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Resolved Question

Most important specs for multi-tasking?

Jan 27, 2015 10:45AM PST

Can anyone give me some info on the most important specs for multi-tasking?

I use my computer mainly for office work. I will typically have 3-4 browser windows, and 4-5 ms office applications, powering an external monitor, keyboard, mouse, and maybe a twitter or spotify app opened simultaneously.

Does dedicated graphics help with any of that? Or should I go for an i7 processor over an i5? ssd over hdd?

Thank you very much!

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Iffy
Jan 27, 2015 11:47PM PST

Times have changed. The newer Intel i7 on board video is great for office work, can dual monitor but still not something gamers will want. The i7 quad with it's HT feature gives you 8 threads so it's quite to the task of many active apps. So yes, dedicated always wins but can you live with a couple of milliseconds to switch windows? That's more of a gamer issue.

SSD is not a factor to multitasking. That's more about RAM. Try 8GB. However it can make the machine quite nice. Try to stay at 240GB or higher.
Bob

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Answer
Also remember to acutally use
Feb 9, 2015 9:06PM PST

over 4gb of ram you need a 64 bit OS. Computers today are mostly 64 bit and one that comes with 8 gb of ram will pretty much be 64 bit.