Trying to decide between two Samsungs

Hi,

Apologies if this in the wrong place, but since this section is for Samsung users it seemed the most appropriate.

I'm trying to decided between two different Samsung laptops, and I'd appreciate some opinons.

Here's links to the two of them -

Buy Samsung NP550P7C-S05UK Laptop, Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 1TB, 17.3

Buy Samsung ATIV NP680Z5E-X01 Laptop, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB, 15.6

(Ignore the fact that it says one is out of stock - I'd be buying it from my local store, and they currently have both).

I'm interested in doing a bit of gaming (I particularly like strategy games like Civ 5 and the Total War series, plus RPG's like Skyrim and The Witcher), so I'm particular interested in people's opinions on whether the i7 processor with a GT 650m would be better or worse than the i5 processor with the 8850m. In particular, I'm wondering which would be more likely to still allow me to play new releases in a year or two, even if it is on low settings?

Comments from anyone who has either of these two laptops would be most appreciated.

 

Notebookcheck has a very useful table of mobile GPU benchmark results (there's another one for CPUs). There are plenty of results for the 650M (#83 in table) but none for the 8850M which has been put at #75 based on the specs and performance of other GPUs in the family. The NP680Z5E-X01 has a low resolution display which will slightly improved the 3D graphics performance but the quad core CPU in the P7C will also give it a boost (it is factors such as this which causes the wide range of results in notebookcheck's table).

You might want to consider this refurbished NP780Z5E which has the same CPU and GPU as the 680Z5E but has a FHD display and a bigger battery and saves you some money. That's the one I would grab.

John

 

Thanks for that.

I have actually spotted this on Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CP395MY/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d3_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0G8036B3P4F88Z6FN3J0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=430257267&pf_rd_i=468294 which looks to be the same as the one you suggested, but new rather than refurbished for only a little more, so I could be tempted by that.

I guess my main concern was whether the 8850m was superior enough to the 650m to counteract the slower processor, as I couldn't find as much information on it?

 

I agree, 10% saving on the refurbished one isn't much of a reduction. It's a shame you weren't shopping a few months ago when JL had a clear-out.

The impact of the quad core CPU on graphics performance will depend on how a program balances the work between the CPU and GPU and whether the power limits start to be a constraint (the quad core CPU is rated at 10W more than the dual core).

Regarding your original choice, I would forego the quad core CPU in favour of the higher resolution display. There is a review of a similar CPU / GPU combination here (but note the lower resolution display).

Plan on swapping the HDD for an SSD which will give a noticeable improvement in everyday usability and might also boost the gaming if it involves a lot of disk access.

John

 

Sadly, yes, I had seen about their recent clear-out. D'oh!

The machine in that review actually has an 8550, not an 8850, but I'd assume that would mean that the results from the machine I've seen on Amazon would be even better.

It's payday on Wednesday, and I think I've decided that an order will be going into Amazon then.

Thanks again for your advice.

 

I think they got the GPU number wrong in the review. Samsung Poland's specs say 8850.

John