Understanding the specifications of a laptop

martineire

Hi I'm just trying to get my head around understanding the spec of laptops so I just get a basic understanding of what I'm looking at. If anyone has the time would they please explain about a processor?? and the difference between an i3, i5 and let's say i7? And what's the RAM and Hard Drive and difference in sizes in GB??

Sorry I'm just try to gather a basic understanding.

Thanks

y0ssar1an22

my knowledge is pretty basic, but you should be able to get an idea...

processor: generally i7>i5>i3. there is more to it than that. there are lots of varieties of i3,5,7. so a top end i3 could be better than the lower end i5.
What they actually do? I'm not really sure...I always associate them with speed- how fast they process info.

Hard drive: how much memory your laptop has- for storing movies, games, saving files and the like. i'd say the average laptop these days would have capacity of about 500Gb, maybe more. The avg movie is 700Mb. so a 500gb hard drive could store about 700 movies.

RAM: dont really know the ins and outs but 4Gb to 6Gb seems to be the average these days.

also consider GPU if you are into gaming. I dont know much about these.

Thats all I really know. Someone more tech savvy will hopefully give you a more productive answerr

Torqay

A Intel Core i5 is ~20-25% faster than a Core i3. A quad Core i7 is easily twice as fast. So, the Core i7 is the King of the Hill, by a country mile. Intel also has a range of slower processors, the Celeron and Pentium series. AMD has nothing really to compete with Intel's Core series processors, except the A-10, which compares to a Intel Core i3 in terms of processing power but does have the better on-chip graphics card (comparable to a Nvidia GT 630M).

As for system memory or RAM the rule of thuimb is: the more the better. 4 GB is pretty basic by today's satandard.

wandererz

martineire wrote: »

explain about a processor??

The processor is the brains behind the computer and does all the calculations in order to make everything work. The faster the processor, the faster the computer. i3,i5,i7 - generally the higher the number, then the faster the processor. These days the processor (or CPU) has multiple "cores". You can think of this as multiple mini processors within the single physical processor.

martineire wrote: »

And what's the RAM

The RAM is also known as the amount of memory on the computer. Short term memory - as its only available when the the computer is switched on, and the info is lost afterwards. When the Processor/CPU is doing its work it stores some information in this temporary memory so that the info is readily accessible to the applications using it.

Many applications perform better with more available memory. The lack of memory (if its all being used up) will make your computer seem less responsive or slow. Generally the more memory the better. These days i would be looking for a minimum of 4GB. 8GB would be good.

martineire wrote: »

Hard Drive and difference in sizes in GB??

The Hard Drive is used to store your information permanently (or until you decide to delete it).

All your files, pictures etc are stored here and so, over time you will consume more Hard Drive space. This decision is based on how much data you intend to store (files, pictures, music etc). Also, keep in mind that some of the space will be used by the system files (Windows 7 or 8 operating system).

Minimum these days would be about 256GB. 500GB would be average for a PC and good enough for a laptop.



I've recently purchased an ultralight laptop and went for the following:
- Core i7
- 8GB RAM
- 128GB SSD Hard Disk (i intend to store long term files to an external disk so don't need as much space on the laptop)

The Core i7 with the 8GB RAM ensures a fast experience. And the SSD drive ensures a fast boot up time of about 8seconds on Windows 8, so no more having to make a coffee while waiting for the laptop to start up - I simply press the power button and Windows is just...there.

Allyall

Torqay wrote: »

AMD has nothing really to compete with Intel's Core series processors

I don't want to confuse the OP, but are you forgetting about the FX series?

The High end intel, beat the AMD, but they do have something to compete with the Core Series, and a huge price difference.