I am in the market for a new laptop. The use of this laptop will primarily be for browsing and multimedia. I also prefer to run linux(k/ubuntu), but will be dual booting some flavor of Windows as well. The most resource heavy programs I use are Code Composer Studio and GIMP. I am not a gamer. Without giving too much info as I don't specifically need anything other than WiFi and BT4.0. Should I be looking at A8, A10, i3 or i5? By budget is $500. Specific suggestion?
Budget $500 or Less Laptop - Questionnaire FIlled
- Thread starter sallc5
- Start date
1. What is your budget? $500
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 15.6" or Smaller
3. What screen resolution do you want? NA
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Laptop
5. How much battery life do you need? 3-5+
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? No.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Code Composer Studio, GIMP
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 128 Minimum
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 3-5 Years
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Not Necessary
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. No Preference
13. What country do you live in? USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. Listed in post Above...
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 15.6" or Smaller
3. What screen resolution do you want? NA
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Laptop
5. How much battery life do you need? 3-5+
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? No.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Code Composer Studio, GIMP
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 128 Minimum
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 3-5 Years
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Not Necessary
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. No Preference
13. What country do you live in? USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. Listed in post Above...
- Apr 19, 2006
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I get a blanck page when I click the link.
I recommend the following Lenovo Z51 for $415. It has a Core i5-5200u and a 1080p screen with 4GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive. It has 2 RAM slots which means you can install up to 16GB of RAM (2x 8GB sticks). Battery life is not great though since it is quoted at 4 hours which means it is likely closer to 3 hours with light usage.
http
/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834321235&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Skimlinks-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=12087162&PID=3736271&SID=skim83512X1540009Xe47d3c80941d7f77eb2364d7cccc60d2&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-Skimlinks#close
I recommend the following Lenovo Z51 for $415. It has a Core i5-5200u and a 1080p screen with 4GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive. It has 2 RAM slots which means you can install up to 16GB of RAM (2x 8GB sticks). Battery life is not great though since it is quoted at 4 hours which means it is likely closer to 3 hours with light usage.
http
/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834321235&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Skimlinks-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=12087162&PID=3736271&SID=skim83512X1540009Xe47d3c80941d7f77eb2364d7cccc60d2&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-Skimlinks#close
jaguarskx :
I get a blanck page when I click the link.
I recommend the following Lenovo Z51 for $415. It has a Core i5-5200u and a 1080p screen with 4GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive. It has 2 RAM slots which means you can install up to 16GB of RAM (2x 8GB sticks). Battery life is not great though since it is quoted at 4 hours which means it is likely closer to 3 hours with light usage.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834321235&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Skimlinks-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=12087162&PID=3736271&SID=skim83512X1540009Xe47d3c80941d7f77eb2364d7cccc60d2&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-Skimlinks#close
I recommend the following Lenovo Z51 for $415. It has a Core i5-5200u and a 1080p screen with 4GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive. It has 2 RAM slots which means you can install up to 16GB of RAM (2x 8GB sticks). Battery life is not great though since it is quoted at 4 hours which means it is likely closer to 3 hours with light usage.
http
/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834321235&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Skimlinks-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=12087162&PID=3736271&SID=skim83512X1540009Xe47d3c80941d7f77eb2364d7cccc60d2&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-Skimlinks#close
Thanks for the response and the suggestion. Sorry about the link. It seems to work fine on my end. here is a link to the Acer Aspire E5-57G3-52G3: http
/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315131&cm_re=E5-573G-52G3-_-34-315-131-_-ProductLet me get your take on that one! I do like the one you link as I can upgrade the ram to 8gb and save the extra toward a SSD.
- Apr 19, 2006
- 7,553
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It should be fine. The nVidia 940m is more powerful than the Radeon R7 M360. However, since you mentioned you do not play games I recommended Lenovo since it is less expensive.
Both Acer and Lenovo seems to have similar specs. The Acer is quoted to have 5 hours of battery, so in real life it may be closer to 4 hours depending on how you use it. Generally, that is the problem with most laptops the stated battery life is usually overoptimistic even with very light usage. It's up to you to decide which one you prefer. Buying the Lenovo laptop means you only get 4GB of RAM though so if you want another 4GB for a total of 8GB, then I think you need to spend about $25 (online) for a 4GB stick of DDR3L (3.5v) RAM.
Apple's stated battery life for their MacBooks seems to be pretty accurate with light average usage. But they are the only exception.
Both Acer and Lenovo seems to have similar specs. The Acer is quoted to have 5 hours of battery, so in real life it may be closer to 4 hours depending on how you use it. Generally, that is the problem with most laptops the stated battery life is usually overoptimistic even with very light usage. It's up to you to decide which one you prefer. Buying the Lenovo laptop means you only get 4GB of RAM though so if you want another 4GB for a total of 8GB, then I think you need to spend about $25 (online) for a 4GB stick of DDR3L (3.5v) RAM.
Apple's stated battery life for their MacBooks seems to be pretty accurate with light average usage. But they are the only exception.
There a couple of features on the Lenovo the Acer does not have seemingly. Which are Bluetooth,, backlit keyboard and DVD-ROM drive.
I can upgrade to 16GB RAM and still be undet $500. Is that really necessary though? Would 8 total suffice and use the rest for SSD?
I can upgrade to 16GB RAM and still be undet $500. Is that really necessary though? Would 8 total suffice and use the rest for SSD?
- Apr 19, 2006
- 7,553
- 4
- 50,315
All laptops have Bluetooth, it is a standard feature for all laptops. If you click the Specifications tab and scroll down you will see Bluetooth 4.0 is a feature on both laptops.
8GB of RAM is fine for most people, but I suppose 16GB is good if you are working on very large image files or you have multiple large image files opened. With 16GB of RAM some people disable the page / swap file in Windows 10 for better performance. Basically when a laptop runs out of RAM it starts to write data to the hard drive in the page / swap file. That can slow things down since reading / writing to the hard drive takes time. But... if you are going to work with several large image files, then I do not recommend disabling the page / swap file.
A SSD will definitely improve the responsiveness of the laptop because it takes less time to load / save files and programs. They can be expensive depending on the capacity you want to install.
8GB of RAM is fine for most people, but I suppose 16GB is good if you are working on very large image files or you have multiple large image files opened. With 16GB of RAM some people disable the page / swap file in Windows 10 for better performance. Basically when a laptop runs out of RAM it starts to write data to the hard drive in the page / swap file. That can slow things down since reading / writing to the hard drive takes time. But... if you are going to work with several large image files, then I do not recommend disabling the page / swap file.
A SSD will definitely improve the responsiveness of the laptop because it takes less time to load / save files and programs. They can be expensive depending on the capacity you want to install.
Alright. That being said, I was thinking to add another 4GB of RAM and this Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD. Any other 240-250GB SSDs to consider. That one puts me $20 over budget but doable. Thanks for your input thus far.
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