This plays video just fine and is not as bad as our last netbooks.
As you know, DURABLE means it stands up to damage. Common laptops do not respond well to such. That's why folk responded with military models.
Bob
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To elaborate on my question:
I m in the market for a new computer, but I am not sure which one I should run with. I am planning on starting my college education soon and am hoping for this laptop to last me for many years to come (At least 4-5). Obviously this requires a physically durable laptop as well as a technically resilient one as well. My previous/current netbook became obsolete after a year or so after getting it. for the past few years it hasnt managed to run 720p video streaming without a stutter and merely running chrome maxs out the cpu. Now, when I first got this computer it did these things no problem.
The first part of my question is simply this: in buying a laptop I wonder what to expect 3-4 years from now in terms of common application requirements, my netbook used to surf the web no sweat and stream video no problem as well, but now anything will max the cpu out. However, I am currently looking into laptops with much greater capabilities than my netbook. I am going to go for a general science degree for my associate and move on from there for my bachelors. I don't know if down the line I will require a cpu/gpu intensive application to further my studies, such as engineering might.
One of the other key requirements I am looking for is good battery life. I was previously looking into computers with i7 4510mq/hq cpus and gtx graphics cards but soon realized that the battery life on machines like this are despicable. so my other question is: how closely tied together is power consumption and performance; Can I find a powerful machine that won't chug power; is a 4 core processor way overkill, or can I expect the common computer to require this many cores down the line? Honestly, I have little knowledge on what kind of cpus are required for each task, so it is hard to begin to guess what I might need in the future, but also I lack the knowledge of how the computer ecosystem could change in the next few years, maybe a 4 core cpu will be required for common computing 3 years down the line.
My budget can range, obviously the lower the price the better, but I will not be settling for a netbook obviously. like a mentioned I was looking at some decent configs that cost around $1000. Although, it would be awesome if it turned out I could find decent pc's for lower than this. All help is welcomed and I thank anyone in advance for whatever help you can provide.
Before I finish I have a more specific technicle question. I have looked into the u line of Intel core processors in comparison to higher performing one's. For instance the 4600u i7 processor has a 15w max power consumption where as other higher performing cpus such as the 4710hq and even the i5 4200h cpus have over triple the power consumption. Can anyone assume whether or not the u series should be able to handle itself years down the line?
Thanks again all who take the time to lend me a hand.
Discussion is locked
my netbook was bought by my mom 4 years ago, I was 4 years younger and didn't put much of an investment into the netbook myself. I like to say I treated ok but again, I was 4 years younger. With the amount of money I will be putting into this laptop and the time I have invested into finding I will no doubt have a stronger investment into its longevity. I guess I will have to make the judgement call on whether I want a high end pc I will have to take care of over the long term, or a lower end I will expect to replace soon. Honestly, I don't think I Wil have any problem taking care of the laptop, but I might look into a backpack that has a padded laptop compartment for the constant picking up and setting down that a school schedule would entail.
While the office supplied a rather nice Lenovo y510 1080p 16GB 1TB dual SLI laptop (it was $999.99 at the time) if that wears out I'd shop the Lenovo y50 line. SO many models that I won't drag through them all until I'm certain to have the need. Seems rather nice.
You used the word "investment." I think laptops are poor investments. That 250 buck model would do fine for school work.
Bob
...is Dell Rugged, Military Grade
note the processor. Here's a listing of current Intel processors and power requirements.
Next step down is Rugged, Business Grade.
Big screen is nice, but 17" would be bulkier, maybe not fit into a backpack as well as a 15" one.
All new computers it seems will be UEFI-BIOS based, and since windows 10 for this coming year will be a free upgrade, might as well look for one that is windows 8.1 already.
You need to consider if you want a touch screen laptop. I don't seem them becoming as popular as microsoft hoped they would, but need to keep that in mind as possible option.
I have a bit of research myself, and yes the Dell brand offers certain guarantees on what their laptops can withstand. They say the put the chasis and buttons too the text and make sure they can handle use through tens of thousands of uses/opennings/presses. But the Dell computers I have seen run the same price for an i5 no graphics card compared to say a gaming laptop where I can get a Strongr i7 with a strong graphics card as well.
Not only have the Dell's I've seen look over expensive, but the one you point out is over $3000... 3x my maximum budget. That's impossible.
But a. Far as screen size goes, I have also done research into that. My netbook is 11.5 inch and seems the perfect portability size. I originally was looking into 14" laptops because they would offer a slightly large screen without becoming too bulky, but these sized laptops easily become labeled ultrabooks and then you have to pay a premium for that.... it would seem that if your trying to fit anything better than your standard i5 into a laptop smaller than 15.6 than your going to have to pay extra, most likely because of the extra work their engineers have to put in to reduce the heat the laptop creates in such a small form factor, especially so if your looking for a dedicated graphics card too.
Too clarify what I can afford and what I am looking for in my computer: I can afford a laptop of $1000 MAX! And would prefer a loptop that is 14" But 15.6 would do if necessary. But this question remains: if I can settle for say a lower performance i7 like the 4600u then I might still be able to find a dececnt 14" With nice performance/dollar. But I still do not have any idea what my workloads will require in the coming years, if anyone can help me paint a picture of what I should be looking for performance wise that would be much appreciated.
Thanks again for your reply , but anything above $1000 Is pushing it too far.
Right there I move to the Panasonic ToughBook line. But then you have that 1,000 buck price.
There is no such machine made today at that price, let alone meeting your other wants.
Since I've yet to see such a machine I can't lend a hand.
Bob
do I have to get a bulky built tough laptop to expect it to last 4.or more years? My main reason for mentioning durability was because my previous netbook was $200 dollars when I got it. It was far from high quality. The whole build was cheap plastic, and after a year not only did the specs become obsolete, but the hinge become worn and was hard to open, and the panel on the bottom of became broken with out eve. Opening it and A corner of it is always hanging loose slightly. So I guess I might want to ask some different questions.
1. Are there specific brands that people know are reliably durable for 4-5 years? Obviously a $200 netbook will be much lower quality than what I'm looking into right now, I just have no experience With any brands to know how the average laptop hold up over time. (My previous netbook is an Acer aspire one, are Acer's known for their poor build?)
2. When is a quad core cpu necessary? Most mobile cpus are Dual core with quad cores labeled for "enthusiasts" and people with advanced applicstons and extensive multitasking. Currently I have no doubt a dual core will do quite well, but will I need more cores 3-4 years down the line?
You wrote durable. The definition of this word is "able to withstand wear, pressure, or damage; hard-wearing.
"porcelain enamel is strong and durable""
At the office we have many older laptops, our oldest may be some Compaq R3000 from 2004. Still works fine but even that is not "durable."
Bob
I have to ask though they've laptops you mentioned do any of them have the problems like I mentioned with my aspire? Hinges getting harder to handle and the plastic becoming worn and seams coming apart? Do you have any insight on which brands are known to last longer? Or would you say my Acer aspire is an exception to the standard I should expect from your usual laptop, as far as durability goes?
So while most last well over 5 years none would if subjected to "wear, pressure, or damage." We treat our laptops with care and replace batteries when they wear out. Some owners don't want to deal with care, canned air or batteries so they want one of those Toughbooks. Even those would require some care such as canned air or the occasional battery.
We've had Acer Aspires too over the years. They would not hold up to the student that tosses laptops into bags, drops the bag etc.
Bob
Here's a good article from November covering some of your questions.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2c2817%2c2356818%2c00.asp
I gave one of my daughters a Compaq metal body computer with XP when she graduated high school over 10 years ago. She used it through 4 years of college and then bought a new one her last year and gave her old one back to me. Banged up a bit, scratched up more than anything, worn out decals on it, but still worked. It had the keyboard replaced once while she used it. For battery power savings, since it was older type that normally run 1.5-2 hours on battery, I pulled the hard drive and DVD drives, which also made it lighter. I installed Mint Linux on a 16GB USB flashdrive, very small Kingston DTSE9 model that fits on keychain. I still use it when on the road, it still works OK. I plug in my small flashdrive, my PCMCIA wireless, my charger into cigarette lighter hole, boot from it, and access open source at hotel, McDonald parking lot, etc. Anything from internet runs OK on it, including youtube at 360p. The Mint Linux is encrypted install, so if I lose it, nobody else can get information from it. If the laptop is stolen, or lost, no big loss and for anyone who took or finds it, no big gain.
Low value = low loss
encryption = information security
You have to consider the school environment in your plans, the security of your laptop, and maybe even more, your personal information that would be stored on it.
I remember buying it on special, new for under $400 then, but similar at today's standards would be at least double that cost now, maybe even more for a metal clad laptop.
Neither it's body nor it's hinges are plastic, which is probably why it's lasted so long.
The article mentions some metal clad laptops that aren't "Tough" types and they are in your price range.
At our office we go for the i7 everytime. Time is money and no reason today to not get an i7 1,000 buck laptop (or less.) I can't guess why we'd go for less unless it's for travel where we have a few cheaps that we don't fret about (Asus x200ca for example.)
Bob
The comment chrome maxs out the CPU can be true even on today's most advanced laptop. I've seen that on badly coded web pages that lockup Chrome and if it wasn't for the multicore CPU would have locked up Windows. So this is not a laptop issue at all but just bad code.
Bob
tied to processing power. It's the same as car industry. The key to gas mileage is the amount of cylinders in the vehicle. I myself went from a 6 cyclinder SUV that got around 18 in the city to a 4 cyclinder SUV that gets over 25 MPG in the city. Intel has moved from designing faster GHZ processor to more power conserving processors with each generation of iX processors. They have integrated the graphics processor into the main processor so unless your a gamer a discrete card may not be needed. It's a pretty simple process as the power the battery has the power the sooner the battery dies. Battery technology hasn't changed a whole lot since the days of the first laptop. Most of the improvement have been in energy conserving components.