Windows 10 from the ground up

Rocky · 20 May 2016

Vince Massi said:

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 4

Some of your choices will include a Celeron chip as the CPU. Built like an Intel chip, a Celeron has a much smaller cache (the cache allows the CPU to locate information much more quickly) and sends out much smaller amounts of information than a Pentium chip running at the same speed.

Decades ago, the phrase "Celeron chip" meant "This computer is built with cheap parts in order to slightly lower the price while greatly lowering the quality." Knocking $40 off the price of a $1,000 laptop was a really bad way to save money. (The difference today is about $50).

But today, the best Celeron chips are better than the middle-of-the-road Intel chips of 18 months ago. And we successfully ran cartoons, movie, and Windows Store aps on a laptop with a Celeron chip. The laptop was made by a company that cobbled together left-over unsold parts to make a rugged budget rig that ran well.

$50 does make a difference on a $250 low-end laptop. Go home and research before you buy, but a Celeron chip is not cause for an automatic reject of a budget laptop.

This whole entire post is wrong because a Celeron chip is an Intel chip, just like an F-150 is a Ford.

IntelÂ® CeleronÂ® Processors

BunnyJ · 20 May 2016

Rocky said:

This whole entire post is wrong because a Celeron chip is an Intel chip, just like an F-150 is a Ford.

IntelÂ® CeleronÂ® Processors

+1.. more misinformation.. but there is a humor value to his posts in this thread.

Vince Massi · 20 May 2016

Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 5

Should you consider a Chromebook? Besides not having Windows 10, a budget Chromebook has no offline abilities. (The more expensive ones can function offline). Loosely speaking, you might be talking two gigs of RAM with a quad-core processor. You're also talking about $50 US less than a Win 10 laptop. Depending on how you use the term, many people do not regard a Chromebook as a laptop.

But you're also talking about a bigger, brighter screen. You're talking about faster boot-up, no malware problems, and automatic upgrades in the cloud, rather than on your machine.

You'll get a lot less aps than you'll find in the Windows Store, but there are enough free ones to do everything except play high-end games.

A surprising thing is that Chromebooks are far more popular than the numbers tell. I've been listing numbers on Windows operating systems and on browsers, but these don't include Chromebooks. For the first quarter of 2016, they outsold Macs for the first time. Some sources believe that Chrome, not Mac, is the most popular operating system after Windows.

But of course--if you can't get onto the web, a Chromebook is nothing but a paperweight.

DeaconFrost · 20 May 2016

Vince, you seem to have this uninterruptable desire to post a guide to laptop buying, but you aren't listening to what people are saying. There's no definitive guide and no need or reason for one. Everyone's needs and budget are different. Each time you've "updated", you've completely changed what you've stated.

If you want a definitive guide to buying a computer, it's this: do your research. That applies to any purchase, to be honest.

Fafhrd · 20 May 2016

I think Vince left whatever little (if any), credibility he had remaining from previous posts, out in the rain with the church orphans and the two laptops that didn't survive the drenching from that thunderstorm.

It can only be the amusement value of seeing an OP burying themselves in their own loudly proclaimed and often misinformed opinions, and the incredulity of other TF members that has allowed this thread to continue past 50 postings. This is no soapbox!

Now, why is he going on about Chromebooks on a general support forum for Windows 10, except for the sad case of verbal diarrhoea he apparently likes to impose on others?

Night Hawk · 20 May 2016

DeaconFrost said:

Vince, you seem to have this uninterruptable desire to post a guide to laptop buying, but you aren't listening to what people are saying. There's no definitive guide and no need or reason for one. Everyone's needs and budget are different. Each time you've "updated", you've completely changed what you've stated.

If you want a definitive guide to buying a computer, it's this: do your research. That applies to any purchase, to be honest.

And I have been sitting back watching all of this and know from actual shopping around for a laptop at the best price but still able to outdue the model being replaced I found a 17.3" Toshiba, 1tb main drive, 6gb of ram running the 64bit 10 Home for under $500! No laptops except "Used" laptops are found for only $250 unless some vendor is having some type of going out of business clearance sale at this time. The average prices run $800 upto nearly $2,000US when taking a serious look around!

As for quad core cpus you mostly see those on premade desktops not many on laptops unless paying top dollar! Most often dual core cpus running 1.8ghz-2.2ghz some as far as 2.3 or 2.4ghz for a price! 6gb generally found on Pro not Home x64 rigs as a general rule. 4gb typical of Home edition laptops regardless of version with some 7 laptops still being sold! Due to how tremendously popular 7 got over the years vendor warehouses still had some rather large inventories still needing to be cleared out while no new models except Dell custom orders with choice of OS offer would be seeing 7 or 8 and soon no longer 8.1 coming out.

The latest new models out still find 8.1 on them since 10 hasn't yet seen the first full year of RTM with July no longer being the freebie but paid for on everything when the new version is actually full RTM ready! The 10 launch last year was about where 7's RC was back in May 2009 but put out to get people looking at 10! Now due to the Insider builds you are seeing what the finished version is shaping up to be.

As for hardwares being shaped for software the fact applies to cpu being updated to support virtualization seen with the Atholon IIs and ICore Intels. The Celeron line up which was the lower model end at Intel lacked support while the P4s were just starting to see that type of support coming in And Celerons haven't been in use for some time now! Xeon and Core I series mobile processors are what to compare! PassMark CPU Benchmarks - Laptop & Portable CPU Performance

Vince Massi · 20 May 2016

Good to hear from you, Night Hawk.

On May 9, CNET posted reviews of four budget laptops, three of which were under $200.

Best budget laptops of 2016 - CNET

The two budget laptops that I have did not meet the standards of any of these, and yet they ran fine.

BunnyJ · 20 May 2016

DeaconFrost said:

Vince, you seem to have this uninterruptable desire to post a guide to laptop buying, but you aren't listening to what people are saying. There's no definitive guide and no need or reason for one. Everyone's needs and budget are different. Each time you've "updated", you've completely changed what you've stated.

If you want a definitive guide to buying a computer, it's this: do your research. That applies to any purchase, to be honest.

Fafhrd said:

I think Vince left whatever little (if any), credibility he had remaining from previous posts, out in the rain with the church orphans and the two laptops that didn't survive the drenching from that thunderstorm.

It can only be the amusement value of seeing an OP burying themselves in their own loudly proclaimed and often misinformed opinions, and the incredulity of other TF members that has allowed this thread to continue past 50 postings. This is no soapbox!

Now, why is he going on about Chromebooks on a general support forum for Windows 10, except for the sad case of verbal diarrhoea he apparently likes to impose on others?

I have no idea what this thread is about. First it started out as a "how much RAM do I need".. now it's an advice thread on purchasing a laptop?? First I don't mind the change in topic but it would be nice if the OP really knew what he was talking about. A 250 dollar laptop is kind of minimal and not much use for gaming.

The OP has lost a lot of credibility with me with this thread and some of his other posts.

BunnyJ · 20 May 2016

I found a good article that discusses budget gaming laptops.
The Best Budget Gaming Laptop (So Far) | The Wirecutter

They suggest this one: 800 dollars...
Amazon.com: Dell 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (6th Gen Intel Quad-Core i5-6300HQ Processor up to 3.2GHz, 8GB DDR3, 256GB SSD, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M, Windows 10): Computers Accessories

Night Hawk · 20 May 2016

Vince Massi said:

Good to hear from you, Night Hawk.

On May 9, CNET posted reviews of four budget laptops, three of which were under $200.

Best budget laptops of 2016 - CNET

The two budget laptops that I have did not meet the standards of any of these, and yet they ran fine.

Those low cost options are not actually full fledged laptops but more like the Netbooks, Chromebooks, etc. seen several years ago with very limited options and capacities. Mainly those are for students or others on tight budgets or simply want something cheap for a quick email checks while on the go without the weight factor of carrying a much better, typically larger unit around with them.

Back in late 2014 you would have been looking at something more like the Tagital T10 with 10.1 screen, 16gb flash memory, and mainly a low cost Andriod. Since then the price dropped from $104- as one vendor had it priced down to $76.99 present. Amazon.com : Tagital T10 10.1 Inch 16GB Nand Flash Quad Core Android 4.4 KitKat Tablet with Keyboard : Computers Accessories

As far as the HP Stream model you were pointing to at the link there. (Discontinued) HP Stream 11.6 Inch Laptop (Intel Celeron) as you will note. Again If you want new you go with what is available at this time as well as not just being newer like the Xeons but meets the user's own needs! The HP Stream model saw 8 not even 8.1 being discontinued fast when 8 was replaced fast by MS with 8.1 having realized 8 was a total flop! HP rushed in blindly and later had to revamp things for 8.1 then deciding to bring in an updated line of processors.

That's a good example right there however of just how fast any OEM can drop a model series entirely! In years past it simply got too costly to keep buying a brand new pc each time a newer version came out and many simply opted to build their own! When planning things out wisely like the 5yr. old build still going strong here you would surprised how far you can go on "One Good Build" over buying cheap far more frequently?!