Another laptop question - help!

Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 11:50

I've tried learning about what to look for when buying a laptop but I'm really struggling to understand what I need. I'm hoping someone here can help me decode all the jargon and point me in the right direction.

I currently have a laptop that I hate. The battery dies after about 30mins,it freezes, it's slow, it randomly dies and it's about 5 years old. Hubby has said these are all things he can fix but I've been waiting for a fix for 6 months now. This is all I know about it:
Asus Intel(r) core(tm) i5cpu m430 @2.27ghz
4gb ram
64 bit windows 10
15inch

I'm looking for something small and fast. I want to be able to pop it in my bag and take it to the park so I can work while the kids are playing. I don't want a tablet.
I don't play games or watch movies on it
It doesn't need a DVD drive but does need usb
I won't be using it for games but will use basic photo editing
Mainly for use on the net
It'll be storing a lot of photos.

I don't really know what other info I can give - please help!

Computing

Comments

  • spackbace on 07/01/2016 - 11:53
    +1

    Given yours is an i5, honestly I'd just:

    • Buy a new battery
    • Buy at least 8gb ram, maybe 16gb to be sure
    • Reformat, start again.

    ~$100 for 16gb ram, $50 or so for genuine battery, reformat and reinstall - free :)

    For under $200 your current laptop will feel like new again.

    Given you want to do photo editing, even basic stuff (that could get more pro?) I find it hard to recommend something else without spending close to $1k.

    • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 12:04
      +3

      Hubby, is that you?

      I wouldn't know where to start with changing the insides. Hubby has replaced the battery and charger, and reformatted it to Windows 10 (can't remember what was on it before, whatever was out 5 years ago).

      How would photo editing increase the price? What are the requirements?

      • ozhunter on 07/01/2016 - 12:12

        What's your budget? Does it have to be 15in?

        • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 12:14

          Not too sure on budget because I don't really know what will get me what I want. The one I have now is a 15 inch but I want something smaller.

      • spackbace on 07/01/2016 - 12:12
        +1

        Hubby, is that you?

        Lol :P

        How would photo editing increase the price? What are the requirements?

        From my personal experience, Mrs uses Lightroom and Photoshop, and 8gb wasn't enough to run it well, kept freezing up every now and then, upgraded to 16gb and it runs fine.

        My sister was after a laptop for Lightroom/Photoshop and she went for the recent Dell special, but really a lot of the specs are similar to yours already (i5, 15").

        Changing ram is a piece of cake, normally very easy to get to.

      • ESEMCE on 07/01/2016 - 12:17
        +2

        I don't expect that laurenlauren is editing in RAW. So a cheapo laptop would be fine.

        I'm also in the refurbish camp…
        Did hubby wipe the machine and install a fresh Windows 10 install, or did he just upgrade the 5 years old Windows 7 install?
        If he just did the upgrade. Tell him to back up data and wipe the machine clean.

        If it's still randomly crashing after that process, then the problem could well be blown capacitors on the Motherboard at 5 years age and a new machine would be required.

        Pretty much any modern laptop ought to be fine. Spend no more than $800.

        • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 12:29

          Not sure what he actually did but he told me to take everything off the laptop and back it up. I assume he wiped it. The laptop always makes a whirring clunky sound which makes me think that's not a good sign..

        • ESEMCE on 07/01/2016 - 12:40

          @Laurenlauren:

          whirring clunky

          Do you have a CD/DVD in the CD/DVD Drive?

        • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 13:50

          @scubacoles:
          There's no DVD drive

        • ESEMCE on 07/01/2016 - 13:51
          +1

          @Laurenlauren:

          Dodgy cooling fan maybe?
          You're swinging me to the new Machine camp.
          As below, keep your eye on the Dell outlet for a machine that tickles your fancy.

        • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 14:15

          @scubacoles: thanks for your help with troubleshooting, I appreciate it. it would have been great if I could just replace a few things and it would be good, but it doesn't seem to be that way.

      • Baysew on 07/01/2016 - 12:34
        +1

        The specs of your current laptop should do exactly what you want it to do, perhaps with 8gb of RAM.

        However, it's not. It's in Hubby "cooling off period" before any work can start.

        So look for a smaller laptop, (14"-13"-11") with similar specs.

        Hopefully Scimshaw will come in and advise.

    • enzioFirenze on 07/01/2016 - 12:59
      +1

      I would add a SSD to this, it'll rejuvenate your aging laptop :)

      • ESEMCE on 07/01/2016 - 13:03

        She needs storage though.. it'd have to be a hybrid.

    • veej on 08/01/2016 - 09:19

      That's assuming the hard drive isn't on the way out or it hasn't half cooked itself to death from overheating since no one hardly ever opens them up and cleans them out. How much money is too much when it comes to refurbishing an old laptop?

      To top it off, the person who says they can fix it hasn't bothered to do so and it's one thing to say hey you can do this and another to actually do it.

    • mattyman on 08/01/2016 - 13:31
      +1

      If you were going to go down the repair route, I'd also replace the hard drive with an Solid State Drive (SSD) while you are at it, especially if the hard drive hasn't been replaced in the last 5 years.

      Having said that it's probably not worth fixing and getting a new laptop would be the better way to go.

      I'd be looking for an i7 with a Solid State Drive, but one without a decent graphics card. You're not gaming so a built in Intel HD 4000-5000 graphics chipset should suffice for the things that you use it for and you won't be wasting extra battery power on something that you aren't using.

      Unlike PC's, i7's in laptops come in two flavours - Quad core and dual core. Try a laptop with a Quad Core CPU if you can, it will give you the best mileage in the long run (i.e. it'll be running better that a Dual Core in 5 years time when you go to upgrade again). How do you tell if a laptop has Quad core CPU? The CPU model numbers look like this … i7-5500U or like this i7-4720HQ. The Q on the end of the second one is important as it stands for Quad.

      Make sure it also has an SSD. Preferably 256GB or more. SSD's are faster than mechanical drives but tend to cost more per gigabyte. If you need more storage look for a laptop that incorporates both an SSD and a mechanical drive - if you go this route a 128GB SSD should suffice (although a 256GB would still be preferable). That way you run your applications from the fast drive and store your photos, music, videos on the slower mechanical hard disk drive (HDD).

      I actually bought one of these (http://www.msy.com.au/wa/cannington/notebooks/16434-gigabyte…) a while back but replaced the 128GB SSD with a 512GB SSD.

      Pros
      Quad Core CPU
      16GB RAM
      Has both an SSD and mechanical HDD
      Very fast.

      Cons
      Graphics card is more powerful than you need.
      Battery life is only ~4 hours.

      Notes - SSD is only 128GB.

      The graphics card is a little bit too grunty for what you want, but a Quad Core CPU and with 16GB should see you out another 5 years comfortably. It's a snappy little unit … around 5 seconds to get to the login screen from the time that you turn it on. A big downfall of it is that it only has a 4 hour battery life though. So it may not be what you are looking for but it was a good buy for me and handles gaming and music production well.

  • shazam7 on 07/01/2016 - 12:13
    +1

    Depends on how extensive yr photo editing is. The laptop u have, however, does have quite a powerful processor.

    Honestly speaking, if you have basic requirements, and a novice, suggest you go for a Chromebook instead. Cheap, no need to worry about puzzling Windows slowdowns and troubleshooting. However a small mindshift is necessary cos Chromebooks work a bit differently.

    • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 14:17

      I'll have a look into it, thanks. Is the difference between a chromebook and a laptop the operating system?

    • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 17:10

      Thanks for your recommendations! I'll check them out

        • spackbace on 07/01/2016 - 18:30

          Or get halfway through that list, deal comes up on here that garners many pos votes, and impulse buy :P haha

        • Laurenlauren on 07/01/2016 - 18:40

          Great idea, will do

  • try2bhelpful on 07/01/2016 - 13:18
    +1

    I would go to places like DSE/JB/HN and see what they have on the throw out tables. I think getting your current one refurbed is a waste of money - you might as well get what you want. If it's 5 years old it is a piece of junk by now. Just throwing good money after bad.

    Start parrot sketch here and replace parrot with laptop.

    • mattyman on 08/01/2016 - 13:34

      I stay away from big retail for laptop. Too expensive for what you get. The "throw away" tables will be low specced and out of date. Go for computer shops like MSY.

  • BuyoTheCat on 07/01/2016 - 13:53
    +1

    get a new husband

    • SlickMick on 07/01/2016 - 22:17

      hold on. we're busy with many things. he probably doesn't realise this priority has been escalated. Does she want her tax refund or does she want the laptop fixed??

  • SlickMick on 07/01/2016 - 22:21

    Honestly, it sounds like a decent laptop. Open task manager and see if you're using all of memory. Only if so do you need to increase it.
    I'd take it to somebody to clean it up for you and recommend if it needs an upgrade. I suspect a reinstall is all you need.

    that said, I just bought a replacement laptop for my mum coz she's got a similar complaint. I'll get it all nicely setup for her, then swap them over and clean up her old one. When she starts complaining, I'll give her the old one back, all fresh and good as new.

  • Dazza610 on 08/01/2016 - 13:17
    +1

    I only read the first few replies but I'm pretty sure, Your 'whirring clunky' sound could be 2 things.
    HHD about to FAIL… or Fan has failed.
    Probably both. Fan failing leads to over-heating which leads to BSoD etc..

    Your current RAM is MORE than adequate to run this machine.

    More than likely, the machine is full of Dust which causes over-heating, more-so in Laptops.

    Firstly get the 'whirring clunky' sound sorted (take it to a Tech)
    a) If it's the fan, replace it.
    b) If it's The HDD, replace it. (can you see where this is going) BUT, replace it with a Solid State Drive (SSD).
    c) Use the SSD only for 'Windows' & 'Programs' "C" drive.
    Store all your information (DATA) onto an external USB "D" drive.

    I just revived wife's old 'Celeron' with 2GB RAM (total) 4GB & Solid State Drive. (Her problem was HHD 'whirring clunky' sound)
    Cold boot > to > Up time, now 25 seconds. And quiet as a mouse.

  • SkyVoltz on 10/01/2016 - 18:30

    Late post I know but keeping computer jargon to a minimum, I'd like to say that a 5 year old laptop is not worth the time, effort and stress to repair.

    Otherwise your purposes are a lot similar to the kind of Laptop I am using. Basic web-browsing and Photo-editing software like Photoshop.

    I was wondering what your budget was. Most of the money involved in a laptop is it's portability in terms of weight and size and aesthetics.

    If you want a cheaper laptop, it'll be pretty heavy bulky unlike Ultrabooks (very portable but more expensive).

    Ideally, you would want to look for the following things:

    • 250 GB SSD (very fast speed and storage for your needs. You'll be surprised compared to your current laptop.)
    • 4GB RAM (This will not change since your current laptop unless if you feel that photo editing/rendering is slow for your needs, opt for 8GB)
    • i5 Processor (This is what pretty much powers your photo-editing software. You don't need to fork out more cash for i7 since I don't think you'll be editing too many videos)

    Here are some recommendations, strictly from JB Hi-Fi only:
    https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/lenovo/l…
    - [$949]
    - Much faster, takes like 3 seconds to boot up since it uses an SSD (I REALLY recommend any SSD, you'll love it)
    - However, it is a bit more expensive since it uses i7, a powerful processor which you won't really need
    - However, it only has 128GB of storage

    https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/laptops/acer/ace…
    - [$898]
    - Doesn't have SSD so it won't have that super boot up speed
    - However, it's fulfilled the 4GB RAM and i5 Processor category, good value for money.
    - It also has 1TB storage, more than enough for your needs.

    But yeah, if you manage to find a laptop under $1000 that fulfils all three criteria or even surpasses them, you've got yourself a good deal :)

    Edit #2: BINGO I found one!
    http://cdn.msy.com.au/Parts/notebook.pdf
    Aspire V3-372-587T Ultrabook
    - Fulfils all three criteria for only $899!!!
    - Brand new model as well
    - Get this one, it's under $900 which is a bargain!
    - That's something you'll find at JB Hi-Fi for like $1300…

  • Laurenlauren on 12/01/2016 - 14:47

    So I've had a bit of a look and I really like the Lenovo Yoga 700 11inch…

    • tech21 on 13/01/2016 - 16:21

      Hi Lauren,

      The Lenovo Yoga 700 11inch is more of convertible computing device than the laptop that you are after. If you are not looking for a tablet or tablet functions on the device, you are better off getting a dedicated laptop. it will be better specs and it will be better value for money for you.

      Since your requirements are that you want it to be small and fast, pop it in your bag and take it to the park, use for general net use, storing a photo library, and basic photo editing, and not for playing games or waiting movies, then these are things you might want to consider when purchasing your new laptop.

      your existing 15-inch laptop is too large for your purpose, you need something between 11 -13 inch as that becomes lightweight and portable. you need long lasting battery, if you are using in the park most to the day, so ask about the battery capacity when you are at the store. between 8-10 hours is preferable.

      8GB RAM as a minimum, for faster acces to your photos and media. I suggest you get yourself a fast portable hard drive to complement the SSD or hard drive on the laptop. no amount of inbuilt SSD or HHD on the laptop will be enough. 128GB SSD will do, anything above is still expensive, or a 500GB HHD or hybrid drive.

      • Laurenlauren on 13/01/2016 - 16:24

        Cheers for the detailed response!

        • tech21 on 19/01/2016 - 21:41

          you're welcome.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join