Hi, it's me again! I'd like a new laptop. I bought the one I have now planning to use it for just one year, as after that I was probably going to do some university study for which I'd have to do programming. I did indeed, but my laptop turned out to be better than I expected so I tried keeping it. Half a year later, however, there are some things that are frustrating me, and, having to do quite some programming for some courses, a laptop that can bear it could be really beneficial! The laptop I have now is a refurbished one, and I bought it for €300. Some people say that I should be able to buy a good laptop for €400, but a new laptop should really be an upgrade to my current one, as this one still works, it just is suboptimal in ways (I will explain in what ways when I list what I'd like in a laptop). And when I look around in class, it seems like everyone has a much better laptop than I do, and not one they could get for €400. So I think maybe I should look for more expensive laptops, around the mark of €700... but maybe you think otherwise! Let me know! I have asked other people, and got varied responses... but I have quite some confidence in the people of EMC and am looking forward to what you have to say! Here's what I want in a new laptop: Most importantly: power. I want to be able to use Chrome (yes I know it's a memory-hog) and Visual Studio together, without either getting extremely slow. I also want to be able to open an Android emulator to check WhatsApp—while doing this my laptop may slow down, but once I close the emulator it should get up to speed again (my current laptop usually needs a reboot). This might be much to ask, but I feel like it should be doable! Multi-tasking is important. Besides that, I'd like it to be fast, so I can boot up Visual Studio and load my solution within a minute or two, instead of having to wait 5 minutes before I have the environment set up. Secondly: screen resolution. I'd like a pixel height of more than 768 pixels. Preferably 1050/1080, but a middle ground should be fine as well. I don't strictly need this, as usually I can resize GUI elements, but I frequently find myself wishing I could have more on my screen at once. I do not wish for a touch screen. Lastly: weight. Or actually, lack of it. Well, it doesn't have to be ultra-light, but my current laptop is over 2 kg, and that was fine when I only needed to move it when I travelled between homes. But next period I will probably have to take it to university multiple times a week, and I can really feel the extra 2 kg... Please share your thoughts! Not if it involves Apple, though.
Well, from what I see you need to focus on better processing power. Any hardcore gamer here that has built their own system for gaming knows the core component is the processor, and the number of cores / threads it can bring to bear on producing a fluid gaming environment. In your case you simply want to be able to multi-task without the internal lag of processing incurred by your dual core i5 processor. To upgrade, you need to not only look for the next level of processor as in the i7, but specifically look for a quad core i7. In mobile versions of the processors, a quad core i5 is going to be a diamond in the rough, whereas the i7 has a good selection of both dual and quad core processors. Here are a few options I found in a few moments of searching for quad core i7. Newegg Amazon Ebay Note, these are also refurbished units similar to what you mentioned having before. This also helped to keep the prices hopefully in the ballpark you are looking for. These were not specifically chosen to meet all of the criteria you may be looking for, but listed as some examples of what to look for to obtain the results you are seeking. My previous job at a local computer repair shop, we purchased many refurbished units from places like this and sold them to customers on a budget with minimal issues. As I would tell a customer there, I recommend you invest in the processor most specifically when buying a laptop. Most of the time, the processor that comes in a laptop, dies with the laptop. In a desktop, I would say the motherboard has more bearing with the ability to upgrade the processor at a later time if need be. Upgrades to processors in laptops are not as plug-n-play friendly. So invest in the processor, then supplement the Ram / memory and HDD if need be, which can occur at a later time, as these components are plug-n-play friendly. I hope this helps, and good luck in your endeavor. I applaud your efforts in such an interesting field Keep up the Good Work. KnightZer0ne Tempered Outpost Founder
Thank you very much! What you say seems to make sense, although I'm honestly not expecting opening up a laptop to install more/better RAM—which would probably also take a lot of money again. The laptop you linked on eBay seemed great, if only it wasn't so heavy.
I'm really sorry to have to be like this, but this is mostly wrong. The core component for gaming is the graphics card. You really do not need that amazing of a processor for most (!) games, the graphics card is all that really matters. And even regarding the processor, 4 cores and 4 threads is plenty for almost all games, no need whatsoever for more. --- Weight: even the most expensive lightweight laptops with a bit of performance still weigh more than 1 kg, so I don't think we (I'm dealing with the same problem ) can save much there. I definitely recommend you to get a second hand laptop. Look on marktplaats.nl for laptops around your area (10 or 15 km or 25 km). If you don't find anything suitable at the moment, look back again in a few days. What is important is that your laptop either has an SSD, or that you can (and will!) put one in it. An SSD helps immensely with making everything feel much smoother and start quicker. Heck, even if you'd put an SSD in your current laptop you will see massive improvements regarding that. (buy a Crucial MX500 if you'd want to do that - it's cheap but still good quality - I've bought 2 for others so far ) I've looked on marktplaats for you for a bit, and this is a laptop that I found that might just be what you want. https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/comput...2ef4dc323389c4f92ed10afa33e3a&previousPage=lr
Of course, but the Elitebook 8470p is over 2kg, and I'd like one under. That includes sacrificing the num pad, probably, which is fine. So apparently an i5 is still good?
Before I can answer that question: what are the specifications of your current laptop? There are multiple variants of the 8470p.
In the meanwhile I noticed that the Dell laptop you shared has a touch screen... that seems to be a disadvantage doubly: I've read in a review that the colours are dull and you see your own reflection in the screen, and it probably also means it's more expensive than it would be otherwise. If knowing the name isn't enough, would you tell me how I can get the specifications?
There are different variants with different processors under the same 8470p name. https://icecreamapps.com/blog/check-computer-specs-windows-10-8-7-vista-xp/ The CPU and how much RAM you have is what matters.
If you look carefully you'll see that this laptop, like most, has different variants. This one appears to not have a touchscreen, as can be seen in the second picture (pen- of aanraakinvoer is niet beschikbaar voor dit beeldscherm). Dell's website lists that screen as "FHD Anti-glare", which means that it's not glossy and you can't see your own reflection. The colours, however, probably indeed are still not fantastic, but do keep in mind that they might still be much better than what you're used to now.
Tom, You do realize you basically supported what I said : "And even regarding the processor, 4 cores and 4 threads is plenty for almost all games, no need whatsoever for more." So if there is no need for more, then why would a graphics card be the primary focus? Also, note I was not suggesting that one would not utilize a graphics card in a game system, but that one of quad core status is a fundamental starting point. So what you are suggesting is that I can go get a dual core pentium or celeron processor and everything will be fine as long as I have a top tier graphics card? I don't think so. I suppose if all you are running is the game itself, then it may work in some cases, but I gotta have some music, and other stuff when I am on my computer. I currently have 271 tabs open in my browser, Autocad, Bluestacks, 3 instances of Word, Notepad, and streaming music. Also as it pertains to the situation 607 finds himself in, he is not trying to boost graphics output for hardcore gaming, but rather negate processing delays incurred by running multiple programs at once. Also, the addition of such a graphics card in a laptop will undoubtedly increase the price significantly. I did not mention Alienware or ROG type laptops because I felt they were beyond the price point 607 cared to venture into. I am sorry if my taken for granite that most gamers start with a quad core processor was not elaborated on enough. I just don't know any true game systems that implore a decent graphics card that are running on top of a dual core processor. So when you start your game system build, what item do you pick first? The Graphics card? then figure out what motherboard will support it? I guess I am old-school in that the notion of graphics dis-associated from the motherboard was not an option back in the day. I stand by my recommendation of focusing on your processor 607, as this will help your overall computing experience. Tom does seem to know more about your local situation though, and I agree that those may be a good option. As I pointed out above, I was only offering examples of some potential systems that seemed to fit the basic criteria. I wish you well in whatever you decide on, and hope it helps you for many years to come. KnightZer0ne Tempered Outpost Founder
I agree that the processor is important, and for most computers it is indeed the main component. It is just not the main component for a gaming computer. On a "gaming computer", one "should" spend approximately twice as much on their graphics card as on their processor (NOTE: really rough guideline that does NOT always apply properly). Fortunately, we're not looking for a gaming computer, so the processor is indeed the core component. What is, however, a bare necessity, is an SSD and (at this price point) 8 GB of RAM. I'm probably not a good example, but, yes, I genuinely bought my graphics card first, and only bought the rest days later... But that was because I saw a good deal on a second hand graphics card and wanted to get it before it was gone. I have a processor that is, in terms of gaming, somewhat overpowered, but I use it for other things too, and am just happy with in in general. A better example: a friend of mine wanted a better graphics card for gaming. We bought a good graphics card (AMD HD7950) for his meagre i5 750. In CPU intensive games it bottlenecked a bit, but for most games it worked just fine. Only more than 4 years later (last summer) we upgraded the rest of his system. Now the processor is way ahead of the graphics card again, and he's told me that he'd like to upgrade his graphics card again this summer. That last sentence could be true indeed - nowadays (and for the past 10+ years too) with PCI-E 16x slots, we can just put any graphics card in any system, as long as it physically fits. Anyways, this all doesn't really matter for 607s laptop, but I liked telling it either way.
Ah, thanks, I did not look with enough care then. I found how to get a specs dump in cmd, but I don't know what might be of significance... so here's all of it (I did check that there's no sensitive information in there ) Code: Host Name: GEBRUIKER-PC OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OS Version: 10.0.17134 N/A Build 17134 OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation OS Configuration: Standalone Workstation OS Build Type: Multiprocessor Free Registered Owner: Gebruiker Registered Organization: Product ID: 00330-80000-00000-AA602 Original Install Date: 4-6-2018, 13:49:29 System Boot Time: 27-3-2019, 12:06:26 System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard System Model: HP EliteBook 8470p System Type: x64-based PC Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed. [01]: Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~2601 Mhz BIOS Version: Hewlett-Packard 68ICF Ver. F.40, 31-1-2013 Windows Directory: C:\WINDOWS System Directory: C:\WINDOWS\system32 Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1 System Locale: nl;Nederlands (Nederland) Input Locale: en-us;Engels (Verenigde Staten) Time Zone: (UTC+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlijn, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Wenen Total Physical Memory: 3.959 MB Available Physical Memory: 461 MB Virtual Memory: Max Size: 9.797 MB Virtual Memory: Available: 1.744 MB Virtual Memory: In Use: 8.053 MB Page File Location(s): C:\pagefile.sys Domain: WORKGROUP Logon Server: \\GEBRUIKER-PC Hotfix(s): 9 Hotfix(s) Installed. [01]: KB4100347 [02]: KB4343669 [03]: KB4456655 [04]: KB4465663 [05]: KB4477137 [06]: KB4485449 [07]: KB4487038 [08]: KB4489907 [09]: KB4489868 Network Card(s): 2 NIC(s) Installed. [01]: Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205 Driver Connection Name: Draadloze netwerkverbinding DHCP Enabled: Yes DHCP Server: 192.168.1.1 IP address(es) [01]: 192.168.1.27 [02]: fe80::71ed:2c0e:51b9:ac09 [02]: Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection Connection Name: LAN-verbinding Status: Media disconnected Hyper-V Requirements: VM Monitor Mode Extensions: Yes Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: No Second Level Address Translation: Yes Data Execution Prevention Available: Yes
Well, then maybe I should just contact the seller of the laptop you shared. Looking at the pictures, I noticed the keyboard is very cramped, but I guess that contributes to the lightness of the laptop. I can probably make it work as I like it by remapping keys (although getting extra keys into the keyboard will be impossible. ) I could also get a really small keyboard for a certain game, actually... I could probably find one in a thrift shop in Amersfoort. Because I like using the arrow keys, and here every single one of them is half-sized. :$ It should be fine for typing; I'll miss the num pad but I've got used to that, and I think it's a necessary sacrifice for a light laptop!
Just go here , it's really not that hard to find your processor... But anyways, it's 70ish% faster. It's a quadcore too. Unless you get a 17" laptop (which, by definition, are heavier), a numpad will always feel cramped. I have a 14" laptop with the keyboard approximately the same size, and can tell you that it does not feel cramped at all - it's literally (I just measured ) exactly the same size as my regular mechanical keyboard.
Well, the laptop I have now has one extra row of keys, with delete, home, page up, page down, end and right arrow. This one has to squeeze those keys in elsewhere. Edit: Yes, if I was on Windows 7, I would have been able to find my specs! Edit 2: That reminded me that Window 7's control panel is still accessible in Windows 10 (they did good on that at least!)
Yes, there we go! https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-7440HQ-vs-Intel-Core-i5-3320M/m253130vsm402 I'm pretty sure that both keyboards have the same amount of keys, the dell layout is just slightly wider even. (and has much better arrow keys )
I have a zenbook asus (Small one) Dual Core i7 2.8GHz, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD. I run multiple programs at the same time on it, which includes: Chrome with +20 opened tabs, IntelliJ (For programming), mutliple PDF files, Spotify and some other programs. I also have dual boot on it (Linux Mint) The computer is worth @800 euros. Battery last ~6-8 hours with all of these applications running. The pc is a beast. I also have many services running for software engineering. No complaints. Very fast, 5 seconds upstart time. This laptop is from 2016. I still use it. I also play minecraft on it. Very quiet.
