So I'm buying a laptop,

basically I'm down to 2 choices, they are 80$ and 100$ off which puts them both at 500$ even, both hp and same screen size.

the first one's specs are (80$ off)

4G of RAM
640G hard drive
Processor Intel Core i3-370M

the second one's specs are (100$ off)

6G of RAM
750G hard drive
APU quad-core AMD A6 processor
and comes with a Radeon HD6520G discrete-Class graphics card

So I'm leaning towards the second one, but just wondering if the small amount of $ difference (talking about the actual price without 80 or 100$ off) for a better computer is due to the processor being of lesser quality than the Intel Core i3 and if so, how much worst.

AMD reads the ram differently for a different "Feel" rather than an Intel. By no means is AMD worse than intel in any way. In fact, AMD have spent millions of dollars perfecting their processors and are under used because Intel has more lobby power. I have an AMD desktop and it runs fine, it always has. As for these 2 laptops. They better be fat fuckin laptops cause the second one is DEFINITELY going to run Hot. especially if you're playing games on it. An i3 Is good for normal computing and regular games such as flash or internet based. Im guessing since you didn't post the video card it's an on board intel GMA which wouldn't be good for gaming. But since the price difference is minimal go for the 2n'd one. But like i said you might want to invest in a cooling pad if you decide to game on it.

If they're on sale that could just be the reason why the pricing is different, down the line im sure the first one will go for cheaper at some point

It's just for when I'm at the college, other than for googling or typing reports on word, excel and such, I'll have some songs on it but that's about it. Would I need a cooling pad in that case?

And also I'm curious to know how you can tell if it's gonna run hot or not.

No it won't if you're using it for light use.

As for how i can tell it would run hot.
Assuming heavy use and gaming --

6G of RAM
750G hard drive
APU quad-core AMD A6 processor
and comes with a Radeon HD6520G discrete-Class graphics card --->

Gaming laptops already run hot during half capacity because of the high grade video card, a HD6520 is a damn good laptop card.
A Quad core processor is also going to make this computer run hot.

Think about it this way, a Desktop has loads of room inside for better air filtration and cooling.
A laptop with similar Quality GPU like the HD6520 Radeon card and Quad core processor jammed up inside the tiny laptop with a small fan on the inside has a very good likelyhood of overheating if you let the fan get blocked or don't use it on a non heat absorbant surface.

Also i believe any laptop has the chance to get hot when sat on cloth, or a bed or anything of that nature so a suped up laptop should surely get hotter faster.

Hope this helps i'm hella tired at work and wrote this quickly.
(I'm an I.T. Technician)

Cool that helped a lot man, thanks for taking the time to answer me I appreciate that

No problem my man

Second one, its almost equivalent to my desktop computer, pretty potent.

I'd definitely get a cooling lap-pad for it though (with fans) so that it doesn't overheat if you're playing graphic intensive games.

had same shit

the second one is a 2.6 gig processor i have a 2.2 gig and its plenty fast enough once you go beyond that you really wont notice much of a difference. i would go with the second one. unless your a big WOW player. even then the 2nd one would be ok speed wise. but u can never be fast enough when it comes to wow