New laptop - AMD or Intel?

downshifted

We need a new laptop to replace our 7 year old one. I use it to surf the net and email and he wants to store and edit photographs - lots of them.

I have looked on PC World's website and can see 15.6 inch laptops around the £500 mark with 8 gig memory and 1 terabyte hard drive - I could have an AMD or Intel processor - which should I choose and why please?

closed

doesn't the 7 year old one do that?

intel i5's are around £400, amd tend to be found on the cheaper ones.

downshifted

It's the one I am using now, so yes it still works, but it is starting to overheat. I suppose I am really asking what is the difference between the two processors please

Cycrow

without knowing the exact procesors it's difficult to say.

but in general, AMD focus more on multiple cores, whereas intel's cores are generally faster.

Intel tend to be more expensive than AMD (and quite often faster).

If you are on a low budget, then AMD will get you more for your money

Cisco001

Don't know which laptop you are talking about. But for £500, you will be look at something with i5 and dedicated gpu.
RAM/ HDD size not important as you can easily add RAM yourself and get external HDD if it run out of space.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Z500-15-6-inch-Laptop/dp/B00F93MBXC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391006557&sr=8-1&keywords=z500


If you want to know how CPU/ APU perform, check out cpubenchmark.net & notebookcheck.net

downshifted

Thank you. To clarify what I am looking at I have lifted the following descriptions from PC World. The following 3 laptops are all the same price £499. The first has a larger screen. Two have Windows 8.1, the other Windows 8. Two are Intel, one is AMD. They have the same RAM and storage - which one do you think would be better for photo editing?

Many thanks in advance for taking the time to help

Toshiba Satellite C75-A-13N Laptop.

Windows 8.1 Processor Intel® Core™ i3-4000M Processor (2.4 GHz, 3 MB cache) Storage 1 TB HDD, 5400 rpm PERFORMANCE RAM 8 GB DDR3 (16 GB maximum installable RAM)

Toshiba Satellite C55-A-1N1 15.6” Laptop
Windows 8 Processor Intel® Core™ i5-4200M Processor (2.5 GHz, 3.1 GHz with TurboBoost, 3 MB cache) Storage 1 TB HDD, 5400 rpm PERFORMANCE RAM 8 GB DDR3


HP Pavilion 15-n278sa 15.6” Laptop Windows 8.1 Processor AMD A8-4555M APU (1.6 GHz, 4 MB cache) Storage 1 TB HDD, 5400 rpm PERFORMANCE RAM 8 GB DDR3L

Cycrow

Where is the laptop going to be used, just at home, or will it be carried around alot ?

the larger screen could be useful for photo editing, but its going to be bigger and heavier than the other 2, and as a result, not so portable.

if its only really going to be used a home, then a desktop would be a better buy.

however, out of those 3, i would got for the i5

Big_Graeme

downshifted wrote: »

Toshiba Satellite C55-A-1N1 15.6” Laptop
Windows 8 Processor Intel® Core™ i5-4200M Processor (2.5 GHz, 3.1 GHz with TurboBoost, 3 MB cache) Storage 1 TB HDD, 5400 rpm PERFORMANCE RAM 8 GB DDR3

This one, a better processor for the money, you can upgrade to 8.1 for free and I recommend it is the first thing you do after you switch on for the first time.

esuhl

To compare the CPUs, the best thing to do is find some benchmarks that roughly reflect your intended usage. Have a look here: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

Looks like the i5 will be best in the 3DMark and Cinebench tests, while the AMD does better at number-crunching (in SuperPI & wPrime tests).

Then you need to take into account the processing performance you need, and the price of the laptops. Rule out the ones that are underpowered or too expensive, and then go for the one that gets you the best performance per pound spent. (That's what I'd do, anyway...)

esuhl

downshifted wrote: »

It's the one I am using now, so yes it still works, but it is starting to overheat.

If overheating is the only problem... why not just take the cover off and remove all the dust that is (presumably) clogging the fans...? If it was gonna save me £500 I'd give it a go!

Steve-o

esuhl wrote: »

If overheating is the only problem... why not just take the cover off and remove all the dust that is (presumably) clogging the fans...? If it was gonna save me £500 I'd give it a go!

I did that with my old laptop, which was always running hot with the fan almost permanently on high. I couldn't see, until I took the entire heat pipe assembly off, but the heat sink vanes were totally clogged with thick dust so that very little air would pass through. After cleaning the vanes the laptop runs quiet and cool again, with better battery life now that the fan isn't always whizzing away on maximum.