For the 14762nd time.......laptop specs?

[ian-83]

I know this question gets asked over and over but am looking to replace my PC which is 4 years old with a laptop due to space issues. Can anyone give me an idea of what specs to get? So far from a few posts on here I have read Intel i5 processor would possibly be best and 4gb or more of RAM.Budget will be about £500.

I have seen this Dell laptop and can't find anything similar for the same price.
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=n00n5518&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&model_id=inspiron-15-intel-n5050

 

[danhardwick]

Really depends on what you are wanting to use it for. I'm guessing image processing and the like. However the dell you have mentioned will struggle with video for instance.

Simply acer have a 5755g which is £589, a bit above your budget but it's core i7 which is quad core and has dedicated graphics which will speed it up no end.

I have had avers for my last two laptops and never faulted them.

Food for thought.

 

[ian-83]

Main usage will be image editing and browsing the net. Not really into video making/editing. Only watching things like YouTube.

I am thinking maybe 4gb RAM will be enough with around 500mb hard drive as most of my work is saved to external hard drives. Would it be better to go for a higher spec processor over worrying about the RAM and hard drive.

 

[arad85]

Dedicated gaphics will do nothing for speed of image processing. The problem with i5/i7 choice for laptop is this. If you do "a lot" of single threaded processing (e.g. encoding mp3s, unzipping files, web browsing etc...) then clock speed is what matters so a dual core (i.e. i5) will probably be a better balance of processing. If you do mainly image editing in something like Lightroom, more cores is better so the slower clock speed quad processor is probably best.

TBH, a "decent" spec second generation i5 or i7 (i.e. i5-2xxxM or i7-2xxxQM) will probably beat what you have now handsdown. If you really want to make it fly, budget for a high performance SSD (not all ssds are high performance!!).

BTW, 4G is hat I would consider just enough memory. I'd want 8G (but then I do run lots of programs at the same time). Even my router has 2G of memory in....

 

[Alastair]

I am thinking maybe 4gb RAM will be enough with around 500mb hard drive as most of my work is saved to external hard drives. Would it be better to go for a higher spec processor over worrying about the RAM and hard drive.

Personally, I prefer the Dell Vostro range. I've had a Vostro 1500 for several years. You need to switch to the Small Business section of the Dell website and remember to add VAT and delivery (on the rare occasions delivery isn't free for Vostro).

I can't confirm it, but I strongly suspect that the Vostro 3550 can be upgraded with a seperate graphics card.

The XPS15 also looks quite good and comes with a GT 525M Graphics Card on the basic spec.

Never buy more than the basic minimum RAM with any Dell.. it's 1/3 the price or less to upgrade that yourself (typical laptop 8Gb upgrade from Dell is >£100, to buy 8Gb of compatible memory from Crucial is c.£35 and you can sell what you take out on Fleabay).

 

[Woblee]

Never buy more than the basic minimum RAM with any Dell.. it's 1/3 the price or less to upgrade that yourself (typical laptop 8Gb upgrade from Dell is >£100, to buy 8Gb of compatible memory from Crucial is c.£35 and you can sell what you take out on Fleabay).

Was just about to say that. I've just upgraded the RAM in my laptop to 8Gb and for DDR3 it was just under £40. It has speeded it up no-end. Just make sure it's W7 64bit as the 32bit can only take upto 4Gb