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Laptop Notes

Updated on
Last site update: 8 May 2024

Most prob use will be plugged in so battery is not so important.

Specs

Generally these are about £400 - £500 new (though IPS is likely to cost more).

Ebuyer: has an i5 FHD, 8GB, 256SSD, Win 11 Home for £350. (Model Medion Akoya)

  1. RAM 8GB seems like a must. But a laptop with 4GBs could be OK if it has a spare memory slot to upgrade.
  2. Screen size 17 inch screens are rare so 15.6 inch is gonna have to be it.
  3. Resolution 1920x1080 would be nice and more future proof. But more expensive. Might be possible to put a higher res screen in for around 45 - 60 quid, esp if I want an IPS one. But as I won’t be using it that much it’s probably not worth the cost and hassle.
  4. IPS Unfortunately these seem hard to come across so prob have to accept a TN one.
  5. Battery These seem cheap to buy as needed - considered consumable items, so not worth worrying about.
  6. SSD Really a must these days but a SATA 3 connection is required, ruling out really old laptops. Size wise 500GBs for £35 should be fine or 1TB for an extra £18 is good value but probably not needed in the laptop. If I got a new one for my desktop could use the old one out of that (240GBs).
  7. CPU Intel are far more common than AMD. Minimum should be a Core i3 but ideally an i7 would be better. Probably not older than 3rd gen either. Should look at what the newer generations offer.
  8. Bluetooth Not sure how important it is to get recent version. Needed for the external speaker and that could even be connected by cable if needs be.
  9. SD Card slot check, but this seems standard on most.
  10. CD ROM not needed but the presence indicates room and connection for another HDD or SSD.
  11. Screen - check condition. A badly scratched one would be a bit shit.

Also graphics: separate card, or uses the cpu?

screen and graphics

Resolution: either 1280x720 (HD) 1366x768 or 1920x1080 (FHD). The latter implies better graphics w more memory. Old laptop would have been 1366.

Display tech: IPS or TFT.

Graphics: built in or separate graphics card?

notebooks can run with either integrated graphics – that means a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) built into the processor – or discrete graphics, which denotes that the graphics card is a separate entity to the CPU, and therefore bigger and more powerful.

As with a desktop PC, if you want a gaming laptop, it should ideally run with a discrete GPU (although integrated graphics are getting more powerful these days, and can produce solid results with many games – more on that later). If you use your machine for just general computing and browsing the web, then you’ll get by with an integrated GPU just fine. 1

Minimal specs

  1. SATA 3 connector plus 1 SATA 2
  2. i3 or i5 processor, pref 3rd gen or above
  3. 8GB RAM
  4. 1366x768 res, preferably 1920x1080
  5. 3 x USB (one mouse, one keyboard, one pen drive)

Factors to consider when buying used

  1. Knackered battery
  2. Looking shoddy
  3. Poor keyboard
  4. Worn out SSD / HDD
  5. Warranty

SSD prices

Could get a new SSD if it as an HDD or a low capacity SSD.

Cost at ebuyer are about £35 for 500GB and from £57 for 1TB.

If it has an optical drive could use for a spare HDD (depending on mobo).

Intel CPU’s

The first number or two is the CPU generation. So Core i5 3550 would be 3rd generation. Last 3 digits are the SKU, roughly represent the order they were developed and the higher the number the more features it will have.

Core suffix meanings:

  • C: Desktop processor with high-end graphics
  • F: High-performance processor used with discrete graphics cards (ex. Gaming)
  • H: High-performance graphics
  • K: Unlocked for overclocking
  • M: Mobile
  • Q: Quad-core
  • R: Desktop processor, BGA1364 (mobile) package, high-end graphics
  • S: Performance-optimized lifestyle
  • T: Power-optimized for best desktop computing
  • U: Ultra-low power for laptop efficiency
  • X: Extreme unlocked for high desktop performance
  • Y: Extreme low power

From HP.com

intel Core CPU suffix meanings

The suffix can indicate big differences such as twice as many cores.

See Wikipedia page for more details and understanding as the precise meaning differs from one generation to the next.

Suffix Meaning Notes
G1-G7 Graphics level (processors with new integrated graphics technology only, higher is better.)
E Embedded
F Requires discrete graphics
G Includes discrete graphics on package
H High performance optimized for mobile Best mobile with typically more cores.
HK High performance optimized for mobile, unlocked
HQ High performance optimized for mobile, quad core Many mobile CPU’s are only duel core
K Unlocked
S Special edition
T Power-optimized lifestyle
U Mobile power efficient
Y Mobile extremely low power
X/XE Unlocked, High End
B Ball Grid Array (BGA)

From intel.com

Add on costs

  1. Charger £10 - £15
  2. Battery £11 - £15
  3. Screen - Brand new 1920x1080 15.6 inch cost £56, OR £62 for an IPS FHD
  1. Laptop Media has reviews of many of the laptops.
  2. Intel Product Specs view details on any CPU
  3. Wikipedia Intel Core page Look up specs of specific CPU’s
  4. Notebook Check useful info such as AMD processor equivalents.

  1. From Techradar ↩︎

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