New Laptop ASUS S550CA-SS51 or what?

[Dalandlord]

Hi Guys, Thanks for any ideas you might have. I have an older laptop that is having some problems and I am going to just buy a new one. I started looking around at the usual local stores and there is not a lot of knowledgeable help in the stores.

I mainly do a lot of business software stuff but have a lot open at a time. I will frequently have the following open at one time:

Word - maybe 2+ documents at a time, some very large files
Excel - maybe 2+ at a time some complex with a lot of graphs etc.
Explorer - 6+ (sometimes +++) tabs open when researching supply items we need.
HP Scanner app always open and frequently scanning as we scan and save a LOT of documents, I'm on a mission to get the paper out of my life.
We store documents and photos on the current laptop and backup to other devices with the USB so USB 3.0 is a must.

Sales people want to sell me low end systems, as I am not a gamer, that frankly I am not interested in buying as I hate having to buy and set up a new machine. I want the new one to last a while. I get the impression they just listen for keywords.

I noticed most of the i7's they sell in the big box stores are just dual core glorified i5's that run a little faster and not quad cores.

I do want the touch screen as only know two people that have windows 8, the one with a touch screen likes it and the one without not so much. I also really like the machines that have a little SSD drive space to load up fast. The asus above loaded damn fast compared to the old vista laptop I use now. I literally turn it on before I get in the shower or eat so I can get started after.

I can buy the asus for $700+ tax.

My questions, and excuse my ignorance on some of these, are:
If I buy something like the ASUS S550CA-SS51 and find it not fast enough can I buy a quad core i7 and stuff it in there or is it you live with what comes on the motherboard?

Are there other machines I should consider that you know of? Like maybe something with a quad core now? I am ok with spending a few more hundred or so but I don't want to spend $2k+ just to not have to buy a new machine in a couple of years? Should I maybe something with a quad core now? Size and weight are not major issues as I am not planning on doing a lot of traveling with this laptop. If I want to take a pc when I travel I take an old one in case something bad happens to it.

I am OK with spending a little more for graphics if I can just to keep the load lighter on the cpu. I doubt the machine will ever be used for heavy gaming.

The guy at Office Depot also wanted to sell me a new HP 8600 Printer because he says my HP OJ 8500a a910n won't work with windows 8. HP has a driver listed so I hope he is wrong as it's about 18 months old and it took about 3 months and 2 replacements to get it working and I have about $150 in ink left for it.

He also told me laptops come with no support other than a hardware failure or restoring the machine to the state it was the day I bought. Is this true or some kind of line just to sell me support and warranty? I don't see paying almost half the price of a pc on warranty and support.

Thanks guys, any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Prostar Computer]

If I buy something like the ASUS S550CA-SS51 and find it not fast enough can I buy a quad core i7 and stuff it in there or is it you live with what comes on the motherboard?

It's a BGA processor, so it's soldered to the motherboard (which means no: you can't upgrade it). It's a rather low TDP one too because of the thin profile of the laptop. Since it's not as good with heat dissipation, it probably wouldn't be smarts to upgrade to say, an i7 3740qm.

I don't know that Asus has a touch screen model with what you're looking for, so you may need to shop around. I spoke with a customer recently that said she looked, but hasn't found anything though, so good luck!

 

[Dalandlord]

Thanks for the speedy reply Prostar,

Do you think this model is good enough for what I do and I should just worry about a couple of years down the road when it gets here or do you think I need a quad core? I guess I am asking if I am being paranoid about not having a powerful enough machine?

 

[Prostar Computer]

Thanks for the speedy reply Prostar,

Do you think this model is good enough for what I do and I should just worry about a couple of years down the road when it gets here or do you think I need a quad core? I guess I am asking if I am being paranoid about not having a powerful enough machine?

You're welcome!

You could definitely run everything you mentioned in your OP with the Asus; the i5 in it is only a dual core, but it's quad threaded (hypertheading). Naturally, you would benefit from a system with a quad core more so, but I run a desktop here at work with a first gen i3 and only 2 GB of RAM with 2 - 4 programs open at a time, and I have no performance issues.

Haswell is due June 3, so you may see Haswell-equipped systems shortly thereafter, and they are focusing on quad core upon release. So that's something else to consider. But all in all, the Asus will handle what you want it to do; the CPU just has a slow clock frequency, so it may not be as zippy as you like.

 

[Dalandlord]

Thanks for the speedy reply Prostar,

Do you think this model is good enough for what I do and I should just worry about a couple of years down the road when it gets here or do you think I need a quad core? I guess I am asking if I am being paranoid about not having a powerful enough machine?

You're welcome!

You could definitely run everything you mentioned in your OP with the Asus; the i5 in it is only a dual core, but it's quad threaded (hypertheading). Naturally, you would benefit from a system with a quad core more so, but I run a desktop here at work with a first gen i3 and only 2 GB of RAM with 2 - 4 programs open at a time, and I have no performance issues.

Haswell is due June 3, so you may see Haswell-equipped systems shortly thereafter, and they are focusing on quad core upon release. So that's something else to consider. But all in all, the Asus will handle what you want it to do; the CPU just has a slow clock frequency, so it may not be as zippy as you like.

Thanks Prostar, I ended up buying Samsung a Series 7 Chronos with a Quad core CPU. The only thing is doesn't have that I would have liked is any SSd at all. The Hard Drive does seem a tad slow. I haven't tried turning off the hard drive optimizing software some have suggested as of yet.

Are you thinking this Haswell chip is such a lead forward that I should haul this thing back to best buy and put up with my old machine for a few months?

Thanks

 

[Prostar Computer]

Thanks Prostar, I ended up buying Samsung a Series 7 Chronos with a Quad core CPU. The only thing is doesn't have that I would have liked is any SSd at all. The Hard Drive does seem a tad slow. I haven't tried turning off the hard drive optimizing software some have suggested as of yet.

Are you thinking this Haswell chip is such a lead forward that I should haul this thing back to best buy and put up with my old machine for a few months?

Thanks

The Samsungs are good. Too bad about the HDD though. If I remember correctly, you have to remove the backing to get to the drive; if that voids your warranty, then you won't be able to upgrade it yourself. But if you can do it yourself without killing the contract, then it's very simple to do; you would just need to either clone your existing drive, or reinstall Windows from scratch on the new drive.

And no, there's really no need to return your system and wait for Haswell. The biggest improvements are in energy efficiency and iGPU performance. Your laptop will be able to handle what you need.