More Ram vs Optane in a Laptop?

[ansleytoons]

Hi there!

I am looking to buy a brand new laptop for when I start a new semester of college in about a month. Just something to take to class and work on assignments on campus with, as I have a desktop set up for gaming (though I may install some time waster games just in case). I've mostly been looking at HP laptops, as I had a good experience with HP many years ago.

Currently I'm looking at their 15z and 17z models, as my price range is under 500 dollars, and I've noticed that there are AMD and Intel versions of both, the Intel versions coming with 4 gb of ram but 16 gb of Intel Optane. The AMD versions start at 8 gb of ram with possible upgrades.

Is there a notable difference between the two set ups? Does the Optane actually make up for less ram? Does it have advantages beyond that?

Thanks for any advice!

(btw if going with HP is a horrible mistake or something lemme know if there's a brand you'd recommend in my price range)

 

[USAFRet]

We'd need to know all the rest of the specs.
We'd need to know your usage.

RAM vs Optane is only one aspect.

(but I'd choose more RAM. 4GB is pretty slim)

 

[ansleytoons]

@USAFRet

Intel Model: https/store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-pavilion-laptop-15t-touch-optional-3bc70av-1

AMD Model: https/store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-laptop-15z-touch-optional-3je20av-1

My usage was stated at the start of the post. Mostly classwork.

(also sorry for the down vote on your response. I'm fumbling with my phone while responding)

 

[USAFRet]

From your links:
--------------------------
#1
HP Pavilion Laptop - 15t touch optional
$579.99

Windows 10 Home 64
8th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 processor
Intel® UHD Graphics 620
4 GB memory; 1 TB HDD; 16 GB Intel® Optane™ Memory for storage acceleration
15.6" diagonal HD display
-----------------------------------
#2
HP Laptop - 15z touch optional
$329.99

Windows 10 Home 64
AMD A9-9425 Dual-Core
AMD Radeon™ R5 Graphics
8 GB memory; 1 TB HDD storage
15.6" diagonal HD display

---------------------------------

As noted above, RAM vs Optane is not the only consideration here.
You're really comparing apples and oranges.

#1 has a much better CPU. But much more expensive
#2 has more RAM

 

[ansleytoons]

I grabbed the wrong link since I'm on mobile. The version I was looking at was slightly more expensive because it was Intel but the other specs were roughly equivalent.

I'm not uneducated on PC specs. I know how to compare things. I made this post because I have 0 experience with this Optane stuff and don't know how to make the comparison. And that is the only thing I need advice on. I KNOW there is other stuff to consider.

Can someone please provide me guidance on the singular thing I'm asking about. To quote my initial post here, regarding 8gb ram vs 4gb + 16gb Optane,

"Is there a notable difference between the two set ups? Does the Optane actually make up for less ram? Does it have advantages beyond that?"

 

[SoggyTissue]

optane is a way of speeding up multitasking and program loading (basically)

optane is similar to having pagefile/superfetch on an ssd, if you have an ssd, optane will be almost pointless

windows will use optane to page/load > hdd. you will only notice improvement if you have a normal hdd. there will be very little performance increase if your pc has an ssd.

this is 'basically' the simplist thing optane does, it does other things too, but lets stick to this as it is this that probably accounts for the majority of optanes performance claims.

Optane is cheaper than RAM, but I would always take things into consideration. RAM is always the number 1 thing imo.

Some of the info i provide may not be accurate, take it with a pinch of salt. - you can always readyboost; mount a usb/sd and put pagefile on it (best not to remove the usb or sd card if you do this).

 

[USAFRet]

Can someone please provide me guidance on the singular thing I'm asking about. To quote my initial post here, regarding 8gb ram vs 4gb + 16gb Optane,

"Is there a notable difference between the two set ups? Does the Optane actually make up for less ram? Does it have advantages beyond that?"

All else being equal, I'd go for the 8GB RAM vs 4GB RAM + Optane.
Then later, swap in a regular SSD for the HDD that it would come with initially.

Of course, it's never 'equal'. And we can't compare what we don't know.

 

[ansleytoons]

Thank you for the assistance. I can make my decision based on the rest of the specs on my own.

 

[rev26]

Had same question, found this link to be very educational: https/www.extremetech.com/computing/271543-pc-oems-are-selling-laptops-with-optane-cache-drives-and-claiming-its-memory