Which i5 and GT740M/750M combination should I buy?

I want to do some moderate gaming (Battlefield 3/4 definitely) with my new laptop.

Which configuration should I go for? I'll be happy with decent framerates at 720p or 1366*768 with medium/high settings in modern games like Battlefield 3/4.
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HP Pavilion 15 - i5-4200U with GT740m (DDR3)

Lenovo M5400 - i5-4200M with GT740m (DDR3)

Dell Inspiron 7537 - i5-4200u with GT750m (DDR5)

Thanks for your ideas!

 

Well, first off Battlefield 3 and 4 are very CPU-intensive, so off of that alone you can throw out the ULV i5 laptops (the ones with -U CPUs). Realize that the ULV i5 and full-voltage i5s aren't similar at all, and the ULV versions will be considerably less powerful than their full-voltage cousins.

That said, the 740M might be able to run 3 at low settings and low resolution, not very sure if 4 could do the same, but with a game like that you really will want a laptop that'll play it at decent settings/resolution. I know I wouldn't want to play a game at 768p...

 

Last one with a better CPU.

 

Agreed... Pay a bit more, get the i7-4500u + 750M version... It will be enough as the i7-4500u is as good as i7-740/840qm...

 

Which are both weaker than the i5-4200M...

 

In single-threaded applications yes, otherwise definitely not.

 

The i7-4500U is a dual-core CPU, so it'll be just as bad at multithreaded stuff as the i5-4200M (both have 4 virtual cores). However, per core the i5-4200M trumps the i7-4500U.

Honestly though, both are garbage for BF 3 and 4, but the i5-4200M is a shinier turd than the i7-4500U in this regard.

 

You were comparing the dual-cores to the 740QM/840QM quads.

 

I wasn't comparing them to quads, TomJGX was (originally).

I still think that OP should be skipping these laptops in favor of something better (even waiting to save more, if required). Any of the mentioned CPUs (especially the ULV ones) + the 740M/750M won't make for a good BF3/4 experience.

 

Always take the combo with fastest GPU.