Non-gaming laptop/notebook

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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Mon, 27. Nov 17, 18:28

By the way, are you going to be using external peripheral devices like an alternate monitor, keyboard and mouse? I always preferred such things to what my laptop offered in its native state. But, then again, I used my laptop as my home-pc as well as when I traveled.

I haven't looked up your chosen laptop, but one bit of warning - If it's got a "glossy" display panel, you'll want a separate monitor for home use, most likely. "Glossy Displays" are not the standard, these days. They do give somewhat better "black" and appearance of color range, but the reflection and scattering can be... annoying, especially when gaming or dealing with certain high-profile graphics. (It's all dependent on use and environment. Glossy displays appear to have deeper, sharping, contrasts and richer color presentation.)

If you're looking, I can say I have been pleasantly surprised by my AOC monitors, particularly the IPS LED monitor, which is great for all sorts of work. I eat up keyboards, obviously, so can't recommend just one. For a mouse, a cheap Logitech is just fine for general work.

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euclid
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Post by euclid » Tue, 28. Nov 17, 03:15

Thanks for the "warning" Morko.

It depends what my wife thinks. We got a spare Hanns.G standing around which she could use if she's not happy with the screen quality.

Cheers Euclid
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ezra-r
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Post by ezra-r » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 11:26

Xenon_Slayer wrote:I was recently asked by a family member to help look for a laptop to do office work from. The biggest sticking point for me is RAM. Is 4GB really enough in this day and age? I'm currently at 5GB with just a 7 browser tabs open and an e-mail client.

8GB is quite the jump in price and 6GB is practically non-existant.
4GB is more than enough for most cases, unless any of your office applications is too greedy.

At work I have a 4GB laptop with linux and I usually have opened:
* terminal
* lotus sametime (messaging app with java)
* Lotus notes (mail app with java)
* Libreoffice
* Chromium
* Ar Remedy client
* ssh tunnel application.

and still have around 700MB+ left

Briefly, no matter the OS, unless you open many applications, 4GB is more than enough, should you need a little more, upgrading laptops memory by yourself is usually quite easy to do.

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Post by pjknibbs » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 12:47

ezra-r wrote: Briefly, no matter the OS, unless you open many applications, 4GB is more than enough, should you need a little more, upgrading laptops memory by yourself is usually quite easy to do.
Linux is rather less memory-hungry than Windows, though, it has to be said. My old laptop (running Linux Mint 17.3) was only using about 400Mb of RAM if you checked the usage immediately after logging in, while my new one with Windows 10 is up around 1Gb even after I did a light clean-up of running services.

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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 13:14

ezra-r wrote:...Briefly, no matter the OS, unless you open many applications, 4GB is more than enough, should you need a little more, upgrading laptops memory by yourself is usually quite easy to do.
Just to add: The usual limitations apply. "Shared Memory", if any mfr is still doing that crap. Checking to be sure the RAM can actually be upgraded if one plans on that. Being prepared to clean up a system loaded with crap one doesn't need hogging resources (Less a problem than it used to be, but could still significantly impact low RAM systems) and then being especially sure not to change one's mind after purchase, expecting to be able to easily flow from "low end workbot laptop" to "zomgz gaming, youtubez and fifty browser windows at the same time" expectations...

I'm kind of surprised that 4gig laptops are a thing. Microsoft, IMO, always low-balls their "minimum system specs." Sure, you can run Windows 10, 32 bit, with only 1 gig of RAM... aaand, that's about it. Enjoy your Freecell experience.

I bet using Internet Explorer on a 1gig system would result in a slideshow.

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Post by Redvers Ganderpoke » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 13:35

One of the problems with laptops is that the manufacturers seem to stick in the slowest HD they can find which compounds the problem of 4gb RAM as swapping to disk can be painfully slow.
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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 14:00

Redvers Ganderpoke wrote:One of the problems with laptops is that the manufacturers seem to stick in the slowest HD they can find which compounds the problem of 4gb RAM as swapping to disk can be painfully slow.
That can be true, though mfrs looking to compete will favor an SSD when they can, since the almost "instant" startup and quick launches has a pretty desirable impact on the consumer. Heat, ruggidizing, that sort of thing may figure into it, too.

I'm a "port freak." I dunno why, these days, but I still want as many different ports on my laptop as I can get. That's something that's vanishing fairly quick, too. USB and HDMI have sort of taken over and that's what one normally finds. Occasionally, one finds a flash card slot and there is still the standard RJ-45 for hardwired network connections, I suppose. Then, with USB 3.0, many are moving there, but they need at least one USB 2.0 for now, just so users don't end up frying non-USB 3.0 compliant peripherals. (USB 3.0 can fry purely some 2.0 devices, so 2.0 users, don't charge/run devices from 3.0 ports pls kthx)

PS - I have port converter stuffs all over the place. Weird ones I don't even know what their standard is, but I bought 'em anyway, 'cause I'm preparing for the A.I. Apocyclipse an' stuff... Yes, I will defeat the A.I. horde with my USB to PS/2 to RS-232 magic! I still browse mom&pop PC store shelves for weird connectors/converters/boards/etc.

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Post by pjknibbs » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 14:20

Redvers Ganderpoke wrote:One of the problems with laptops is that the manufacturers seem to stick in the slowest HD they can find which compounds the problem of 4gb RAM as swapping to disk can be painfully slow.
On Windows ReadyBoost can help with that--just put an SD card in and assign it to ReadyBoost, and requests for smaller files will be made from the SD card not the hard drive. It's basically an intermediate-level disk cache that doesn't use up your RAM like the regular one does.

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Morkonan
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Post by Morkonan » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 14:25

pjknibbs wrote:
Redvers Ganderpoke wrote:One of the problems with laptops is that the manufacturers seem to stick in the slowest HD they can find which compounds the problem of 4gb RAM as swapping to disk can be painfully slow.
On Windows ReadyBoost can help with that--just put an SD card in and assign it to ReadyBoost, and requests for smaller files will be made from the SD card not the hard drive. It's basically an intermediate-level disk cache that doesn't use up your RAM like the regular one does.
Ooooooh. This I didn't know, which isn't surprising... I have no need of it, but will look into it, anyway! Cool!

/promptly fries three SD cards trying to get it work...

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red assassin
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Post by red assassin » Thu, 7. Dec 17, 22:04

pjknibbs wrote:
ezra-r wrote: Briefly, no matter the OS, unless you open many applications, 4GB is more than enough, should you need a little more, upgrading laptops memory by yourself is usually quite easy to do.
Linux is rather less memory-hungry than Windows, though, it has to be said. My old laptop (running Linux Mint 17.3) was only using about 400Mb of RAM if you checked the usage immediately after logging in, while my new one with Windows 10 is up around 1Gb even after I did a light clean-up of running services.
My Linux desktop is currently sitting at 6.53GB used of 15.6... Admittedly, I'm running KDE, which is pretty heavy as desktop environments go, and have entirely too many browser tabs, and apps in general, open. Either way I'd consider 4GB a bare minimum for a modern system - 8GB is much comfier.
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