Story
I was helping my wife pick and choose a laptop to buy really cheap and affordable, but a machine that would not go out of use too quickly.
Uses it must handle:
* browsing
* Skyping
* email
* YouTube
I compared laptops from 3 websites where she lives, but the one below had a better selection, and comparable prices to the other 2 websites, so I'm just going to include the one website:
https://www.thegioididong.com/laptop/?trang=1
If you visit the website, you will see they sell many brands, including:
* Acer
* Asus
* Lenovo
* Dell
* HP
* Mac
What I was looking for
I was looking through all the offerings within the last few days, and comparing the power that each machine offers which includes comparing the following:
* Note: The most important factor to me is the processor, without the right processor nothing else matters!
Factors Considered:
1. Most importantly, the processor
* right now software seems to run okay on 2 core processors, which means the future is more than 2 cores. I like to buy with the future in mind, because I don't like to buy something and have to replace it so soon after. This meant that I only wanted to look for and find 4 core processor laptops.
2. The Memory
* right now, 8 GB is best to have, 4 GB is minimum, so anything 4 GB or higher
3. Graphics Card
* if you don't do gaming, which my wife doesn't, an integrated graphics card will do just fine, but if you do some gaming, you should look for one that has a graphics card that is not integrated as it will perform better, especially if it doesn't have to share memory with the rest of the laptop
4. Hard Disk Drive (HDD) - not very important
* 500 GB will do for most people, so anything more than that is bonus
I think, if you buy a laptop based on brand, you are cheating yourself out of finding a good deal. What you should be comparing first are the above, taking into account your budget.
* Most people say to take into account how you are going to use it, but I think it's best to buy the best machine that your budget can buy you, that way you won't have to replace it so soon after buying it, depending on your budget.
Budget
The budget really was the cheapest machine that would be able to handle the tasks she performs.
In this case, I compared all machines to find a 4 core processor, I wasn't sure I would find one, so I kept a tab on the 2 core processors as well, keeping track of the most powerful one within a small budget. Small budget means a few hundred dollars. I was thinking $400 - $500 CAD.
Findings
To my surprise, I found a machine that fit my wife's use, and was affordable, and had 4 cores.
Acer Aspire ES1 411, 14" Laptop
* Processor: Intel Pentium N3540 2.16 GHz (Turbo 2.66 GHz)
* RAM Memory: 4GB
* HDD: 500 GB
* Graphics Card: Integrated
* Link:
https://www.thegioididong.com/laptop/acer-aspire-es1-411-004
* Cost:$7,290,000 VND (approx $396 CAD)
Drawback:
I guess a draw back would be that it doesn't have a disc drive.
Intel's Website for Processor Details:
http://ark.intel.com/products/82105/Intel-Pentium-Processor-N3540-2M-Cache-up-to-2_66-GHz
Side Note about the Processor:
I'm not sure what kind of processor this is other than it is an Intel Pentium processor. Usually on Intel's website they would say Celeron if it was a Celeron processor. I know the website where it is listed is calling it a Celeron, but I'm not sure that is right or not. I thought it might be an Atom processor, because I came across a posting that talked about the Atom Processor, saying something positive about this release of the processor.
* I usually don't buy Celeron because it is slow, no sure if this one is Celeron or not, though if it is, it's okay, as I was just so happy with it being a 4 core processor that it made it okay
Other Reviews:
I checked out some reviews online, and most people said it was a great value for the price. Of course at this price range, you won't be impressed with the material, or design, that's a given. If you are like me though, that stuff doesn't matter, it's what's inside that counts, and this cheap affordable laptop had what counts, and what I was looking for.
I also looked at 2 websites for bench marks comparing it to other processors, but the charts didn't show any of the i3 and i5 processors I was comparing, and so they didn't affect my decision much. I just know that having more cores is better for multitasking. I'm not so sure I go for the hyper-threading technology. I thinking having 4 physical cores is better than having 2 cores processing 4 threads (2 threads per core).
Anyways, I sent my wife the findings, and she was okay with going to buy that laptop. Though, the next day, I found out that she didn't buy it, saying that it was ugly, and she wasn't impressed with the quality of material, and webcam resolution. I told her that she shouldn't be concerned about those things when buying a laptop/computer, and so after some discussion, she agreed that would be the best laptop to buy. Though, in closing, she added that she wanted to spend a bit more money to get a laptop that would last a while.
Reviewing Higher-End Laptops
Due to my wife's last remark, I decided to have another look at the laptops to see what other 4 core processors the website offered. I looked through all the i3 and i5 processor laptops, and none of them offered the 4 core processor I was looking for. I even looked up the i7-4510U processor, and it turned out to be a 2 core processor. There's no way I was going to even think of spending that amount of money on a laptop that had only 2 cores.
On that website, you will see the i7 4510U laptop offerings range from 17,590,000 VND to 19,990,000 VND (approx $954 CAD to $1084.90 CAD)
So, I looked at the even more expensive laptops, and found
Lenovo Y5070, 15.6" Laptop
Processor: i7-4710HQ 2.5 GHz (Turbo up to 3.5 GHz)
RAM Memory: 8GB
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M, 4 GB
HDD: 1 TB
Link:
https://www.thegioididong.com/laptop/lenovo-y5070
Cost: $24,990,000 VND, which is approx $1356.26 CAD
Wow!
I thought. This is such a powerful machine, and it doesn't even cost that much. Okay, so it is a lot of money, but for the power you get, it's really good value! It has great design, is pleasing to the eyes, and has more power than a normal user would ever need. Perfect!
So, the next day, I spoke with my wife, and told her to consider buying the Lenovo Y5070. I spoke to her later that night, and she told me that she went to see the Lenovo, and wanted to buy the Lenovo Y5070, but it was out of her price range, and they didn't offer a payment plan, so she couldn't buy it. So instead she bought the Acer Aspire that I recommended first.
I did some additional checking to see how much they sell Online to the
Canadian market, and the prices are comparable, about the same. On
Lenovo's home website, they offer many different configurations for the same
model laptop, Y5070. Some have more RAM memory, more or less graphics
card memory, more or less had drive space, some come with an internal
disc drive.
I think laptops really have come down in price since the last time I bought one which was actually a very long time ago in 2003 but I remember paying $1500 + tax (for my Pentium III 3.2 GHz with hyper threading), or Lenovo has really good prices!
For this laptop that has 4 processor cores, 8 threads, you pay only $1029 + shipping + tax. See partial details below. That's the price on the Canadian website. If you are looking for a laptop, I'd say buy this one!
NOTE:
* If you are more
of a gamer, buy the one that has 4 GB of graphics card memory, and possibly more RAM memory, it cost a
bit more, but it seems there is a lot of value for a great price. Plus, it should last many years to come as many new software, and operating releases work just fine with 2 processor cores at the moment.
* If
you don't need a CD/DVD drive, it can be even cheaper! :0)
This is a direct link to the Canadian website for the laptop. This laptop has 2 GB less memory than the one offered on the Vietnam site which is a part of the reason why it's cheaper. For me, 2 GB of graphics memory is good enough, and should be good enough for normal users up to even light gamers:
Lenovo Y50-70 $1029
* Processor: i7-4710HQ (2.5 GHz, Turbo up to 3.5 GHz)
* Ram Memory: 8 GB
* Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB
* HDD: Hybrid 1TB 5400 RPM+8GB SSHD
* Link:
http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50/?sb=:000001CA:00005F5B:
Anyways, hope the information I've provided helps you in one way or another. Happy hunting!
