What Spec Makes a 'Good' Laptop? CPU/RAM/CACHE/HARDDRIVE- Opinions?

[zmatt]

^ Agreed, Laptops are more expensive than pcs for the same performance and they get very big hot and heavy when you start to add faster components. Gaming laptop is an oxymoron. If you load it down with those components you will get mediocre performance and it will be too big and heavy to practically carry every day.

The M1330 does have the option for an 8400m but it is completely optional.

 

[Liamando]

That ram is really slow. 667mhz DDR2, I'm suprised they still use that.

If you can get one of the newer 45nm Core2s, I believe the model numbers for the mobile processors are T9xxx. Unless your dad games or benchmarks then the cache size isn't going to makes a huge deal.

For me the biggest factors in a laptop are size and weight. Performance is a secondary consideration, because every laptop owner should have a beefy desktop also. You should not rely on a laptop for your primary machine.

Having said that aim for 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life, the more the better. I would also suggest a 15.4inch laptop as the maximum, any bigger and you loose the advantages of having a laptop. And if it were me i would get smaller. My laptop is a 12inch.


I am generally not a fan of Dell, but their laptops have always treated me right.

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Depending on how much you want to spend this one may be perfect.

So is RAM that's 667mhz DDR2 not good?

I've just found one on Comet.co.uk that has more I think. Here's the spec:

HP DV6810

Brand HP
Screen size 15 inches
Screen type tbc
Processor AMD Turion 64 x2 Dual Core
Processor model number TL-60
Processor speed 2 GHz
Processor bus 1600 MHz
Processor cache 1 MB
Memory (RAM) 3072 MB
Storage (hard drive) 250 GB
Storage (hard drive) Type SATA
Operating system Windows Vista Home Premium
Application software Not included
Shared graphics No
Dedicated graphics NVIDIA GF8400M 256 MB
Optical drive Plays & records CDs and DVDs
Lightscribe technology Yes
S-Video output Yes
VGA output Yes
HDMI output Yes
Built-in wireless networking Yes - 802.11b/g
Wired networking Not featured
Gigabit LAN Yes
Built-in fingerprint reader No
USB 2.0 slots 3
Firewire 6 pin
Media card slots 5-in-1
Built-in bluetooth No
Built-in webcam Yes
Built-in TV Tuner No
Speakers Standard
Battery life Up to 2 hours
Laptop weight (kg) 2.8 kg
Premier Collection No

Is 'Processor Bus' in mhz the same as describing RAM in mhz?

 

[zmatt]

No, that is the Hyper Transport bus. It is the AMD equivalent to the front side bus.

After looking around I realized that 667mhz DDR2 is pretty standard for laptops. Apparently mem speed isn't a huge priority.

That laptop is not very portable. that is over 6 pounds and a 2 hours battery life.
A laptop should be smaller, light and have a good battery life. Everything else is secondary.
Does Dell not sell to the UK?

 

[DC*90]

CPU Speed -core2 duo
RAM - 3gig
CACHE- 4mb
Hard Drive Capacity -250gb

im going to get a 7200rpm 320gig seagate momentus hard drive soon though

 

[zmatt]

^ whats your point here? Are you trying to list "good" specs for a laptop or your specs?

 

[Alvin.C]

What spec makes a 'good' laptop?

Depends what good is. It means different things to all people. Some will class a good laptop as being light, portable, with good battery life, while others would class a laptop with high end dedicated graphics and a fast dual core processor as being good. This is evident by looking at the different opinions given in this thread about what a good laptop is.

There are different opinions because people use their laptops for different purposes, and so have different requirements.

For example, I recently bought an HP 2510p ultraportable to use at University. It has a 12.1" display, Intel Core 2 Duo ULV 1.2 Ghz processor, 80GB 4200RPM PATA hard drive and 1GB of RAM. In comparison, the speed of the processor and the slow hard drive certainly do not beat the specs of even far less expensive notebooks you can buy today, but to me, it is what I consider to be a good laptop. Because of the ULV processor, it has superb battery life, and the notebook itself is very lightweight at only 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs). It is ideal for me to carry around campus and to use on the go without having to charge up all the time.

My point is that the definition of good depends on what you'll be using the laptop for, and that different purposes have different requirements. Also, remember that it's all relative - if you're looking for portability and long battery life, then don't expect a laptop with a large screen with high end graphics.

Since you live in the UK, http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ is a superb place to purchase a laptop. They have a wide range of laptops at very good prices. Use the price finder if you have a budget.

 

[Fat.Clown]

For me the biggest factors in a laptop are size and weight. Performance is a secondary consideration, because every laptop owner should have a beefy desktop also. You should not rely on a laptop for your primary machine.

Having said that aim for 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life, the more the better. I would also suggest a 15.4inch laptop as the maximum, any bigger and you loose the advantages of having a laptop. And if it were me i would get smaller. My laptop is a 12inch.

couldn't have said it better
except I don't own a Dell, Sony SZ FTW

Probably RAM. Have at least 2GB if you plan on using Vista. 3GB is plenty, though if you want 4 go ahead. I have 3GB and Vista runs great on my computer even while gaming.

I just need to stop being so lazy and reinstall my stuff to 64bit
I've upgraded to 4gbs yet still in 32 bit, only thing is, my ram usage is constantly up in the 70s %-wise.
(I usually keep a lot of tabs open in firefox lol)
last night worse, 89%... I had to restart to clear the cache and what not
it was just too laggy
maybe I should get another cheap set of 2gbs after reinstall.......

 

[zmatt]

You really shouldn't need more than 2 gigs right now. IMO 3 gig laptops are a gimmick. In my experience, through usage and benchmarking over 2 gigs dose not give a sizable performance boost, at least for the things that you would spend most of your time doing on a pc. Servers are different.