Mobile CPU suited for Excel work (macros)

[Slobodan-888]

I need to buy a laptop for somebody who needs it for Microsoft Excel work with macros (formulas, calculations), in economic/financial sector. He is just starting to work, so he is probably not doing very advanced stuff, but in the future he probably will.

I don't work in Excel, so I am not familiar with it, but after reading online, I have learned that those macros can be very (and I mean very) CPU demanding. So, he needs a powerful CPU. AMD does not have powerful CPUs for laptops, so I have to stick to more expensive Intel. i7 is out of the question. i5 quad core would be the optimal, but the cheapest laptop with that CPU costs 800$, which is not cheap for our standards (in our country average salary is about 500$ a month).

So, I thought since some dual core i5 have hyperthreading (2 cores, 4 threads), and Excel can take advantage of that, it would be almost as good as 4 cores, 4 threads. But, it seems that dual core i5 laptops cost marginally less than quad core ones, so they are not worth the money.

What other, more affordable, CPUs would be suited for this task?


Do you know of any suited and cheaper laptops?

 

[Scottray]

You have to be running some pretty beastly macros for the CPU to make much of a difference. Since your on a tight budget, I suggest sticking with i3 or i5 CPUs. What will make a difference on daily use is having 16GB ram and an SSD (instead of a HDD). This will enable loading large Excel files and saving them quickly. These make more of a difference in actual workflow time, than having a high powered CPU to reduce macro execution time.

 

[rgd1101]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Slobodan-888 : "Suited but affordable laptop for Excel work"

I need to buy a laptop for somebody who needs it for Microsoft Excel work with macros (formulas, calculations), in economic/financial sector. He is just starting to work, so he is probably not doing very advanced stuff, but in the future he probably will.

I don't work in Excel, so I am not familiar with it, but after reading online, I have learned that those macros can be very (and I mean very) CPU demanding. So, he needs a powerful CPU. AMD does not have powerful CPUs for laptops, so I have to stick to more expensive Intel. i7 is out of the question. i5 quad core would be the optimal, but the cheapest laptop with that CPU costs 800$, which is not cheap for our standards (in our country average salary is about 500$ a month).

This is the one: http/www.emmi.rs/laptop-ra%C4%8Dunari-lenovo-ideapad-700-15-156fhd-ips.11.html?productId=58471
And it does not even come with Windows. So, on top of that, I would need to buy a Windows 10 and Office licence. The cheapest I could find is about 100$ for both.

So, I thought since some dual core i5 have hyperthreading (2 cores, 4 threads), and Excel can take advantage of that, it would be almost as good as 4 cores, 4 threads. But, it seems that dual core i5 laptops cost marginally less than quad core ones, so they are not worth the money.

Also, it would need to have at least 8GB of RAM, since I learned that Excel macros can take a few GBs while calculating.


Do you know of any suited and cheaper laptops?

 

[jaguarskx]

If your friend is working on advanced financial model simulations, then a quad core CPU easily trumps a dual core laptop with a SSD. The amount of time you save opening and saving large financial model spreadsheets with a SSD is minuscule to the amount of time a real quad core Intel CPU can shave off of doing financial modelling calculations especially if it is very complex model.

 

[Slobodan-888]

Oh, so it needs and SSD too.

I though that once the Excel file is loaded, it is stored in the RAM anyway, so hard drive is not an issue. Well, this even more complicates things.

And, I can see that I will get the same answers as I read online already. Some peole say that even low end CPU is fine, some say I need a hig end one... 🙁


What about i5-6200U?, or better (much cheaper) i5-4210U?

What do you think about this one (it is 500$): http/www.dotlaptop.rs/laptopovi/acer-e5-573-55fp-nx-mvhex-122?filter=6%2C7%2C8%2C12%2C22%2C23%2C28&sort=p.price&order=ASC
The spacs are a bit poor.

For hours and hours a day I am searching, but prices are very high. 🙁

Maybe if I go with AMD CPU, I will be able to buy a cheaper laptop, that would also come with and SSD and 8 GB of RAM.


But, what AMD CPU/APU would be suited for this task?

 

[Slobodan-888]

OK, after hours and hours of searching, I have managed to find a bargain.

It is an "outlet" sale from a store. But it is practically new. The buyer returned it after a few days of use due to CPU overheating. They changed the CPU cooler and put it back on sale at a discount (plus I had an additional 20$ discount and 10% discount for paying in cash), and it come out at 605$. The regular price in other stores is 750$.

Specs are:

HP 250 G5
15,6 inch 1366 x 768 screen
Intel i5-6200U
Integrated GPU
8 GB DDR4-2133
256GB SSD
3 cell, 31 Wh battery

It is ideal business laptop for this task.

I have reserved it, and I will go tomorrow to check it out, and buy it if it is like new like they said in the email.