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I am looking for a new laptop and the two i am deciding between is an Asus with Intel® Core™ i5-430M processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M graphics. Or a Toshiba with the Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor and NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics.

Other than that both are the same with 16" screen but the Toshiba has the 500GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm) and the Asus has the 500GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm).

I am looking for a computer to use for college and be able to play games on. I want to know what one I should get they are both the same price.

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There's more factors than that, what if Toshiba was able to get a Core i7 at the expense of a 5400 RPM hard drive? – ta.speot.is May 26 '10 at 3:05
+1 You have a good taste in hardware. – Myersguy May 26 '10 at 7:21
Links to the actual models would be nice but you gave the most important specs already so it's not really necessary. – Simurr May 27 '10 at 17:14
Asus no doubt! the 310M is really poor for gaming – Drake May 28 '10 at 16:06
You can also check for laptop that mounts 5650 Mobility Radeon. It is a bit less powerful than GTS 360M but enough to play game of this generation. Last suggestion, do not take 1920x1200 if you don't plan to view movies, 1680x1050 is preferable for gaming/developing. – Drake May 28 '10 at 16:10
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3 Answers

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Yep. If you want to play games, so ASUS is your deal. According to the quad-core processor is not good idea at all... Do you know many soft nowadays, that uses multi-core support in handling tasks? Indeed you can find it, but seriously it doesn't give any effect in case, if you have to render 3D graphics or working with soft, which is highly recommended running fast GPU. Toshiba's Low-End GPU isn't for games and for rendering at all.

You can find more about gaming and notebook performance on site: http://www.notebookcheck.net/

Here you can compare mobile GPU benchmarks: Mobile GPU Benchmarks

And mobile GPU tests in games: Mobile GPU Games

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In this case, a lot should weigh on price. Both of these laptops are going to do what you want them to. Having said that, you will probably be better off with the Asus laptop.

While the i7-720QM is a quad core, with turbo capable of reaching a clock speed of 2.8Ghz, and carries the wonderful technology of hyper-threading, the 5400RPM drive is going to slow you down, and the GPU isn't near as powerful as the 360M in the asus.

The Asus has a dual core, which these days is currently more optimized for gaming. The turbo will bring it to 2.53ghz, which is a pretty good speed. The 360M GPU is strong enough to handle many games as well. From my experience, ASUS is definitely the more reliable brand here as well, and hey, the 7200RPM drive sure never hurts.

Two things that were definitely worth mentioning: The RAM, and the games you intend on playing. The i7 within the Toshiba laptop is definitely superior to the i5 in the ASUS, however CPU doesn't factor into gaming nearly as much as the GPU does.

From the needs you have described, I would definitely go with the ASUS.

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Agreed with ASUS. Both are low category/soon will die laptops but pick the better worse. – Shiki May 26 '10 at 7:25
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up vote 0 down vote

For gaming the Asus is the better machine. The Toshiba doesn't come close.

In theory the i7 can boost to a faster speed than the i5 chip but that won't happen all the time and the GTS 360M chip in the Asus is much better than the 310M in the Toshiba.

The 7200 rpm drive in the Asus will also improve load times.

You may want to compare battery life between the 2 but overall the Asus is just a better machine if you plan on doing any gaming.

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