processor and graphics card vs RAM and Storage

priconi

Prominent
May 5, 2017
1
0
510
I'm going to buy a laptop for programming.
I have to chose between a lenovo y700 with an Intel Core i7-6700HQ Processor ( 2.60GHz 2133MHz 6MB ) a 1TB HD + 256 SSD, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB GDDR5 graphics card and 16GB RAM
or an Omen laptop with Intel Core i7-7700HQ processor, 8GB RAM, 128 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD memory and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2 GB) graphics card.
which one is better
 
Solution
While 4 GB Ram is fairly little now-a-days, unless you use a light Linux distro, one thing you should also take into consideration is that RAM is easier to upgrade than a GPU. As in, you can (mostly) not upgrade a GPU, where as, if you can play with Lego's, you can upgrade the RAM. Further, I would check if the 4GB RAM laptop has a free RAM slot, which would make upgrading it even simpler.

The same is true for Storage. You can easily upgrade it, or worst case, use an external storage device. So personally!!!, I tend to favour CPU/GPU to RAM and Storage.

GorfTheFrog

Distinguished
Aug 12, 2009
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18,520
Hi -
Assuming that your programming is not graphics intensive, my development teams have generally preferred a faster CPU with more cores, more RAM, and a fast SSD vs. graphic capabilities. That said, this has always been corporate applications with only a minimal graphic requirement (i.e., it needs to run windows and web browsers.)

Don't know how to advise if you are developing graphically intensive applications.

Hope this helps.

###
 

EvilHamster

Honorable
Jun 9, 2012
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10,610
While 4 GB Ram is fairly little now-a-days, unless you use a light Linux distro, one thing you should also take into consideration is that RAM is easier to upgrade than a GPU. As in, you can (mostly) not upgrade a GPU, where as, if you can play with Lego's, you can upgrade the RAM. Further, I would check if the 4GB RAM laptop has a free RAM slot, which would make upgrading it even simpler.

The same is true for Storage. You can easily upgrade it, or worst case, use an external storage device. So personally!!!, I tend to favour CPU/GPU to RAM and Storage.
 
Solution