The Glade 4.0

Eventually, I'm getting a new PC but I have a lot of shiznit going on right now and my current PC is kaput. Anyone know of an off-the-shelf laptop for like $300 - 400 that'll run middling games? Or am I dreaming? not interested in a tablet.

My web surfing is currently throttled through 3/4G on my phone, but I will do some looking. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

For that price I'd imagine you would need to go with AMD vs intel. Intel's onboard graphics probably won't get it done, and a dedicated gpu might be impossible to come by for that pricemark. You could check Walmart, newegg, or if you don't mind refurbished....Lenovo's outlet. You may find something with either a lower end cpu and a dedicated gpu, or an APU chip?

Maybe some with more expertise will chime in with better information.

Yeah, for 400 bucks you're gonna be pretty limited for games, especially when it comes to laptops (looks like all the graphics cards will be intelHD onboard, etc). If there's anything salvageable from the old PC, you might just want to spend that on components to get it up and running again.

Yeah...I thought it might be a pipe dream.

I might forego a tower PC this cycle and plan for a kick *** laptop. Its doubtful that I'll have a comfortable" desk" space in my new living situation so maybe a laptop will be the way to go.

Well a $400 dollar desktop can run pretty much any modern game on high settings. Meanwhile a $400 laptop will struggle with anything recent. So... it's a lot cheaper to get a gaming desktop, especially if you don't mind putting it together yourself.

If you really need a laptop, good gaming laptops can usually be found around $600-700. If you're desperate though, there are some good budget options to consider. For $450 you can get something like the Lenovo IdeaPad G505s, which supposedly is pretty decent for gaming. That's probably the lowest you can go, unless you find a good deal on an older model laptop.

Yeah, laptops have definitely come down. You can't build one with near the power of a tower PC for the same money, but if you're willing to drop the cash, you can get one close to the power of a Tower PC thanks to all the development that's happened in the mobile chipset space.

Likewise, if money really is an issue, he can get that same computer refurbished on lenovo's outlet site for $358.40
Lenovo G505s - Refurbished
I don't know just how well this would play on the games you plan to play, but I found this for comparison....


As for cheap desktop builds, here's a video of a guy running the best APU chip in WoW


The cheapest build I can come up with on a build around that chip, including an OS, is just under $500 after mail-in rebates. Likewise, an i3 + mobo + mid range gpu is going to probably cost around $100-$130 more.

Woot.com generally has a number of refurbished laptops available. The list changes on a fairly regular basis, so you may want to check it every now and again.

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