Solved! Better for multitasking

[kat4jc]

Hulloo. I'm trying to decide between two laptops, since my old one died from too much multi-tasking. The first is a Lenovo with Intel Core i3, 4G RAM and a 750G hard drive: http/www.officedepot.com/a/products/790098/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Z570-1024-3VU-Laptop/;jsessionid=0000k5dg1QSuTMAnnC2lQXHEjYx:13ddq0u44 . The second is a Toshiba custom-built with AMD Quad Core. 6G RAM, and a 500G hard drive: http/www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/ucart.to . Advice would be GREATLY appreciated! (and asap, cos both deals end soon)

Thanks muchly!
~kp~

 

[frozenlead]

What are you looking to do with the machines? I've yet to see any computer die from multi-tasking, so I'm interested in what you're doing to these things.

 

[kat4jc]

My husband is a systems analyst; he's the one that named multitasking as the cause (I just thought it was a cheap hp slightly beyond its warranty).

To answer your question... I do a lot of research, social networking, blogging and browsing. I also use Word and Excel daily and upload/edit at least 50 pictures per day. I tend to do all of these things simultaneously, in 5-8 windows, with an average of 15 tabs open in Firefox.

 

[hpfreak]

Yeah, Core i3 isn't suitable for that work... your not rendering anything, but doing that much on a dual-core would be slower then a laptop more designed for the job...
What is your budget?
The laptop looks fine, but you might be surprised with what we find.

 

[kat4jc]

ull. Love the quote!

My budget is non-exsistent. $600 is the absolute max I can do right now =*( Otherwise, I'd have very different questions.

 

[frozenlead]

You could consider a cheap quad-core, but I think the i3 would be alright, albeit sometimes slow. You won't need tons of memory, 4GB should do just fine. Really what you should be considering the most in your notebook purchase is your hard disk. You aren't taxing the computing hardware very much at all, but a typical 5400 RPM notebook hard disk will struggle with lots of IO like that. Consider a notebook with a 7200 RPM hard disk. I don't think you could get an SSD in your budget.

You should fill out the getting a notebook sticky at the top of the forum so we can see all of your preferences and needs.

 

[kat4jc]

Thanks, peoples! I opted for the Toshiba, mostly because the other deal ended and I couldn't wait anymore.