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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :
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Posted: 13:09 - 13 Dec 2018 Post subject: New computer required. |
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As above, my old laptop keeps crashing and I suspect hard drive. Thing is it's ancient and slow as a slug on mogadon so I'll be looking to replace.
I use it for office, internet, streaming and playing old games. (civ 2, Heroes of might and magic, pirates etc. ) so I doubt I need something really powerful though I suppose 4 k is standard nowadays?
A few questions -
I have a laptop, it never moves so is it better value getting a desktop rather than another laptop.
Do I go for something with a separate graphics chip/card or are the latest versions of integrated sufficient to do the job?
Is £500 a reasonable price for something that won't be out of date in 5 minutes? There are lots of laptops under that.
The laptop I have at the moment has an AMD A8 CPU and an R5 graphics with 8 gig ram.
And is it worth waiting for January for sales with a computer or is it SCS bullshit time with no real savings?
Ta muchly. ____________________ Triumph Trophy Launch Edition |
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
Joined: 29 Sep 2015 Karma :
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Posted: 14:40 - 13 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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Is it windows 10 or 7, and how much crap have you installed? I recently stuck an SSD in a relatives computer, cloned the drive and boot-up time went from 4 mins to under 40 seconds |
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Confusion |
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Confusion Scooby Slapper
Joined: 02 May 2013 Karma :
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Posted: 15:19 - 13 Dec 2018 Post subject: Re: New computer required. |
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Polarbear wrote: | As above, my old laptop keeps crashing and I suspect hard drive. Thing is it's ancient and slow as a slug on mogadon so I'll be looking to replace. |
It is more likely to be a software issue. Try booting a different system
and run a few hardware diagnostic tests. Live bootable Linux discs
are ideal for testing. Mint, Ubuntu or whatever you fancy.
Quote: | I use it for office, internet, streaming and playing old games. (civ 2, Heroes of might and magic, pirates etc. ) so I doubt I need something really powerful though I suppose 4 k is standard nowadays? |
You shouldn't need a particularly powerful machine for that.
I haven't seen a laptop with a 4k screen. Most if not all current
laptops will have a lower resolution screen, although the graphics
chip may be able to support external HD or UHD screens.
Quote: | I have a laptop, it never moves so is it better value getting a desktop rather than another laptop. |
I prefer to use a desktop as my main machine. Then tend to be
more powerful, reliable and cheaper in the long term because
they can be fixed or upgraded without having to replace the
entire machine.
Quote: | Do I go for something with a separate graphics chip/card or are the latest versions of integrated sufficient to do the job? |
On-board graphs are certainly fast enough for me.
Quote: | Is £500 a reasonable price for something that won't be out of date in 5 minutes? There are lots of laptops under that. |
You will get a decent laptop for that. Mine cost €299 six years ago
and is still going strong.
Quote: | The laptop I have at the moment has an AMD A8 CPU and an R5 graphics with 8 gig ram. |
That is a reasonably good spec and should be quite capable of
handling everything on your list of requirements.
Quote: | And is it worth waiting for January for sales with a computer or is it SCS bullshit time with no real savings? |
Well, since you missed thanksgiving a few weeks ago, you may as
well wait for the January sales.
In the meantime, wipe that hard drive clean and reinstall your
OS. This should restore it's original level of performance. As others
have said, a SSHD will give it a further boost. ____________________ Bandit 650SA, ZZ-R1100 |
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
Joined: 29 Sep 2015 Karma :
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Posted: 16:03 - 13 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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I'm still not sure about O/B graphics, they used to be like having a tapeworm, maybe they've improved but personally I'd still want dedicated graphics on a laptop or desktop.
The screen thing's why I recommend upgrading/salvaging his current laptop, as laptops seem to have barely moved on in the last decade. Just for example look at this POS ('as seen on tv' like it's some great offer): https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-330s-14-intel-pentium-gold-laptop-128-gb-ssd-blue-10180843-pdt.html
That will be worse than what the OP's currently using, and is similar spec to my decade old laptop that cost £500 (which btw's 1080 ). |
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :
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Posted: 16:38 - 13 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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Running windows 10.
Cheers chaps so it seems it's not the hardware so I'll do a complete factory reinstall and see what happens. ____________________ Triumph Trophy Launch Edition |
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
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P. |
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P. Red Rocket
Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :
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andym |
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andym World Chat Champion
Joined: 16 Nov 2010 Karma :
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Riejufixing |
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Riejufixing World Chat Champion
Joined: 24 Jun 2018 Karma :
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Riejufixing |
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Riejufixing World Chat Champion
Joined: 24 Jun 2018 Karma :
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
Joined: 29 Sep 2015 Karma :
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Posted: 23:17 - 13 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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We must have different definitions of OK, I had Win' 10 on a 7200 rpm Spinpoint drive and it was still awful. My laptop currently has a HDD but that only has a (relatively) clean Win' 7 install so is ok. I had an SSD in there but I stuck it in the family PC, as I couldn't stand Win' 10 on a HDD |
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Riejufixing |
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Riejufixing World Chat Champion
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
Joined: 29 Sep 2015 Karma :
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Posted: 23:57 - 13 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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I like the response times of an SSD, that you can install/uninstall loads of stuff without it impacting system performance, and that you can pretty much fill-up your drive (again) without impacting performance.
I only got mine a few years ago as I had filled up a 1TB HDD, I wish someone had told me about them sooner |
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P. |
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P. Red Rocket
Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :
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Posted: 10:07 - 14 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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I bought a 500GB M2 SSD during black friday.
That is insane compared to the 2.5inch ones and I've since installed another, removed my 2TB 7200rpm drive and threw it in the bin. |
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RhynoCZ |
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RhynoCZ Super Spammer
Joined: 09 Mar 2012 Karma :
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Posted: 12:59 - 14 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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Next time you boot the system up, press ctrl + shift + esc, there find performance card and see how is your PC doing. If the CPU is pegged at 100% or very close to it all the time, you either have malware issues OR the CPU just can't handle the tasks. The same goes for the RAM usage.
I also agree, that you (everyone!) should get an SSD for the system. There's no need to go crazy with the specs. Even the slowest SSD is going to be way, way faster, or rather more responsive, than the fastest HDDs ever made (one of those very loud Raptor drivers with 10k rpm).
With an SSD, you click at something and stuff happens. Even data that you haven't used in years will load up like it was yesterday.
Checking the market, today I can buy a 512GB SSD (Western Digital) for the same money, that I payed for their 1TB HDD two years ago. Not to mention my current SSD (system drive) costed more than double of what they ask for a 512GB SSD today. Feck, I might as well buy a 1TB SSD!
EDIT for those who play games: SSD means the ''fast travel'' is an actual fast travel. ____________________ '87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI; MZ 150 ETZ, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor |
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Riejufixing |
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Riejufixing World Chat Champion
Joined: 24 Jun 2018 Karma :
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Im-a-Ridah |
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Im-a-Ridah World Chat Champion
Joined: 20 Oct 2006 Karma :
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
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P. |
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P. Red Rocket
Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Karma :
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Posted: 14:14 - 14 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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Solid
I still haven't filled my 500GB, not by a long shot so it should last you! |
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Riejufixing |
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Riejufixing World Chat Champion
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
Joined: 29 Sep 2015 Karma :
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Posted: 14:26 - 14 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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I think SanDisk are meant to be ok, for a tenner more I'd have got a Crucial (MX500) or Samsung drive. Macrium Reflect (free edition)* works well, if you're cloning a larger to smaller drive it'll resize everything automatically.
If you haven't done a clean install yet I recommend doing a clean install on the new SSD, if you have you can clone the new installation to save doing it again, although you'll need an external drive caddy (a few quid off eBay), or a PC assuming you have enough spare cables.
*you don't have to enter your email to download it. |
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M.C |
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M.C Super Spammer
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Polarbear |
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Polarbear Super Spammer
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :
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Posted: 14:31 - 14 Dec 2018 Post subject: |
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See I know jack shit about what brands are good or not but I know sandisk are a big memory card maker so I presume their SSD will be reasonable. It's only a big memory card afterall. Isn't it?
Anyway, time will tell. ____________________ Triumph Trophy Launch Edition |
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 5 years, 105 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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