Laptop recommendation - for business plus light graphics

[Fergie3672]

So I've been given permission to get a new laptop at work. My boss wants it as cheap as possible, but I am fighting to get as much quality as I can.

I've configured some machines on Dell and HP and found a few combinations or recommended processors and graphics cards, but I am not sure what my best bet is. My current machine (a Samsung series 5 Ultra) seems to be a lemon, it is constantly slow, freezing, telling me I have no memory when nothing is running. We had 3 other copies of this machine and all have gone completely belly up. Mine is probably next.

I need something light, not too big (I know going 15.6" gets me better graphics cards, but I need to carry this with me everywhere I go, so 13-14" is a better option). I don't have many software requirements other than ability to run Adobe CC. I use Photoshop and Illustrator from time to time. I just want to know what will run the most smoothly in general.

Dell and HP have found me the following combos (all are on machines with 8 GB Ram, some may have the same GPU with more detail from one company over another):

i5-5200U w/ NVIDIA GeForce GT 820M 2GB DDR3C

i5-5200U w/ Intell HD Graphics 5500

i5-5300U w/ Intell HD Graphics 5500 2.3 GHz (2.9 Turbo, 3MB cache, 2 core)

i7-5600U vpro w/ Intell HD Graphics 5500 2.6 GHz (3.2 Turbo, 4MB cache, 2 core)

i7-5500U w/ Intell HD Graphics 5500 2.4 GHz (3 Turbo, 4MB cache, 2 core)

AMD-Quad Core Pro A10-7350B w/ Radeon R6 Graphics (2.1 GHz 4 MB cache)

If someone would sort these in the order of most recommended to least or give any advice on which to avoid, I would appreciate it.
Any other recommendations are appreciated as well. thanks!

 

[jaguarskx]

Overall Graphic Performance (best to worse):
1. GeForce GT 820m
2. Radeon R6 (Kaveri)
3. Intel HD 5500


Overall Processor Performance (Best to worse):
1. i7-5600u
2. i7-5500u
3. i5-5300u
4. i5-5200u
5. A10 -7350B

I do not use Photoshop or Illustrator so I do not know how much of the performance is affected by the graphics core.

 

[velo3100]

The gt 820m and the amd are very close in terms of performance. They are both entry level but I would recommend the gt card as they work better with intel than the amd counterparts. Also to run photoshop and illustrator, you don't need that much gpu power. Most of the time, igpus are enough to run them assuming that you are only do light work rather than intensive. The i7 - 5600u is the best in terms of cpu as adobe is optimized for quad core cpus. I would recommend to get a i5 m cpu rather than a u cpu as the laptop may struggle if you do a lot of multi tasking between ps and IS.

Also before anyone says, I know that the i7 u cpu is a dual core.

 

[Fergie3672]

The gt 820m and the amd are very close in terms of performance. They are both entry level but I would recommend the gt card as they work better with intel than the amd counterparts. Also to run photoshop and illustrator, you don't need that much gpu power. Most of the time, igpus are enough to run them assuming that you are only do light work rather than intensive. The i7 - 5600u is the best in terms of cpu as adobe is optimized for quad core cpus. I would recommend to get a i5 m cpu rather than a u cpu as the laptop may struggle if you do a lot of multi tasking between ps and IS.

Also before anyone says, I know that the i7 u cpu is a dual core.

Do you mean i5 ####M is better then i5 ####U?
I didn't see those as an option. Do you have any recommendations on where to look for a laptop other that HP/Dell?

 

[Fergie3672]

Overall Graphic Performance (best to worse):
1. GeForce GT 820m
2. Radeon R6 (Kaveri)
3. Intel HD 5500


Overall Processor Performance (Best to worse):
1. i7-5600u
2. i7-5500u
3. i5-5300u
4. i5-5200u
5. A10 -7350B

I do not use Photoshop or Illustrator so I do not know how much of the performance is affected by the graphics core.

Thanks, this is helpful

 

[jaguarskx]

Do you mean i5 ####M is better then i5 ####U?
I didn't see those as an option. Do you have any recommendations on where to look for a laptop other that HP/Dell?

"M" model Intel CPUs are better than "U" model Intel CPUs because "U" model CPUs are ultra low voltage (ULV) which sacrifices some performance (lower clock speed) for better battery life. Because Intel is basically focusing on low power mobile CPUs there are no "M" model 5th generation (Broadwell) CPUs. They are all "U" model Intel CPUs which means Intel has no plans on releasing a quad core Broadwell generation Core i7 CPU which would have the "MQ" model designation.

I have never used a HP laptop before. The one thing I do not like about them is the very wide mouse pad. Due to how I rest the palm of my hand on a laptop, my left thumb part of my palm would be touching the mouse pad. This happens to me from time to time when using my Dell Latitude 3540 even though it has what I would consider a "normal" size mouse pad. I suppose I am still kinda used my old IBM ThinkPad T41 and Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 which have small mouse pad smaller than that of the Dell.

 

[jaguarskx]

The gt 820m and the amd are very close in terms of performance. They are both entry level but I would recommend the gt card as they work better with intel than the amd counterparts.

While both are considered entry level, the nVidia GT 820m have better gaming benchmarks than the integrated AMD Radeon graphics core. It is easily the better of the two based on the benchmarks I have seen.

 

[Fergie3672]

Which configuration would be faster (daily use, not necessarily photoshop, no gaming)

1)5th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-5500U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.00 GHz)
500GB 5400 rpm SATA Hybrid Hard Drive with 8GB Cache
8 GB RAM

2)5th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-5200U Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.70 GHz)
128GB Solid State Drive
8GB RAM

both have integrated Intel HD Graphics 5500, so basically it's the processor vs a SSD

thanks

 

[jaguarskx]

#1 has more processing power so if your boss is going to be doing a lot of CPU intensive work, then that would be the preferred choice. However, for typical daily usage there should be no difference compared to the Core i5.

#2 has a SDD which will make the laptop feel more responsive because read / write speeds of SSDs is much better than HDDs. That means programs and Windows can launch faster. Therefore it makes for a more zippier experience. However, 128GB of capacity may or may not be enough storage. An external hard drive can always be attached to expand storage, but that is one more thing to carry... and forget.

 

[Fergie3672]

#1 has more processing power so if your boss is going to be doing a lot of CPU intensive work, then that would be the preferred choice. However, for typical daily usage there should be no difference compared to the Core i5.

#2 has a SDD which will make the laptop feel more responsive because read / write speeds of SSDs is much better than HDDs. That means programs and Windows can launch faster. Therefore it makes for a more zippier experience. However, 128GB of capacity may or may not be enough storage. An external hard drive can always be attached to expand storage, but that is one more thing to carry... and forget.

Thanks. I'll tell you what drives me crazy about my current laptop. It launches programs just fine, but it hangs and/or freezes if you ask it to do the slightest thing such as delete an email, select an email, open a new tab, etc. I find myself waiting 30 seconds or more at a click sometimes. It claims to have an i5, so no idea why it does that.

 

[jaguarskx]

It could be the browser itself that is giving you problems. For example, I use Firefox and I has problems with this site the first time THG is loaded. My laptop just hangs for 20 - 30 seconds. Sometimes perhaps longer than that. It seems to be a know issue with FireFox and Google.apis. After the initial hang up all is well.... until I shutdown my laptop, restart it and load up THG again.

If you laptop hangs when doing e-mail stuff, it could be the site itself that is causing the laptop to not respond. You can try to empty your browser's cache and perhaps defrag your hard drive to see if it helps. Also, try another browser and / or test out another email provider.

 

[Fergie3672]

It could be the browser itself that is giving you problems. For example, I use Firefox and I has problems with this site the first time THG is loaded. My laptop just hangs for 20 - 30 seconds. Sometimes perhaps longer than that. It seems to be a know issue with FireFox and Google.apis. After the initial hang up all is well.... until I shutdown my laptop, restart it and load up THG again.

If you laptop hangs when doing e-mail stuff, it could be the site itself that is causing the laptop to not respond. You can try to empty your browser's cache and perhaps defrag your hard drive to see if it helps. Also, try another browser and / or test out another email provider.

Sorry, when I said email, I meant outlook, not a Web email. So both my browser and outlook are having this issue. I get a lot of "not respondings"....

 

[jaguarskx]

Could be the Windows Registry has gotten corrupted and / or bloated over time.

Reinstalling Windows and all the application could resolve the issue. It can be a pain to backup important data on the C: drive and having to go through the entire process of re-installing everything and patching... and it may or may not resolve the issue... but all it takes is time and patience.

 

[velo3100]

Yes I did.

The gt 820m and the amd are very close in terms of performance. They are both entry level but I would recommend the gt card as they work better with intel than the amd counterparts. Also to run photoshop and illustrator, you don't need that much gpu power. Most of the time, igpus are enough to run them assuming that you are only do light work rather than intensive. The i7 - 5600u is the best in terms of cpu as adobe is optimized for quad core cpus. I would recommend to get a i5 m cpu rather than a u cpu as the laptop may struggle if you do a lot of multi tasking between ps and IS.

Also before anyone says, I know that the i7 u cpu is a dual core.

Do you mean i5 ####M is better then i5 ####U?
I didn't see those as an option. Do you have any recommendations on where to look for a laptop other that HP/Dell?