Thoughts on components...

Just thought I'd like to hear some thoughts on a struggle I'm having...getting an uberfast machine for say $1750K or getting a $500 machine...

I've read all the posts regarding speed, HDTune, CPU Pi marks and all that, but as a purely practical matter, would a 2.4G C2D with a 7200 RPM HDD machine be noticeably faster in daily use against say a 1.5 C2D with a normal 5400 HDD if each had 2 gig of ram? I'm thinking the daily stuff, email, outlook, Word, IE, etc.

Reason I ask is this, I have always spent about $2K on laptops and ALWAYS been disappointed. every single time. I went from a celeron to a P-IV then to a P-M then to a C2D, and I can't really tell the difference in daily use...

Maybe my expectations are a bit high, but I wondered if the goal is quick start up time/ quick program switching ....is it worth it to get anything other than a Vostro 1000 or something cheap like that?

Rambling a bit, but curious what the thoughts are. Thanks.

 

Yes it will obviously be faster but not by alot. What were you dissapointed about from your previous laptops?

You can never get a quick-startup if a manufacter puts a load of pre-installed crapware on it. This totally slows down the whole system.

 

I'm a bit biased, but I say save the cash!! If it's just ordinary day-to-day use your talking about, then go cheap. If you want to do more (ie gaming, videoing, cad/cam, etc..) then you could justify spending more. Just my 2 cents (cuz its all I got these days!!)

 

Yes i agree, if your just gonna do day-to-day surfing, word processing etc. then you wont need expensive spec laptop. A cheaper one will do the job fine

If your gonna become a heavy gamer then yes, good specs is a must.

 

With what you mentioned doing the main difference you will notice is when you first open say word it will take longer with the slower. Once you are actually working in Word you will not notice a difference. When you go to open a new document slightly slower but we are talking a second and more likely a fraction of a second difference. Also if you close Word as long as it does not get "kicked" out of memory it will fire right up almost immediately. Everything is relative if you are coming from a single core CPU to a dual core and like to surf, play mp3 and work in Word. The 1.5Ghz will knock you socks off, no if ands or buts! On to HDD the very large 5400 HDD's are as fast as the smaller 7200 so keep that in mind. Right now you can get a DeLL Vostro 1500 w/ T7500 2.2hz, Vista Premium, 2GB RAM, 8600m GT, 250GB @5400 HDD (big enough to be quick) for about $775. That is a pretty fast machine that can do some gaming so there are options in the middle. Good luck