Buying a Laptop: The current Generation

moneymad

Leslie91 wrote: »

Cheers... amazing that their 'latest generation' of i3 is so poor.

I know. Those chains are dishonest and rip people off. As you said yourself, suspicious price reduction.
The main thing is get an ssd drive. Much faster.

Leslie91

moneymad wrote: »

I know. Those chains are dishonest and rip people off. As you said yourself, suspicious price reduction.
The main thing is get an ssd drive. Much faster.

What processor would you need at a minimum if the laptop was to have SSD in it? was looking at one with Intel® Core™ i5-6200U Processor in it but that processor gets a crap review too.

moneymad

13.3inch
laptops have slower processors "i5-6200U"as they can't be cooled without a bigger heat sink/fan.

14/15.6 inch laptops
have the room for this so you'll get better options.
I'm not up to date with hardware anymore.

http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/cpu-comparison

mordeith

Leslie91 wrote: »

What processor would you need at a minimum if the laptop was to have SSD in it? was looking at one with Intel® Core™ i5-6200U Processor in it but that processor gets a crap review too.

It's unlikely many standard laptops will have full spec CPUs apart from dedicated gaming laptops. Most have 'U' processors (which are fine for general use). There is no minimum spec CPU for use with an SSD.

AlmightyCushion

moneymad wrote: »

Intel® Core™ i3-7100U Processor heap of crap.
Storage 1 TB HDD, 5400 rpm. Slow as a wet week. You want an SSD and a better processor. Avoid the ones ending in a 0U or 0M.
See this guys post.

You really don't know what you're talking about here. All laptop processors used to be labelled as U or M. U meaning ultra low voltage and M meaning mobile. You could get non M or U processors in laptops but they were desktop chips and used a lot of power, pumped out heat and made the laptop big and heavy. They weren't really laptops but portable desktops.

For the last few generations of intel processors they haven't even done an M series, just U series and HQ which are quad cores which most people don't need or benefit from. I think there were a few H series processors that were dual core and higher performance than the U series but they were rare as hens teeth.

For an average user an i3/i5 U series is plenty fast for them. I have an i5 6200U in my laptop and I use it for development and light gaming as well as normal every day stuff and it's great. I moved from a laptop with a quad core beforehand and I have a quad core gaming PC so it's not like I'm just used to slow PCs.

AlmightyCushion

Leslie91 wrote: »

What processor would you need at a minimum if the laptop was to have SSD in it? was looking at one with Intel® Core™ i5-6200U Processor in it but that processor gets a crap review too.

What are you using the laptop for? See my post above about my experience with the 6200U, where did you see the review that said it was crap?

Leslie91

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

What are you using the laptop for? See my post above about my experience with the 6200U, where did you see the review that said it was crap?

I was reading this - http://processors.specout.com/l/1888/Intel-Core-i5-6200U.

I was paraphrasing some of the comment (re cache and clock speed) in the above. Crap might have been going a bit far and very relative!.

I'm looking for the laptop for a beginner gamer. I don't think we're talking call of duty just yet but something that can handle more than Minecraft would be good.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

mordeith

Leslie91 wrote: »

I was reading this - http://processors.specout.com/l/1888/Intel-Core-i5-6200U.

I was paraphrasing some of the comment (re cache and clock speed) in the above. Crap might have been going a bit far and very relative!.

I'm looking for the laptop for a beginner gamer. I don't think we're talking call of duty just yet but something that can handle more than Minecraft would be good.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

What's your budget? For decent gaming performance you would need a dedicated graphics card. Having said that, integrated graphics can usually run older games at reasonable enough frame rates (on low to medium settings)

Leslie91

mordeith wrote: »

What's your budget? For decent gaming performance you would need a dedicated graphics card. Having said that, integrated graphics can usually run older games at reasonable enough frame rates (on low to medium settings)

Many thanks budget is max €500..

Looking at this one;

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-au077na-15.6-intel-core-i5-6200u-2.3ghz-8gb-256-a1-x7g59ea/version.asp

Know anyone who bought a refurb from these guys? assume they are OK?

Maximus Alexander

Leslie91 wrote: »

Many thanks budget is max €500..

Looking at this one;

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-au077na-15.6-intel-core-i5-6200u-2.3ghz-8gb-256-a1-x7g59ea/version.asp

Know anyone who bought a refurb from these guys? assume they are OK?

I bought a new laptop from them a couple of months ago and everything went smoothly. Not a refurb though.

mordeith

Leslie91 wrote: »

Many thanks budget is max €500..

Looking at this one;

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-hp-pavilion-15-au077na-15.6-intel-core-i5-6200u-2.3ghz-8gb-256-a1-x7g59ea/version.asp

Know anyone who bought a refurb from these guys? assume they are OK?

Here's a review of a laptop with basically same specs
https://youtu.be/z-Xdo9YeXd4

Leslie91

Thanks all I am going to go for the refurb from laptopsdirect.

TerrorFirmer

ULV processors (the 'u' model i3, i5, i7) are good processors. Labelling them as 'absolute crap' is like saying any car that's not a BMW is 'absolute crap', it doesn't really make any sense.

The only reason anyone would need an 'm' model processor would be when paired with a fairly high end graphics card (low to mid range get by fine on ULV models) for games, or else doing a frequent amount of editing or similar. For basic desktop use, you wouldn't even notice any difference between a ULV or M model Intel processor.

Integrated graphics are good for stuff like Minecraft and Sims, FIFA, and similar - the latest action, shooting or driving games will generally be unplayable. 'Gaming' laptops in the sense that they're designed to play all of the latest games, even at lowish settings, start at around €7-800.

Capt'n Midnight

In most cases the generation of processor is as important or even more important than whether it's i3, i5 or i7

Some features that differentiate the lines like hardware support for AES encryption for corporates are still valid. Though the i5-4xxm's didn't have AES so were really i3's Marketed as something better.

Other "features" like number of cores, speed, graphics , amount of cache and many instructions eg virtualisation mean that for many purposes an i3 of the next generation will beat an older i5.

You can get DUAL core i7's and ones with EIGHT cores (for desktops). For apps that don't use multiple threads i5's might have much higher clock speeds than i7's.


It's possible to get the raw processing power of today's entry level laptops by chucking a €20 ebay CPU into a 5 year old laptop that has a CPU socket. You miss out on better battery life and you definitely take a hit on graphics and it won't have USB 3.0 but it's an option that's gone because consumer laptops no longer have sockets.

So in the past Pentium vs Celeron vs i3 vs i5 vs i7 didn't matter as much because , depending on the laptop, upgrades might be possible.



It's getting to the stage where I'd consider setting up a desktop and remote into it with a keyboard and tablet, rather than buy a lackluster laptop that doesn't offer much more than previous ones.

/RANT

Skommando

Chromebook is not a bad option, I was really surprised how good they are.

Cheap, light, great battery life, very fast startup/shutdown, no constant upgrading and maintenance of the the OS and software, and everything is done and stored online now anyway. And it's no big deal if I ever loose or break it. It's the ultimate easy to use disposable and comfortable terminal.

If you haven't tried one, I definitely recommend it, and trying it out won't cost you much.

It won't replace your work/office laptop/desktop completely, but at home it easily does 90% of what I need to to in the evenings, and is very comfortable and light to use anywhere, unlike most laptops.

Notorious

devnull wrote: »

Some people prefer the Dell XPS but there are corners cut there to make it smaller still with the keyboard and webcam etc.

One noticeable difference between the Spectre (PC World link; they might have a newer spec out) and the XPS, is that the new XPS machines have the new gen Kaby Lake Intel processor.

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Guys looking for a decent laptop just for everyday use, at home and surfing web storing photos etc. Any good deals in sales in currys or Harvey Norman?

Leslie91

Dr.Winston O'Boogie wrote: »

Guys looking for a decent laptop just for everyday use, at home and surfing web storing photos etc. Any good deals in sales in currys or Harvey Norman?

I'd imagine there might be some price reductions in the sales. But from a v high ceiling to start with I'm not sure the value is there. I bought this one in the end, great yoke;

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/hp-250-g5-core-i5-6200u-8gb-256gb-ssd-dvd-rw-15.6-inch-windows-10-laptop-x0q78es/version.asp

i5-6200U, SSD and 8GB RAM.

D0NNELLY

can something be got with similar specs and price as this, but not look like a spaceship?

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/refurbished-lenovo-y700-core-i7-6700hq-16gb-256gb-nvidia-gtx960m-graphics-1-a1-80q00024uk/version.asp

D0NNELLY

Got sorted

xckjoo

I'm in need of a new laptop for work, but I'm out of touch with which brands are good at the moment. Can anyone recommend which ones to look at and which ones to avoid?

I'm mainly wondering about brands at the moment but to give some kind of specs idea, I'll need something that's probably on the higher end of mid-range. I'll be doing some machine learning and image processing development on it, but it won't be on the scale of 4K video processing.

MickH503

D0NNELLY wrote: »

Got sorted

What did you go with in the end?

D0NNELLY

MickH503 wrote: »

What did you go with in the end?

Bootcamp on my Macbook..

Phantasos

Still searching for that elusive new laptop. Crippled by choice. At the minute, here are the main details:

USING IT FOR:
Writing, general internet browsing, watching videos, very light editing of pics.

NOT USING IT FOR:
Gaming, intensive stuff.

THINGS I WANT:
Great battery, great keyboard, something that runs quickly with basic tasks, 14-15" screen size.

BUDGET:
Willing to go to ~€800.

Sick of buying in Currys and would like other good retail suggestions online (or even offline).

James 007

All,

I am looking for a new laptop for the following uses:

AutoCAD
MS Project
Word
Excel
Designing a website using Wordpress, plug-ins etc.
Internet, Youtube etc.

At the minute I have a DELL Latitude E6330 with Windows 7, however it is a company laptop which I use for certain home use too.

Appreciate any recommendations, keeping cost to 6-700 approx. if possible

James 007

James 007 wrote: »

All,

I am looking for a new laptop for the following uses:

AutoCAD
MS Project
Word
Excel
Designing a website using Wordpress, plug-ins etc.
Internet, Youtube etc.

At the minute I have a DELL Latitude E6330 with Windows 7, however it is a company laptop which I use for certain home use too.

Appreciate any recommendations, keeping cost to 6-700 approx. if possible

https://pricespy.ie/category.php?m=s306899062&o=eg_4461

I have done some research on laptops using pricespy, has anyone used this before. There seems to be a lot available for a price point of €500-1,000. Can any recommend a good brand to get nowdays. Previously before I used to have a Toshibia, but I am not up with the best buys and the specs at the minute.

5500

Any opinions on this HP "on sale" at €520 -

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-156-laptop-with-the-latest-7th-gen-intel-core-i5-processor-white/334597/396.0.0

Worth the money or any other suggestions in around the price better than it spec wise?

cherryghost

5500 wrote: »

Any opinions on this HP "on sale" at €520 -

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-156-laptop-with-the-latest-7th-gen-intel-core-i5-processor-white/334597/396.0.0

Worth the money or any other suggestions in around the price better than it spec wise?

Depends what you need it for but I wouldn't touch a non 1080p laptop screen in this day and age.

5500

Just general day to day usage, word processing, browsing, light photo editing with photoshop, no gaming.
Currently using a display thats 1366 x 768 as the one linked above so would be nice to upgrade in that sense

Trond

Anyone taken a punt on one of these? Seems to be the best value cheap laptop out there at the minute. Good reviews as well....

http://www.gearbest.com/laptops/pp_589954.html?utm_source=cityads&click_id=6jkZ1KoTRSZEpuk&aip=3zRz

commited

Trond wrote: »

Anyone taken a punt on one of these? Seems to be the best value cheap laptop out there at the minute. Good reviews as well....

http://www.gearbest.com/laptops/pp_589954.html?utm_source=cityads&click_id=6jkZ1KoTRSZEpuk&aip=3zRz

That's intruiging. What would customs charge on that?

Reviews look decent:
https://betanews.com/2017/01/26/chuwi-lapbook-14-1-review/
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/budget-laptops/chuwi-lapbook-141-review-budget-windows-10-laptop-under-250-3653798/

DavyD_83

commited wrote: »

That's intruiging. What would customs charge on that?

Reviews look decent:
https://betanews.com/2017/01/26/chuwi-lapbook-14-1-review/
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/budget-laptops/chuwi-lapbook-141-review-budget-windows-10-laptop-under-250-3653798/

Any opinions on the devices being pushed in GB thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=102606688&postcount=1

GB forum/thread seems to be a ghost-town still

Gearbest.com: Lindell wrote: »

Valentine’s Day is coming soon and in order to properly celebrate that Gearbest will sell some tablets with a good deal but just a limit amount, if you would like to get one, do not hesitate , just place The orders ! Promote sale start from 11AM Feb 13 based on GMT +8, Beijing Time.

No.1 VOYO VBOOK V3 Notebook

VOYO VBOOK V3 Notebook’s feature:
13.3 inch IPS 1920 x 1080 (FHD) 16:9 screen
Intel Apollo Lake N4200
4GB RAM +128GB SSD of storage
Windows 10 as OS

No.2 Jumper EZBOOK 3 Notebook

Jumper EZBOOK 3 Notebook’s feature:
Intel Apollo Lake N3350
4GB RAM +64 GB torage
HDMI output
Windows 10 as OS

commited

Ended up ordering a Chuwi Lapbook 14.1. Voyo Vbook V3 looked good too but decided to take a punt on the Lapbook for now and see how I got on.

BobbyT28

A friend looking for a laptop

Budget €400

Looking at movies, browsing and some office requirements IE excel, word etc.

WOuld this be a decent Laptop for all the above.

https://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-30-627905

Only issue I have is its a AMD processor

I think he would prefer a Intel one. What about this one?

https://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-30-787324

Any recommendations would be welcome

Trond

commited wrote: »

Ended up ordering a Chuwi Lapbook 14.1. Voyo Vbook V3 looked good too but decided to take a punt on the Lapbook for now and see how I got on.

Please let us know how you get on....

Off all the different options in this "category" I reckon you went with the best option.

Trond

commited wrote: »

Ended up ordering a Chuwi Lapbook 14.1. Voyo Vbook V3 looked good too but decided to take a punt on the Lapbook for now and see how I got on.

Ordered one yesterday on Ali express. Hopefully I see it before the summer! presume you went gearbest?

conortwo

Hey all was wondering if ye could help me source a laptop to suit my needs,

I love the look of the Acer Aspire E5-575G-53VG which I found on amazon US for $550 and was wondering if anything similar is being sold here in Ireland at an equivalent price.
More generally speaking;

Budget: 500-650. Could maybe spring to 700 for right machine

Intended use: Computer science student, so programming and light game dev(Unity) likely. Other than that nothing too intensive.

Mobility: 15" is fine by me will mostly be used in a static environment aside from bus journeys and the like.

Warranty: Standard is fine

What Operating System do you use? Windows but would like to dual boot to Linux

In terms of specs 1080p is a must, SSD preferred and not too fussed on processor.

Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers

Trond

Trond wrote: »

Ordered one yesterday on Ali express. Hopefully I see it before the summer! presume you went gearbest?

Lapbook being delivered tomorrow via DHL. Amazed at the delivery time tbh. Only 8 days since I ordered :eek:

commited

Trond wrote: »

Lapbook being delivered tomorrow via DHL. Amazed at the delivery time tbh. Only 8 days since I ordered :eek:

Wow that's impressive. I have nothing to date..

Trond

commited wrote: »

Wow that's impressive. I have nothing to date..

Happy to see this review. Wasn't expecting the ssd option.

https://techtablets.com/2017/01/chuwi-lapbook-14-1-review/

ImARebel

I'd love to know what ye think of them. Would something like this suit my daughter for coder dojo or should I just get a full proper cheap laptop?

BobbyT28

Just looking for some feedback on this Laptop build and any one that has bought this version of the lapt Cosmos Series 15.6 Matte FULL HD IPS LED

Will mainly be using it for general PC use, Photo editing and virtualbox etc

Pretty future proofed from what I can see.

Chassis & Display
Cosmos Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 7700HQ (2.8GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo)

Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 950M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12

1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

M.2 SSD Drive
250GB WD BLUE™ M.2 SSD (up to 540MB/s R | 500MB/s W)

Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)

AC Adaptor
1 x 120W AC Adaptor

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 3

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0, vPRO

USB Options
1 x USB 3.0 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Battery
2 x Cosmos VI Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Keyboard Language
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Browser
Google Chrome™

Monotype

Graphics card is last generation. Might be worth looking at seeing if there's a newer version.
Edit: Actually, there's no equivalent graphics card for this generation yet, so that's probably why it hasn't been replaced.

Panda

Hey folks, looking for suggestions for an older user. Windows 10, Internet browsing, some basic word processing.

Budget between 300 and 450.
i3 or i5 processor
SSD 128GB hoping this will lower the cost. (256GB is not necessary but I won't rule it out)
8GB RAM
14" screen - No real need for a 15.6" widescreen

I've considered a Chromebook but I think it might be too different and end up left on the shelf.

Trond

Panda wrote: »

Hey folks, looking for suggestions for an older user. Windows 10, Internet browsing, some basic word processing.

Budget between 300 and 450.
i3 or i5 processor
SSD 128GB hoping this will lower the cost. (256GB is not necessary but I won't rule it out)
8GB RAM
14" screen - No real need for a 15.6" widescreen

I've considered a Chromebook but I think it might be too different and end up left on the shelf.

You wont get those specs for under €600 imo, unless its a 3 or 4 year old i3 or i5 and even at that you'd be doing well.

Laptops seems to have risen in price severely in the last 6 months.

Swan Curry

Hey guys, I'm looking for a new laptop on a budget of €1000. I use photoshop a fair bit and figure i may as well get a gpu that will let me play some relatively newish games as well. I had a look on laptopsdirect as that seems to be the best place to go.

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/hp-omen-15-ax207na-core-i5-7300hq-8gb-1tb-256gb-ssd-geforce-gtx-1050-2gb-15-1jl19ea/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/hp-pavilion-15-bc006na-core-i5-6300hq-8gb-1tb-128gb-ssd-geforce-gtx-960m-w8x98ea/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/hp-omen-15-ax095na-core-i5-6300hq-8gb-1tb-128gb-ssd-geforce-gtx960m-2gb-1-z5c08ea/version.asp

After a while I narrowed it down to these three. Is it worth the extra €100 to go for the first one? I think the processor is faster and I know the 1050 is newer but is there much of a difference in performance?

Maximus Alexander

The 1050 is about 30% faster than the 960m so it's quite substantial.

TerrorFirmer

Panda wrote: »

Hey folks, looking for suggestions for an older user. Windows 10, Internet browsing, some basic word processing.

Budget between 300 and 450.
i3 or i5 processor
SSD 128GB hoping this will lower the cost. (256GB is not necessary but I won't rule it out)
8GB RAM
14" screen - No real need for a 15.6" widescreen

I've considered a Chromebook but I think it might be too different and end up left on the shelf.

Check laptops direct. Last I checked they had 15.6" 4th gen i3 Lenovo's with 4GB ram and 128GB SSD for about €350.

Just add more ram yourself. If it strictly has to be 8GB and a 14" also, you'll probably end up shelling out a lot more as pointed out above.

Graphics card is last generation. Might be worth looking at seeing if there's a newer version.
Edit: Actually, there's no equivalent graphics card for this generation yet, so that's probably why it hasn't been replaced.

There is, the GTX1050 is the class replacement, but the performance is closer to a GTX970M so it's a radical leap.

I expect a GTX1040 will appear at some point to replace the GT940M.

Panda

Probably going to suggest a Lenovo B50-10 to the person who was asking. It seems to tick the right boxes.

In other news I was checking the Lenovo website and found this absolute bargain.

Lenovo Ideapad Y700 15.6" for €400 (down from €1720)
I haven't really looked into the details or review but I doubt this will be up for long: http://www3.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/y700-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Y700-15ISK/p/80NV00T4UK#galleryVideo

Specs:


Processor
Intel Core i7-6700HQ Processor ( 2.60GHz 2133MHz 6MB )

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64

Display Type
15.6"Ultra HD IPS Glare LED Backlit 3840x2160

Memory
16.0GB 2133MHz

Hard Drive
1TB +256GB SSD PCIe

Optical Drive
Blu-ray/DVD-RW

Warranty
One year Depot or Carry-in

Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB GDDR5

Battery
4 Cell Li-Polymer

Bluetooth
Bluetooth Version 4.1

Pointing Device
ClickPad

Wireless
Intel Wireless-AC 8260

Pretty sure that's a glitch. Won't add to cart for me, when I try to do it by part number I get an error saying the site is down for maintenance.