Decisions, decisions. Which laptop?

[Theo]

I need a new laptop and I believe if it will run DP it will do everything that I need. The decision is what to get.

The current computer is a DELL N5010 with 8GB RAM P6100 processor running at 2GHz

It's OK but it takes a month of Sundays to get going and I notice that the HD is running at 100% for ages.

Does anyone have thoughts about a good machine to get?

Nick

[gwpriester]

You might try first updating your hard drive to a SSD. They are faster and the capacity is larger and the cost on these has really come down. See if that makes a difference. Other than that probably another DELL. They usually offer a lot of computer for the best price.

[Acorn]

I'd always gone for Sony Vaio then Samsung, but my Daughter's DELL Inspiron is solid in comparison. As Gary's says go for SSD and, essential, 16+GB RAM.

Acorn

[Theo]

Thanks, both.

Would it be a good idea to upgrade this old computer with an SSD and another 8GB RAM, then? It needs a new battery, too. At the moment with only five mins from full charge to shutdown it has to be replaced.

For environmental reasons I would like to hang on to this one but is the processor up to performance?

N

[gwpriester]

Not sure but consider the cost of a new battery, new SSD drive (I got a 1TB SSD recently for my DELL desktop and the price was about $150), and more RAM. Probably not all that much. And if it is still not up to snuff then wipe the drive and donate it to a school or charity.

[Chris M]

I've been building/repairing for a living for 19 years. Customers are driven by 2 things - price and what they need the machine to do. Using the latest DP and MS office as the most power hungry software, I would recommend as a minimum:
CPU - 2.4GHz (Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 3)
RAM - 8 GB
SSD - 256 GB (see below)
The rest (video card, Bluetooth and all the sparkly bits) are irrelevant unless you have a specific need, and virtually all manufacturers supply them. I threw the video card into the irrelevant basket because all modern onboard graphics will handle HD.

The SSD is THE most important part. Don't be swayed by large capacity HDDs. Laptop HDDs are the slowest of all, running at 5400. I would be nearly tempted to say keep what you have and swap out the HDD for an SSD, but at 2GHz dual core you may be disappointed. If price is restrictive you would be better off swapping your existing HDD for and SSD rather than dropping too far below the above specs.

If you buy new, try and go for a 256 SSD which will house your OS and programs. A second 1TB HDD can be fitted into the DVD drive (make sure the laptop has one) with the use of a dirt cheap converter available on ebay. If you're even slightly tech minded you can then move your libraries (default location for documents, pictures, music etc.) to the HDD and have the benefit of both large storage and high speed. If you don't feel confident, find a local repair shop, NOT a franchise or big store. The price should be very reasonable to fit the HDD tray and move your libraries. I'm in Australia so pricing wold be useless, but I do this type of fit-out in 45 minutes.

[Theo]

I resurrect the old thread that I started.

Success!

I have my old and trusted Dell Inspiron N3010. I have fitted the Crucial SSD having cloned it using the Acronis software that they supplied. I found instructions for changing the HDD on You Tube and followed them precisely and there was no problem apart from being left with 4 screws at the end of the procedure. This entailed reversing until I got to where they were missing.

With that problem sorted the laptop started and was running within 90s of pressing the button from shutdown. It even applies Windows updates in a shorter time than overnight! It all cost about £70 which is something of a saving over the £800 or so that I was planning for a new one...

... and I am not disposing of an old machine with all the consequences for the environment.

I do have to put up with the silver paint having worn off the corner of the laptop where I rest my left wrist, tho.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

T

[handrawn]

good to know

[pauland]

I resurrect the old thread that I started.

Success!

I have my old and trusted Dell Inspiron N3010. I have fitted the Crucial SSD having cloned it using the Acronis software that they supplied. I found instructions for changing the HDD on You Tube and followed them precisely and there was no problem apart from being left with 4 screws at the end of the procedure. This entailed reversing until I got to where they were missing.

With that problem sorted the laptop started and was running within 90s of pressing the button from shutdown. It even applies Windows updates in a shorter time than overnight! It all cost about £70 which is something of a saving over the £800 or so that I was planning for a new one...

... and I am not disposing of an old machine with all the consequences for the environment.

I do have to put up with the silver paint having worn off the corner of the laptop where I rest my left wrist, tho.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice.

T

Excellent! you have now upgraded to the same laptop and configuration that my wife had about several years ago! Where have you been? ;-)

Seriously, my wife complained about the speed of this laptop until the SSD went in. Now she never complains about it. These are good machines once you have an SSD aboard.

Good job!

[Theo]

Excellent! you have now upgraded to the same laptop and configuration that my wife had about several years ago! Where have you been? ;-)

Seriously, my wife complained about the speed of this laptop until the SSD went in. Now she never complains about it. These are good machines once you have an SSD aboard.

Good job!

The thing that I really don't like about the dell is that there is no led to indicate that the caps lock is set. Before typing in a password I have to open a Notepad page to test caps lock/no caps lock.

T