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Hi everyone. This may be the worst place possibly to ask for advice but nobody in my circle is a budget bargain hunter like I am who wants to always look for best deals. And I often have this impulse buy trait where after the purchase is done, I tell myself, "hey wait a minute, do I even need this at all?" 
So without further ado, I'll breakdown my situation:
Back in June 2012, I bought this low budget gaming Acer laptop for $400.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?sdtid=4781348&EdpNo=2008029&sku=A180-156130
CPU: AMD A6-3420M (first generation APU series), QUAD-CORE 1.5 GHz
GPU: Dedicated AMD Radeon HD 7670M + Integrated Radeon HD 6520G (if setting up dual graphics mode)
Resolution: 1366 x 768
RAM: 4GB (2 x 2GB)
HDD: 320 GB
Touchscreen: No
Bluetooth: No
Windows 7
vs.
Today, on February 27, 2015, I bought a new low budget Dell laptop for $217.74 @ Staples.
http://www.dell.com/us/eep/p/inspiron-15-3543-laptop/pd?oc=fncwg2316s&model_id=inspiron-15-3543-laptop
CPU: Intel i3-5005U (5th Generation i-series), DUAL-CORE 2.0 GHz
GPU: Integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500
Resolution: 1366 x 768
RAM: 4GB (1 x 4GB)
HDD: 500 GB
Touchscreen: Yes
Bluetooth: Yes
Windows 8.1
So my old laptop been with me for a good near 3 years usage without any problems and suddenly I felt like buying a new laptop due to my impulse buying trait.
Except now, I'm not sure which to keep and which to sell. When comparing the two and doing pros/cons, the newer laptop is better than the old laptop in all ways except:
1. dual-core vs quad-core
2. Integrated GPU vs Dedicated GPU
3. Windows 8.1 vs Windows 7
I have a Samsung 830 128 GB SSD and 8 GB Corsair Vengeance RAM installed on my old laptop which I can easily move over to my new laptop if I choose to keep that one.
But more importantly, if I do choose to sell my old laptop, does it have any resell value at all? Is my old laptop is technically worth "more" than my new laptop?
Which laptop is better for some on-the-go travel gaming?
Finally, I won't keep both because I only want 1 laptop for me no matter what (I already have a desktop, tablet, smartphone, etc).
Possible thoughts, feedback, advice, tips would all be appreciated. Thank you.
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Cascadia1754 Posts
The 7670 benchmarks about 50% higher than the 5500 (neither is very good), and the i3 benchmarks are about 50% higher than the AMD A6. The memory on the new one is also about 50% faster.
Honestly, both will probably resale for quite little, like <100$, used laptops aren't in very high demand when, as you saw, you can buy a new one for 200$.
It will eventually just come down to how you will be using the laptop though. If you really need the better gpu for something, then the first, otherwise I'd go with the second one.
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On February 28 2015 09:04 Tephus wrote:
The 7670 benchmarks about 50% higher than the 5500 (neither is very good), and the i3 benchmarks are about 50% higher than the AMD A6. The memory on the new one is also about 50% faster.
Honestly, both will probably resale for quite little, like <100$, used laptops aren't in very high demand when, as you saw, you can buy a new one for 200$.
It will eventually just come down to how you will be using the laptop though. If you really need the better gpu for something, then the first, otherwise I'd go with the second one.
True, neither were very good but during in 2012, 7670 benchmark were considered "mid-class" gaming.
Resale value may vary actually since the laptop I bought today is originally $450-500 at Staples and Dell website. It was only thanks to corporate mistake and double dipping between sale discounts + coupon discounts when normally it lies in a very fine gray area for both of them to work together. Such examples were seen this past month when Staples made several mistakes on their system and had to pull off their coupon out of existence a day after it was introduced when it's meant to last a week or so.
So I know very well I can sell my new laptop at a good price seeing how I picked up the last one in the entire local area (everywhere sold out), the laptop sale was originally for 4th Gen i3 model, not 5th Gen i3 except system went thru for 5th Gen i3 plus the coupons, not to mention this new model was released last month. Also sold out online. Current ebay/craigslist listings in the entire US are showing at least $400 new in box. I still haven't opened my new laptop either.
That being said, I have no clue what my old laptop resale value would be. Is it really below $100? Because I highly doubt this but then I'm also doubting myself regarding my doubt on your claim.
This is assuming I decide to sell either one in March.
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Cascadia1754 Posts
Its not just a 7670, its a 7670M, which is a decent 20-30% worse.
Remember too that 3 years is getting to the point where your battery is going to start to deteriorate.
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On February 28 2015 09:54 Tephus wrote:
Its not just a 7670, its a 7670M, which is a decent 20-30% worse.
Remember too that 3 years is getting to the point where your battery is going to start to deteriorate.
True...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7670M.69483.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-5500.125586.0.html
According to notebookcheck site, they're both within class 3 range and they're fairly close. 7670M used to be in class 2 range back in 2012 but I guess as technology evolves...
As for battery, that's debatable. My very first laptop I ever got back in 2005 lasted me for a good 6-7 years before I had to put it to sleep for good. But it didn't have battery problems until after 6 years.
It's completely worthless now as it has inferior specs to either of my laptops I got and kept in closet because I can't find a good way to effectively recycle it, but that laptop was +$1200 when I first got it.
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On February 28 2015 09:31 QuickStriker wrote:Show nested quote +On February 28 2015 09:04 Tephus wrote:
The 7670 benchmarks about 50% higher than the 5500 (neither is very good), and the i3 benchmarks are about 50% higher than the AMD A6. The memory on the new one is also about 50% faster.
Honestly, both will probably resale for quite little, like <100$, used laptops aren't in very high demand when, as you saw, you can buy a new one for 200$.
It will eventually just come down to how you will be using the laptop though. If you really need the better gpu for something, then the first, otherwise I'd go with the second one. True, neither were very good but during in 2012, 7670 benchmark were considered "mid-class" gaming. Resale value may vary actually since the laptop I bought today is originally $450-500 at Staples and Dell website. It was only thanks to corporate mistake and double dipping between sale discounts + coupon discounts when normally it lies in a very fine gray area for both of them to work together. Such examples were seen this past month when Staples made several mistakes on their system and had to pull off their coupon out of existence a day after it was introduced when it's meant to last a week or so. So I know very well I can sell my new laptop at a good price seeing how I picked up the last one in the entire local area (everywhere sold out), the laptop sale was originally for 4th Gen i3 model, not 5th Gen i3 except system went thru for 5th Gen i3 plus the coupons, not to mention this new model was released last month. Also sold out online. Current ebay/craigslist listings in the entire US are showing at least $400 new in box. I still haven't opened my new laptop either. That being said, I have no clue what my old laptop resale value would be. Is it really below $100? Because I highly doubt this but then I'm also doubting myself regarding my doubt on your claim. This is assuming I decide to sell either one in March.
The honest truth of it is I'd advise you to return your new laptop today if you have the chance. I doubt you would get more then 220 dollars for either of your laptops, and if you're happy either your old laptop, why debate this? New latop might be a good price but if you don't need it, doesn't make it a good deal.
I don't see people buying many used laptops that aren't macbooks - as others have mentioned, new laptops aren't that expensive. My personal exp is that I tried to sell 2010(2011?) dell inspiron 15r se 7520 on CL for 400, no dice. That laptop is 3rd gen i7, fhd screen, 7750m graphics, 8gb ram, hdd/ssd combo.
It's just windows laptops -- there are too many of them to know whats good, there are too many scammers, used laptop battery life is always a questionable. Why go through that debate for buying a used laptop when you can just buy a new once for roughly the same price and get a return policy.
So ya - my advise is return your new one, keep the old one. Sorry.
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Sell the intel i-3 imo... i never really liked intel laptops because they usually overprice it because of the, supposedly "better", core feature. The integrated graphics card is also a negative in by my standards, but only because i like a laptop that have the option of gaming with it and an integrated graphics card isn't that great, especially since it's an i-3. However, AMD isn't absolutely the best either, its lifespan is going to depend on how well you take care of it. I still suggest keeping the AMD and selling the i-3. Since it is an i-3, it has a higher resale value, so it would better to sell it since most people go by the norm and the "standardized" ideals of "intel is better than amd".
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Seems like the vote goes toward selling the new laptop and make quick $100-200 on the pocket with the new laptop still sealed in box. Why return it when I can sell it for more than I paid for?
I haven't make the final decision yet, planning to wait a week until there is absolutely no sale of any good budget laptop deals around big stores like Staples so that people actually look at CL or ebay or somewhere.
The new laptop is very tempting though but like I mentioned on other thread, this is my real opinion:
I consider either of these laptops as my "placeholder" laptop. I know what low level budget laptop are capable of and have limits of.
The real laptop I want to invest happens in 2016 when Intel rolls out 6th Generation Core series which I'm fully expected to put down a lot of money for it. So yes, I'll probably have either laptop for a full year at least or 2 years at best.
Question is, what's the sweet spot is between having the best resell value and best placeholder laptop among these two. I'm starting to hear that both are leaning toward the newer laptop but that's not possible....
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United Kingdom20327 Posts
so it would better to sell it since most people go by the norm and the "standardized" ideals of "intel is better than amd".
It's not standardized ideals. An i3 is substantially better than a 4-threaded AMD CPU in a desktop, but leagues ahead for Laptop because of power efficiency advantages and huge reductions in idle power. You're comparing a 2015 CPU on cutting edge manufacturing process when Intel has the techology advantage to an APU that was kinda bad and relegated to low end only when it launched 3-4 years back.
Also broadwell integrated graphics is very good compared to other integrated graphics, you can't compare it to sandy bridge or even ivy bridge igpu (any anything before that, forget about it) it's just useless here because OP has chosen an sku that has a 15w combined power limit for CPU and GPU. The CPU wouldn't use turbo at all and the iGPU would throttle like crazy if s/he tried to play a game on it.
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EPT
