Help Me Choose a Medium Gaming Laptop ($500-$700)

[Judgment]

Hey guys. I am trying to upgrade to a newer laptop from my current HP Pavilion dv6-3230us. Here are my current stats:

• Intel Core i3 Processor 2.4GHz
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 500GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics
• Windows 7 Ultimate, 5.25 hours Battery Life

It's good for general use, watching movies, video editing, etc. But it stinks at gaming/3D modeling. I'm not a heavy gamer (no Wow, lol, crysis, call of duty) just stuff like Gears of War and Resident Evil 5 every once in a while. Vindictus is fun too. The intel hd graphics can play both Gears and RE5 games at 30 frames per second, but only on the LOWEST details. Errr...I am also using Game Booster v3.5 while playing. Also please note that while my laptop is 1366 by 768 pixels, I hook it up to a 1080 monitor when I'm at home so that may influence gaming a bit.



I am looking at the Asus line and the Toshiba Satellites. But feel free to make other suggestions! Links are provided by clicking on the laptops' names.



I am using this link to compare all of these graphics cards.

Toshiba Satellite L755-S5354 - $719.99 (my current top choice because of its graphics card, and because it's the best looking one IMO (silver on the outside), but I can't seem to buy it anywhere online)

• Intel® Core™ i5-2430M processor
• 4GB DDR3 1333MHz memory
• 640GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)
• 15.6-Inch Screen, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), SP1, 4.5 hours Battery Life

I hope the Geforce GT 525M is good enough for modern gaming (unlike the intel hd)

Toshiba Satellite P755D-S5378 - $619.99 (I prefer the silver models, not dark gray)

• AMD A Series Processor 2.4GHz
• 6GB DDR3 RAM
• 640GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch Screen, AMD Radeon HD 6620
• Windows 7 Home Premium, 5.12 hours Battery Life

AMD isn't nvidia, but it is alot better than my current one.



ASUS A53SD-ES71- $759.99 (does the i7 help with gaming, even if the GT 610M is not as good as the GT 525M or the AMD Radeon HD 6620?)

• Intel 2.2 GHz Core i7-2670QM
• 6 GB DIMM
• 750 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch ScreenNvidia GT 610M 2G

Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5162- $419.99 (I love this one, because of its price and because it's got the best appearance (like the first one, this is silver), but I don't know if the stats are good enough to play Gears/RE5 on high quality on a 1080p monitor)

• 1.5 GHz AMD A6-3420M quad-core accelerated processor (2.4 GHz with AMD Turbo Core Technology; 4 MB cache)
• 4GB SO-DIMM RAM
• 640GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch Screen, AMD Radeon HD 6520G
• Windows Home Premium, 5.07 hours Battery Life

One thing though, is that this had the only CPU on this list that is quad-core. Will that help with gaming and make up for the Radeon HD 6520G (pretty low in class 3on the graphics card comparison link)? Also, Turbo Core Technology sounds pretty cool, what is it exactly?



So those are my preferences! I'm kind of new to choosing between stuff like this so any feedback and suggestions would be really helpful!

 

[bobkn]

ASUS A53SD-ES71- $759.99 (does the i7 help with gaming, even if the GT 610M is not as good as the GT 525M or the AMD Radeon HD 6620?)

• Intel 2.2 GHz Core i7-2670QM
• 6 GB DIMM
• 750 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch ScreenNvidia GT 610M 2G

Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5162- $419.99 (I love this one, because of its price and because it's got the best appearance (like the first one, this is silver), but I don't know if the stats are good enough to play Gears/RE5 on high quality on a 1080p monitor)

• 1.5 GHz AMD A6-3420M quad-core accelerated processor (2.4 GHz with AMD Turbo Core Technology; 4 MB cache)
• 4GB SO-DIMM RAM
• 640GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch Screen, AMD Radeon HD 6520G
• Windows Home Premium, 5.07 hours Battery Life

One thing though, is that this had the only CPU on this list that is quad-core. Will that help with gaming and make up for the Radeon HD 6520G (pretty low in class 3on the graphics card comparison link)? Also, Turbo Core Technology sounds pretty cool, what is it exactly?

The i7-2670QM is quad core, with hyperthreading. (Shows up as 8 CPUs in Windows.)

Intel® Core

This probably doesn't help with your choice, though.

 

[Judgment]

What are the benefits of quad core? Does it help with gaming?