Ultrabook

**DJ Ms. White** · 10-16-13, 10:09 PM

Man, had to haggle to get closer to what I'm shooting for price-wise with my father (who I have managing my money in a TD Ameritrade account). He wants me to get the current laptop diagnosed first (One stick of RAM is bad, the SSD is bad, none of the USB ports work, quite a few of the keyboard buttons no longer function, and the network card is dying). If I repaired it, I'd essentially spend the same amount of money, but have 5 year old parts. Grumble grumble.

New question: Would a a dual core 4th gen i5 work for what I want, or should I get an i7 quad?

**rush2049** · 10-16-13, 10:32 PM

For programming (compiling and an IDE): higher speed single core is faster
For programming (running a VM in test): dual core + lots of ram (8GB min) + speedy HD
For programming (running a VM in test, + a test DB): quad core + lots lots of ram (16GB most likely) + SSD

I wouldn't get any intel core 4th gen slower than 2.1 ghz per core.

Personally here is where I draw the minimum lines for processor speed: (intel haswell mobile)
2.1ghz+HT quad would be good
2.4ghz+HT dual would be good

use this as a guide for selecting processors: Haswell (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
scroll down to the mobile section
typically laptop manufactures have a max target TDP for a certain laptop shell design.... figure out what it is and try to get the fastest one.

**DJ Ms. White** · 10-25-13, 04:58 PM

I found a few options that look like they'll work. I just might need to swap out the HDD for something faster (all of the ones I can find with the options I'm looking for have 5400rpm drives...). I did find one that I could get this weekend (via ship to store) at Best Buy, but that I noticed that it's sold out online. It also wasn't available in any Best Buy stores within 6 hours of where I am, or within 2 hours of Dallas (I didn't check further than that for Dallas). Either going with a Newegg or a Sager.

**HeavyG** · 10-26-13, 12:48 AM

White, are you doing pro level coding, or just for school? If it is just for school use programming, don't buy into needing a top dollar PC for compiling and shit. The programs you would be compiling are likely not very demanding, and most Ultra Books are likely as powerful as your PCs in the labs at most schools.

Just don't go spending an arm and a leg on hardware you don't need. Wait, did I just say that?

Nevermind. Spend! Get the most kickassery you can!

**DJ Ms. White** · 10-26-13, 01:26 AM

My dad actually found the one that Best Buy said was sold out and not in any stores in Dallas. So, he went and purchased that for me and is having it overnighted (Best Buy is doing it for free) to a local Best Buy near me. After taxes and getting a warranty ~$1100, which was less than I had initially budgeted ($1300).

The school stuff I'm doing is also not demanding, but there are certain personal projects I have that are more demanding (especially the ones I have fiddling around with encrypted communication). The internship that I should be doing next summer is also for a high end net sec firm (at least that's what my uncle has told me). School stuff right now is digital design stuff (not demanding), Euler Problems (not demanding; people complain about them, but I've never spent more than 30 minutes on one), and the game I'm making as a group/final project for my CS class (not demanding or large; I doubt it will get over 5MB--mostly due to images/audio).

I'm picking it up tomorrow, and I will hope

**DJ Ms. White** · 10-29-13, 03:34 PM

It's nice. The reason I couldn't find it online was because my dad found the 17" and thought it was the 15". I spent a lot of the weekend trying to clear off the bloat. That was too much of a pain so I just did a fresh install.

**rush2049** · 10-31-13, 09:58 AM

The only laptop maker who I don't mind the bloat from is gateway..... they have this 'clean slate' program where its just windows on their laptops + a few drivers and utilities for the hardware to function....