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Old 03-16-2016, 10:26 PM   #1
Andrew B.
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Default which of these cpu would you get

Slower speed, lower priced, less power consumption, or faster, more costly and more power consumption. Or simply which one appeals to you more. Assume it adds $300 to price of computer.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/924...i7-6700HQ.html

   
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Old 03-17-2016, 07:13 AM   #2
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I'd put the $300 into faster HDD/more RAM (probably in that order, but it'd depend on how I intended to use the computer). If you've got $300 left AFTER maxing out the RAM/HDD, then (to me) it'd be again a matter of how I intended to use the computer. Would you need to use it away from a power source for long periods of time? For example, I find that programming on long plane trips makes the time go by much more quickly, so I like to have a small PC with excellent battery life for that kind of thing. For a laptop that'll mostly live in my office, I'd go for brute power and damn the battery life, full speed ahead.

   
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Old 03-17-2016, 10:04 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Rindsberg View Post
Would you need to use it away from a power source for long periods of time?
Good way to look at it. I'll have to sort this one out. In fact, I am just about decided now. Thanks for the feedback.

As for memory, I've been pondering this too. I have 6 gigs now. All the times I checked task manager, it's never shown more than 4 gigs in use. Many years ago in the Csi Artist forum, we all timed the same Photoshop operation on our various computers. The only correlation to time-to-complete was was CPU speed. Memory made no difference, even though that was the common wisdom back then. And I realize memory is probably important for what you do. But the computer I'm shopping offers either 8 gigs or 12 gigs, and I think even 8 gigs more than enough. I also remember some cases long ago where more memory resulted in slower operation. Had to do with caching method. But that was long ago.

FWIW, here's what I'm looking at: http://store.hp.com/us/en/ConfigureV...651&quantity=1

   
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Old 03-17-2016, 12:51 PM   #4
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I'm with Steve...more RAM and faster harddrive--the 8GB of RAM on the Envy should be just fine.

With respect to harddrives, a 5400rpm is just adequate. It's a shame that HP doesn't offer an SSD on the Envy because that would be the way to go or even a 7200rpm drive. I don't know the specs on the battery but if you plan to use it regularly on battery-only, it might be worth looking to see if HP offers a more robust battery as an accessory.

I wonder if you did a chat with HP that they might have hidden options like an SSD and different battery configurations.



I offer for your delectation...the HP ProBook 440 G3 Notebook PC --the link is to the configuration page.

Specs at follows:

Price: $804.76 (6-cell battery, +$5)--also see below for other configs at different prices

Screen: 14" screen with a number of different options, default: 14" LED HD SVA (1366x768)

O/S: Win7/Pro/64bit, default (change this to Win7, no change in price): Win10

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-6200U (2.3GHz, 3MB Cache) Processor, and Intel® HD Graphics 520

RAM: a number of different options, default (keep): 8GB 1600 DDR3 SDRAM (1 DIMM)

Hard drive: a number of different options, default (keep): 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive which is good

Battery: 4-cell and 6-cell, default (change to 6-cell, +$5): 4-Cell (44 WHr) Lithium-Ion Battery



i3-6100U ProBook 400 configuration - $652 = other than CPU, similar to specs above.




i5-6200U HP ProBook 440 G3 PR page - $801.81 = specs above


i5-6300U HP ProBook 440 G3 PR Page
- $794.50 = other than CPU, similar to specs above




Main HP ProBook 440 page - there are 11 options.


Terrie

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Old 03-17-2016, 07:53 PM   #5
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I'm with Terrie. You can feel the difference with the hard drive speed.
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Old 03-17-2016, 09:24 PM   #6
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I was somewhat reluctant when I had my last system custom built to use an SSD but was (somewhat easily) talked into it. They are soooo fast. When I had my new system custom built a few months ago, I didn't think twice about an SSD. I use it for the O/S and I have a 1tb mechanical drive (partitioned) for text-type data, software, downloads and miscellaneou and the last (and largest partition) for my images. I wanted a 10,000rpm mechanical drive but apparently they aren't readily available so I settled for a 7200rpm drive--a Western Digital Black.

A number of people who participate at dslreports.com's hardware forums are replacing their laptop's mechanical drives with SSDs. There are a number of different form factors, the oddest of which to me look like RAM sticks. I think on one level that because laptop makers charge such a premium for configs with SSDs, it might be better to buy the laptop with a mechanical drive and then take it someplace and have the SSD installed and the system cloned to it.



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Old 03-18-2016, 12:42 PM   #7
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I've got a Lenovo X61s that's not seeing any use right now. It's a sweet little lightweight laptop and now Herself sort of needs one for a class she'll be teaching later, and I sometimes tote it along when I'm The AV Guy for meetings at the local art museum and such. No matter what the speakers tell you, they DON'T have the right adapters for the projector, their computers DON'T work right ... sigh. So. I bring my own.

It's got 2gig RAM and a fast, but small HDD. When the Crucial delivery and the tuits arrive, it'll have 4gig and a larger and certainly faster SDD.

I'd do some speed tests but it's also got XP now, but will likely get Win7 on the new HDD.

   
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Old 03-18-2016, 01:30 PM   #8
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Does the Crucial SSD look like a RAM stick or does it look like a (probably) small mechanical drive? What size did you get?

If you're going to install Win7, make sure turn off any online access until you can turn off Windows Update and disable Windows Update Services. Better safe than sorry as you can always reset both if you want to look for any updates after tweaking Win7 to your liking...



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Old 03-19-2016, 09:31 AM   #9
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The SSD is a pop-in replacement for the existing HDD, so I assume (yeah, yeah, I know) that it'll be a similar size (smaller, actually, but it comes with an adapter, they say). To tell the truth, I did zilch research; Crucial's never steered me wrong in all the years I've bought stuff from them, so for stuff like this (totally non-critical/anything's going to be an improvement over what I already have/and it's cheap) I just go with their recommendation.

And yep, bytes that touch the internet shall never touch mine (or at least this 'puter's) until after GWT's installed.

   
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Old 03-19-2016, 10:59 AM   #10
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Quote:
steve: that it'll be a similar size (smaller, actually, but it comes with an adapter, they say).
Let me know when you get it...


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