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questions on new laptops - 11/26/2016 5:00:12 PM

kingstuart444

Posts: 44
Joined: 11/10/2009
Status: offline

hi all-
may be time to buy a new laptop as the current one is 6 years old running on 4GB win7
my games include SC2 and 3, panzer corp, civ 3, ootp, and a now pike and shot.
when get around to it a may record some guitar on software too.
so none of that is RAM intense.

i was thinking what i would like is
8-12 RAM
i5 or i7 processor
1tb sata hdd
can be had for what i see 420-530$

i have read many reviews by pros and common folk that in that setup the weak spot is the sata hdd since it is not ssd. that it slow the whole thing down.
so my questions would be

1-is that a real concern getting ssd over sata hdd?
2-does the ssd make that much of difference?
3-seems like most ssd in my price range 700 and under are 256 but that seems so small once you load games pics and music on it. a full hard drive slow it sown as well right?
4-is 1080 resolution greatly preferred over 720? only watching a occasional you tube video
5 these touch screens seem to come with more RAM is that a necessary part of the touch screen (really have NO interest in that option just curious)
so looking for a little input
will it be worth it to throw in more cash or that just overkill for what i do

thanks in advance

< Message edited by kingstuart -- 11/26/2016 5:02:47 PM >

Post #: 1

RE: questions on new laptops - 11/26/2016 5:39:07 PM

zakblood

Posts: 22687
Joined: 10/4/2012
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1-is that a real concern getting ssd over sata hdd? for pure speed yes, or you could go SSHD and have the best of both worlds

2-does the ssd make that much of difference? yes, boot time and loading times as most laptop use 5400rpm drives, so a quicker 7200rpm HDD or a SSHD or pure SSD, SSHD fuses the strengths of both HDD and SSD technologies, you get the combined reliability of both in a solid state hybrid drive

3-seems like most ssd in my price range 700 and under are 256 but that seems so small once you load games pics and music on it. a full hard drive slow it sown as well right? correct so for me get at least a 1gb SSD or a 2gb SSHD which is cheaper than a 1gb SSD

4-is 1080 resolution greatly preferred over 720? only watching a occasional you tube video TV's are for watching video's on, so get the biggest screen you can afford on the laptop, no matter what else

5 these touch screens seem to come with more RAM is that a necessary part of the touch screen (really have NO interest in that option just curious)
so looking for a little input touch screen isn't needed imo if it is, get a tablet

will it be worth it to throw in more cash or that just overkill for what i do overkill

a i5 with a high clock and core speed quad core cpu is better than a slower clock speed i7 with more cores, as most games won't use extra cores, so get the fastest quad core i5.

8gb ram is ideal where as 16gb for you maybe overkill

don't go for onboard video either, even a 1gb dedi card is better than a 4gb shared video GPU which means it's a cpu hybrid that does cpu and vga chip all in one, imo a poor choice

< Message edited by zakblood -- 11/26/2016 5:44:28 PM >

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Post #: 2

RE: questions on new laptops - 11/26/2016 5:47:45 PM

zakblood

Posts: 22687
Joined: 10/4/2012
Status: offline

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Aspire-E5-575-51GG-Notebook/127132092

and average one

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-NX.G9ZAA.002-Aspire-F5-571-50pf-I5-1.7-8gb-1tb-W10h64/51257284

a slightly better one

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Aspire-F-15-15-6-Full-HD-Intel-Core-i5-NVIDIA-940MX-8GB-DDR4-1TB-HDD-Windows-10-Home-F5-573G-56CG/173992329

over budget but with a 4gb video card, but you now see what to spend on and what's not needed

if you know anyone who does custom laptops, then you can spec your own

i5, 8gb of ram, at least a 1gb video card, a large screen, at least a 1gb SSHD

buying it with no O/S or extra bits can be well worth it, then you just get what you need and want, either way good luck

in the UK we have these, so i'd guess you must have them as well

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/custom-built-laptops/

< Message edited by zakblood -- 11/26/2016 5:55:36 PM >

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RE: questions on new laptops - 11/26/2016 7:53:05 PM

wodin

Posts: 10762
Joined: 4/20/2003
From: England
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SSD is something I really want..I can imagine making it a massive impact considering HD have been a bottle neck for a long time. That and a new graphics card next year.

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RE: questions on new laptops - 11/26/2016 8:16:55 PM

zakblood

Posts: 22687
Joined: 10/4/2012
Status: offline

i've been using Western Digital VelociRaptor 10.000 rpm HDD for what seems like years, they to me were the best things i've ever used, some of them i have are over 8 years old and still going strong, i have 1 15k HDD, and old work drive that is still going, again rather fast for it's day, but compared to even a most basic of SDD's now days, these are way behind the times, but at the start the cost was way over what i was prepared to spend, now they have come down in price, it's well worth it imo.

but still rather high if you need more than a basic amount of space, this is where the Hybrid drives come into there own, a cross between the both, SSHD drives have some of the speed advantage of the SDD's but the storage space of a standard hard drive.

and even today like i've said above, most laptop drives are still the low powered and low spin speed models which are the 5400 rpm ones, where for a few pounds more a 7200rpm could have been fitted, adding nothing in real terms to cost, but loads more in performance, but yes adding a SDD of a reasonable size does add to the costs, but now days there no excuse to not add in either into a laptop or desktop a SSHD at least.

regarding video cards Wodin, it's always best imo to wait at least 6 months to a year and buy what was last years newest tech, as by then, the price has come down to what it should have been imo at first, as you pay a premium price for the latest stuff.

for me there is no better out atm than these two models.

Radeon RX 460 2GB or 4GB model or the GeForce GTX 1050 2GB or 4GB one

priced around the �100 mark for the 2GB ones, and �130 for the 4GB ones

with the GeForce models being slightly faster atm with better drivers, but only just

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Post #: 5

RE: questions on new laptops - 11/26/2016 11:36:16 PM

demyansk

Posts: 2840
Joined: 2/20/2008
Status: offline

I bought one a few months ago, 17" me I and it was around 1300 works well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154185

Real fast, got it for someone else

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Post #: 6

RE: questions on new laptops - 11/27/2016 6:39:44 AM

Zap

Posts: 3639
Joined: 12/6/2004
From: LAS VEGAS TAKE A CHANCE
Status: offline

What I strongly suggest whatever laptop you buy make sure the video is compatible with DirX 11. If you have any desire to buy a graphic heavy game that uses DirX 11 and you buy one that doesn't have a card that can handle it you'll regret your purchase. Justas I have to upgrade my laptop because I purchased a game requiring DIr X 11 and now I'm looking at having to purchase a new one. The game I purchased I haven't been able to play. Ugh!

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RE: questions on new laptops - 11/27/2016 4:07:01 PM

Qwixt

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Zap has good advice about making sure that it is Directx 11 compatible.

Where SSD drives really help is with boot performance and updating OS. It is possible to get a smaller SSD drive for booting like 128gb, then make sure that you can add another regular second hard drive. Put the OS on the SSD, and all programs on the regular disk. I liken upgrading my OS drive to ssd as big of a change as going from a 386 to 486 CPU back in the old days. It was that big of a change to me. Granted my the old machine it replaced took minutes to load windows.

Also, I highly suggest 8gb, even 12-16gb, as you listed.

Resolution is all up to you and how big your screen is. It's really all about dots per inch.

I never really use touch screens on laptops.

(in reply to Zap)

Post #: 8

RE: questions on new laptops - 11/27/2016 5:24:47 PM

kingstuart444

Posts: 44
Joined: 11/10/2009
Status: offline

thanks for the responses

new to dual hard drive concept
so with two hard drives a ssd and hdd-regular disk- you can pick where to put the program and files
the same with all itunes music that can go on the hard drive leaving the ssd for the OS

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RE: questions on new laptops - 11/27/2016 5:30:49 PM

zakblood

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Joined: 10/4/2012
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dual as in 2 hard drive laptops can be more expensive (same as dual video etc), what i meant is a hybrid drive as in a SSHD, it's not 2 drives as such it's two technologies bound together into one drive.

so no it's not split in two, but you can always partition it into 2 drives like any other, but i wouldn't either, as partition, eg the more you have on a single drive, the % slower you make it, same as more than one user on a laptop / desktop,.

= twice as many apps and programs and data

< Message edited by zakblood -- 11/27/2016 5:33:02 PM >

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Post #: 10

RE: questions on new laptops - 11/27/2016 6:14:35 PM

kingstuart444

Posts: 44
Joined: 11/10/2009
Status: offline

ill calrify
i have seen a few with a 256ssd and 1 tb hdd in the price range

some in comments have said that was what the would upgrade their laptop to or wish they had bought

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Post #: 11

RE: questions on new laptops - 11/27/2016 7:21:46 PM

zakblood

Posts: 22687
Joined: 10/4/2012
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not bad if you can have it, but i'd still go for a fixed card even a 1GB one instead, as in the long term that can't be added later in most like 99% of laptops, where as nearly all at a later date can change a HDD to a SDD or even a SSHD, so plan ahead and also on what you need now, and or could afford at a later date maybe?

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Post #: 12

RE: questions on new laptops - 2/26/2017 8:20:43 PM

kingstuart444

Posts: 44
Joined: 11/10/2009
Status: offline

ok new question finally getting to install some program on the new machine. ssd is C: hdd is D: i would like to put any games, pic music and whatnot i use on occasion on the hdd D:, i am looking for a custom install choosing the path i want, but the drive has no folders on it. so how do i go about correcting that so i can install the programs on the BIG hdd. is it possible just to make a program files folder on the D:
thanks

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Post #: 13