Need computer advice!

stanislav · #1 07-30-2012

Hello everyone,

I am planning to buy new laptop in the future. I would like to know what is the most crucial part I need to look at when I buying my new laptop from a technical point of view. My current laptop seems to be slowing down when I create multiple user accounts. This is the ONLY REASON why I am planning to buy new laptop. I want to be able to create as many or a lot of user accounts without sacrificing performance. Right now my laptop computer has windows 7 (64bit) and 3 GB of ram with AMD x2 TL-56 @ 1.8 GHz.

Thank you all.

GreenBean · #2 07-30-2012

I would look for more ram & a faster chip. I do love AMD chips however.

Do you have a preference for companies, screen size etc?

slim jim · #3 07-30-2012

You really do not need so much for a computer to run nicely. I would say processor and ram are the most important. Are you logging off of the users or are you just switching them? Logging off will probably free up some resources. I would say most have it now but get a hard drive that is minimum 7200rpm

slokor · #4 07-30-2012

If you want the speed then DEFINITELY move to a Solid State Drive. I work on 5 different laptops at the moment and I have to say that the SSD has made my laptops run a LOT faster - from bootup to regular work. Switching between user accounts is super fast as well.
Do your research into SSD and make sure you get the best value for your money - the faster the read/write speed the better.

stanislav · #5 07-30-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenBean™

I would look for more ram & a faster chip. I do love AMD chips however.

Do you have a preference for companies, screen size etc?

Good advice! I thought maybe more RAM is going to help me since I amusing windows 7 (64bit) which probably requires more RAM. Currently I am looking @ 6-8GB of RAM to have on my laptop. Also since my main desktop has an i7 I am probably going to get i7 on my laptop too. I used to like AMD when they were better than Intel but that lasted only for a few years. I believe all reviews online prove that Intel is by far better than AMD now. Just like at some point ATi was better than GeForce but now Intel leads in the cpu arena and GeForce in the gpu arena

Oh and I prefer my laptop to be either HP, Asus or Samsung

As to screen size I think I would prefer 17 inch for eBay but if it's 15 (widescreen) I don't mind either.

stanislav · #6 07-30-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabbislimjim

You really do not need so much for a computer to run nicely. I would say processor and ram are the most important. Are you logging off of the users or are you just switching them? Logging off will probably free up some resources. I would say most have it now but get a hard drive that is minimum 7200rpm

I usually do not log off my user accounts. I hope this wont link them together. See, when you say it will free some resources it could only mean RAM because resources take away from memory. So I wonder to myself if I will see any difference between 3GB and 8GB. Not to mention that right now I probably have DDR2 on my current laptop and my new laptop is going to have DDR3.

GreenBean · #7 07-30-2012

ah! Samsung.... we have not mentioned budget but..................

Series 9 15

stanislav · #8 07-30-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by slokor

If you want the speed then DEFINITELY move to a Solid State Drive. I work on 5 different laptops at the moment and I have to say that the SSD has made my laptops run a LOT faster - from bootup to regular work. Switching between user accounts is super fast as well.
Do your research into SSD and make sure you get the best value for your money - the faster the read/write speed the better.

I never knew that SSD was so much faster. All I heard from other people that there is not much different in performance. Maybe that was when they only came out and now they are more efficient and thus give better performance. Don't forget that I am also on a budget. I am not willing to spend more than 1000$ on my new laptop. I am not sure how much of a difference will it be if I get SSD instead of SATA hard drive.

stanislav · #9 07-30-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenBean™

ah! Samsung.... we have not mentioned budget but..................

Series 9 15

The reason I like Samsung is because they are innovative. They always have great design and in many ways they remind me of Apple company. So when you get Samsung Laptop you know your get quality screen and design. Someone said he say cheap Lenovo laptop but I heard a lot of people think it sucks. I would never go for Lenovo.

GreenBean · #10 07-30-2012

To me, Samsung are slowly becoming like Toshiba.

Not a bad thing at all

My old faithful Toshiba still does its job.

Rippedoffagain · #11 07-30-2012

Toshiba great laptop. Samsung great laptop. I personally use amd processors I do not care for intel. Since I am in the graphics field. Macs are number 1 but for ebay and amazon selling etc just do not need a mac for that it would be a waste.

yotano211 · #12 07-30-2012

Dude, dont buy a new laptop just cuz you think your current one is slow. In reality, your current rig is still very good. A fast processor is not going to switch User Accounts any faster. That department depends entirely on your hard drive.

The best thing for you is to get a SSD drive and do a fresh install of your OS. Why send lots more $$$ on a new system when your current is still good. You have a dual core processor that is more than enough to open web browser and switch User Accounts.

I would check out Ebay for deals on SSD drives. The current pricing on these drives are about 70 cents per GB of storage. Or go on Amazon and get a 256gb Crucial M4 SSD for about $180.

I would stay glued to this link below for any tech deals you might find on a new SSD.
Notebook and Tech Bargains

When you switch User Accounts, all of that requires the computer to access stored info on the hard drive. When you have a slower drive it will have longer times of switching or accessing info. With a faster hard drive you get less wait. Even the slowest SSD drive will be a min of 3 times faster yhan a 7200rpm hard drive but most laptop today still come with a 5400rpm hard drive.

And the amount of ram that you have is perfect for a basic selling Ebay laptop. You dont need any more ram.

The processor and laptop memory are not the most important thing in any laptop. It all depends on what you are using the computer for. If you have many Virtual Machines running than more memory is better than cpu speed. If I am a hard core gamer, the gpu, graphics card is more important than processor.

For example, I just sold my alienware m18x r1 last month cuz it was too heavy to move around. I just picked up a Sager 8150 for $750, without memory and hard drive. The processor it had was a i7 2860qm running at 2.5ghz, sold it on ebay for $405 and bought a 2670qm running at 2.2 for $169. Difference is clock speed is about 8%, difference is gaming 0%. I pocketed the difference and that went towards a AMD 6990m to AMD 7970m graphics card upgrade, difference is gaming is 40%+. My laptop is now a beast that beats most desktops.

stanislav · #13 07-30-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by yotano211

Dude, dont buy a new laptop just cuz you think your current one is slow. In reality, your current rig is still very good. A fast processor is not going to switch User Accounts any faster. That department depends entirely on your hard drive.

The best thing for you is to get a SSD drive and do a fresh install of your OS. Why send lots more $$$ on a new system when your current is still good. You have a dual core processor that is more than enough to open web browser and switch User Accounts.

I would check out Ebay for deals on SSD drives. The current pricing on these drives are about 70 cents per GB of storage. Or go on Amazon and get a 256gb Crucial M4 SSD for about $180.

I would stay glued to this link below for any tech deals you might find on a new SSD.
Notebook and Tech Bargains

When you switch User Accounts, all of that requires the computer to access stored info on the hard drive. When you have a slower drive it will have longer times of switching or accessing info. With a faster hard drive you get less wait. Even the slowest SSD drive will be a min of 3 times faster yhan a 7200rpm hard drive but most laptop today still come with a 5400rpm hard drive.

And the amount of ram that you have is perfect for a basic selling Ebay laptop. You dont need any more ram.

The processor and laptop memory are not the most important thing in any laptop. It all depends on what you are using the computer for. If you have many Virtual Machines running than more memory is better than cpu speed. If I am a hard core gamer, the gpu, graphics card is more important than processor.

For example, I just sold my alienware m18x r1 last month cuz it was too heavy to move around. I just picked up a Sager 8150 for $750, without memory and hard drive. The processor it had was a i7 2860qm running at 2.5ghz, sold it on ebay for $405 and bought a 2670qm running at 2.2 for $169. Difference is clock speed is about 8%, difference is gaming 0%. I pocketed the difference and that went towards a AMD 6990m to AMD 7970m graphics card upgrade, difference is gaming is 40%+. My laptop is now a beast that beats most desktops.

WOW! What a SOLID ADVICE! Thank you so much! I was suspecting it was the hard drive and not the CPU or memory. I got really upset when I came to my local computer store to look at new laptops and then I explained to someone working there what I needed it for and his advice was to get a faster CPU. I was thinking to myself, are you serious? What kind of stupid advice is that? Who do you think you are talking to? Anyways I will be looking into SSD but my question to you is, will I be able to replace my current 5400rpm hard drive with SSD. I think my current hard drive is IDE. I am clueless as to what type of connection SSD will require. My current laptop is Dell inspiron 1721

Thank you!

BiN4RY · #14 07-30-2012

If your laptop uses IDE then you can forget about upgrading to SSD and buy anew laptop instead. They only use SATA.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

stanislav · #15 07-30-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by BiN4RY

If your laptop uses IDE then you can forget about upgrading to SSD and buy anew laptop instead. They only use SATA.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

I will check in my bios setting, it might be actually SATA! Currently I am looking at Samsung 830, 250GB SSD.

First Edition · #16 07-31-2012

one thing to consider... stop using so many user accounts and just use one to access different accounts? Keep the same machine, and save money

I have what I consider a slave netbook that I've been using for about 4 years now... ebay and paypal exclusively. I even remote into it from my macbook now.

stanislav · #17 07-31-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by First Edition

one thing to consider... stop using so many user accounts and just use one to access different accounts? Keep the same machine, and save money

I have what I consider a slave netbook that I've been using for about 4 years now... ebay and paypal exclusively. I even remote into it from my macbook now.

I don't feel safe using one user account. It's best to use multiple user accounts to avoid linkage. If buying SSD will actually solve my problem than it's not that bad. It's only 300$.

First Edition · #18 07-31-2012

I disagree, but I'm a bit of a control freak. I remember someone saying a version of google chrome was leaking cookies between users, for example. With one user account I know to a certainty cookies and LSO's are clear before I login to an account. That's the only way to guarantee your history is clear IMO.

stanislav · #19 07-31-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by First Edition

I disagree, but I'm a bit of a control freak. I remember someone saying a version of google chrome was leaking cookies between users, for example. With one user account I know to a certainty cookies and LSO's are clear before I login to an account. That's the only way to guarantee your history is clear IMO.

Yes but I don't use Chrome. I use FireFox so to my knowledge I haven't yet experienced linkage in all years using multiple user accounts. eBay likes when you keep your cookies and history. This way it knows it's you otheriwse it might send red flag.

First Edition · #20 07-31-2012

to each his own

yotano211 · #21 07-31-2012

I just checked a online manual and it states the Dell inspiron 1721 has a SATA connection

If you had a IDE connection they are SSD drives out there. They usually have less storage, mostly max at around 128gb, and higher priced. SATA goes to 600gb and over but be prepared to shell some serious money for those.

The link below will tell you the difference between IDE and SATA for 2.5 inch laptop hard drives

http://www.laptopparts101.com/wp-con...hard-drive.jpg

stanislav · #22 07-31-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by yotano211

I just checked a online manual and it states the Dell inspiron 1721 has a SATA connection

If you had a IDE connection they are SSD drives out there. They usually have less storage, mostly max at around 128gb, and higher priced. SATA goes to 600gb and over but be prepared to shell some serious money for those.

The link below will tell you the difference between IDE and SATA for 2.5 inch laptop hard drives

http://www.laptopparts101.com/wp-con...hard-drive.jpg

Thank you so much for helping me out! This thread is going to serve others who might decide to switch from regular hard drive to SSD. I've been wanting to do the same with my desktop for a while now. So now it's my opportunity to test and see the difference. Especially considering that my laptop hard drive is only 5400rpm as with most laptops but I am sure this is going to change soon and every laptop will come with SSD. Is SSD lighter than a regular hard drive?