Laptop buying advise

[Tonkaman]

It's finally time to buy a new laptop but I'm not very knowledgable about computer hardware. Ill be using the computer mostly for basic needs and surfing, but occasionally some CAD, architectural programs, or video editing. My requirements aren't much but I would rather over do it than have regrets later. Also Windows OS is a must since I cannot navigate Mac

I'm thinking I'll want:
Intel i7
8GB memory
1TB hard drive
17" screen

Am I on the right track? I appreciate any suggestions

 

[UFAB]

Right track

I7
SSD hard drive
8-16G ram
USB 3.0
Wireless with Bluetooth
Burner
Web camera

Good luck

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[KWight]

I bought my wife a cheaper laptop computer and then spent $30 to upgrade the memory card. You might want to look at your other requirements and the price hike for those computers that are similar and already have the higher memory installed vs doing it yourself.

 

[skeptic]

Sounds a little overkill to me, but if the price is right you may as well future-proof a bit. Start by looking at what you have now and what kind of cpu/memory bottlenecks you are looking to fix. Look at the size of your current drive and how full it is, based on what you described I'd be very surprised if you are using more than a couple hundred G of space. 4G memory sounds plenty for what you describe, and an i5 or even an i3 with integrated HD3000 or HD4000 gfx card should be plenty. You can compare your current CPU to other i3/i5/i7 options at cpubenchmark.net.

As for the 17" screen, that's a highly personal opinion thing but since you asked for suggestions.. I've owned everything from 17" laptops to 11" netbooks. I find the laptops in the 13"-14" range the best overall size. 17" is just too big to be convenient - may as well just have a desktop. The 10"-12" size is great for mobility, but the smaller size means you either pay $$$ for "real" laptop performance or you get a cheaper laptop with lower power. Perfect if you have a desktop or larger laptop as your main computer. The 14" +/- gets you the best performance per $ and is still small enough to be convenient....

Based on what you describe (a budget was never mentioned), this is what I'd buy:

19"+ external monitor - $100-$150
wireless keyboard/mouse - ~$30
14" i5 laptop, w/4G memory, HD3000 or HD4000 integrated gfx, SSD drive (for OS) + 500G HD (for data) - $600-$800

This gets you mobility - the only reason to pick a laptop over a cheaper desktop, a nice big screen plus full keyboard/mouse for the occasional CAD/Video editing, plenty of cpu/memory for what you describe, SSD drive for the OS - this makes a HUGE difference in overall performance, and plenty of data/video storage.

 

[sixstringsteve]

sounds like you're on the right track. CAD and video editing can be very taxing on a system.

Are you set on a laptop? I agree that a desktop is far more enjoyable to work on with CAD or Video editing (especially with dual monitors).

 

[Tonkaman]

Thanks everyone for your input. I realize a desktop would be a better option for me but the old lady isn't going for it. Basically I'm after a desktop that can still be easily moved to another desk every once in a while ha ha.
I didn't mention budget because I'd rather be happy that I got everything I need. I'm asking opinions so I don't talk myself into spending way too much.
How about brands? Any specific models recommended with these specs?

 

[Tonkaman]

Also what is the benefit of a ssd drive versus hdd?

 

[Team1k]

A SSD(Solid State Drive) vs your regular disk drive is that a solid state doesnt have any seek time or require the hdd to spin up and such. HDD also have mechanical parts inside that can fail, SSD does not. SSD drives access data almost instantaneous and on my samsung series 9 it takes 9 seconds from completely off to browsing the web for boot up speed. Some drawbacks is that ssd is very pricy for large amounts of storage and also they have a limited amount of times they can be written to whereas a traditional HDD can be written to almost unlimited and you can get large amounts for cheap.


Edit: I use a CAD program on my SSD laptop for some basic graphic design. It renders things very quickly compared to my desktop. A laptop like this may be a good option for you. It only has 200GB of storage which seems fairly small since I used to put as much storage in my computer itself as possible(desktop has 2TB) but ive started to move away from that train of thought. I recently purchased 2 network drives and moved all my information as well as my wifes off our computers and onto one of the network drives. Then on our computers i have a link to our folders on those drives. So now all thats on our computers are the programs themselves but not any of our files. I then have the second drive setup to backup the first.

The thing i like about this is that if a computer dies its no major loss because all we do is plug in the new one, reinstall any programs needed, add a link to that folder on the backup drive, and all our files are still there. Plus you no longer have to boot up the computer that has the files on it you need because now they can be accessed from any computer in the home. If i need to take my files mobile i can just copy them off back to my computer and go. I also have a way to get to them through the web but thats a bit more complicated.

 

[Tonkaman]

Now that's a great idea! I've been paranoid about losing all of our kids pictures and our financial stuff. How does it effect speed being wireless? Any drawbacks other than having to buy extra hardware? When I get set up I'll definitely look at this option

 

[Team1k]

Now that's a great idea! I've been paranoid about losing all of our kids pictures and our financial stuff. How does it effect speed being wireless? Any drawbacks other than having to buy extra hardware? When I get set up I'll definitely look at this option

I have a wireless N router and and havent noticed a significant drop in speed for file transfers, photos, or streaming movies. Even the wireless G computer seems to do fine as well. The only drawback i can think of is the cost of the drives, and the initial hassle of setting it up. I bet that you could get drives fairly cheap during the day after thanksgiving sales. Just make sure they are Network drives and not the external usb drives. I use seagate ones but in the future id probably go with a western digital My Book or something similar. The seagate ones have a glitch where you cant have 2 on the same network. Theres a fix for it and its not a huge deal, but it was a pain for me since i didnt know and took some time for me to find out. Or maybe get the seagate 3TB one since its so cheap, then buy another different brand for the second drive.

 

[frieed]

If you have files that you can't stand to lose then you need some form of off-site storage. I have a usb hard drive that I keep at work and about once a month I bring it home and back up pictures and such. Redundancy in the machine or in the house buys you nothing if the house burns down....

 

[Team1k]

Thats true. My main mindset was i have had my computers die dozens of times since i was a kid, but i havent had my house burn down so mainly i was thinking of at home redundancy. You could easily take one of the drives to work with you and bring it home only to backup to it if your files are that important. Theres also online backup you could pay for, or if you have a friend who you wanted to team up with you could use FTP to backup to a drive at their house over the internet, and they could backup to a drive at yours.

If you have files that you can't stand to lose then you need some form of off-site storage. I have a usb hard drive that I keep at work and about once a month I bring it home and back up pictures and such. Redundancy in the machine or in the house buys you nothing if the house burns down....

 

[Tonkaman]

Well I finally made my decision, and decided to go big! I had pc laptops build me an 'annihilator' that is overkill to begin with and expandable beyond my dreams.

Specs:
I7 3rd gen processor
16GB RAM
240GB SSD
1T Hard Drive
Nvidia 675M video card
Windows 8 pro
17.3" LED screen

They also offer unlimited data backup that automatically updates every 15 minutes. The data is stored on 3 different servers in 3 different locations to keep it safe.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited!