Hardware Another "Which laptop should I buy?" thread

[Thanatos Telos]

I have a choice between these two:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus---K-Series-15.6"-Laptop---4GB-Memory---500GB-Hard-Drive---Indigo/Light-Indigo/6940249.p?skuId=6940249&id=1218816101846

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP---Pavilion-17.3"-Laptop---4GB-Memory---500GB-Hard-Drive---Sparkling-Black/7015368.p?skuId=7015368&id=1218821793451
Which would be best for playing a few steam games? (TF2, HL, Black Mesa, Darksiders, Saints Row 3, etc.)
I am not open to any suggestions unless they are the same price as the HP and have an i5.
(Which I probably won't find.)
EDIT: Just to add, my Mom, who is buying me the laptop, is leaning towards HP because she has never heard of Asus.

 

[Plainscript]

Would go for the Asus laptop - same specifications as the HP one when it comes to RAM/CPU and such. (more or less..)

Don't know if you really need 17".. To me, 15,6 has always been big enough.

Not sure if it will handle SR3 that well tho'. But same goes for the HP.

 

[Thanatos Telos]

To add, about how much bloatware would I have to remove from both?

 

[Plainscript]

To add, about how much bloatware would I have to remove from both?

With or without Windows 8 included?

No, seriously - the usual antivirus/office trials, trialware games and some Windows 8 apps and you should be ready to go.

 

[Thanatos Telos]

With or without Windows 8 included?

No, seriously - the usual antivirus/office trials, trialware games and some Windows 8 apps and you should be ready to go.

Nah, I'm fine with Win 8, it seems more....efficient. Anyway, thanks.

 

[Originality]

I say ASUS from the two.

 

[the_randomizer]

Anything from Asus, Lenovo or Sony, avoid Dell like the plague. I worked for their small-medium business tech support and know first-hand how unreliable they are, and know their infamously high failure rates. Alienware, same deal; you can get the same hardware for <$1000, and with a higher resolution screen.

 

[totalnoob617]

personally i would never buy anything over 14" ,or anything with win 8

 

[no_chocobo]

win8 has been nothing short of amazing for gaming so far for me. I would really reccommend saving some extra cash and getting an i7 laptop. for about 170 more,c you can get this, its literally about 2x the processing power, and samsung makes soome amazing hardware!
http://www.microcenter.com/product/403297/NP350E5C-A02US_156_Laptop_Computer_-_Black