fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2101 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2101 ⌋

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Guys I'm looking at a laptop and I have no idea what this bit... means...

AMD Quad Core A8-3500m 1.5GHz With Up To 2.4GHz Apu

Does that mean it'd only have 1.5GHz, and thus be fairly slow? APU seems to be an extra processor, does that mean it could be only up to 2.4GHz or do they stack and work up to like... 3.9GHz?

And how do Dells (Inspiron, specifically) rank in terms of reliability, stability, general robustness? I don't take mine out every day, but I want to go travelling with it in Jan-Feb, and I do move around the house a lot, it doesn't sit on my desk constantly.

What about Toshibas? I have a Satellite and it seems fairly sturdy, but I've been told the internals are plastic and easily damaged. I've been looking at another Satellite, this one, which I'd be able to get for $908. The Dell/s I have in mind are this one (if the speed does work out to be okay), or maybe this one, although that only has 4GB of RAM (but it is much cheaper!).

Would 4GB be sufficient for running Windows 7, Firefox, iTunes, Photoshop (CS3), and Skype at the same time? My current one has 2GB of RAM and tends to crap out if I open Photoshop...

Basically... help? I can literally pick up the cheaper one TODAY if the RAM would be sufficient.

Edited 2012-10-04 01:03 (UTC)

Honestly, all those laptops are crap (no laptop under a thousand bucks is going to be great shakes, and I know parts in Australia can be more expensive.) But if you have to make the choice, I'd go with the 4GB Dell -- it should be sufficient for Photoshop. It's not much for high-end gaming but I dunno how much you care about that.

I don't really need an amazing one, though - just everyday use. And I ended up getting the Toshiba, they gave me a rather nice discount ($814), since I had seen it earlier on sale but just missed out.

Gosh, I haven't looked at computer components for a while. People, please correct me if I'm wrong. Here goes.

Quad core means there are four physical CPU cores, each running at 1.5GHz. APU stands for accelerated processing unit. "Up to 2.4GHz APU" means the cores can all be overclocked up to 2.4GHZ under certain conditions (if over clocking is required for processing-heavy duties and the cores are within a certain temperature limit, yadda yadda).

I've no idea which laptop brands are better. Moving around shouldn't be problematic as long as the laptop is completely off/asleep (not on) while it is being moved. Oh, and when the laptop is working, make sure it's on a flat surface (no saggy blankets or pillows please!) with good air flow.

According to PassMark, Intel Core i5-3210m is a better processor than AMD Quad Core A8-3500m and AMD Radeon HD 7670M > Intel HD Graphics 4000 > AMD Radeon HD 6620. Better processing power means better at multitasking and decoding high-definition videos. Better graphics means prettier pictures in gaming and better at image processing. One thing to note is that because the AMD Radeon HD 7670M is a fusion CPU/GPU unit, it might be a better graphics/gaming laptop than the Intel Core i5-3210m laptops.

4GB should be enough for running Windows 7, Firefox, iTunes, Photoshop (CS3), and Skype at the same time. Firefox, iTunes and Photoshop all require at least 512MB of RAM and Skype requires 256MB minimum so I can see how only having 2GB for running all them programs at the same time is sloggy.

Is there a salesperson you can talk to and ask for advice? Like, I think all three laptops you linked to can do what you want them to do; the bottom line is whether you want to spend less money, have a better graphics laptop, or have a better all-around laptop. But I'm not sure 100% sure because I haven't been following the news or reading performance reviews for ages :/

Ooh. Thank you for all your advice - I checked it on my phone before I bought it, and ended up with the Toshiba. (Got it for cheaper.)

Is it particularly bad to move it while on? I did that, uh, a lot with my old laptop...

It increases chance of harddrive failure.

Think of it as a tiny record player. When off, you can move around and everything's dandy. When on, the disk is spinning and the arm is reading the music. Moving could cause skips.

Most harddrives account for a bit of movement but it's best not to take risks.

Ooh. Right. ...I've been moving my laptop around constantly, whoops...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_crash

Yikes. I'll be more careful with it.

DA

agentcthulhu, you taught me something I didn't know about processors. Copy-pasting for personal reference. Thank you. :)

Back to OP,

So you just said you already have a notebook? Toshiba Satellite with 2GB of RAM, that is. I think you can go meet a computer technician and have your notebook inspected if it can receive a RAM upgrade. Toshiba Satellite is quite sturdy as far as I know since my workplace deals with selling and repairing computers and we rarely have serious problems with Toshiba notebooks, and an additional 2GB RAM (or maybe even 4GB, making a total of 6GB!) costs far less than having to buy a brand new notebook.

But if you really have to buy a new notebook, you can consider Asus and Toshiba since these two are better in quality than the rest. (Especially Asus since it also makes mainboards and graphic cards so why would it make "bleh"-quality computers?)

Oh! You're welcome :)

I do, but it's actually promised to someone else, heh. I wanted something new. Ended up going with the Toshiba.

Not remotely a computer expert, but like agentcthulhu said, 1.5GHz With Up To 2.4GHz means the processor will overclock to 2.4 as necessary depending on what the current tasks require. What I've seen on how well that works vary - a few people said it's only good for graphics-heavy tasks like gaming, not basic programs.

I keep hearing good things about HP, Toshiba, and Asus construction. Dell, it's up and down, but no consistent complaints like with, say, Acer. 4GB should be sufficient for what you want to do (even better if it was expandable to 8GB, but if it isn't, that's fine), and with 3.1GHz that thing should zoom. Better than the other two choices, for sure, which strike me as somewhat overpriced for those specs. (Best Buy's got laptops with similar specs for $500, like this one).

Good luck making a choice!

Huh, okay... not a big gamer. I ended up going with the Toshiba, so hopefully that construction will all work out!

And oh god, I will never use an Acer ever again. Ever. EVER. It's up there with LG in 'not even if you paid me'.

And unfortunately, laptops - and basically everything - in Australia is just more expensive than elsewhere.

[ SECRET POST #2101 ]

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