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How important are discreet graphics
No AMD is not "generic" they cost less because AMD doesn't spend money on advertising compared to Intel that spends millions on ads. Intel is the established but that doesn't make AMD generic.
Your chances of getting a 17" screen for 400 dollars or less and NOT having it be a low quality laptop are low.
Discrete graphics are all you're going to get for that price point, graphics cards are one of the more expensive parts of any computer and having a dedicated card already puts you over 400 no matter what your other part choices are.
For the most part now a days your Processor is rarely going to be your limiting factor. almost all of the processors on the market outpace the limitation that arise. RAM is the limiting factor for most people, and for anyone that works with video and games it's your graphics card. for example my desktop computer is 4 years old now but the processor in can go toe to toe with any of the modern processors. (It's an AMD Phenom first generation quad core) but my video card can barely handle league of legends which is not a graphically intense game.
Discreet or built-in graphics are pretty terrible if you want to do any video or 3D gaming
if you can get a separate video card (rather than integrated graphics) you will be much happier, even if you don't do a lot of video gaming. It will make DVDs run better, and make live streaming more fluid.
Discrete graphics are all you're going to get for that price point, graphics cards are one of the more expensive parts of any computer and having a dedicated card already puts you over 400 no matter what your other part choices are.In short your gonna have to make a decision. If you want a 17" screen, your going to have a slower machine for the price you want. If you want a graphics card for movies games and live streaming than just throw out the price point now.
Therefore, the AMD Phenom is roughly equivalent to the i-series.
Bluetooth is not important. For everyday computing having the faster hard drive speed is not that big of an issue, the difference will be negligible for most common tasks. 320 GB of Space will go fast if you do anything more than internet and word documents and such.
RAM is the limiting factor for most people
I agree with Kopp
Really? This review at cnet seemed to think that discreet graphics were sufficient for video and gaming. Are they wrong when they say, "The majority of desktop replacement laptops have discrete graphics cards, either for help in playing HD video or for running 3D games."
This makes me think that "graphics card" and "discreet graphics" are 2 separate things. Can someone help me to know what to look for to see whether there is a graphics card or not?Most of the laptops I've been looking at have graphics listed as either:Intel HDIntel® HD Graphics 3000 with up to 1696MB Dynamic Video MemoryATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470AMD Radeon HD 6480G discrete-class
There are three levels of graphics processors:Integrated. Just... avoid these at all costs. (is this what the "Intel HD" ones are?)Discrete. These are a step up, but still are pretty bad for video intensive stuff.Dedicated. This is what you want if you plan to do anything video or 3D. (how do I know if a laptop has this?)Quote from: Prof Underwood on November 25, 2011, 11:52:40 PMMost of the laptops I've been looking at have graphics listed as either:ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470AMD Radeon HD 6480G discrete-classI'm not familiar with ATI / AMD's way numbering system
Most of the laptops I've been looking at have graphics listed as either:ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470AMD Radeon HD 6480G discrete-class
Of these, the 5470 looks the best.
Of the graphics processors you listed only the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 is a dedicated card and is therefore your best option for good graphics
Any multicore processor is going to be better than a single core, the more cores the better. AMD Phenom II processors are AMD's "equivalent" (personally i think they're better) of Intels core processors (i3 i5 i7) but where they actually rank on that list depends on their model number, so if you could provide that it would be helpful.AMD VISION A4 APU 1.9GHz (with Turbo CORE up to 2.5GHz) (do I look at the base or the turbo speed)2nd generation Intel® Core™ i3-2330M Processor, 2.2GHz, 3MB L3 Cache (what is a L3 Cache?)it's all about that "2nd generation" part and the L3 cache. L3 cache means better multitasking, it;s basically RAM built right in to the CPU. the more Cache, the less the CPU has to go over to the RAM to retrieve what it's looking for which improves performance. There were also a number of chances put in place when the 2nd gen of intel Core processors were released. The AMD Vision comes in a close second, only because I don't know how many cores t has. VISION technology is a great leap forward, it basically means theres a mini (albeit not great) graphics card built right in to the processor. Its not anything to write home about but when combined with an ATI card it can do wonders.
You pretty much never want to buy a computer used unless your really strapped for cash.
For my part, the refurbished aspect bothers me more than any of these other factors.
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