ACER SWIFT 3 or ACER NITRO 5 Laptop?? Cannot decide, please help! [ Edited ]

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddictHey, I hope you are well! So I've been doing a lot of research over the last 2 days after reading your message and I have just contacted Currys and they said Nitro 5 is discontinued so I've been looking at the other options you listed. I wanted to look on Argos but none of them are available for me to collect or deliver to my address

The other laptops seem good, still over my price range and the Dell looked really good as the graphics are much better, however, the reviews were appalling so I won't risk it lol.

I was just wondering, considering my HP laptop that broke was not a gaming laptop and could even run Sims 4 in ultra settings with slight lag here and there and I got it back in 2016. Other than the Lenovo gaming laptop, do you know any good normal laptops on Currys that would be ideal for Sims 4? Since Nitro 5 will not be back in stock.

I am willing to pay £749 maximum if the laptop is worth it.

[puzzlezaddict]

@KashmirG2002  There are certainly other options, not as good as the ones we discussed but still fine, on both Currys and Argos.  The Acer Aspire you were looking at before is one of them:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-7-a715-74g-15-6-intel-core-i5-la...

While its graphics card is significantly slower than the 1650, it should still be capable of running the game on ultra settings, although maybe only barely.  And this model apparently has a free 2.5" drive bay, or maybe it has an SSD in that drive bay and a free M.2 slot:

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/acer/aspire-a715-74g-71ws

https://laptopmedia.com/us/highlights/inside-acer-aspire-7-a715-74g-disassembly-and-upgrade-options/

Point is, you could add extra storage now or later.

If you don't like that Aspire, the next option down, so to speak, is a laptop with an MX350, which is actually a sized-down 1050.  It's slower than the 1050 but should still run the game on medium-high or high settings, depending on playstyle.  Given the surprisingly high performance you saw on your old laptop, you might even be able to play on ultra on this card.  I saw a couple options in your price range:

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

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-5-a515-56g-15-6-laptop-intel-cor...

The first one offers a discount code on the product page; for the second, I saw a pop-up that said entering "COMPUTING20" would give £20 off.  I would guess these don't have space for extra hard drives, but most lightweight laptops do not.

I don't know if you want to go up to £750 on Argos, but this Legion is in the same class as the original laptops we talked about, although it does only have 256 GB storage.  (It has a free 2.5" drive bay though.)

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8462406

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddictThank you so much, I really appreciate all of the advice you are giving me. I have really learned a lot from you about laptops especially gaming laptops. I definitely have my eyes on the Acer Aspire 7 if I had to choose a normal laptop.

Now thinking about it, this next laptop I buy, I really want it to last long like how my broken one lasted 5 years and I've been looking and researching all day and I think I am definitely willing to go up to £750. I remember you mentioning the Lenovo and Asus on Currys and I have compared these two laptops to the normal laptops above, it would definitely be worth spending £750 on one of these gaming laptops.

So I have been comparing the Lenovo Series 3 gaming laptop to the Asus Tuf A17 on Currys.

I'm not sure which processor is better but I am guessing Asus is since it is a Hexa-core and the GHz is higher compared to the Lenovo which has a quad-core and lower GHz. But then again, Lenovo has an Intel® Core™ i5-10300H Processor and Asus has an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H Processor so I am not sure which processor is better between the two.

The RAM in both are the same, 8 GB DDR4. However, the graphics are different. Asus has GTX 1650, whereas, Lenovo has GTX 1650 Ti and Lenovo has 4 GB GDDR5 and Asus has 4 GB GDDR6.

They both have 256GB SSD and I can upgrade it myself in both.

They are both also the same price, being £749. I am really confused on which one is better because one has something better then the other has something else that's better. My mind is so confused!

I know that I am definitely getting either these two laptops or the Acer Aspire 7 (most likely the gaming ones though).

I would really appreciate it if you could please advise me (when you are free) on which laptop is better between the two from comparing both since I don't know much about laptops let alone gaming laptops and they both have different things that are good about them? I'm so sorry for being a pain. I would have bought the Nitro 5 but I was too late and it's now discontinued.

Also, thank you for mentioning Lenovo Legion 5, seems like Legion has quite similar specs to Asus actually and I would have compared that laptop too but I can only order from Currys since they've given me a voucher.

I have attached a pdf document to easily compare the two. Thank you so muchhh

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@KashmirG2002  Some of these questions have simple answers:

• For gaming purposes, an i5-10300H and a Ryzen 5 4600H are close to equivalent, and you'd never notice the difference in Sims 4.  If you planned on doing other CPU intensive projects, this choice might matter, but for Sims 4 it does not.
• The 1650 ti is marginally faster than the 1650, but given the higher game performance benchmarks of the Asus, performance would likely be equivalent.
• GDDR6 memory is faster than GDDR5, but the difference will likely be too small to notice.  Both are extremely fast, much faster than main memory (RAM) if you want to compare.

The Asus does have significantly better reviews: the Tuf A17 model is one of the best reviewed budget gaming laptops, with "budget" here meaning lower than about £1,200.  The Lenovo Ideapad is fine but not as highly rated.  The Lenovo Legion is quite highly rated too, but since you're only shopping at Currys, it's a moot point.

On points like the screen, keyboard, trackpad, and chassis, the two laptops are very similar.  Neither one has a great camera or speakers, although the Asus is better.  The Ideapad is of course smaller, with its 15" screen, and lighter.  These are still two laptops in the same general category though, so their performance will likely be quite similar.  Don't overthink it (and I say that as someone who would totally be overthinking this); just go with the one that you like more.

[KashmirG2002]

@puzzlezaddict Thank you so much for comparing the two for me.

So they are both pretty similar but Asus is a little better. You said the Asus Tuf A17 is one of the best reviewed budget gaming laptops. I can’t find any reviews on this model after looking for reviews all day. I saw loads of reviews on Lenovo i3 but not the Asus tuf a17? I can only find reviews for the Asus tuf a15 model. Could you please link them?

[puzzlezaddict]

@KashmirG2002  Strange, I found a number of reviews just by googling.  These aren't for exactly the same configurations, but they give you an idea of how the model is built: for example, the keyboard and chassis will be the same, and likely the camera and wifi as well.

https://laptopmedia.com/us/review/asus-tuf-a17-fa706-review-a-ryzen-7-4800h-at-this-price/

https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/asus-tuf-gaming-a17

https://www.ultrabookreview.com/36114-asus-tuf-gaming-fa706ii-review/

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-TUF-A17-FA706IU-Ryzen-7-Laptop-Review-Core-i9-Performance-for-110...

[Aidenguy00]

@puzzlezaddicthi, sorry to interrupt. I’m from the other post and I was scrolling through forums and saw this post. I am also interested in these two laptops cause they are both in my budget as well

from reading previously, you really know your stuff so I would like to know, in your opinion, which brand line is better between ideapad gaming 3 and asus tuf a17 overall, do you think? the specs in both are too similar so i would like to know your opinion on both of these lines and which brand line is better overall, like gaming, build quality, performance, thermal wise and all

[puzzlezaddict]

@Aidenguy00  If I were buying one of these, I'd choose the Asus Tuf.  It has better in-game performance and cooling, and most of the other details are pretty similar between the two, other than the fact that the Tuf is larger and heavier.

If you'd like to see other options as well, I listed a few in this post:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-Feedback/ACER-SWIFT-3-or-ACER-NITRO-5-Laptop-Cannot-dec...

The Aspire 7 from Argos received good reviews as well.