Buying a laptop.

[Saxiphone]

I'm willing to spend around 500$ I want to be able to play league of legends, starcraft, mechwarrior, that sort of thing. Would I be able to get something like this at walmart or something? Suggestions? Help me cata

[Sillywilly]

How long did it take you to save up $500 bucks to spend on a laptop?

[Valec]

I'm willing to spend around 500$ I want to be able to play league of legends, starcraft, mechwarrior, that sort of thing. Would I be able to get something like this at walmart or something? Suggestions? Help me cata

Probably not as walmart, no. This is not really my area of expertise, but i'm pretty sure it's doable. You won't be running any of that on maximum, but you'll be able to run it. Marou/Norska I think both managed to find cheap but effective laptops.

[Mute]

Yeah, you'd be better off getting it online. Newegg is always my go to, even if I end up buying it somewhere else. They usually have their specs and reviews on point.

[Draconian]

Walmart's 500 laptops are focused on stupid parents buying laptops for school. Go online and do a bit of research on the best gaming deals for laptops, and yeah Marou got a great deal I remember on a ridiculous laptop from newegg a couple years back.

[Sillywilly]

Definitely don't go with WalMart. Shit that gets manufactured for WalMart isn't the same as you would get from other places, even if it has the same name or model number. I remember a big stink awhile back about some speakers or something made by Pioneer. They were sold under the same model number at WalMart as they were at more expensive retailers but someone did a side by side comparison with pictures and everything and there were clear differences in the manufacturing process as well as the quality and durability of some of the components.

I don't know if that extends to computers and their components or not, but it has left me a little wary when it comes to buying stuff that I want/need to be quality at WalMart/Target/etc.

[Saxiphone]

Thanks for the advice guys. I was just about to go to Walmart so I'm glad I made this thread. Do you guys know any brands to stay away from? I'm looking at an HP that looks pretty good.

Also:

How long did it take you to save up $500 bucks to spend on a laptop?

I make about 430$ weekly. I work 40 hrs/wk

[Valec]

Thanks for the advice guys. I was just about to go to Walmart so I'm glad I made this thread. Do you guys know any brands to stay away from? I'm looking at an HP that looks pretty good.

Also:
I make about 430$ weekly. I work 40 hrs/wk

That didn't quite answer the question. I think what he was getting at is, waiting longer and saving more, you can probably get something you'd be much​ happier with.

[Sillywilly]

That didn't quite answer the question. I think what he was getting at is, waiting longer and saving more, you can probably get something you'd be much​ happier with.

Exactly. Honestly I would wait until I've got quite a bit more saved up and go all out.

[Draconian]

Yeah, also agree with saving more if possible and upping your limit to 700-800ish if you can swing that. 500 for a gaming desktop is tight but totally doable, 500 for a gaming laptop... you're making a lot of compromises and running things with low settings, having performance issues in a couple years maybe, etc.

The best thing to do is to just do your research. If you're going to save more money, then it works out cause you'll have a couple weeks to figure out what you wanna buy. Get on newegg, start finding a few things in your price range and read the reviews. If something has hundreds of reviews and is sitting at a 4 or 5 rating and is in your price range, make a note of it. Find a few possible contenders, then start comparing specs - you can rule out the ones with lesser video cards, this one has more RAM, that one has more HD space, etc.

Zero in on your options, eliminate clearly less optimal deals by comparing specs, and then when you've got two or three to pick from, start reading reviews to see what people say about each model. People who rate things with 3 or 4 stars, IMO, are the important ones - cause they like it overall but had some issue/complaint, which helps give you insight. For instance, maybe you didn't realize that the keyboard on this one doesn't light up - and maybe you absolutely want that, or... maybe that one gets really hot or has a shitty adapter connection, etc. reading customer reviews is how you pick up on that sort of stuff and it can really help you figure out the best fit for what you want.

Admittedly, knowing at least the basics of how storage, CPU, RAM, and video card come together to define your "performance" is a big advantage when comparing models. Sadly, it can eat up a lot of time too... shopping and comparing. Good luck!