Laptop Store

[HighLatency]

2kg ultrabook? O.o

Well most Intel Ultrabooks are around 1.2kg, but really 2kg isn't going to kill me. The problem I have with the lighter Ultrabooks is they use Intel® HD Graphics, and i'm not sure whether that would suit what I want to do.

I dont think a graphics card should increase the weight by like 800 grams, there should be some lightweight performance laptops too... probably expensive but hey, you wont break your back

[Russ]

Why not i7? As in i5 is better? Yeah I was trying to look for 7200RPM but seems like even the top end gaming ASUS laptops don't have them? Not sure why.

It depends on what you're going to be using it for. If it's not video editing or compiling stuff where the extra cores from hyperthreading on the i7 is actually useful, then it won't make a difference.

And yeah laptops won't, sorry, I instinctively saw 5400RPM and said "no bad"

[kenhung123]

Yeah true, I heard only new games make use of 4 cores otherwise they are gone to waste. My only concern is that if I'm not a regular laptop shopper (every 1-2 years) then if I get a better CPU it can still be decent for like 4 years +? Or is that logic flawed?

[Mr Keshy]

Many laptops do come with 7400RPM drives, but I think you have to go larger in size. My XPS 17 has two 750GB 7200rpm drives... If I were to raid 0 those beasts... 

Yeah true, I heard only new games make use of 4 cores otherwise they are gone to waste. My only concern is that if I'm not a regular laptop shopper (every 1-2 years) then if I get a better CPU it can still be decent for like 4 years +? Or is that logic flawed?

Future proofing is a good idea, but an i5 will be just as future proof as an i7 in many respects. Not to mention the increase in power usage too! Although it's very minute, it's still there.

[Russ]

Future proofing is a bad idea, always, just on general principles

If you buy an i5 today, you'll be fine in terms of CPU for basically everything until you get your next laptop. Assuming you want to game, don't bother with an i7.

RAID 0 is risky, don't do it with any data you actually need safe.

[kenhung123]

Then what would an i7 be good for then? O.o
I think 5400rpm is good enough, it basically just determines how fast you load files right? I don't seem to have too much problem with my current 5400rpm. I do have lag in games and other stuff though but that's not related to the spin speed.

[Mr Keshy]

Then what would an i7 be good for then? O.o
I think 5400rpm is good enough, it basically just determines how fast you load files right? I don't seem to have too much problem with my current 5400rpm. I do have lag in games and other stuff though but that's not related to the spin speed.

Gaming and intensive work. Higher speeds basically improve load times like you said and also seek times, to actually find the data.

Future proofing is a bad idea, always, just on general principles

If you buy an i5 today, you'll be fine in terms of CPU for basically everything until you get your next laptop. Assuming you want to game, don't bother with an i7.

RAID 0 is risky, don't do it with any data you actually need safe.

Each to their own, I always try to future proof my computer parts, this way I can pass on my old stuff to my parents.

[paulsterio]

Lmao, get an i5 and spend the extra $$$ saved on an SSD, they improve your quality of life so much, because the thing with computers is that latency isn't actually due to the CPU, but rather the hard disk drive. An i7 is good in situations where you need the extra cores - i.e. extreme circumstances of multitasking, virtualisation, video editing and rendering, to an extent graphics editing as well, especially if you are using complex filters and especially anything to do with mathematical or floating point operations. So for someone like me, I tend to require a quad-core, which I have on my desktop (i5 2310 - i5's are quad-core for desktops). I have a dual-core i5 on my laptop and it runs my day to day things such just fine.

However, both my computers have SSDs and I will honestly testify that they have improved the experience so much. And also, get a lot of RAM, 4GB is standard, but you can't go wrong with 8GB. Most people tend to buy computers based on CPU only, but in the end, most mid-range CPUs will be good enough for most people.

[kenhung123]

Does more RAM improve performance after 8GB?
So it is the HDD that reduces the lag not the number of cores?

[paulsterio]

Does more RAM improve performance after 8GB?
So it is the HDD that reduces the lag not the number of cores?

1) Not really, unless you do stuff which will require that amount of RAM. For me, I have 8GB and at it's peak, I usually use around 70 - 80% of that, so essentially having more RAM will not help me (as an example).

2) Yes, HDDs are lag-central, get an SSD and you'll have a much smoother experience.

[Russ]

4GB is fine for most things, it's just that RAM is cheap so there's not much reason not to throw 8GB in and never worry again.

In terms of lag, it depends on what you're doing. It's not correct to say that an SSD will speed everything up, since there are things it won't.
Lag in a video game (low framerate) will tend to be CPU or GPU bound. Loading screens tend to be HDD bound and SSDs speed them up. Booting is faster on SSD vs. HDD for example. But if you were an amateur movie maker and you wanted to encode a movie to upload to youtube, then SSD vs. HDD makes no difference since it's CPU bound.

[paulsterio]

I know, but what I'm saying is that installing an SSD will reduce general latency whilst using the computer. I'm not a gamer, so when I say latency I mean stuff like when I click on the icon for Microsoft Word, how long does it take for Word to actually start up, similar for bigger programs such as Photoshop. How long big graphic files take to save and how long it takes them to load, how fast my computer boots up...etc. and I think that the whole feel of a computer relates closely to how much latency there is whilst doing tasks and an SSD makes it feel that little bit more instant.

[Mr Keshy]

An SSD will improve almost everyone's computer experience. If you're just browsing and watching movies, your whole system will feel snappier. Applications will load with immense speed. You can open many things at once really quickly.

If you're a gamer, obviously load times will improve as well as the loading of textures in game.

With windows 8, boot time on my western digital black is very very quick to be honest. But SSD's are getting very cheap, I'd suggest having a small SSD for your boot disk.

[paulsterio]

With windows 8, boot time on my western digital black is very very quick to be honest. But SSD's are getting very cheap, I'd suggest having a small SSD for your boot disk.

Windows 8 takes less than 5 seconds to boot up from the POST screen on my comp beat that :p

[Mr Keshy]

With windows 8, boot time on my western digital black is very very quick to be honest. But SSD's are getting very cheap, I'd suggest having a small SSD for your boot disk.

Windows 8 takes less than 5 seconds to boot up from the POST screen on my comp beat that :p

:O

That's awesome!!