Re: Which gaming laptop brand is better?

Hi @puzzlezaddict, thank you for the detailed explanation for which non-gaming laptop would be best for me to play on the highest setting possible.

I am interested in two of the laptops you mentioned:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-5-a515-56g-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10212833-pdt.html

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-envy-13-3-laptop-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-gold-10212904-pdt.html

As you have stated, they both have MX350 graphic cards so it is significantly slower compared to GTX 1650 which the Lenovo Gaming Ideapad 3 has.

After doing research about these two, I also came across another non-gaming laptop with a separate graphics card and that laptop has GTX 1050. As below:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-7-a715-74g-15-6-intel-core-i5-laptop-512-gb-ssd-black-10194242-pdt.html#wrapper

Would this mean, this Acer Aspire 7 with GTX 1050 would allow me to play Sims 4 with Ultra settings unlike the MX350 laptops which would probably allow High settings? 

And is this laptop better than the Acer Aspire 5 and HP Envy? 

@Aidenguy00  The laptop with the 1050 is a gaming laptop, but that's not a bad thing, from my perspective at least.  It should outperform the other laptops by a significant margin.  I didn't mention it because I thought you weren't interested in gaming laptops, but it's certainly a good computer.

The MX350 is actually a sized-down version of the 1050.  You get a smaller, lighter, less power-hungry graphics card; the tradeoff is you lose about 30% in performance.  So from a gaming standpoint, a laptop with a 1050 is clearly the better option.

Right now, a 1050 can run all current Sims 4 packs on ultra settings, but maybe only barely, again depending on playstyle and other factors.  Depending on how you play, you may always be able to use ultra settings, but there's no guarantee.

@Aidenguy00  If we're talking about the Lenovo with the 1650, then that's a major positive for the Lenovo.  The 1650 is about 40% faster in gaming than the 1050, so even if the Lenovo doesn't run games to its full theoretical potential, it's still going to perform a lot better than any laptop with a 1050.

I think the Lenovo has only 256 GB of storage, which is not a lot, even though it's more than enough for Sims 4.  If you have plans to store a significant amount of data on the laptop, you might be better off with the Acer's 512 GB storage.  You could of course buy an external hard drive, but that's not as convenient.

The processor and RAM are equal, and the laptops' cooling benchmarks are similar, so there's not much to comment on there.

Really though, this comes down to which laptop you like better.  While it's great to have the best in-game performance your budget can buy, you're using the laptop for other purposes too, and that matters.  I say this as someone with a MacBook Pro that I love: its gaming performance is nowhere near what I could have gotten for a comparably priced Windows system, but I'm on the Mac for hours every day and wouldn't trade it for a gaming laptop.  I can still play fine, on a graphics card that's a little slower than the 1050.  And yes, I do notice the difference, but on the other hand, I'm much happier when I'm doing everything else.

@puzzlezaddictThose are very good points you make.

Are the processors drastically different? I know the Acer Aspire is 9th gen and Lenovo is 10th gen and they are both Intel.

Also is Aspire 7 RAM upgradable? I feel like it could be a good idea to make it more faster on google chrome etc if there is an extra slot to add another 8GB of RAM.

That is very true in regards to using the laptop for other purposes too. To be fair, I use the laptop more to go on video calls, browse on Google Chrome, watch Netflix and use Microsoft Word & PowerPoint. I play The Sims 4 whenever I feel like it (so less) but I do like ultra settings hehe.

So in that case, maybe the Aspire 7 is better as I guess the Lenovo is more of a gaming laptop so it focuses more on the gaming experience despite both of them being gaming laptops. Also, speaking of which, do you know if the Aspire 7’s screen is dull like Leveno’s apparently is and do they have the same webcam quality?

I have seen reviews of RGB screen tests but I have no idea how to read them or interpret them, there’s so many things to consider, it’s crazy.

@Aidenguy00  The improvement from the 9300H to the 10300H is quite small, a bit disappointingly so even, so it's not worth taking into account.  The Acer Aspire 7 has two slots for RAM and looks like it supports at least 32 GB, although you'd likely never use even 16.

The maximum brightness of a screen is rated in nits, with 250 being a bit dim and 300 much better.  Matte vs. glossy is mostly about subjective taste.  IPS is the highest quality type of screen, with VA also good; TN panels are low quality.  The Aspire has a matte screeen and an IPS panel but not a particularly bright screen.  If you'd like some technical data, these two reviews provide a lot:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Aspire-7-A715-Laptop-Review-Acer-s-upgrade-giant-with-gaming-potential-and-long-battery-life.435242.0.html

https://laptopmedia.com/us/review/acer-aspire-7-a715-74g-review-a-great-item-both-for-gaming-and-for-the-office/

It might be simpler to just read the overviews of the screen though.  I should point out that neither of these reviews covers precisely the same model as is sold on Currys, but the screen is the same model.

In this category of laptops, there really are no perfect screens.  That doesn't mean you shouldn't care, but it's something to keep in mind.