwise the $930 may be a better bang for the buck. The only difference between 750 and 755 is clock speeds, but those are very precious in the mobile space, so it may be worth the premium. In mobile, I think the Core i7 could be worth it; the i5 4200 is a hyper-threaded dual-core, much like the i3, but the Core i7 is a native quad-core with hyper-threading.  In addition, the Core i7 can also Turbo higher. Now the question is: Is it worth an extra $200? If he's going to be playing lots of BF and Crysis, yes. If more mild games, like Skyrim, then probably not. Considering the GPU's are similar to a GTX 650 (from first hand experience, they struggle with 60FPS 1080p, even OC'd), so I don't think the mobile Core i5 would bottleneck them in any meaningful way, even in SLI. I think $80 for an extra 8GB isn't a bad deal at all, but I agree, not much point in anything more than 8GB for a gamer.