Help getting a new laptop

[EtphTheElephant]

I currently own a Toshiba Satellite and I gotta say that it's a worthless piece of ****. It lags really bad, seriously, when I test-play it gives me 28-30 FPS range. That's how bad it is, it isn't even a year old, I got it back in April. So do you guys know of any good computers? My budget is up to $700.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

before changing, does it actually lag for other things too? also, it might just be viruses or too many apps running... or your disk is so fragmented... you know, things like that... 

 

[EtphTheElephant]

Everything, even the simplest things. It's that bad.

 

[Andar]

can you give us a link to the technical data of your current notebook?

Usually there is a single bottleneck that slows down the rest of the computer, if the current computer is less than a year old and still too slow for most programs.

Identifying that bottleneck will also tell us for which uses your computer needs to be optimized, and what kind of computer you better purchase.

That said, most probably you got one of those modern notebooks where a big part of the grafic processing is moved into the processor instead of a dedicated graphics chip or a shared grafics chip.

If you see a notebook with an Intel Pentium 2020 processor or an  AMD A-Series processor, then you should be very carefull - if those notebooks don't have an additional grafics chipset, then they will go down in speed as soon as you do anything complicated in the grafics area.

Another usual bottleneck is the RAM (and in that case, it might be possible to upgrade the notebook instead of buying a new one), you should not buy a notebook that has less than 4 GB (better 8 G of RAM if you're looking for speed, especially if the RAM is shared with the grafics card...

 

[EtphTheElephant]

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/205319/Toshiba-Satellite-C55D-A5380-Laptop-Computer/#contentManuf

Best one I could find.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

First thing: What do you do on your laptop?

What you use it for is going to inform what kind of specs you really need. For 700, you should be able to get a pretty competent laptop for most things, but I'm not sure what your needs are.

 

[EtphTheElephant]

First thing: What do you do on your laptop?

What you use it for is going to inform what kind of specs you really need. For 700, you should be able to get a pretty competent laptop for most things, but I'm not sure what your needs are.

Developing, gaming, bit of school work.

 

[Andar]

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/205319/Toshiba-Satellite-C55D-A5380-Laptop-Computer/#contentManuf

Best one I could find.

No, that definately wasn't the best one to find.

The AMD E1-1200 is the slowest of the new multi-function AMD-CPU's, with the slowest graphics function inbuild - that Notebook can't be used for more than office-work.

If you're looking for a notebook, set the CPU-name and the Grafic-chip-name into google with "test" or "Benchmark" added, and then read three or four of the test reports you'll find.

That "accelerated dual-core" in the description is only there as advertisement, and has nothing to do with reality. Mostly that Notebook is/was wasted money, because the CPU can't handle much in the way of gaming or graphics...

 

[EtphTheElephant]

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/205319/Toshiba-Satellite-C55D-A5380-Laptop-Computer/#contentManuf


Best one I could find.

No, that definately wasn't the best one to find.


The AMD E1-1200 is the slowest of the new multi-function AMD-CPU's, with the slowest graphics function inbuild - that Notebook can't be used for more than office-work.


If you're looking for a notebook, set the CPU-name and the Grafic-chip-name into google with "test" or "Benchmark" added, and then read three or four of the test reports you'll find.


That "accelerated dual-core" in the description is only there as advertisement, and has nothing to do with reality. Mostly that Notebook is/was wasted money, because the CPU can't handle much in the way of gaming or graphics...

No, I meant that was the best technical link I could find xD. And that is my actual computer too.

 

[Andar]

No, I meant that was the best technical link I could find xD. And that is my actual computer too.

OK, in that case it did explain why your computer is lagging - the CPU can't handle anything halfway decent, that notebook is designed for office-work (writing, calculating) with extra long battery life (because that's the advantage of that CPU-series: it needs extremely low power output, allowing for a lot longer battery life when fully charged compared to CPU's with higher speed and the added consumption of a dedicated graphics chip).

 

[EtphTheElephant]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/#customize

How 'bout this one?

 

[Andar]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/#customize

How 'bout this one?

Those are top-of-the-line notebooks with one of the currently best CPUs (Intel Core i7, a Core i5 is usually enough for any game) and dedicated Grafic cards (haven't checked them in detail however, but all should be able to handle most games)

 

[kerbonklin]

Why don't you just right-click My Computer and hit Properties? It'll display your RAM / Processor / System Type / etc.

If you want to do a good PC cleanup/optimize, use Advance System Care.

By the way if you wanted to do intense gaming, I would just recommend getting a desktop. Don't even think about a notebook, and only a regular laptop if you have cooling pads or an external fan pointing at it.

 

[Andar]

Why don't you just right-click My Computer and hit Properties? It'll display your RAM / Processor / System Type / etc.

If you want to do a good PC cleanup/optimize, use Advance System Care.

He already gave the technical data with the first link above, and with that system no matter of cleaning or optimizing will help. The AMD E1-1200 is simply too slow to handle games, that processor was optimized for low power consumption (the combination of CPU & GPU has a total consumption of 9W according to some tests I've read this week when looking for a new NB myself).

If you consider a consumption of 9W for CPU&GPU and compare that to gaming PCs that usually need powersupplies above 400W to handle everything - you can't optimize that NB enough to run any decent, modern game on it...

 

[EtphTheElephant]

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/#customize


How 'bout this one?

Those are top-of-the-line notebooks with one of the currently best CPUs (Intel Core i7, a Core i5 is usually enough for any game) and dedicated Grafic cards (haven't checked them in detail however, but all should be able to handle most games)

Lenovo it is then. You should be my tech guy, is it ok if I pay you in trident layers?

 

[kerbonklin]

Nobody ever pays me in trident layers... =/

 

[EtphTheElephant]

Nobody ever pays me in trident layers... =/

 You'll get some too