Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor vs A6 3400M

[ManOfLight]

Hello,

I will buy a laptop which will be mostly used for work with Autocad, Autodesk software, Illustartor, Premiere, Rhino 4.0/5.0, Processing and MatLab. Is it worth paying about 200 pounds more to get Intel® Core™ i5-2410M , full hd and Nvidia GT520M? Most of the other components are pretty much the same.

In general do you think that having 6GB instead of 3Gb is far better for such type of work ?

Thank you very much,

ManOfLight

 

[Archean]

Absolutely on both counts (i.e. i5 being better CPU and more RAM). Although I would like to know what is your budget? Also if you can find something with either HD 6770 or GT550 range, that will be great.

 

[AznRice]

What system are you going to buy? For my opinion, the Core i5-2410m and the GT 520m will be perfect for your work. You should get 6 GB of RAM because most laptops will come with 4 GB RAM (minimum) and Windows 7 64-bit software. Since 64-bit OS won't support 3 GB RAM, the 6 GB RAM is recommended. The more RAM that you install in your system, the longer your laptop will live. From my perspective, AMD processors' performance are not good as the i5-2xxx and i7-2xxx. Hope that helps.

-AznRice

 

[ManOfLight]

Hello,

thanks a lot for your answer. The more expensive laptop I mentioned is about 600 pounds in UK. I can pay 100 more if these cards are really better and I will look for options for this. The only point is that I may note be able to get 6GB with the cards you suggested and I would have to do with 4GB.

ManOfLight

 

[AznRice]

By the way, if you do not play games that much, there are no needs to upgrade your video card.

 

[ManOfLight]

AznRice,

thanks for the answer too.

The laptops I am about to choose from are both PC with Windows 7/ Vista

Toshiba: A6-3400M (integrated graffics ) with 6Gb and 640Gb harddrive the rest is more or less the same as the next

Samsung: i52410M, 6Gb, 750gb, full hd,GT 520m

thanks again

ManOfLight

 

[ManOfLight]

Thanks again,

I will not be playing games!


ManOfLight

 

[Pyree]

ManOfLight

can you get something like this in UK?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246151
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157876

I converted the usd to gbp and they are within or just outside budget but offer much greater performance. I recommend the lenovo one over hp for being cheaper and have better quality reputation.

 

[DaveUK]

Definitely the SB Core i5 + 6GB for your work requirements. Without a shadow of a doubt. We're talking a huge difference in performance here particularly for video editing.

This may be a daft question but do you really need a laptop for all of that? Is it a laptop through choice or necessity?

If you're not doing this work remotely and just want a laptop for plodding round the house, I suggest you put the money into a decent desktop machine.

Desktop i5 OC + 8GB RAM + a modern desktop HDD would absolutely slay the laptop configuration, especially in Premiere.

Adobe are also becoming increasingly aware of GPU acceleration so yes graphics performance is a factor but less so than the other elements.

 

[Archean]

+1 Pyree.

By the way I am replying from a HP DV6 with very similar specs (only difference is I have more RAM and slightly smaller HDD) and it has been pretty good bang for the bucks.

IMO HP or Lenovo both are very capable notebooks, however, that GT555 on Lenovo has slight edge over 6770 but that is about it.

 

[Pyree]

I know, an i5 and bottom line graphic for that price is not value

Also Autocad and all of those graphics on that hardware=one unsatisfied user in the making.

 

[DaveUK]

If you really need a laptop, then I'd also much rather go for something with equivalent spec that is not a Samsung.

I bought a Samsung laptop just over a year ago - expensive one worth over £700. It was crap - screen had a terrible black level and a very restrictive viewing angle, the keyboard was one of those rubbish 'thin key' ones with gaps between them, and it was faulty (kept completely locking up randomly and regularly).

Every other laptop I've had both for myself and for customers (I'm a Dell Partner) has been from Dell and has been fine.

If you can afford it, save more and go for the same specification in a Dell XPS. You won't be disappointed with that decision.

What you *really* need is a Dell Precision with professional graphics card. But they are very expensive. If it's for a business expense, you may well want to think long and hard before putting money into a crappy laptop from Samsung. They are that cheap for a reason - designed for students, not graphics professionals.

 

[ManOfLight]

Thanks I will have a look at them

 

[ManOfLight]

Thanks Dave but I will have to go with the laptop. There is travelling to be considered.

 

[ManOfLight]

If you really need a laptop, then I'd also much rather go for something with equivalent spec that is not a Samsung.

I bought a Samsung laptop just over a year ago - expensive one worth over £700. It was crap - screen had a terrible black level and a very restrictive viewing angle, the keyboard was one of those rubbish 'thin key' ones with gaps between them, and it was faulty (kept completely locking up randomly and regularly).

Every other laptop I've had both for myself and for customers (I'm a Dell Partner) has been from Dell and has been fine.

If you can afford it, save more and go for the same specification in a Dell XPS. You won't be disappointed with that decision.

What you *really* need is a Dell Precision with professional graphics card. But they are very expensive. If it's for a business expense, you may well want to think long and hard before putting money into a crappy laptop from Samsung. They are that cheap for a reason - designed for students, not graphics professionals.

I also was wondering why Samsung were so much cheaper and there is a reason behind it. I will have to reconsider my plans. Spending some more on this laptop is quite probably worth it.

ManOfLight

 

[AznRice]

Vista is crap, pure crap. You should get Windows 7 for your system. Samsung is not as good as HP or Dell. I still do not encourage you to get a professional graphics card, despite your budget is pretty low. My dad can run Autocad 11 with a Pentium D and a Nvidia Geforce 9500 GT smoothly without any glitches. Dell XPS is expensive and do not suit your needs. If you go traveling a lot, you should get a laptop with a 15.6" screen instead of a 17.3" screen because the laptop is going to be big and heavy for you.

Hope that helps,
-AznRice