General Question

BraveWarrior's avatar

I'm customizing a laptop. Do I really need to upgrade the Processor speed for my level of usage?

Asked by BraveWarrior (1330points) January 2nd, 2010

I am planning to buy a laptop & can choose the processor. I am an “average” user: Firefox browser, OpenOffice (spreadsheet & word processing mostly), email, FaceBook, occasional YouTube, some radio streaming or listening to CDs, websurfing & online shopping… no programming or gaming or anything advanced like that. Will be running Windows 7. Will have 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz memory. Will have an Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam & WiFi card & 8X CD/DVD Burner. Processor choices are Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 (2.1GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB) or Intel® Core™2 Duo T6600 (2.2GHz /800MHz FSB / 2MB) or Intel® Core™2 Duo P7450 (2.13GHz /1066MHz FSB / 3MB).

Considering the type of things I would use it for, would the 2.1GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB be sufficient for multitasking with multiple windows open?

Thanks very much!

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7 Answers

LeotCol's avatar

I think that it will be able to handle that just fine. You could do all of the things you mentioned on a much less powered machine.

LeotCol (2275points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
gggritso's avatar

That will be sufficient.

gggritso (5459points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
jaytkay's avatar

The P7450 uses less power (25 watts max, vs 35 max), it may give longer battery life. Otherwise I think you would not notice a difference.

Specs from Intel
T4300
T6600
P7450

jaytkay (25810points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
Pretty_Lilly's avatar

For those needs a mini netbook will do !

Pretty_Lilly (4660points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
jerv's avatar

I concur; my Aspire One can do all of that stuff except listen to CDs just fine.
Normally, I get around the lack of an optical drive by using the optical drive on my desktop system and copying files over. (I am not fond of external drives. If I wanted to carry all that extra crap, I’d just cart around a cinder block!) However, I find my Sansa e280 better for music than any laptop/netbook anyways, rendering it a moot point.

jerv (31076points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
BraveWarrior's avatar

Thank you all for your responses. I’m getting a laptop, not a mini netbook, because the laptop will be completely replacing my desktop. Thank you for reassuring me that I don’t need to spend the extra money for one of the faster processors.

BraveWarrior (1330points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
BraveWarrior's avatar

I don’t know if this matters so I’ll mention it just in case… I’m planning to use the integrated 1.3 MP webcam to communicate in American Sign Language and I wouldn’t want the picture to look like stop-motion photography – smiles!

And thank you again to all who replied.

BraveWarrior (1330points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…

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