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Need computer advice!
 

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.

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?

:pop2:

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Series 9 15

:thumb:

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.

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.

To me, Samsung are slowly becoming like Toshiba.

Not a bad thing at all :)

My old faithful Toshiba still does its job.

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.

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!

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.

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$.

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.

to each his own :)

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?

Your welcome

Yes a SSD drive is lighter than a mechanical hard drive but not by much. If you are thinking of losing some weight with a SSD upgrade then I am afraid you are mistaken. It won't cut, say, 1 pound off the weight of the laptop.

You will have to down grade to a smaller screen laptop to save anything over 1+ pound. But it depends on your needs, price budget, and the specs of the smaller vs bigger laptop.

Bigger laptops usually have better cooling systems cuz they have more room to dissipate heat away from the components. But some smaller laptops do have very good cooling systems and some even run cooler than larger laptops. It depends on the efficiently of the cooling system.

Thread is stickied to benefit everyone :peace:

Try to find a laptop with a matte screen if you're planning to use your it outdoor.

Glossy screens are unreadable outside because they reflect the sun.

Laptops with matte screens are rare but they are mostly found in business grade laptops, like the HP's elitebook and probook brand and Dell business line laptops.

Some custom built laptops like Sager or Clevo brand which are mostly boutique brands have Matte screen. You can choice the glossy or matte screen with Clevo brand laptops.

Screens are the most under looked piece of the laptop that people watch for. They mostly look at the speed of the processor or amount of memory but never look for the quality of a laptop screen. I personally don't get it, laptop screens are the first thing that comes into your mind when you turn the computer on.

Most screens are TN brand with horribly color contrast ratios, the blacks look more like watched out gray, the whites look more like light blue than white. They have horrible viewing angles and are not very bright. For an extra $40-50 added to the laptop, laptop manufacturers can add a much better screen, LG screens. But no, they rather have that little speed boost added to the processor and say, "look we have a fast processor".

I have a personal thing with screens, I once owned one of the best laptop screens available to this date. I kept that laptop 1 year longer just because I couldn't find a replacement for it. To this day, I am spoiled when it comes to laptop screens.

Samsung 830 128GB $84.99 with free shipping. Lowest price ever for a great SSD.

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Use coupon code: EMCYTZT1974

This is nearly impossible to find a non-TN laptop screen, the idea is of course to cut the cost but also because PVA and IPS especially have higher power consumption. Also narrower viewing angles are less problematic on laptop.

I hate TN as much as the stupid 16:9 trend, I'm using a 24" IPS 1920 x 1200 to work from home instead of the ****ty laptop screen.

AMOLED looks promising.

SSD is very nice :)
I boot to windows in 12 seconds.

Laptop for the bay
 

The current unit you have will do all there is for you to do at great speed, it's your configuration which is hampering you.

I run 2 older P4 Dells with 1GB ram and 40GB HDD and they will school over most doing ebay listing, snap bidding, pic's, uploads etc.

Before you spend any money take my advice I design, build, config and rework PC's and large Networks for a living for the engineering community and I deploy these same rules for my ebay accts.

1 Only use the device for ebay/paypal peroid (no time killing web surfing nor downloading of entertainment anything)

2 Only run apps for ebay listings (photo, word, excel, acrobat, etc)

3 Do not run any anti-virus, system optimizer, spyware on start-up (they load when windows loads) ok to have the program on the systems just don't auto run them. If you download a file open your anti-virus at that time scan the file and if it's safe then run/use it

4 Use a cookie cleaner when first entering the desktop, when logging off user and when finishing your sessions on ebay/paypal, EVERYTIME and don't fret over having to enter your user name and password (better safe then starting over)

5 Run just the basic drivers for your hardware (printer driver only not the resource hog system killing dummy pop-up panels, video driver only not the manufacture tools, digital camera driver only not their lam web accessing software, etc.

6 Setup firefox not save any of your history (it's in option) no password, no history and turn off the updates also do not load any of the web killing tool bars like bing, yahoo tool bar, google tool bar etc. just stick to firefox standard toolbar

Do a clean install, implements the above instruction then come back and let us know how this works before spending any moola

Hope it helps

Forget ONE very important one TURN OFF WINDOWS UPDATE

Everytime a program, website or piece of hardware needs an update it will let you know

Cheers

I know a Solid state drive is way faster and more reliable It works like a flash drive rather than a disc. but if you need space you will pay dearly, I want one myself but I think I may wait until the technology is a little newer and the price drops. Did I mention I am a cheapskate?

I just received a generic email from pay pal telling me that pay pal & eBay use cookies for "security" and that while we are not required to retain these cookies they find it suspicious and may decide not to do business with such users.

With Ebay and Paypal the Idea is too Keep cookies for each account so it looks like you are the only user on the account. The best idea is to have Separate User Accounts per Stealth. Clearing cookies, etc is not a good idea, just have separate user accounts and you should be fine.

The prices on SSD drives have been dropping like crazy this year.

I'm a cheapskate too but I don't cheap out on my ebay selling laptop. I cheap out on everything on the laptop besides the memory and hard drive. I bought it stock and upgraded the components myself with good fast components.

Just buy a basic 128gb SSD drive and have an external drive with all your movies and other junk. A very good SSD drive can be found for under $80. My laptop turns on within 8 seconds flat from the time I push the power button.

Some things are not worth cheapening out on.

find a laptop with a high spec because you are going to have a lot of user accounts

SSD Drives is the way to go....

$100 for 240GB is the sweet spot for me (not yet)... I have caught them as low as $129 on rare occasions...

The start-up is MUCH faster for those that switch user accounts. That time really adds up....

lol, that is the worst advice in the world. If you lived in the US, Best Buy must be your favorite place to shop.

my ebay selling laptop, i3 cpu and SSD drive. No high specs there, boot up time, 8 sec.

@Stanislav, what did you end up buying?

oh man best buy, the worst place in the world