New laptop advice

[Smith22]

I'm looking to buy a laptop for the family to use, plus maybe squeeze in some light PC gaming.

What are the minimum requirements I should look for?

750 GB?
8 GB memory?
Graphic card? dedicated?
Intel I3 - I7?

 

[Smith22]

The main use will be kids homework, web browsing, projects, Netflix and Youtube.

 

[kapolani]

I always tell people to spring for an SSD drive.

CPU then memory - the most memory you can get.

The SSD will be the thing that speeds up your machine the most.

 

[burmafrd]

unless you save a lot on your drive the size matters very little. Very few people will ever fill even a 500 GB drive.

SSD's are really not that much of an advantage versus what they cost. There are some applications some people use where it might be worthwhile but frankly that is rare.

Memory is the most vital area - the more you got the better and the higher capacity you have the better.

Fastest processor you can get whether Intel or AMD. Honestly there is not that much difference anymore.

making sure you have USB 3.0 is a must for the future- HDMI too.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I always tell people to spring for an SSD drive.

CPU then memory - the most memory you can get.

The SSD will be the thing that speeds up your machine the most.

Agree.

SSD Atleast 256 but 512 is what I would get. It's expensive but that's where you put your money.

No less than i3 processor

You can get away with 4gb of ram but I would go 8gb
If you go 4gb then you may want to turn off and start to get all resources refreshed

 

[YosemiteSam]

I have a Samsung Series 9 with the 256GB SSD drive, 8GB of memory, and a core i7 CPU. It runs Windows 7 and Linux perfectly and is capable enough to play many games, though maybe not the latest and greatest high end games though I really haven't tried.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I always tell people to spring for an SSD drive.

CPU then memory - the most memory you can get.

The SSD will be the thing that speeds up your machine the most.

I would go the other way. Memory then CPU. A super fast CPU will be next to useless if you are blocking due to IO and if you don't have enough memory you will be forced to use swap with causes heavy IO.

1. Memory 2. CPU 3. Drive

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I would go the other way. Memory then CPU. A super fast CPU will be next to useless if you are blocking due to IO and if you don't have enough memory you will be forced to use swap with causes heavy IO.

1. Memory 2. CPU 3. Drive

1. Memory 2. CPU 3. Drive = Fast runner running in mud


Or


1. Drive 2. CPU 3. Memory = Fast runner running on "fast track"

The latter EVERY time.


Don't steer OP in wrong direction just to be contrary.

 

[YosemiteSam]

1. Memory 2. CPU 3. Drive = Fast runner running in mud


Or


1. Drive 2. CPU 3. Memory = Fast runner running on "fast track"

The latter EVERY time.


Don't steer OP in wrong direction just to be contrary.

lol. If your CPU is slow, what's it matter how fast your drive can load windows? The data will be waiting on the CPU to catch up. Tell you what. Go buy a gen 1 Raspberry Pi and a gen 2 Raspberry Pi. Use the same Class 10 SD card and see which one boots faster. The CPU / memory is the bottleneck by a HUGE margin.

I'm not being contrarian. I'm speaking the truth.

 

[Tabascocat]

Stay away from touch screens! My new one is driving me crazy

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

lol. If your CPU is slow, what's it matter how fast your drive can load windows? The data will be waiting on the CPU to catch up. Tell you what. Go buy a gen 1 Raspberry Pi and a gen 2 Raspberry Pi. Use the same Class 10 SD card and see which one boots faster. The CPU / memory is the bottleneck by a HUGE margin.

I'm not being contrarian. I'm speaking the truth.

The truth is... Processors aren't slow anymore...
I3 and you are good to go

 

[YosemiteSam]

The truth is... Processors aren't slow anymore...
I3 and you are good to go

Yes and no. Really it's relative. I never buy the top end CPU. (bang for the buck usually isn't there. Especially with Intel CPUs) The CPU I choose depends on the application. My laptop has an quad-core i7 (Samsung Series 9), my desktop (home built) has an 8-core AMD FX-8350. My laptop I wanted to enough power to last me 4+ years. (bought it 2 years ago) my desktop requires a lot of memory and number crunching because I do Astrophotography with hugh datasets. (normally in range of 3-8GB of data during star-alignment, calibration, and then image integration)

Most of the time memory is the single biggest factor in improving performance.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Yes and no. Really it's relative. I never buy the top end CPU. (bang for the buck usually isn't there. Especially with Intel CPUs) The CPU I choose depends on the application. My laptop has an quad-core i7 (Samsung Series 9), my desktop (home built) has an 8-core AMD FX-8350. My laptop I wanted to enough power to last me 4+ years. (bought it 2 years ago) my desktop requires a lot of memory and number crunching because I do Astrophotography with hugh datasets. (normally in range of 3-8GB of data during star-alignment, calibration, and then image integration)

Most of the time memory is the single biggest factor in improving performance.

I agree with you on getting something that lasts yearrrrrsssss later and still trumps the new stuff

I got this back in 2009
http://www.overstock.com/Electronic...Intel-Core-i7-i7-620M-2./5215011/product.html
It was built out to the cost of $4500

If I told you I got it for $600 I would be telling the truth lol
Some kids uncle bought it for him. He didn't like it, he said, "I want a Mac" ... Was selling on Craigslist for $1200
I offered half. He said no. Called me next day. Lol

This thing is a beast. I added ram = 8gb

That's it.

I love it so much I bought another one on ebay last year for $700 it's an i5

 

[Jenky]

In terms of components offering the most performance:

1. CPU
2. SSD
3. RAM

Nowadays, most current machines are NOT RAM starved. They'll ship with 8 GB from the factory which is more than enough for an everyday home user.

There are still desktops and laptops that ship with the traditional hard disk drives as well has hybrid drives. Both of these cause headaches for me. You'll have to pay the price of getting an SSD which is WELL worth it.

Intel Processors are still #1. You'd be good with an i5.

In the past RAM was the bottleneck. You'd buy more of and you'd get a good performance bump.

Now, the hard disk drive (yes, that mechanical thing that spins around) is the bottleneck. Get rid of it!!!

 

[Smith22]

So, for a laptop that has an I5 CPU, 8 GB memory, with a SSD, what price range would I be looking at?

Would the same specs minus the SSD be a major price difference?

When window shopping with the wife, she seemed to dislike any screen sizes under 15".

Note: I'm comfortable around computers, but anything I purchase will be prebuilt.

 

[kapolani]

I rate CPU where I do because now-a-days you're going to get a solid one with pretty much any well regarded computer outfit. Most builds even come with 8 gb's ram.

The hard drive is the biggest bottleneck in this day and age.

Starting, powering down, and starting apps will spring to life and give more of a perceived speed increase when you go SSD.

 

[kapolani]

lol. If your CPU is slow, what's it matter how fast your drive can load windows? The data will be waiting on the CPU to catch up. Tell you what. Go buy a gen 1 Raspberry Pi and a gen 2 Raspberry Pi. Use the same Class 10 SD card and see which one boots faster. The CPU / memory is the bottleneck by a HUGE margin.

I'm not being contrarian. I'm speaking the truth.

In this particular instance I agree.

But, I would also argue that the combination used in the Raspberry Pi's are used/built to come in as cheaply as possible.

When talking about consumer poweruser grad computers you will have a capable CPU, memory, but still get old *** spinning discs.

SSD will give the user my 'useful' speed.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Actually, you can still by desktop (and laptops for that matter) with 4GB of memory which is the absolute minimum you should have for a 64bit operation system. I've standardized my company on 8GBs for standard desktops and 16GB for IT / Developer / Artist desktops which have more memory intensive applications / virtualization.

In a laptop, you always want to go with Intel as they don't run as hot. On a desktop, AMDs run hotter, but have a better bang for the buck than Intel desktop CPUs. AMD with a liquid cooler IMO is the best way to go on the desktop if you want to get robbed by Intel. Their CPUs are a bit faster than AMD, but they also cost a crap load more. The value just isn't there.

 

[Jenky]

So, for a laptop that has an I5 CPU, 8 GB memory, with a SSD, what price range would I be looking at?

Would the same specs minus the SSD be a major price difference?

When window shopping with the wife, she seemed to dislike any screen sizes under 15".

Note: I'm comfortable around computers, but anything I purchase will be prebuilt.

I'm thinking about $1200+ ish if you buy prebuilt from the factory. If you have experience, you can save money by buying a standard configuration and upgrading the RAM and installing a SSD yourself.

That's what I did when I bought my MacBook Pro (non retina) a while back. This was when nothing was soldered, so I was able to rip open the laptop as soon as I got it, install more RAM and add a SSD.

I wasn't going to pay Apple $300 for more RAM. But that's another story!

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I'm looking to buy a laptop for the family to use, plus maybe squeeze in some light PC gaming.

What are the minimum requirements I should look for?

750 GB?
8 GB memory?
Graphic card? dedicated?
Intel I3 - I7?

If you don't want break $1k plus bank

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Laptops/Intel-Core-i5,/cpu-type,/133/subcat.html