Laptop Suggestion ?

[expresso]

I may be interesting in a new Laptop - the one i have is not very OLD but it was a low end model - the cost was very low and i just got it - figure i dont use it much -

i just happen to find this model - sounds good - its 6th gen i7 - since i dont keep up with all these things latest chips and this and that - maybe your guys can chime in with the pros and cons -

is it worth getting it now or wait till end or year maybe for better cost ? should i wait for the 7th Gen to hit the market - is it worth the difference between the chips ? i like how it looks - light and seems pretty well packed - SSD 8 gig - can add another 8 down the line -

i just want a fast laptop for once - but i am not in a rush - i can still use what i have - so it dosnt have to happen now - i just happen to find this model - i am tired of HP or Dell that i cant seem to config. the way i want -

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01DT49XN8/ ... 89DN&psc=1


https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B015HQ9TGW/ ... VLAS&psc=1 - Ram for later upgrade

what do you guys think - ?

[Gnomatic]

What is the make/model of your current laptop?

[expresso]

What is the make/model of your current laptop?

OH its a cheap one really - HP 15 inch - A8 Cpu - its ok for most i would think - just i find it too slow for me - it has 8 gig - Win 10 64bit - home - HD is just norm. 5400 RPM i am sure - CD rom which is rare these days - i didnt even think to check the other one if it has a CD rom - -

i was picky with the Mouse pad - left and right keys etc, - this one had the older style with two parts for left click and right - then the pad area for the mouse - alot of them today have one large area which never work good for me -

looks like theres no choice - they all seem to have it that way -

i think i paid $280 for it on sale last year - has a nice screen - touch also - which i never use - didnt get it for the touch screen - just happen to have it -

[Burgerman]

Dell xps 13.

High res at almost 4k. Touch screen if you don't turn it off. Glass, and a 13 inch screen in a 12 inch laptop. And fast. And dont buy a laptop without SSD.

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/pd

Specifically http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-13-9360-la ... 360-laptop

VID http://content.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/ ... yout=modal

[Gnomatic]

Do you plan on gaming on your laptop? Because if not, the one you linked in your first post had a 3rd party gaming GPU, which would be a waste if you are not going to game on it.

What kind of apps do you want to run on your laptop? If your not doing anything super CPU intensive, the A8 likely sufficient. What's slowing you're lappy down is it's 5400rpm HDD> replacing that with an SSD would greatly speed things along.

For me, I want my laptop to be small, light weight and portable. Also want a minimum 1080p screen. No DVD drive. I have a desktop for CPU intensive stuff. Prefer a laptop with a fanless CPU.

I picked up an Asus Zenbook last year, couldn't be happier.

[expresso]

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productd ... n-1-laptop

this is what we have here in the US dell site - i am really not looking to spend that much more - the ASUS got my attention because of the cost also for the performance -

its not used as much as my desktop - but i do use it maybe 4 times a week or if desktop ever goes down - thats my back up -


i dont need top of the line everything - just enough to not get annoying to use and not slow - the dell offer list cost is more and only 4 gig memory - smaller SSD - etc, - has 7th gen i7 - touch screen i dont care for - etc,

i found an inspiration model from dell - etc, but cant get SSD - cant customize any of these things - very limited

i use it daily for charging my chairs though -

[expresso]

Do you plan on gaming on your laptop? Because if not, the one you linked in your first post had a 3rd party gaming GPU, which would be a waste if you are not going to game on it.

What kind of apps do you want to run on your laptop? If your not doing anything super CPU intensive, the A8 likely sufficient. What's slowing you're lappy down is it's 5400rpm HDD> replacing that with an SSD would greatly speed things along.

For me, I want my laptop to be small, light weight and portable. Also want a minimum 1080p screen. No DVD drive. I have a desktop for CPU intensive stuff. Prefer a laptop with a fanless CPU.

I picked up an Asus Zenbook last year, couldn't be happier.

no i dont really game - i just hate the long wait and slow to do things most times - i agree HD is slow and weak link for sure - but to open that thing up - i think that HD needs more to do to get to it - i may have to remove keyboard etc,

Two things will happen - i get fustrated and break it during the process or manage to change it and add more ram etc, and still be lacking after - i never opened a laptop before - other than to add memory a long time ago - was simpler then
now everything is molded in one piece it seems -

i dont mind having a gaming card in there - better for videos at least - etc, - the cost and hardware specs sounded interesting to me - - to get a SSD card in there and more ram - may cost $200 - and then i have to do the work which i may end up bricking the whole thing maybe

[Gnomatic]

i found an inspiration model from dell - etc, but cant get SSD - cant customize any of these things - very limited

You could likely replace the HDD of the Inspiron with an SSD. Doing the same to your current laptop would likely make a HUGE improvement.

Again, what is the make/model of your current laptop?

[expresso]

i found an inspiration model from dell - etc, but cant get SSD - cant customize any of these things - very limited

You could likely replace the HDD of the Inspiron with an SSD. Doing the same to your current laptop would likely make a HUGE improvement.

Again, what is the make/model of your current laptop?

maybe its worth a shot - if i can figure it out how to replace it - if its simple - with out having to take the whole thing apart - i have to find the parts that fit and figure out cost -

its HP - 15 F100DX Model

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Touch-Screen- ... +15-f100dx

this is it - and i think it may have 4 gig of memory - i though it was 8 -

[Gnomatic]

its HP - 15 F100DX Model

ehh .... you're right, no easy access to the HDD. Have to remove the keyboard to access drive. Can be done of coarse, but ones like that are a real pain.

I really like my Zenbook. Speed to burn for a laptop. Light weight, portable, good batter life. Decent value for what it is, and Asus has a nice warranty system assuming you register your laptop when you get it.

https://smile.amazon.com/UX330UA-AH54-1 ... op?ie=UTF8

[expresso]

whats the difference between the Zen model and the one i linked too -

i was always with a 15 inch screen - not sure how i feel with a smaller size - but i like the idea of a smaller compact - light package - i wonder how it feels to type on it -

the way i usually use my laptop - i end up using the front of the laptop where the mouse pad section is - to lean my wrists on that area with that area off the table edge some - i feel best that way for some reason having a smaller foot print - not sure how that would affect the way i use it now -

maybe can work out even better who knows - its hard when changing things - you get used to doing things a certain way -

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01DT49XN8/ ... 89DN&psc=1

i dont mind waiting - i like how the Zen looks - and having at least 8 gig already and SSD installed - i dont mind if i add memory later - i just hate to have to take the whole thing apart - i seen the video how to do it for my laptop -

anything can be done really - but would hate to start it and never get it working after - i would have to buy the parts first - and if i dont get it work or break something else in the process - then i am out of luck with the parts - its a gamble

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatibl ... -15-f100dx

$200 at least in parts - both memory and HD - then cross my fingers - or just buy a Zen and forget about it right ?

[expresso]

https://smile.amazon.com/ASUS-F556UA-AB ... R5047MXAT3

found this one with i5 7th gen - even lower cost then the first one i found ? and 15 inch screen

what am i missing here ?

[Gnomatic]

The one you linked in your first post has a 512GB Ssd compared to 256GB in the one you linked in your just above.

But both are huge! So big they even have a number keypad next to the keyboard. Not my cup of tea. Plus the DVD drive - adds too much wait for something rarely if ever used, plus it sucks up a bit of power. Third party GPU will also use battery, even when not gaming.

Zenbook = 2.6lbs

HP you linked = 5.1lbs

[expresso]

The one you linked in your first post has a 512GB Ssd compared to 256GB in the one you linked in your just above.

But both are huge! So big they even have a number keypad next to the keyboard. Not my cup of tea. Plus the DVD drive - adds too much wait for something rarely if ever used, plus it sucks up a bit of power. Third party GPU will also use battery, even when not gaming.

Zenbook = 2.6lbs

HP you linked = 5.1lbs

yeah i think i should look at getting smaller lighter and faster this time around - i would have to just adjust to it - i dont carry it around so not a huge deal if its 5 pounds - but it has been also getting to me having a larger unit laying around -

i use it for Charging my chair PL 8 - and like it to work just as fast as my desktop - if not as fast - closer to it than not -

i hate reading the reviews now from amazon - when i read those bad ones - gets me worried -

since you have one - which do you have - ? what do you like about it - which models should i look for if i want to try a Zen - the newer ones ? would like it under $1000 if i can - but need the power speed - good wifi -

is it worth getting the 7th gen over the 6th if cost is so much more ? the new 7th gen i5 - is good enough - vs the i7 version - i am not sure what the difference is - i think the new i5 does hyperthreading now which it didnt before ?

i am not sure - so many model cpus - etc, i get confused - 2 core - 4 core - etc,

[Gnomatic]

I'll have to look up which mine is. It's probably a couple year old model, I got it off Craigs;ist. Went for $600 hundred new, something like.

[Gnomatic]

It's a UX-305F, with a Core-M 5Y10c CPU. It's low powered but plenty for what I do with a laptop. The newer ones have faster CPU's.

I like that it's lightweight and not bulky. Real nice for when traveling. 1080p screen.(I hate cheap lower rez laptop screens) Battery life is fine. It checks all the boxes I need in a laptop.

[expresso]

It's a UX-305F, with a Core-M 5Y10c CPU. It's low powered but plenty for what I do with a laptop. The newer ones have faster CPU's.

I like that it's lightweight and not bulky. Real nice for when traveling. 1080p screen.(I hate cheap lower rez laptop screens) Battery life is fine. It checks all the boxes I need in a laptop.

that model got great reviews - and you have it a few years and still going -

if you had to buy one of those today - zen models - etc, - keeping the costs reasonable - its not worth it for me to spend $1600 or more on a latop - if i can get something under the $1000 -

what would be your picks today if you were buying one ? keep it Gen. 7th i5 or i7 etc, ?

[Gnomatic]

If I were buying new today ....

https://smile.amazon.com/UX330UA-AH54-1 ... ds=zenbook

[expresso]

If I were buying new today ....

https://smile.amazon.com/UX330UA-AH54-1 ... ds=zenbook

looks nice - price is fair - would be faster lighter than mines now - how big a difference is DDR3 to DDR4 memory - i notice it has DDR3

can i upgrade memory easy on this also - or i have to take it apart - ?

says cant expand Ram - so limited to just 8 gig ?

[Burgerman]

Difference between DDR3 and DDR4 depends on its frequency, and its latency, and its number of channels. Decent DDR3 still makes cheap generic DDR4 look crap. In a laptop I doubt you can detect any difference, and 8gb is plenty. You wont ever use that on a laptop.

[expresso]

since i can easily change the memory on mines now - maybe i should give that a shot -

i find different info - some say it takes 8 gig max - some say 16 gig - speed is PC3-12800 - cpu z shows

some say i can use 1866 speed - instead of 1600 - i like to max it out if i can - and get two 8 gig sticks -

use the fastest if i can use 1866 i would - cant find for sure answers on it

[Gnomatic]

since i can easily change the memory on mines now - maybe i should give that a shot -

i find different info - some say it takes 8 gig max - some say 16 gig - speed is PC3-12800 - cpu z shows

some say i can use 1866 speed - instead of 1600 - i like to max it out if i can - and get two 8 gig sticks -

use the fastest if i can use 1866 i would - cant find for sure answers on it

RAM speed is very inconsequential to performance in anything you're going to run on a laptop. Swapping the RAM on your laptop will be much less noticable, if it is at all, compared to swapping the HDD for a SSD.

[expresso]

you know i been watching the video how to take it apart - more i look at it - more it seems not too bad - its take consuming and alot of little screws -

but i think i can do it - only thing is i dont have the tool i see the guy use to lift up the keyboard and cover - i can try a credit card with a knife to start it first -

i think i may just give it a shot - its too slow for me this way - if i managed to swap it -

i would have to install windows fresh again - if i did that - would it work and just activate on its own since this was a upgrade when i got it - from 8.1 - free upgrade -

would you know if it takes just 8 gig total at 1600 speed or 16 gig total and 1866 speed ?

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatibl ... -15-f100dx

http://www.ebay.com/itm/16GB-2X8GB-Memo ... w-collect|

would crucial be Ok or is there better for the price - the SSD i would get is the lowest cost model - 275gig - for $95

is there a better deal i can get you think ? Ram i want to max it while i am at it - or i can just get another 4 gig stick - but isnt it better to just max it and get two 8 gig sticks at this point ?

how can i know which ram is correct - there is low voltage and reg. - ?

http://www.memorydepot.com/list.html?ca ... city=2x8GB

[Burgerman]

8gig of any ram in a laptop is more than you need. And you will never use more or detect any difference. Get the fastest SSD and the biggest you can afford as that makes a very big difference. My laptop has M.2 samsung NVMe 512 drive.

[expresso]

8gig of any ram in a laptop is more than you need. And you will never use more or detect any difference. Get the fastest SSD and the biggest you can afford as that makes a very big difference. My laptop has M.2 samsung NVMe 512 drive.

Ok - i will give them a call and ask Crucial about the Ram model etc, to be sure i get the correct speed etc, - i get conflicting info. - i have 4 gig in there - its samsung memory - - if i were to get just another 4 Gig - same speed etc, but its not samsung - i wonder if it would work or should i just get Two new sticks -

the SSD is your Avg. kind - its not the M2 kind found today like you have - its the sames as i am using on my desktop now - about same speed etc, -

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatibl ... -15-f100dx

i will choose one of these - the least money is 275Gig - or 525Gig for $150 - which maybe is the better choice - i just hope if i do this - i can actually get it to work -

one thing also - when i change out the drive - i will have to reinstall windows again - i can use my Win 10 disk and if it works - it should activate ? -

i went into the bios last night and looked around - not much it will allow me to do anyway - but i dont see where i can change the boot order to make it start from the CD rom to install windows -

its set to go right to the HD i believe -

[expresso]

i went with the 8 gig kit - two 4 gig sticks - Crucial - i can swap that out easily - SSD will wait a few more days to order - wont ship till April 4 - i figure let me do one thing at a time - - its a Crucial SSD also - looking at 525Gig for $149

anyone have free software i can use to transfer or clone the current drive over the SSD before i install ? i would need a SSD to USB cable to do that and the software only ? which is best way to get it back up and running if i manage to get it installed -

i made a boot disk with rufus USB - with Win 10 64bit on it - i just hope it will activate on its own since i have no disk from HP to reinstall and no Activation codes etc, -

[LROBBINS]

Instead of doing a windows re-install, download Clonezilla at http://clonezilla.org/. It's free imaging software. Put it on a USB pen as an ISO, boot your computer from that, and you can image everything that's on your current disc to an external USB drive. Then when you mount the SSD you can restore that image to the SSD. To expand the image to use the whole SSD you need to use one advanced setting in Clonezilla. If you go this route, when you get near this point I can walk you through it. Clonezilla is Linux, menu rather than GUI oriented and between Chenglish and nerdish not all of the English is completely clear, but it is actually easy to use, reliable and free. I don't know how many times it's saved me hours and hours of work.

On my current Fujitsu T902 convertible laptops, bought used, I have a 500G mSATA instead of a WWAN board and a 500G HDD. The mSATA is the working disc and I use the HDD for cumulative and "changed file" backups and images and I've become pretty anal about doing both file and image backups. mSATA is not very fast compared to newer SSDs, but this combination of SSD and internal HDD allows me to image and verify a ca. 200G partition in about 30 minutes. Took close to 2 hours with internal HDD and USB HDD for the image repository. That's on older computers with gen 3 i5 processors and SATA2 interface. For most disc access, it's faster than my fingers on the keyboard. Imaging is one thing where extra RAM speeds things up some - I have 4G in one machine and 8G in the other and there is a bit of a difference. You should not have to reactivate Windows - but if you do, and it's Win10 - MS will recognize your computer despite the change to SSD. Even changing a mother board doesn't cause you to lose activation - when MS says "no can do", you just check "I've recently changed some hardware", MS checks all of the component IDs they already have on file from the original (or OEM) activation and, if other components are the same, it then whitelists the new mother board and does the activation. Sometimes Microsoft's lack of respect for privacy is handy,

If I had a lot of large files (I don't) I'd probably put them on the HDD too, and would have probably put in a 1TB HDD - I just figure that by occupying only a portion of the SSD's space load leveling throughout the 500G will make it last a long, long time. I don't do videos, games etc., so I don't have files of that sort. Just number crunching, programming, PCB layout, some simple drawing with CorelDraw and the usual word processing and web surfing.

Ciao,
Lenny
Lenny

[Burgerman]

As Lenny says, just clone it. Tons of free utilities for that.

Heres another silly idea that works. Just bought a new PC here.

I cloned my LAPTOP to the new PC expecting all kinds of problems! Totally different hardware and stuff. I did try it because its got months of configuring, software, work, and everything set up perfectly. Guess what? Booted first time, needed a few drivers afterwards. Never expected that to work. It said it wasn't activated though. So I downloaded that activator. That worked great, now I have the corporate version! And it left me some trogens to clean up. But that was easy. Sved a month of setting everything up properly. Good to go and all up to date in 1 hour! So just dump your desktop straight onto it and give it a try.

[expresso]

thanks Lenny - it sounds complicated i am not worried about whats on the drive - i dont need to save it - what ever i need to save is off there - i can easily reinstall my programs - i just figured if its easier to do it this way and then just install SSD so it just boots up as normal -

Or if its better easier to just install the SSD - and boot off the Rufus to install a fresh copy - - i would just loose all the junk that comes installed with the Laptop which is fine with me - to update it - windows update should work fine - dont need to use HP UPDATE ?

or if i use a SSD to USB Cable - i can plug in the SSD with the cable and do a image restore - send it to the SSD drive instead - would that work if i did it that way - ?

if i even get this far - and not break in trying to take it apart -

[Burgerman]

I think you need computer lessons. Go to the manufacturer website and download all the specific drivers, for your laptop. That includes the ones for the keyboard shortcuts, and all the rest.

Then install latest windows 10 fresh if you want. Get a new copy, straight to your memory stick, it will make it bootable for you here. https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/softwar ... /windows10

After this, copy your drivers to the memory stick too.

Install new SSD, boot from memory stick, and say install... If that laptop is legit it wont need making "legal" and it will be activated as soon as you go online. Dont add a serial if it asks.