Need new i7, Windows laptop

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May 4, 2008
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My trusty i3 Toshiba Satellite L755 keeps on ticking, but looking to jump into an i7 and would like a touch screen and only need 1080P, higher is welcome but not necessary.

I'm after a laptop that can easily handle video streaming, tuner software like HPTuners, occasional games, but not really for hardcore gaming.

I figure 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD minimum, 2 SSD slots would be great, lit keyboard and HDMI.

Budget: Would like to stay under $600 but may not be possible.

Been awhile since I looked at laptops so I'm way out of the loop.

Don't really want to go the Acer route unless they really stepped up their game in terms of durability.
 
No need for an i7 if those other requirements are all you need. You probably couldn't find one with that combination of low-end specs anyway.

An i5 will do anything you need it to do.
 
If you have Sam's Club membership, this HP has i7 CPU and is currently sold for $599:

With that said, I agree with the previous poster that you probably don't need i7 CPU. I'd rather have i5 with 16GB RAM instead.
 
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I appreciate all the help. I agree, I didn't think this through enough, looks like the I5 will be more than enough


So i5, dual SSD, HDMI, lit keypad, touch screen would be nice.


With a budget of "under $600" for an i7-equipped machine, I doubt the OP is looking at business grade. :) Refurb maybe?

Yeah, I didn't think that would go over well..:)
 
Costco offers a lotta bang for your buck. Longer warranty.
HP has stepped up their game, but I am a little gun shy from their earlier notebooks.
I stick with Dell, Asus or Lenovo. Microsoft is pricey but great machines.

The Dell 5000 series would be my 1st choice for you. The latest i5 will be fine; i7 if you wish. Go for RAM.
I do serious database development on a nice Dell 7000.

Good luck.
 
FYI Intel is very much behind in the laptop space (cpu cores, power draw/battery life, integrated graphics). Look for an AMD 4xxx series laptop chip. There are 4, 6 and 8 cores to choose from.
Forget about the stigma that Intel=Good, AMD=low budget/bad. The tables have completely turned in the past 3 years and AMD is cleaning Intel's clock.
 
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You can probably do fine with a RAM expansion. Older laptops are dirt cheap on Ebay so if you don't want to keep the one you got, just get a more moden vehsion witrh more memory and you should be fine.

My 2012 is starting to run a little lean with only 8GB. Windows 10 is an incredibly hungry OS when it comes to memory. I may be switching to a Linux based system in the near future.
 
My 2012 is starting to run a little lean with only 8GB. Windows 10 is an incredibly hungry OS when it comes to memory. I may be switching to a Linux based system in the near future.
If you open a task manager or some other resource-monitoring application and it shows your OS occupying a large amount of RAM that may just be the OS aggressively caching data in RAM. If the RAM is ever needed by a newly-initiated application, for example, the cached stuff is flushed and the RAM made available in extremely short order. I'd rather have this be the case than have RAM lie there unused. This can sometimes lead us to believe a piece of software is "heavier" than it actually is.

If you do at some elect to switch to a Linux-based OS - and I wholeheartedly recommend you look at that as an option - be advised that a Linux-based OS is going to cache data in your RAM the same as Windows or Mac; and be aware, too, that many of the popular Linux desktop environments (like Gnome, KDE and Cinnamon) are just as heavy in terms of RAM, CPU and 3D graphics horsepower as you'll find with Windows and Mac. At least with Linux-based OS's you have the opportunity to choose others that are lighter weight like MATE, XFCE, Budgie and LXQt. If you're looking to squeeze the most performance out of limited hardware but still retain an excellent UI and feature set I'd recommend MATE.

If you have any questions about switching to Linux, fire away!
 
AMD? Intel is getting worse in power consumption and I think there are now a lot of great touch laptop (or even flip / flex / yoga) that is well equip, long battery life, and runs cool with AMD CPU on it. Get one with Ryzen 7nm CPU/iGPU and you are good.

If your old laptop runs fine just add more ram, ssd, AC wifi to it. There is a reason most laptop has no touch screen even Mac, because of gorilla arm and smudge on the screen.
 
My trusty i3 Toshiba Satellite L755 keeps on ticking, but looking to jump into an i7 and would like a touch screen and only need 1080P, higher is welcome but not necessary.

I'm after a laptop that can easily handle video streaming, tuner software like HPTuners, occasional games, but not really for hardcore gaming.

I figure 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD minimum, 2 SSD slots would be great, lit keyboard and HDMI.

Budget: Would like to stay under $600 but may not be possible.

Been awhile since I looked at laptops so I'm way out of the loop.

Don't really want to go the Acer route unless they really stepped up their game in terms of durability.
 
I'm not sure about laptop AMD chips, but for your requirements an i5 will be more than enough and will be a cooler running system.
I would rather put money into 16gb ram and more storage.

Going refurbished business laptop route is actually not a bad idea. Their built quality is superior and they can be upgraded. Thinkpads are very good, for example.
 
an i5 will be more than enough and will be a cooler running system.

This is simply false. AMD is above and beyond a more efficient chip these days. The Intel parts run warmer and consume more power not to mention slower and more expensive.


 
If I were looking for a new laptop, I'd definitely look to go AMD. Unfortunately, I'm hearing there's a backlog of new AMD 4000 series APU's right now and some OEM's are on allocation for them. A report I saw this morning said deliveries are delayed until late September.
 
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