Can I get some opinions on these 3 laptops?

[GibsonSGKing]

Newegg.com - Gateway NV55S04u Notebook AMD A-Series A6-3400M(1.4GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi AMD Radeon HD 6520G

Newegg.com - HP ProBook 4525s (XT950UT#ABA) NoteBook AMD Athlon II Dual-Core P340(2.20GHz) 15.6" 2GB Memory DDR3 1066 320GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Radeon HD 4250

Newegg.com - HP ProBook 4530s (XU015UT#ABA) Notebook Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics 3000

I really really like the ProBooks, the casing and what not is really nice. However, I'd like the best I can get for my money. My top budget is $500, although I'd like to keep it under if possible. I'll be using it for college, and /maybe/ some gaming in between classes. Therefore, battery life and weight are issues. Thanks

(I'm also open to any other ideas if you know of a laptop that would work better for me )

 

[Indigo]

The last one is your best bet if you're performance minded in the CPU aspect. It sucks that it uses Intel graphics, otherwise it would win hands down.

If you care more about good graphics performance, the middle unit should be fine. The top one is a good one as well, but the CPU, even being a later gen A- series APU from AMD, the Athlon II would probably win for me.

 

[GibsonSGKing]

The last one is your best bet if you're performance minded in the CPU aspect. It sucks that it uses Intel graphics, otherwise it would win hands down.

If you care more about good graphics performance, the middle unit should be fine. The top one is a good one as well, but the CPU, even being a later gen A- series APU from AMD, the Athlon II would probably win for me.

I looked up benchmarks and what not, and the intel graphics beat the crap out of the AMD HD 4250. I was rather surprised, but it seems that's how it is. Also, I was under the impression that the AMD quad core was the fastest of the processors?

 

[clacker]

Yeah I agree the probook is the best.

 

[GibsonSGKing]

Yeah I agree the probook is the best.

Any particular reason why?

 

[Indigo]

I looked up benchmarks and what not, and the intel graphics beat the crap out of the AMD HD 4250. I was rather surprised, but it seems that's how it is. Also, I was under the impression that the AMD quad core was the fastest of the processors?

The Intel might be faster, but when Intel gets tired of supporting the drivers for it, you'll suffer. They've done it in the past, they'll do it again in the future. They aren't like nVidia and AMD/ATI. They usually stop support for a given solution far sooner than either of the other two companies.

Not to mention all the incompatibilities if you want to do any kind of gaming - forget about it.

If you're going to use the system for 2-3 years for strictly business apps, then you'll be fine, that's about all Intel seems to aim for.

 

[clacker]

Any particular reason why?

The specs are the best out of all of them and it has then intel core processor i3.

 

[GibsonSGKing]

The Intel might be faster, but when Intel gets tired of supporting the drivers for it, you'll suffer. They've done it in the past, they'll do it again in the future. They aren't like nVidia and AMD/ATI. They usually stop support for a given solution far sooner than either of the other two companies.

Not to mention all the incompatibilities if you want to do any kind of gaming - forget about it.

If you're going to use the system for 2-3 years for strictly business apps, then you'll be fine, that's about all Intel seems to aim for.

Oh, yeah, I definitely know how they are about that... However, isn't the AMD processor the best of the bunch? It's a quad core, while the rest are dual cores, and it seems to be faster even without the quad core bit. Not to mention, it has the best video chipset by far. I'm confused as to why you guys don't like the AMD quad core?

 

[Indigo]

The AMD quad core can't hold a candle to the Intel dual cores. AMD's architecture is too old to be useful against the i-series processors. There's tons of benchmarks out there to prove it.

I'm AMD-faithful, but even I know the performance on the i3 is staggering.

 

[GibsonSGKing]

PassMark CPU Lookup
PassMark - Intel Core i3-2310M @ 2.10GHz - Price performance comparison

yet in this benchmark the 3400m scored around 30% higher than the i3?