Help me buy a laptop!!
posted on June 12th, 2012, 1:08 pm
Hyperthreading basicly doubles the number of cores that the operating system "sees". A computer with 2 cores and hyperthreading has only 2 actual, physical cores - but the software treats it as 4. Most modern software uses this to increase its efficacy.
Tuboboost is Intel's is a way to temporary speed up your processor when the computer needs a little more power, but the increased speed is not sustained. Good for when you boot or load a program.
i3 - 2 physical cores with hyperthreading but without turboboost
i5 - 4 physical cores without hyperthreading and with turboboost(there is at leat 1 i5 with only 2 cores, still not hyperthreading)
i7 - 4 physical cores with hyperthreading and turboboost
All of these are 64 bit - no need to worry about that.
Some of these may actually be the same hardware, but with just different features turned on or off. i7s are overkill for most(but not for Ray320 - video processing will use every bit of power you can give it), i3s will work in most instances, and an i5 will give you plenty of power for most tasks. The speed(ghz) of the processor also plays a part - bigger is better(of course
).
Yes, the next generation of Intel is less about speed increases and more about other features such as battery life.
Tuboboost is Intel's is a way to temporary speed up your processor when the computer needs a little more power, but the increased speed is not sustained. Good for when you boot or load a program.
i3 - 2 physical cores with hyperthreading but without turboboost
i5 - 4 physical cores without hyperthreading and with turboboost(there is at leat 1 i5 with only 2 cores, still not hyperthreading)
i7 - 4 physical cores with hyperthreading and turboboost
All of these are 64 bit - no need to worry about that.
Some of these may actually be the same hardware, but with just different features turned on or off. i7s are overkill for most(but not for Ray320 - video processing will use every bit of power you can give it), i3s will work in most instances, and an i5 will give you plenty of power for most tasks. The speed(ghz) of the processor also plays a part - bigger is better(of course
).Myles wrote:if you can wait for ivy bridge to make a bigger dent in the coming months then you will benefit from longer battery life and less heat. that's a big advantage of ivy bridge, good for laptops. but what you've suggested will be more than capable of recording fleetops at least, and should stand up to other games.
Yes, the next generation of Intel is less about speed increases and more about other features such as battery life.
posted on June 12th, 2012, 2:42 pm
posted on June 12th, 2012, 3:52 pm
ray320 wrote:So how reliable is new egg? Because to me this looks like a pretty dang good deal.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200412&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo
Well, Newegg is legit, they are used by a lot of people. That being said, I think I have seen better deals on that site. The main fall backs of that pc are that it is a Geforce 525, has only 500GB hdd, and only 6 GB ram. I believe you can find better than that for 1k. The Geforce cards are pretty easily to compare, usually the higher the number the better, aslong as it is only three digits. the Geforce thousands cards are lower end. A 500GB hdd is pretty small for a $1000 pc and though 6GB is nice, you can probably get 8.
for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834200497
pretty much the same, but only $830 and better specs. 750GB hdd, 8 GB ram, same graphics card, and a better processor. (don't let the ghz fool you, the cheaper one is much better. bigger cache more threads, etc.)
It is however referb, and I wouldn't recommend buying any electrical hardware referb.
If you are not attached to newegg though, check here at Tigerdirect:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=4938
almost the exact same laptop as the referb one,(750GB, 8GB, better i7) but it actually has a faster HDD (7200 rpm rather than 5400) and the same price as the one you looked at. $999
Atlantisbase wrote:You can also think of turbo-boost as momentary overclocking by the CPU (in practice this is actually what happens).
If you plan on doing a lot of video recording I'd look for something with an i7 and 8 GB of RAM. The video card is fairly inconsequential for video recording at the moment, but if you plan on heavy gaming you'll probably want at least a 1 GB GPU. The GT 525 is good, for heavy gaming a 54x or 56x would be better but those are harder to find.
I concur.
you can get a 56x or even a 6xx but they will cost you and are harder to find.posted on June 12th, 2012, 4:01 pm
posted on June 12th, 2012, 4:22 pm
derentis wrote:An i7 is a good option, and 8GB should be the minimum. Considering how (relativity) chap RAM is 16GB would go a long way for that kind of work, but you could always upgrade later.
That said, if you do want that much RAM in a laptop you'll have to look for a "gaming" or "power" machine, and you'll probably have to go for 17" as well.
Adm. Zaxxon wrote:I concur.
Yeah, a 6xx will certainly run you up a good $200-300 when you do find them; they're quite new so they haven't been adopted by all manufacturers yet. A 56x or even 58x might only be $100-150 extra these days as they're "last generation".
posted on June 12th, 2012, 6:31 pm
posted on June 12th, 2012, 6:38 pm
posted on June 12th, 2012, 6:46 pm
posted on June 12th, 2012, 6:52 pm
posted on June 12th, 2012, 11:43 pm
ray320 wrote:Something like this from hp? for 1,118.89? Its a little over my range, but I upgraded the standard 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M Processor (2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz) to the I7 you see and put on 8gb of ram instead of 6, and made it a full hd display which cost alot more, can the normal 15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366x768) cut it? Because ive read the full hd makes a huge difference. overall seems good, a little pricey, but id go for it if its a quality laptop, anybody know anything about hp?
specs
Indeed that is sweet. What model is it? DV... DM.... or whatever?
Also, though waiting for the 3rd gens is nice for the boost, what will more likely happen is that 3rd gens will be similarly priced as now, but 2nd gens will go down significantly in price. It will probably be a better deal to bey a 2nd gen when 3rd gens come out because, as Myles said, 3rd gens aren't that big a increase on performance. And since your graphics card will be dedicated, going amd is not really the best choice. Just my opinion.
Also, HD screen is sweet, but it will drain battery more. It decreases mobility. You will also want to switch to the intel HD graphics in the sandy/ivory bridge when on battery power.
Oh, and HP is a great brand.
posted on June 13th, 2012, 3:49 am
posted on June 13th, 2012, 4:17 am
Last edited by ray320 on June 13th, 2012, 4:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
posted on June 13th, 2012, 4:23 am
ray320 wrote:@ Zaxxon Its the HP ENVY 15t-3200 Notebook PC with a nice 33% off coupon code, which expires either in 20 minutes, or tomorrow
Do you know anything about the envy line? Is it well know for quality and such?
Also what do you mean dedicated graphics and why is that bad? I thought amd radeon was comparable to nvidia, though ive always had nvidia.
Sweeet. Yes, the envy line is their top of the line series. very nice laptops.
What this whole sandy bridge and ivory bridge thing, or integrated/dedicated means is that an i7 second or 3rd gen will have their own graphics cards already. They are low power integrated cards(built onto the same chip as the processor actually), good for web-browsing and watching movies. Their memory is shared with the processor(your RAM) and thereby slower by nature and will slow your computer itself the more load you put on it. Not good for gaming whatsoever. For that, you have a separate radeon or nvidia card with its own dedicated memory etc. They will be faster and all around better, except they will use more power and operate at a higher temperature, neither of which is good for a laptop on battery. Your laptop should have software which allows you to switch between the two. Some games will even allow you to use both at the same time for even better performance.
I know this is addressed to Myles, but I would still like to say that, imo, the HP is better. The 3rd gen will probably be better than an old i7. It is newer after all, and even though the ghz are higher on the old one, it doesnt necessarily make it better. I would personally go for the HP. not just for the specs, but becaause, as I said, their customer service is better and the HP will have more bells and whistles.(biometrics, beats audio, 9cell batteries) On a 15" screen, going for a higher resolution screen can be cool, but it probably won't make a huge difference in gaming or web browsing. it will cut your battery down a bit though. I probably wouldn't pay an extra $100 for it, but maybe $50. It is really up to you weather you think a little better resolution is worth that much money. Most people get buy just fine on a regular laptop screen though, and it has an HDMI port with a sweet graphics card, so you can always hook up to a monitor or TV.ray320 wrote:@ Myles
I currently have a 1280x1024 monitor and according to my very scientific ruler its 18.5 inches. So if the screen on my laptop is an upgrade, the (1366x768)screen, then I will go with that, which brings my price down to 1016$ Which seems like a very reasonable price to me? It seems like it beats the dell, although with the upgrade I put on the laptop has an 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache), is this too little? Its less then the 15 (in ghz, which I know you say isnt comparable) But how would this compare to the current gen I7 on the dell at 2.8ghz?
Though you say this gen cuts down on heat correct? Which is a good thing, and it increases battery life? Im very interested in increased battery life, and this one says its sports a 10.5 hour life, which seems damn good.
To conclude basically, Id really like to know whether this is a go for it deal or not. You know what id like to do, maybe some eve, a few other games, flops recording and compressing, word processing, you tube, etc. Do you think this laptop is good quality, will last a while, and is at a good price. The price being 1016$ right now. And should I go for it and buy it, before my lovely coupon runs out, or should I wait (which I can wait till late august or so) and see if there is a better deal?
ray320 wrote:I could also get this HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC for 957$ with the coupon
Does having the large graphics card on this (i switched out the Igb for the 2gb) effect battery life?
Also if i switch out the processor listed below, for this 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM Processor (2.6 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) its 1074%.
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 650M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 memory [HDMI, VGA]
FREE Upgrade to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
750GB 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
NO mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
$20 OFF Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student 2010
No additional security software
30% off 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366x768)
FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam
Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
Backlit Keyboard
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
I do want good battery life, and decent portability though...
That is also pretty sweet. Better price, and I don't see why the Envy is better. I actually own two DV6's and can tell you from experience that I love them.(though the dv6t is a little different) The graphics card will be reaally good on that one, and as I said, the battery will be the same because on battery, you shouldn't be gaming or using the dedicated memory card anyway. Also, I wouldn't upgrade the processor unless it doesn't cost much. They have the same cache, and the better one only has a little better ghz, which again is hard to gauge. Also, I believe that HP has the best(projected) battery life of all the brands I have seen. They are the only ones that advertise for around 10 hrs on their laptops as apposed to the standard 6 cell 7 hr batterys. Yes the Envy will probably be a higher quality PC, but IMO the DV6t has better specs with double the graphics ram.
posted on June 13th, 2012, 6:11 am
posted on June 13th, 2012, 10:44 am
Alright, so there is nothing wrong with radeon cards, I have one myself, but in this case, the geforce card with 2 GB rather than 1 is much better. You May have trouble playing FO on that card though(either actually), but remember you actually have 2, and should have no trouble at all playing it on the lesser card. Because FO is older, you can probably get away with it, if the game doesn't run on the Nvidia.
Also, though the Envy will be a slicker laptop for sure, but I think the integrated battery is one more reason to get the DV6t because if it goes bad, you will have to send the Envy in, where as, the dv6, you can just swap a new one. Yes both are a good deal, but IMO the cheaper one is a better deal for the money.
As for waiting, that is up to you. This seems like a good deal to me, but you can always wager the market and assume 2nd gen cards will get cheaper by august.
Antivirus is a moot point, just like, I would say, bluray, and the Envy's aluminum case, even though I personally love an aluminum case.
As to the upgrades, imo:
no, it has some bonuses, but not worth $70
no, again, not worth $100 as far as I can tell, though someone else might be able to tell you better
yes, 8GB is fine. you can always increase it later
yes, though the 7200 rpm will drain battery a tiny bit more, for $50 I would go for it. It will make life better being a impact smart hybrid, and much faster.
And your welcome! It just so happened that I am up to date on this info because I just recently bought my own laptop, and even more recently helped a friend do so as well. Always glad to help.
Also, are you a student, or do you have a close friend/family member that is? HP also gives away free xboxes with certain laptop purchases if you are a student.
Also, though the Envy will be a slicker laptop for sure, but I think the integrated battery is one more reason to get the DV6t because if it goes bad, you will have to send the Envy in, where as, the dv6, you can just swap a new one. Yes both are a good deal, but IMO the cheaper one is a better deal for the money.
As for waiting, that is up to you. This seems like a good deal to me, but you can always wager the market and assume 2nd gen cards will get cheaper by august.
Antivirus is a moot point, just like, I would say, bluray, and the Envy's aluminum case, even though I personally love an aluminum case.
As to the upgrades, imo:
no, it has some bonuses, but not worth $70
no, again, not worth $100 as far as I can tell, though someone else might be able to tell you better
yes, 8GB is fine. you can always increase it later
yes, though the 7200 rpm will drain battery a tiny bit more, for $50 I would go for it. It will make life better being a impact smart hybrid, and much faster.
And your welcome! It just so happened that I am up to date on this info because I just recently bought my own laptop, and even more recently helped a friend do so as well. Always glad to help.
Also, are you a student, or do you have a close friend/family member that is? HP also gives away free xboxes with certain laptop purchases if you are a student.
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