Sorry I'm running a bit behind—got stuck in some heavy traffic.
I have a feeling there’s been a slight misunderstanding here. This laptop isn't actually for my own use; a student I know is heading off to college soon and asked if I could help him track down something decent.
Regarding those questions about the GPU—I haven't had a chance to sit down and hash it out with him yet, but I'll ask which specific games he's planning to run. If he's just looking at lighter titles, I’d probably lean toward the 950m option—provided the laptop stays relatively light and offers an SSD+HDD combo.
That’s why that Toshiba caught my eye, even though the one darkowl72 linked seems to offer a solid selection for a lower price point than the Toshiba.
Waiting around to buy isn't really an option, though—he should be starting his semester around September, or whenever school kicks off.
I’m looking for some advice on picking out a laptop for a student—they’ll be heading abroad for university, so portability is key.
Since they'll be lugging it around campus, I’m leaning toward a 15.6-inch screen.
To be honest, I don't follow graphics cards closely enough to know if something like a 940M or 950M is actually decent for light gaming or if it's just a waste of money.
The primary use case is pretty standard academic stuff—nothing heavy like video editing or high-end graphic design. Just Office, emails, browsing, streaming movies, music, and social media.
A few specific requirements: - An SSD—either built-in or at least the option to add one alongside an existing HDD. - A solid, well-built chassis. - Windows isn't strictly mandatory.
Given my past experience with Toshiba, what are your thoughts on this particular model:
I haven't settled on a final price yet, but the budget is roughly $2333 and could stretch up to about $3333.
@Bryan Taylor6/">@@Bryan Taylor6, honestly—what are you even doing throwing that out? You’re basically tossing antiques into the trash. Give it a few more years and that stuff will be worth more than what you paid for it—assuming it's even still functional by then. 😁 To be honest, I ran Super Pi tests on both machines yesterday, and the results have left me feeling a bit perplexed. It appears that my AMD configuration is actually outperforming the Intel one—is that really what we're seeing here? Is Super Pi testing just about the processor, or does RAM play a significant role too?
@crimsonstag84/">@@crimsonstag84 I follow your logic—what you’re suggesting actually makes sense—but I wasn't exactly planning on an upgrade spree. My goal here is just to squeeze every last drop of performance out of what I currently have, even if the results end up being somewhat underwhelming. 🙂 ). Iako $83 Upgrading isn't exactly a bargain these days—I mean, handing over a stack of cash for something that’s already aged and used? It feels wrong. You're basically paying top dollar for hardware that could easily decide to quit on you tomorrow. I just can't justify it. I ran some tests on those hard drives yesterday—turns out they're all perfectly fine, not a single bad sector to be found. Today, I’m actually going to put this Celeron build through its paces now that I've bumped up the RAM and paired it with a decent graphics card. We'll see if it can actually handle the load. If this setup holds up for what I’ve got planned—then fine, we’re good. But if it ends up being a total disaster, I might actually have to consider an upgrade.
I have this ancient relic sitting at home—a computer from roughly 2001, if my memory serves me right. My mother has basically claimed it as her own workstation—though "workstation" might be a generous term. She uses it strictly for reading the news, running basic software, browsing the web, and watching YouTube. That’s about the extent of its utility—it hasn't seen a Facebook login in years. So, since I’ve had another machine sitting around my house for quite some time now—roughly from the same era as my current setup—I finally carved out a bit of time to merge them into a single rig.
Here is how things stand at the moment: PC_1 | ------ - CPU: An Intel Celeron clocked at 1.7GHz—now there’s a nostalgic trip down memory lane. It’s the kind of hardware that makes you appreciate how far we've come, assuming you didn't spend your entire youth staring at a spinning loading icon. Honestly, trying to run anything modern on that chip today would be an exercise in pure, unadulterated patience. GPU: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 RAM: 768MB — honestly, looking at this feels like stepping back into the late nineties. It’s practically prehistoric.512MB Transcend DDR400 DIMM CL3 + 256MB DDR 333MHz CL2.5—just in case anyone was actually looking for this specific relic. - MBO: MS-6547 Power Supply Unit: MSI MS400W ATX P4 Just a quick heads-up regarding the layout: there are four USB ports available—two located on the front panel and two on the rear.
PC 2 | ------ CPU: AMD Athlon 1.11GHz - GPU: The NVIDIA GeForce 6200—now there’s a piece of hardware that truly defines an era of disappointment. I remember picking one up back in the day, thinking I was finally upgrading from my integrated graphics to something "real," only to realize I had essentially purchased a very expensive paperweight. It was the quintessential budget card that promised much more than it actually delivered. If you were looking for anything beyond basic desktop tasks or perhaps a very sluggish round of Solitaire, this wasn't the chip for you. It remains a classic example of how "entry-level" can sometimes be a polite euphemism for "barely functional." RAM: 1.25 GB (enough to run a calculator, maybe—but certainly nothing more.)I have a single 1GB Transcend DDR400 DIMM module with CL3 latency available. It’s an older stick—definitely nothing you'd want to put in a modern gaming rig—but if you're tinkering with some legacy hardware or just need a spare part to get an old machine breathing again, it's there. Let me know if you're interested. + 256MB DDR CL2 Motherboard: Soltek SL-75DRV4 Power Supply Unit: MSI MAG 400W P4 Just a quick heads-up regarding my current setup—it’s pretty much a relic at this point. I’m working with an old machine that only has two USB ports, and honestly, one of them is barely functional due to some loose connections. To make matters worse, the audio seems to have completely given up the ghost—I can't get any sound through the headphones, nor via the line-out cable. It's all dead air.
I would personally go with the bolded option—that’s how I’d handle the setup. As for the power supply, it looks fine to me. Both boards have three RAM slots available, so if I were to pop one of those two weaker sticks into the third slot, would that actually impact performance? I'm trying to weigh whether it's worth the move just to gain an extra 256MB of RAM. I have three HDDs on hand—I’ll figure out how to best pair them up once I've finished testing. If anyone happens to have a recommendation for a solid, free utility to run some diagnostics, I’d certainly appreciate it.
Well, if anyone feels like tossing a suggestion my way—I’m all ears. 🙂
I just finished going through the replies—anyway, I’ve swapped out the processor and upgraded the RAM. If I were you, I’d definitely prioritize getting an SSD next.
I have a few follow-up questions: - Does this setup work with Centro Confe? I’m planning on installing everything he needs—at least to get him up and running.-- - Is this AMD an APU? Wouldn't it be better to go with dual-channel RAM (2 x 4GB) for an APU build?-- - They'll likely need an optical drive too; maybe something like this: LG GH24NSD1 SATA Bulk Black 24x $32
I'll post this here instead of starting a new thread—I'm looking for something similar for a friend of mine rather than myself:
A family desktop setup intended for use from $667 through $1000. It’s mostly for Facebook, YouTube, watching movies, listening to music, managing photos, basic Office work, emails, and browsing news sites... They won't be playing heavy games, though they do have a daughter in elementary school—she plays some stuff, but it's really just web-based Flash or Unity games. Now, who knows if she'll want to play GTA VI down the road (though I highly doubt it 🙂), or maybe some educational kid's game? I don't know, but I don't think a high-end GPU is necessary—at least not for now.
One thing that was emphasized to me is longevity—they want this machine to last, not end up lagging and stuttering like their old one did after just a couple of years. So, I suspect we could probably put something together for around $2,000, but if we want to prioritize durability (and an SSD is definitely a must), the budget could stretch to $3,000.
Paying in cash.
If anyone can put a build together, it would be greatly appreciated. 🙂
crimsonstag84 said:Feel free to grab that Seagate 3 TB or maybe one of those pricier WD red is designed specifically for Small mi Systems that have 1 to 5 Drive bays models—strangely enough, they’re about as cheap as you'll find at Best Buy here in the States.😬
Yeah, even I was a bit surprised when I stumbled upon that deal. 🙂 I'm still waiting on shipping since I'm out in Los Angeles.
Just one more thing. Is there any tangible difference—aside from the RPM—between Seagate and WD? Specifically, why is the WD priced about $50 higher when it actually has a lower rotational speed?
I’ve got a 1TB WD Green sitting in my rig right now—well, it's been running for nearly three years straight—and I have to say, it’s been absolute rock solid. It’s been working non-stop from sunrise to sunset, serving as my primary system drive before I eventually upgraded to an SSD, and now it just handles secondary tasks. Granted, the speed isn't exactly anything to write home about—hardly a speed demon—but that isn't really my priority when I'm just talking about bulk storage.
My budget is hovering around $333. I was originally thinking about picking up two 1TB drives, but then I caught a glimpse of the prices on those 3TB models and, frankly, I'm a little thrown by the math. 🙂
The bottom line for me is reliability. Does the actual dependability of the drive drop off once you start scaling up the capacity?
It seems I am drafting a post covering all those exact points using that same logic 🙂 I suppose that’s the end of it—though there might be a slim chance of salvaging some RAM from my old desktop (it’s about two years old; any hope it’s running DDR3? 🙂 )
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer everything!
Look, I know what an SSHD is—500GB is plenty more useful than some tiny 60 or 120GB SSD. That was my line of thinking 🙂 . The thing is, I haven't actually spent much time working with SSHDs, so I'm a bit unsure about the real-world speed boost you actually get. For roughly $167, I'm deciding between a 500GB SSHD or a 1TB HDD. In my opinion—since 500GB should be more than enough for her needs—it seems smarter to go with the SSHD to snag that extra speed. Or am I totally off base here?
******EDIT I just caught the second part of the post where you mentioned an SSD. Honestly, that kind of setup is my personal favorite, though I'm not entirely sure if a decent SSD will even fit within $667. If it works out, she could easily go with a 60GB SSD paired with a 500GB or 1TB HDD, provided it stays within budget.
Greetings, I am also curious about what would be best to assemble for $667 . My wife's computer at her office recently died on her. Management mentioned they’d just pick up a pre-built for $667, but I’m thinking we could put together something significantly better—not that I’d mind doing the work, but let's face it, she is 🙂.
She already has a monitor and peripherals; we just need the tower itself. The expense will be handled by the company—meaning it's a cash transaction—and the machine is strictly for drafting proposals, emails, and general web browsing.
I have been looking over the build that graniteharbor85 suggested; does it seem adequate for this kind of workload? Although, since there is room for extra cards, perhaps an optical drive could be added without breaking the bank? We would definitely go with a Hybrid Drive, as she needs plenty of storage space.
