Deal breakers?

Looking at a well configured laptop but owners say it has the 8 gig of ram soldered to the mother board and one open slot that accepts 4 gig for a total of 12 gig.

It also lists the bgn wireless as opposed to the newer AC. I was recently in a store that has slower wifi than I do at home and the computers were instant when clicking on anything, much faster than mine at home. I was wondering if it was because they have the new AC wireless.

Would either of these 2 things be a dealer breaker in your opinion?

 

Less than 16GB of (replaceable) RAM? Dealbreaker.

Less than 2x2:2 (minimum) AC class WiFi? Dealbreaker.

Less than i7 QC? Dealbreaker.

Less than original (IBM/Lenovo) TrackPoint hardware and FP scanner? Dealbreaker.

Less than standard US English keyboard (w/Backlighting)? Dealbreaker.


Either of the first three points above would have made me click 'next' for any recommendations to clients, if not present (today).

Any of the five points above are a deal breaker for any notebook I am considering for myself.

 

@Irrivirsible being limited to 12GB on main machine (4GB soldered + 8GB module), it's not as bad as it sounds. Also, if the machine in question has 8GB soldered and a slot, 99% it supports 16GB total. Wi-Fi module is something that can be easily replaced on many machines.

What is the machine we're talking about? What about CPU & display, which are much harder - if possible - to replace?

You can use @tilleroftheearth arguments to further drive the price down, if buying in person. (=

 

Depends how much RAM you need. For my own home usage, 8GB would be fine... Check out your current RAM usage (When doing the most intense tasks you use it for) in task manager and see.

As for AC WiFi I wouldn't be too bothered tbh. Most of my home systems use N and they work well for web usage. AC does make it quicker when I move files around my home network but it's hardly a dealbreaker...

Personally, I'd want the keyboard and touchpad to suit my usage. It would be a deal breaker if either of these weren't great. After these, Starlight's suggestions would be next on my list of priorities. Honestly don't need 16GB of RAM, a QC CPU, or AC WiFi, although the last two points are valid.

 

Further on the AC, so long as where you are using it has a good signal it's doubtful that B/G/N would be a major deterrent when compared to AC. Most incoming net connections, especially public business wifi and residential, is much slower than the B/G/N can transfer at which leaves bandwidth to spare for the available connection.

I'm personally a somewhat demanding person of my PC's. I don't game a lot, but when I do I want it to be flawless. I use photoshop on the regular, chopping up audio and video elsewhere, and having a ton of tabs open in browsers daily. In my beast of a desktop I don't have more than 16gb of RAM. Having more than you need won't speed anything up. Checking how much you currently use and determining if you are limiting yourself from doing things you'd like to be doing as a result of poor performance will give you a pretty good indication of what you actually need. Also keep in mind a decent amount of average owners won't know for sure that the RAM is soldered on or not. Sounds like since they said so it might be, but getting the model number (possibly share it here) and researching it to confirm that aspect will probably be your best route. As mentioned, it's possible that you can go all the way to 16gb but if not 12gb isn't horrible in my opinion so long as the price is right.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834234176 Ends in 9 hours

 

Looks like that one is indeed limited at 12gb. For the hardware it comes with you'll be fine right there. If you do anything that you need more for you'll be seeing the other hardware limit you before the RAM does.

 

@Irrivirsible, It doesn't really matter if a maximum of 12GB of RAM and 802.11n wireless would be dealbreakers for us; it matters if they'd be dealbreakers for YOU.

If you use virtual machines, do photo, music, or video editing, and/or are a heavy multitasker, 12GB RAM may be limiting. If not, you'd probably be fine.

Likewise, if your computer will be on a local network where you'll be transferring a lot of files back and forth or streaming audio or video from one device to another, you might want to hold off until you find a system with 802.11ac wireless. If you're msinly going to be using your network to download and upload from the internet, 802.11n will be fine.

 

Personally, if I was doing any sort of heavy work, I wouldn't bother with a laptop and go straight to desktop (which are generally very, very upgradable).

QFT