The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Studio 15 Faster Processor?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by staceykoz, May 6, 2010.

  1. staceykoz

    staceykoz Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hello there,

    I'm not a gamer, I am looking for a reliable, fast laptop mainly for web surfing, but also will be doing a bit of Photoshoping or watching the occasional movie. I'm told memory is the key to a fast system.

    On the Dell website, I built a Dell Studio 15 which includes 8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz and an Intel® Core™ i5-430M 2.26GHz (2.53GHz Turbo Mode, 3M cache).

    The price just went down an additional $100 so I'm definitely going to purchase today. Now I'm flirting with the idea of going with the i5-520M 2.40GHz (2.93Ghz Turbo Mode, 3M cache) for $75 since I'm saving some money. I'm just wondering if it may be overkill for what I'll be using it for. Also concerned that the bigger processor may drain the battery more.

    Any thoughts or advice is much appreciated! LOL, the last computer I purchased was a Pentium III desktop that is over 10 years old! :)
     
    staceykoz, May 6, 2010
    #1
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    The 8GB of memory is already overkill. 4GB should be fine. $75 for the 520M is probably not worthwhile either. Buy an SSD instead of both :)
     
    Commander Wolf, May 6, 2010
    #2
  3. theoak

    theoak Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    90
    Messages:
    296
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Memory is easy to upgrade after the fact. Processors are much harder if possible at all.

    If you are going to sink money ... I would put it in the processor and/or video card.

    The SSD is a good idea too ... they are easy to upgrade after the fact too though.
     
    theoak, May 6, 2010
    #3