So Air-Miles are expiring soon, I don't have enough points for any type of flight and so I have to use it to buy stuff through their catalog.
I don't really like anything in their catalog, but I could always do with a new computer. I would prefer a new desktop machine, but they only offer laptops / notebooks. The selection is very poor though, there are two options.
==== The problem =====
I have an old laptop but it works fairly well. An upgrade would be nice but I don't want to get something that is new but has worse performance. I tried researching them but the specs are never the same as the review.
=== Things I don't care about ======
OS / Software - I reformat and install my own software.
Detachable screen - One has a detachable screen, I would have no use for this
===== What I use my current laptop for ========
Mainly programming - PHP Storm / VS.NET
Some basic graphic design - Photoshop CS6
Below are the specs for the two computers, and I used Belarc to generate a hardware profile for my current laptop.
========= Air Miles choice 1 ===============
HP 15-ay013ca Notebook - 15.6"
Operating System : Windows 10 Home
Processor : Quad Core Intel® Pentium® N3710 Processor
Memory : 4GB DDR3L SDRAM (1 DIMM) - Memory slot not user accessible
Hard Drive : 500GB 5400 RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
Video Graphics : Intel® HD Graphics 405 with up to 2097 MB total graphics memory
Wireless Option : 1x1 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth®
Network Card : Integrated 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN
Audio : DTS Studio Sound with dual speakers
Display : 15.6-inch diagonal HD SVA BrightView WLED-backlit display (1366x768)
Digital Media : Multi-Format Digital Media Card Reader
External Notebook Ports : 1 SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 2 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 1 HDMI,1 RJ-45 (LAN),1 Headphone-out/microphone-in combo jack
Keyboard : Full-size island-style keyboard with numeric keypad
Dimensions : 10.02 in (D) x 15.12 in (W) x 0.95 in (H)
1-Year Limited Hardware warranty
====== Air Miles choice 2 ======================
HP Pavilion 10-p020ca x2 Detachable Notebook - 32GB - 10''
Operating system : Windows 10 Home 64
Processor : Intel® Atom™ x5-Z8350 Processor Quad-Core 1.44 GHz up to 1.92 GHz
Memory : 2 GB DDR3L-1600 SDRAM (onboard)
Hard drive : 32 GB eMMC
Graphics : Intel® HD Graphics 400
Display : 10.1" diagonal WXGA eDP anti-glare WLED-backlit (1280 x 800)
Wireless : Intel 802.11ac (1x1) and Bluetooth® 4.0 Combo
Audio : DTS Studio Sound™ DTS Studio Dual speakers
5MP rear camera and HP TrueVision HD Camera with integrated digital microphone
Keyboard : 91% size island-style
Ports : 1 micro HDMI,1 headphone/microphone combo,1 USB 3.1,1 USB 2.0 Type-C™
2-cell, 32.5 Wh Li-ion Battery
Dimensions (LxWxH in inches): 10.43 x 6.81 x 0.64, 2.40 lbs
Warranty: 1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Toll-Free Support
======== Current Laptop ===============================
Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dv6700 Notebook PC Rev 1
Processor
2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded
Drives
WDC WD3200BEVT-60ZCT0 [Hard drive] (320.07 GB)
Main Circuit Board
Board: Quanta 30CC 79.2E
Bus Clock: 667 megahertz
BIOS: Hewlett-Packard F.58 06/16/2008
Memory Modules
3064 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM 1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM 2' has 2048 MB
Display
Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family [Display adapter] (2x)
LG Philips LP154WX4-TLC8 [Monitor] (15.4"vis)
======= My Research ===========
I am leaning towards Air Miles laptop 1
- Double the memory - However onboard memory is probably faster than a dimm slot (that I can't access - but probably could if i cracked it open)
- Hard drive - It is old SATA but I've read some bad stuff about eMMC being very cheap and slow
- Display is full size as well as the keyboard - Portability isn't really a concern for me
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
I don't really like anything in their catalog, but I could always do with a new computer. I would prefer a new desktop machine, but they only offer laptops / notebooks. The selection is very poor though, there are two options.
==== The problem =====
I have an old laptop but it works fairly well. An upgrade would be nice but I don't want to get something that is new but has worse performance. I tried researching them but the specs are never the same as the review.
=== Things I don't care about ======
OS / Software - I reformat and install my own software.
Detachable screen - One has a detachable screen, I would have no use for this
===== What I use my current laptop for ========
Mainly programming - PHP Storm / VS.NET
Some basic graphic design - Photoshop CS6
Below are the specs for the two computers, and I used Belarc to generate a hardware profile for my current laptop.
========= Air Miles choice 1 ===============
HP 15-ay013ca Notebook - 15.6"
Operating System : Windows 10 Home
Processor : Quad Core Intel® Pentium® N3710 Processor
Memory : 4GB DDR3L SDRAM (1 DIMM) - Memory slot not user accessible
Hard Drive : 500GB 5400 RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
Video Graphics : Intel® HD Graphics 405 with up to 2097 MB total graphics memory
Wireless Option : 1x1 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth®
Network Card : Integrated 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN
Audio : DTS Studio Sound with dual speakers
Display : 15.6-inch diagonal HD SVA BrightView WLED-backlit display (1366x768)
Digital Media : Multi-Format Digital Media Card Reader
External Notebook Ports : 1 SuperSpeed USB 3.0, 2 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 1 HDMI,1 RJ-45 (LAN),1 Headphone-out/microphone-in combo jack
Keyboard : Full-size island-style keyboard with numeric keypad
Dimensions : 10.02 in (D) x 15.12 in (W) x 0.95 in (H)
1-Year Limited Hardware warranty
====== Air Miles choice 2 ======================
HP Pavilion 10-p020ca x2 Detachable Notebook - 32GB - 10''
Operating system : Windows 10 Home 64
Processor : Intel® Atom™ x5-Z8350 Processor Quad-Core 1.44 GHz up to 1.92 GHz
Memory : 2 GB DDR3L-1600 SDRAM (onboard)
Hard drive : 32 GB eMMC
Graphics : Intel® HD Graphics 400
Display : 10.1" diagonal WXGA eDP anti-glare WLED-backlit (1280 x 800)
Wireless : Intel 802.11ac (1x1) and Bluetooth® 4.0 Combo
Audio : DTS Studio Sound™ DTS Studio Dual speakers
5MP rear camera and HP TrueVision HD Camera with integrated digital microphone
Keyboard : 91% size island-style
Ports : 1 micro HDMI,1 headphone/microphone combo,1 USB 3.1,1 USB 2.0 Type-C™
2-cell, 32.5 Wh Li-ion Battery
Dimensions (LxWxH in inches): 10.43 x 6.81 x 0.64, 2.40 lbs
Warranty: 1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Toll-Free Support
======== Current Laptop ===============================
Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dv6700 Notebook PC Rev 1
Processor
2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded
Drives
WDC WD3200BEVT-60ZCT0 [Hard drive] (320.07 GB)
Main Circuit Board
Board: Quanta 30CC 79.2E
Bus Clock: 667 megahertz
BIOS: Hewlett-Packard F.58 06/16/2008
Memory Modules
3064 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM 1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM 2' has 2048 MB
Display
Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family [Display adapter] (2x)
LG Philips LP154WX4-TLC8 [Monitor] (15.4"vis)
======= My Research ===========
I am leaning towards Air Miles laptop 1
- Double the memory - However onboard memory is probably faster than a dimm slot (that I can't access - but probably could if i cracked it open)
- Hard drive - It is old SATA but I've read some bad stuff about eMMC being very cheap and slow
- Display is full size as well as the keyboard - Portability isn't really a concern for me
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thanks.