I need to buy a laptop and I'm saving up for it, I think I should be able to do it in 1-2 months. My budget is super small though, so I'm definitely not getting anything high-end, the cheaper the better. (I won't give any numbers because prices in dollar and on my country's currency vary a huge lot... Like, the cheapest laptop (it was on sale btw) I found costed 9/10 of a minimum wage if it serves as reference.) Still, I had some problems in the past by buying the cheapest I could find, so I figured I'd do some research in advance to know what were the minimum specs I should aim for when buying it. ... I don't know a thing about computers though, so... Here I am! Please help me out! >.< Here is what I'll do with the PC. Browse the Internet: I usually just have some 5 tabs open, but sometimes I get up to 30, I'd like it if the PC didn't start lagging heavily (small lag is okay), or crashing the browser if I got this many tabs open. Use Illustrator and Photoshop: Only for simple and small stuff, I don't work with it. It's just a hobby that I generally use to edit pics. Play Games: Nothing AAA or anything of the sort, most I play is touhou and PS2 games on emulator. Uhn... I think that's about it? I think the needed specs are pretty low, but I'd like to know how low I can go! >.< Ah! And is there any infamous brand I should avoid? I had plenty of pronblems with Acer before, so I know I won't buy from them, but I don't know if there is any other brand I should avoid altogether. And... Ah, of course, I will use windows as the software, probably 10 because laptops usually come with the newest software installed on them already usually.
I say just avoid brands altogether. They usually cost more because of the brand logo on them. Use a PC seller website. Something like PCSpecialists. Don’t know if you have that. I need you just need a decent processor, graphics and memory. Probably like an intel i3, not sure about graphics and atleast 8GB memory. This should sort out ur needs for illustrator and photoshop.
I suggest this site: https://www.notebookcheck.net/ They have the best reviews that break down into detail anything you need to know about the laptop you will purchase. Everything from benchmarks to how hot the laptop gets is covered.
Check Amazon Warehousedeals. You have all the benefits from buying from, amazon but it can be way cheaper. Maybe your laptop will have a scratch in the "paint" somewhere or will have a damaged cartoon but it will be way cheaper. They also sell over that "older" hardware way cheaper.
If you're looking for a decent laptop that can do task you mention without lagging, you can get it with budget around $299-$399 (depends on your country) since the task you do wont take that much memory and high processor (you can get laptop with 4GB ram and I3 processor, that's more than enough to spare). And for a better browsing experience, try to avoid using chrome since it take a lot of memory.
How would I even avoid brands? I can't build a laptop, so I need to buy a full one. Thanks for the recommendations though! I'll take a look! Eh? Emulator games are really really light though? I used PCSX2 on a deskptop with dual core and 2GB RAM and it ran pretty smoothly, it's no worry at all. I'm scared of buying used goods, I prefer new stuff because I don't know if it will end up causing a huge problem to me altogether. Thank you very much! *hugs* And no worries, I use Firefox! \(^^)/
If its not necessary right now... I would wait until November for Black Friday. I think you missed the time to buy a laptop since Christmas and Black friday always have good deals
Well, intel core are enough if it's just PS2 emu. Unless you multitasking with a couple of running programs that need heavy processing.
Nah, I need it as soon as possible, I was still job-hunting back in November/December, so it couldn't be helped. The only reason I don't buy it now is because my credit card limit isn't big enough, so I need to save up the money for it. I rarely multi-task while gaming! \(^^)/
Both nicely under 500 dollars, though i'd go with the Asus. https://www.amazon.com/HP-Performan...et-20&linkId=50da5582c99bf79675201fa9bfe5a53f https://www.amazon.com/VivoBook-i5-...et-20&linkId=7ecb116491cdb54988472e6551d15c7e
It isn't used. It maybe is just not in perfectly optical condition. But until now I always got stuff which worked well. You also get full amazon warranty (amazon is the seller)
I'll take a look, though 500$ is way beyond what I can pay! >.< Oh, I see! Hmmmm, nice~ Though I think I won't be able to buy it unless the price is a lot lower than what I expect, my credit card limit is too small, so I need to use a physical store.
You probably would want to buy a cheap ass tablet-laptop to do daily tasks. The reason? Spectre and Meltdown has now forced AMD and Intel to completely revamp their architecture. If that doesn't convince you, how about looking at the idea that the current generation of all CPUs will have at least 30% to way more (especially for older CPUs) of degradation of performance due to the upcoming botched patches (especially by Intel). At the moment, nobody is buying any PC because it is a hardware level exploit. IF you think that as a normal user, you're not affected, no. You ARE affected. Everyone is affected. Malicious people often use these kinds of exploits to farm credentials (by whatever means). Until it is completely patched at the hardware level, I really do suggest to you to buy a cheapass usable tablet / laptop until Intel and AMD releases brand new CPU that would have mitigated / completely immune to Meltdown and Spectre based attacks.
Eh? I just don't care tbh, chances of them going after my data of all things is pretty slim. I need something to work with, and for that all I need is to browse the internet, the rest are just the rest. There are just too many users on the web for me to be picked of all options... If it happens... *shrugs* It happened, it would end up happening when I use my uni's PC or something anyway. I never understood why people worry about a sudden outbreak of "X" vulnerability appeared, I am pretty sure all devices and all securities can be breached by anyone with enough skill and time... So, I'm just permanently in danger, I won't care about any new dangers that appear out there. I can be killed tomorrow by a gunfight on the street for all I know, it doesn't mean that it will happen just because the danger exists. *shrugs*
Is there a particular reason you're going for a laptop in particular? Because if you're okay with getting a desktop, usually that is much cheaper for similar performance.
No space for a desktop! >.< And I think I might use the laptop outside too, there is no wi-fi at home, so I might hijack the wi-fi of my old uni or something... >.>
If that's the case, what exactly is your budget? Do you have brand preferences? Looking at the idea that you want to do browsing, and media editing, I suggest one of those surface pro "clones", (I'm using the term clones loosely here). Surface pro is good, but it is also expensive. There are cheaper alternatives, and if storage is an issue, you can always get an NAS later (the immediate stopgap measure is to get an SD card, but it is not as reliable as a proper harddisk, having low read and write counts. Okay, here are two setups, and I'll try my best to actually explain the pros and cons of each setup, and also the scalability (depending on your needs and wants). Setup A (everything around the tablet) Keyword: interact with the tablet/laptop Buy a surface pro / a surface pro clone (Chuwi has a kickstarter, Lenovo, Dell, HP, Samsung, Acer even, there are all there.) Pros: Mobility Super lightweight Sleep to boot. This is top notch (I don't know how they do it, other than the fact that there's an SSD, but its like playing with a tablet where you just click a button, and it goes to sleep until you wake it up again). Longer battery life (as in screen wake on time) may or may not have built in modem where you just slip in a SIM card. Some models may dual boot windows and android. Cons: Price, and storage. External storage devices will be needed (maybe you'll need to lug around an external HDD, I don't know, depending on your needs are) Setup B (laptop with the idea of deployment) Keyword: Buy a laptop, but everything else as a deployable accessory. Buy a laptop of your choice that supports further increase of RAM, access to HDD, and if possible, a Thunderbolt 3 (more on that later). Pros: Flexibility on what to deploy for (due to the ports, and also the idea that you will need to be stationary at any given particular place) Not enough RAM? Not enough HDD? You can permanently increase the size (up to a certain limit). Laptop HDDs (non SSD) are now at 2TB, which is okay for a lot of things, and if you have a 15" or 17" laptop that supports two drive bays, that's 4TB in theory (without even talking about SSD) Cons: Battery life (1-3 hours, but if the battery degrades, you can always swap the battery pack much, much later). Heavy. Both, on the very basic barebones model, can be gotten below 500USD. However, some general things to really pay attention to (because you pay peanuts, you get peanuts) 1. Processor. If its Intel, stay away from the Atoms. No matter what they say how much it has improved on, just stay away from it. If its AMD, you probably need to worry about the processing power. I don't see any really cheap ones with mobile ryzen yet. Pre Ryzen ones are really subpar. 2. RAM, if its upgradeable, you'll want to max it out. Windows 10 uses all, even when none is used. Because the OS tries to use everything. 4GB is the bare minimum, going any lower, and you'll start to do things like "disable graphics enhancement, this that this that" all for the sake of having more RAM. 3. the GPU, if its from Intel, see what kind of iGPU (integrated GPU) that comes along with it. Do your research and see if it suits your needs. If you're buying a laptop, see that it comes with at least the GTX 1000 series (1050 Ti is a steal at the moment, don't go lower if possible). avoid the 900, 800 series, even if its 960/970 (970 is pretty high end, you could buy an overall much better laptop setup if you see one with a 970/980). 4. Thunderbolt 3. laptops with TB3 doesn't come cheap. However, those with, if you can grab it, go get it. At the very least, TB3 can be used for a lot of things. Need more storage? Hook one with TB3. Need more GPU power? Hook one with TB3 (when you can afford an external GPU case + the GPU itself, and please don't buy with laptop one go, because that's price prohibitive and you might as well buy a USD1000-2000 laptop rather than buy a cheapass laptop + tb3+ external gpu + encasing at the same time). The reason why I'm asking you to consider looking for TB3 enabled laptop is that if in the foreseeable future you're still going to have financial problems, having a TB3 ( its something like USB 3.1, but a lot of manufacturers call it a "combo port" [again, not to be mistaken with the previous combo port where it was USB 3.0 and external SATA, so do your due diligence there!]) is a much needed bandaid stopgap measure, which allows some much needed room for future compatibility, and prolonging the life of your purchase (which is the laptop), so you'll probably be stretching the use from say, 2 years to 4-6 years until it becomes technologically too obsolete to perform tasks needed in its day. Sorry for the long wall of text though.
the 30% is for older hardware as the lack of certain standards will cripple older hardware. at most 5% for certain programs if you are reasonably update. if you play games you will see about 1-3 fps drop at most. the software that ill be hit the most is anti virus and anti malware
Ah, my budget is pretty small, it's hard for me to put it in dollars because the price of laptops on the US and on my country vary way too much. My budget is around 1-1.3 minimum wages, the cheapest laptop I have found while looking through stores was 0.9 minimum wages, so... A pretty small budget overall. Tablets don't work for me, tried it once and it was just too bad for multi-tasking. (and it was a super cheap tablet that lagged by having 5 firefox tabs open and battery life of around 1h... So... A pretty horrible deal overall.) So I'm going for a laptop. As for the rest of the reply... Thank you very much for the in-depth reply! I didn't understand half of it, but I can google what are the things I didn't understand! It's already a huge help! Thank you very much!