Which laptop should I choose for gaming?

[KoolSIM]

Between these two HP laptops, I wanted to know which one would help me play games like Civilization V, The Sims 3, Simcity, and perhaps Total War games.

Laptop 1:

• Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ (2.4 GHz, 6 MB cache, 4 cores)
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M (2 GB DDR3 dedicated)

Laptop 2:

• Intel® Core™ i7-4510U with Intel HD Graphics 4400 (2 GHz, 4 MB cache, 2 cores)
• NVIDIA GeForce 840M (4 GB DDR3 dedicated)

All other configurations are same. 8 GB RAM, 1 TB SATA HDD. Both i7s are fourth gen if I'm not wrong.

Any help?

 

[leif erikson]

That is an interesting choice. Laptop 1 has the better processor while Laptop 2 has the better graphics card.

Thinking I would choose Laptop 2.

Here are some articles to read to help make your decision:
Laptop 1
Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M

Laptop 2
Intel® Core™ i7-4510U
NVIDIA GeForce 840M

Please note that the reviewer talks about the 840M having a 30% performance boost over the 740M. Seems like that would make it for me.

 

[tokala]

Jepp, the second will be better suited for gaming, and should also draw less power (last longer on battery all else being equal)

 

[KoolSIM]

Thanks guys for your suggestions! I am tilting towards the second laptop too for the last few hours as I ask about these things more and more.

I've come across a Lenovo Laptop now. An Ideapad Y50. This one has an i7 4710HQ and an nVIDIA GeForce 860M (GDDR5; 4GB Graphics). Looks like this one is a clear winner. I would just like to know if anyone has experience with Lenovo laptops (in terms of heating (how good or bad?) and customer service)

 

[tokala]

Indeed, a 860m will be much more powerful than 740m or 850m.

In regard of heating and overall quality, you might want to look into this review:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y50-Notebook-Review.120215.0.html

It manages to avoid throttling both at maximum CPU and GPU load, so in real life applications you will have no problems, provided you clean out the dust every year or so.

Service quality will probably be country specific, but user polls here in Germany shows that pretty much any consumer line from any brand will have less-than-stellar service.
Exceptions are Dell and Apple, and to a lesser degreee Samsung.

 

[KoolSIM]

Indeed, a 860m will be much more powerful than 740m or 850m.

In regard of heating and overall quality, you might want to look into this review:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y50-Notebook-Review.120215.0.html

It manages to avoid throttling both at maximum CPU and GPU load, so in real life applications you will have no problems, provided you clean out the dust every year or so.

Service quality will probably be country specific, but user polls here in Germany shows that pretty much any consumer line from any brand will have less-than-stellar service.
Exceptions are Dell and Apple, and to a lesser degreee Samsung.

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out! My only worry is customer service. I have had good experience with Dell and it has really raised my expectations! I only hope the others can come close to it. I can sort out any issues on my laptop on my own (with the help of Google), but if there are hardware issues like something crashing or failing, thats when I count on Customer Support!

 

[da dick]

i have no idea why they even put an i7 on a laptop, given most people are not going to multitask or do a lot of video editing on a laptop. that's really what they're best for.

and for turn-based games , and even RTSs, definitely overkill. in the forseeable future, only first-person shooters will probably make full use of an i7's processing power.

 

[Maniacal]

Because gaming laptops, they need to pretend to justify the large mark up on them somehow.

I would avoid HP. They fill up their laptops with far too much bloatware and don't seem to be that great in general. MSI has a lot of gaming laptops, ASUS or Lenovo will probably be fine too.

 

[timtofly]

Because gaming laptops, they need to pretend to justify the large mark up on them somehow.

I would avoid HP. They fill up their laptops with far too much bloatware and don't seem to be that great in general. MSI has a lot of gaming laptops, ASUS or Lenovo will probably be fine too.

HP is currently attempting to fill up my Dell Laptop with bloatware.

Even my i7 is bugger slow playing Civ 5 on huge maps in late game with more than 150 cities and 150 units. I did originally purchase it for video editing, but that never happened. I have not seen any claims where those having an i5 sail through end games on huge maps with ease.