quad core or dual core?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I want work efficiently. I will do a com sci minor, along with chem e major. Guy at best buy tells me to get quad core (or I-3), because it essentially works twice as fast as dual core. On the other hand, there's the price issue. I'm looking for less than $600.</p>

<p>Is quad core worth it?</p>

<p>if so, what is the cheapest quad core laptop I can buy that's also got decent battery and <14.1 in screen?</p>

<p>if not, what is the cheapest dual core I can buy that's also got what's stated in the sentence above?</p>

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<p>Quad core is not worth it if you need to keep costs down. Dual cores will run what you need to do fine.</p>

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<p>hardcore B)</p>

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<p>I want something that will last me many years. At least 5. I’m not sure if dual core would last long that long, that’s the thing</p>

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<p>How many cores a processor has doesn’t determine a laptop’s longevity. If you take care of your baby, it’ll last five years fine. In fact, with laptops, a quad core will last less since it generates much more heat and eats up battery power like crazy. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if you are talking about lasting long in terms of futureproofing, then yeah, dual cores are becoming obsolete for desktops. But dual cores will be the most efficient processor type in laptops for two, three more years easy. But you don’t care about that kind of stuff. You’ll be fine with a dual core, trust me.</p>

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<p>How fine will we be with a dual core in four or five years? I need a laptop that’s still going to be functional (and by functional I mean able to do at least slightly more than the 2004 Dell sitting downstairs - a $1500 paper weight) by then.</p>

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<p>^The answer to your questions is in the post right above you. Read more carefully.</p>

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<p>if I get a dual core, can I install XP and get rid of Vista or 7 to make it run faster?</p>

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<p>There’s no need to do that. The productivity of Windows 7, which you need for your work, outweighs XP by miles. And it taxes your processor much less than you think.</p>

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<p>Cores dont’ scale linearly. A quad core is not 2x as fast as a dual core, and a dual core is not 2x as fast as a single core. Similarly, a quad core is not 4x as fast as a single core. The guy at Best Buy is a salesman first and techie second, of course he’d tell you to buy the more expensive brand. </p>

<p>Unless you’re playing some high-end games or running CAD software (which would be silly on a personal laptop), you don’t really need a quad-core laptop. In terms of price, I think low-end quad cores cost around the same as high-end dual cores, but you really don’t need a high-end dual core anyway. </p>

<p>You need to be honest with yourself. What exactly will you be doing on your laptop? Writing essays, spreadsheets, presentations, emails; sending emails, using the internet. Not much else? A dual-core has more than enough the capability to run these and most other tasks easily. A lot of people end up buying way more than they need, when a little knowledge and perspective would save them a lot of money.</p>

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<p>The guy is trying to upsell you. Don’t do it. You don’t need that. If your computer becomes obsolete, it will be because some other change has occurred, maybe in storage or screen technology.</p>

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<p>A quad core does NOT run twice as fast as a dual core in every instance.</p>

<p>Lesson time:</p>

<p>To use all four cores in a quad core, a program has to be specially written to do so. When a program is quad core optimized, it does run much faster on a quad than on a dual. Unfortunately, most programs out today are only optimized for dual cores. This means that you will only see a marginal, if any, performance gain.</p>

<p>Personally, unless you’re into heavy gaming (think Bad Company 2 and the like) or into media editing (After Effects, Photoshop, etc), you’d be fine on a dual core.</p>

<p>My own personal choice is for an i3-based laptop.</p>

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<p>I currently own a laptop from 1999, ugraded several times. It is the IBM T32, which runs like a rock. The CPU is a 1Ghz mobile pentium 3, and it currently has 512 megs of RAM. It came with a DVD drive, and the hdd was upgraded form 20g to 80g (ATA) two years ago, along with an upgrade from win98 to XP. </p>

<p>And guess what? this system can literally be found in the trash can of some places (side note: i meant the general laptop, not counting RAM. the laptop i own now, the 512 mgs of SoDIMM SDRAM is actually pretty expensive cuz its not made any more and is getting rare) </p>

<p>And it handles anything I throw at it. Web browsing? a speed demon with google chrome.
word processing? it has a copy of offfice 2007 running beautifully. Movies? thanks to the dvd drive, it can handle even that well.</p>

<p>In fact, the only things a college student may need that it won’t handle is games, HD video, graphic design and programs compiling.</p>

<p>Granted, I’m not telling you to get an 11 year old computer. what I am saying is that worry about these 3 specs (ill list them down below) first, then worry about how long itll last. anything above what im going to list is overkill for a laptop, especially one ull need to carry around like a colloge computer.

  1. CPU is at least dual core, at least 2 GHz.
    2)2 gbs plus ram
    3)video card can handle HD video or graphics design.</p>

<p>hell, option #2 is almost useless because RAM is easy as ■■■ to upgrade, but i added it cuz if the ram in a laptop is crappy when u buy it, the rest will be crap too.</p>

<p>just my 2 cents on minumum requirements.</p>

<p>If u have a bit more cash, this laptop is a great bargain that can handle crysis at high with 30fps:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174;+Core%26%23153;+i5+Processor+-+Blue/Black/9736955.p?id=1218164036446&skuId=9736955[/url]”>http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174;+Core%26%23153;+i5+Processor+-+Blue/Black/9736955.p?id=1218164036446&skuId=9736955&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>dead link. list name?</p>

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<p>To address your specific study points, you won’t run into anything in chem that would require a quad core for your personal machine. If there is some vast calculation needed, you won’t be doing it on your computer. As for comp sci, it should matter even less, if that’s possible. I suppose maybe if you are in some subset of electrical engineering, then it would be a good idea but still not necessary.</p>

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<p>Before coming back to school, I was a champion overclocker/custom rig builder/ PC technician. Let me tell you about the quad core generation.</p>

<p>1) Everyone said, “Just you wait, next year quad cores are the future! When applications are optimized for it!”. This was in January 2007. Today, dual cores are still better for games, and get this! Intel’s new dual cores are optimized for four threads. (Quad core in dual core suit)</p>

<p>2) What matters more, is your motherboard. Mother is all. Just like when you’re a child. With a $600 budget, you’re going to skimp on the things that really matter. Power supply, motherboard and hard drive are crucial components. You might be able to get by with an AMD quad core, but what matters is still how rounded your system is.</p>

<p>3) Unless you’re doing a considerable amount of rendering or workstation tasks, you won’t need the crunch power of a quad. </p>

<p>You want it to last 5 years, but you want to spend $600. Those are some conflicting objectives, but it CAN be done if you go dual core, good motherboard, decent memory. These are the baselines-
Core i3 530
Gigabyte P55 motherboard
4gb DDR3 G.Skill
640gb Western Digital
ATI 4670 video card
DVD Burner
Cooler Master Centurion 5
OCZ ModXStream Power Supply </p>

<p>Here’s the Newegg price list-
<a href=“http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6236/pricelist.jpg[/url]”>http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6236/pricelist.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Just find them on Newegg. The power supply and video card are a combo.</p>

<p>Now, if you want to go quad core anyway, you can toss out the video card, and get a motherboard with integrated graphics and swap out the i3 530 for an i5 650.</p>

<p>I do not recommend this.</p>

<p>Integrated graphics are “decent” for day to day usage. But when it comes to HD processing (watching Blu-Rays or HD movies), playing games (even simple games like Counter Strike) or doing things like CAD or rendering pictures. Anything! Even simple photoshop editing. The i3 530 combined with a 4670 will SMASH the Quadcore with integrated graphics. It’s not even a competition. It’s a rabbit versus the hare, but the rabbit doesn’t take a nap this time. </p>

<p>Now, before you say “Well I want quad! Quad is better!”</p>

<p>No it isn’t. The Intel Core i3 530 is NOT a horse & pony show. It’s not a joke. It’s a VERY powerful dual core.</p>

<p>[The</a> Intel Core i3 530 Review - Great for Overclockers & Gamers - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News](<a href=“The Intel Core i3 530 Review - Great for Overclockers & Gamers”>The Performance & Power Summary - The Intel Core i3 530 Review - Great for Overclockers & Gamers)</p>

<p>It outperforms previous generation Core 2 Quads, Phenom I X4’s, Athlon II X4’s.</p>

<p>Now, if you’re nervous about building yourself, I can assure you it’s not difficult at all. I learned how to build custom computers when I was 14. It’s even easier now because processors don’t have pins anymore, CPU coolers aren’t an exercise of attrition to get installed and sata connections are super easy to plug in. Not to mention, cases nowadays are mostly tool less. The advantages of custom building:

  1. The memory has a lifetime warranty, processor has a 3 year warranty, hard drive has a 3 year warranty, motherboard has a lifetime warranty (register on Gigabyte.com and you get it) and video card has a DOUBLE lifetime warranty. The power supply ALSO has a lifetime warranty. </p>

<p>2) You know your computer better than anyone. If something needs to be looked at, you know where it is, how it got there and what it should be doing. The quality of build comes from your own hands. You’ll baby it. You’ll treat that computer like it SHOULD be treated.</p>

<p>3) Your choice on software. You want Windows 7 Professional? Done. You want Windows XP? Done. You want… Linux Ubuntu or Fedora or even Hackintosh OSX? Done. Want multiple partitions and dual boot? Done. You choose. No junk software and HP support updates and all that other nonsense. No trial versions of Norton antivirus.</p>

<p>4) Much better components.</p>

<p>But if you DO want to go prebuild, I would consider Dell Outlet and looking at the returned or recertified outlet PC’s. They take money off the top and you can find coupons at Slickdeals.net. I got my XPS M1530 laptop with 3gb of ram, Core 2 Duo processor and dedicated graphics for $527 in November 2008. That’s 1.5 years ago and it’s as good or better than $600 laptops today!</p>

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<p>building my own laptop sounds scary. I think I’ll just go with coupons. thanks dude.</p>

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<p>@Essenar: The OP was talking about a laptop, not a desktop. While I agree with your commentary on most of the topics you discussed, I have to disagree with the video card.</p>

<p>Yes, a dedicated chip is definitely better than integrated, but you gave that info with desktops in mind instead of laptops. In laptops, they tend to lower battery life dramatically while putting out a lot of heat. It’s true you can’t play games well or play HD content well on a laptop, but the OP hasn’t listed his use for a laptop (correct me if I’m wrong) and most laptops don’t have HD screens anyways.</p>

<p>While I second the suggestion for an i3, I have to reserve judgement on the graphics recommendation until I figure out if the OP needs it or not.</p>

<p>@OP: If you’re willing to list everything you’ll be using this laptop for, I can give you a few good suggestions on laptops :)</p>

<p>PS: As for my credentials, I’m a system builder and overclocker. Feel free to look me up on overclock.net.</p>

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<p>k, here we go:</p>

<p>Firefox
Eclipse
Microsoft Word (2003 is strongly preferable)
Microsoft Excel, PP, etc (ditto)</p>

<p>Work wise, I think that’s all for now.</p>

<p>If I get really lonely, I might buy something like FIFA 09 or Madden. Anyways, if I do get a game, it won’t be very demanding.</p>

<p>btw. I’d really like a laptop with a processor that doesn’t heat up easily. The fan is super annoying, especially when you’re trying to watch ESPN360.</p>

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<p>With those games, you most likely need to get a dedicated graphics chip then. I’ll post some suggestions after my lecture :)</p>