New laptop - please help me decide - i3 vs i5?

[seven7seven]

Hello!

I need a new laptop with a budget max of 9.5k (incl. SSD for ~R1.5k - samsung-850-evo or transcend ssd370) but if going for an i3 makes better sense than an i5 then I can come in at ~7.5k - 8k.

I will be removing the HDD (not caddying) to use in an older laptop which has a failing HDD.

I mostly use the laptop for general boring office use - browsing, emails,docs, etc. but my wife will occasionally use it for Photoshop /Illustrator.

My current Dell Studio 1537 has lasted over 6 years and I'd like to buy something that will hopefully last as long

I've narrowed it down to the following so far:

Laptop

i3 options:

http://www.takealot.com/lenovo-g5080-15-6-intel-core-i3-notebook-black/PLID38529357
Lenovo G5080: i3-4005U, 4GB, 1TB - R6199

or

http://www.takealot.com/dell-inspiron-3542-15-6-intel-core-i3-notebook/PLID40360763
Dell Inspiron 3542: i3-4005U, 4GB, 500GB - R6308


i5 options:

http://www.takealot.com/lenovo-g5080-intel-core-i5-15-6-notebook/PLID40651221
Lenovo G5080: I5-5200U, 8GB, 1TB - R7,999

or

http://www.takealot.com/dell-inspiron-pro-3543-15-6-intel-core-i5-win-8-1-sl-black/PLID34200981
Dell Inspiron Pro 3543: I5-5200U, 4GB, 1TB - R7,999

or

http://www.takealot.com/dell-inspiron-5558-intel-core-i5-silver-15-6-notebook/PLID40733625
Dell Inspiron 5558: I5-5200U, 8GB, 1TB - R7,499 (bought it on daily deal expiring tonight - will return if decide on a different one)

or interestingly from dionwired:
http://www.dionwired.co.za/laptops/lenovo-lenovo-core-i5-notebook-g5080.html
Lenovo G5080: I5-5200U, 4GB, 1TB, 3 year warranty - R7,500


I'm struggling to decide on whether the extra bit for an i5 is worth it, and which one to choose. The reviews on the Dells seem to say the screen brightness isn't amazing and I can't find many decent reviews for the G5080 but from what I did find the display also doesn't sound too great?

Further, what's up with DionWired offering 3 year warranties on almost all their laptops while takealot only has a 1 year on most? Are DW's warranties legit?

Last thing - will replacing the HDD with an SSD affect the laptop's warranty?

Any input / advice is much appreciated!

Thanks!

-- Richard

 

[Viva]

Just a quick response here. If you're not planning on adding RAM to a laptop that comes with only 4GB, you should only look at options that come with 8GB from the start. The difference between 4GB and 8GB RAM will probably be more significant than the difference between an i3 and i5 processor given your specific use cases.

So get a laptop with 8GB RAM, which, when chosen from your list, will have a i5 processor.

The Dell you already bought has 4GB RAM it seems, instead of 8GB as you listed.

I'd say the Lenovo G5080 is the winner here. I would advise to stay away from Lenovo given the superfish scandal, but you'll be reinstalling Windows on the SSD, so that doesn't need to be a concern.

If you ever have a bigger budget for a laptop (±20k), I hope you can treat yourself to one with decent hardware: a high resolution screen, aluminium construction, glass trackpad etc. These are often not considered, but they make a massive difference to the overall experience.

 

[ODTech]

Just a quick response here. If you're not planning on adding RAM to a laptop that comes with only 4GB, you should only look at options that come with 8GB from the start. The difference between 4GB and 8GB RAM will probably be more significant than the difference between an i3 and i5 processor given your specific use cases.

So get a laptop with 8GB RAM, which, when chosen from your list, will have a i5 processor.

The Dell you already bought has 4GB RAM it seems, instead of 8GB as you listed.

I'd say the Lenovo G5080 is the winner here. I would advise to stay away from Lenovo given the superfish scandal, but you'll be reinstalling Windows on the SSD, so that doesn't need to be a concern.

If you ever have a bigger budget for a laptop (±20k), I hope you can treat yourself to one with decent hardware: a high resolution screen, aluminium construction, glass trackpad etc. These are often not considered, but they make a massive difference to the overall experience.

I don't agree on the RAM point. OP is going to use a SSD so the difference between 4 and 8 gig will not be noticeable unless he uses memory intensive programs.

I'd go with the dion wired machine because 3 year warranty. The down side is Lenovo Warranty is done by Partserve.
If the laptop has a panel on the bottom for hdd access it shouldn't affect the warranty. Many new entry level laptops does not have the panels so you have to dissasemble the laptop to do upgrades and they usualy only have 1 RAM slot.

 

[Viva]

I don't agree on the RAM point. OP is going to use a SSD so the difference between 4 and 8 gig will not be noticeable unless he uses memory intensive programs.

OP plans to use this computer for about 6 years - the approximate period he used his current laptop. Are you suggesting that 4GB RAM will serve him well in 2020 when he might be running Windows 12? I agree that the SSD will be the game changer in terms of overall performance, that much is indisputable. But there is simply no reason OP can't have both: a SSD and 8GB RAM. In my honest opinion, it would be quite short sighted to settle for 4GB knowing full well that software requires more memory as time progresses.

 

[ODTech]

OP plans to use this computer for about 6 years - the approximate period he used his current laptop. Are you suggesting that 4GB RAM will serve him well in 2020 when he might be running Windows 12? I agree that the SSD will be the game changer in terms of overall performance, that much is indisputable. But there is simply no reason OP can't have both: a SSD and 8GB RAM. In my honest opinion, it would be quite short sighted to settle for 4GB knowing full well that software requires more memory as time progresses.

I didn't say he shouldn't get 8 Gig. We're comparing laptops he's looking at to buy, upgrades can be done in 2020 if needed.

 

[Viva]

I didn't say he shouldn't get 8 Gig. We're comparing laptops he's looking at to buy, upgrades can be done in 2020 if needed.

Then we agree that he should get 8GB!

Remember what I said:

If you're not planning on adding RAM to a laptop that comes with only 4GB...

It just seems silly to underspec a laptop one plans on using for an extended period - especially with RAM which is relatively cheap.

 

[Johnatan56]

Go for the Lenovo G5080: I5-5200U, 4GB, 1TB, 3 year warranty - R7,500
I would still add RAM, 8GB stick wootware, 4GB stick wootware

If you can wait another half year, the skylake processors should show up soon. Supposed to be one of the biggest advances in processors in quite a while, way better battery life if that is important to you.


EDIT: And all those i5's are dual-core processors with hyperthreading (denoted by a U at the end).

 

[Arthur]

skylake processors should show up soon. Supposed to be one of the biggest advances in processors in quite a while, way better battery life if that is important to you.

Indeed. Skylake devices are already on the market, and should flood in by Christmas. And Intel Speed Shift is enabled by Win10 Th2 update due out in the next few days.

 

[Johnatan56]

Indeed. Skylake devices are already on the market, and should flood in by Christmas. And Intel Speed Shift is enabled by Win10 Th2 update due out in the next few days.

Yep, I wanted to wait for it but my laptop died and couldn't work without it. Settled for a Lenovo Y5070.

 

[TJ99]

The difference between an i3 and i5 will be minimal, provided you are comparing 2 cores with 2 cores. If you can get a quad core i5, that could improve performance a bit but again not huge for your usage. SSD will be the most significant speed boost to a laptop since their HDD's are already so much slower than desktop versions.

If you want something to last long which it seems you do, you can't go wrong with a Lenovo. They look like remnants from the 1980's but they are quite solidly built and have the best keyboards of any laptop brand by a huge margin. Then again, Dell laptops are also quite well built, and they look a lot better if that's important to you.

 

[supersunbird]

You have to go in store before buying and check if the screen is what you want.

Anyway, I often get a chance to work on the same model HP laptops, where one has a i3 and one a i5, I prefer installations on the i5s, just gets done faster.

 

[craiglotter]

Don't go for the i3 - struggles significantly when doing anything slightly computationally intensive. If you can afford the i5, go for it. (And even better if you can go upwards for an i7...)

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

To add my 2c worth here - I have to agree with the majority - the i5 will give you better performance than the i3.

The difference between 4 Gigs and 8 Gigs is negligible and the SSD will make a huge impact on performance in read write speed terms.

This I tell you from experience on a recent build project my son and I were playing with.

Its always more cost effective to get as much RAM at the start rather than adding RAM down back.

Personal choice - prefer Dell to Lenovo. Had two OBFs with Lenovo in the past year.

 

[sand_man]

https://m.takealot.com/#product?id=50886935

 

[access]

i5 with 8gb ram(will help with photoshop etc.)

i3's struggle a bit when you have a few things open like outlook, excel, a website or two, pastel accounting and a media player or some such...

if you can get one with a dedicated GFX card even better.

The SSD can be installed by the manufacturers service centre. It will stay under warranty, they will transfer the OS to the new SSD and give you the old one.

DO NOT COUNT ON UPGRADING TO FAR IN THE FUTRE - parts are changing year by year. It might be upgradable now, but in 5 years the parts will not be available etc...

 

[seven7seven]

Thanks everyone for the responses, it is much appreciated, myBB community is awesome!

I agree that if I buy it now I must go i5 8GB.

BUT if Skylake will be quite a game changer (and it sounds like it will) and will be readily available in SA by latest early next year (Jan/Feb) then I think I should make an interim plan to resurrect my current Dell with the failing HDD (get a cheap used hdd or buy the SSD & use that for now) and hold out for Skylake, assuming it will be within my same budget - any thoughts on this?

 

[ODTech]

Thanks everyone for the responses, it is much appreciated, myBB community is awesome!

I agree that if I buy it now I must go i5 8GB.

BUT if Skylake will be quite a game changer (and it sounds like it will) and will be readily available in SA by latest early next year (Jan/Feb) then I think I should make an interim plan to resurrect my current Dell with the failing HDD (get a cheap used hdd or buy the SSD & use that for now) and hold out for Skylake, assuming it will be within my same budget - any thoughts on this?

Makes sense. I doubt the cpu speed itself will have a huge performance boost for what you need it for but the on chip gt4e gpu makes it very appealing if you are interested in gaming at all.

I have a desktop with the i5-5675c which has a gt3e gpu (aka iris pro 6100) on chip and i'm playing madmax on it, not full hd mind you but for what it is i'm pretty impressed with it.

 

[Johnatan56]

Thanks everyone for the responses, it is much appreciated, myBB community is awesome!

I agree that if I buy it now I must go i5 8GB.

BUT if Skylake will be quite a game changer (and it sounds like it will) and will be readily available in SA by latest early next year (Jan/Feb) then I think I should make an interim plan to resurrect my current Dell with the failing HDD (get a cheap used hdd or buy the SSD & use that for now) and hold out for Skylake, assuming it will be within my same budget - any thoughts on this?

You can't go wrong with the SSD as you can always move it over later.

 

[bigboy529]

I'm currently in this same boat, though I already narrowed it down to i5 or i7 and Dell, reason for Dell is their excelent support in SA, I'm not really willing to look at anything else, I guess it's like my thing for Seagate drives.
One thing I noticed about the Dell machines and I'm not sure if this should be a concern if looking at future upgrades is that they only have 1 RAM slot so RAM will have to be replaced, you can't just add another stick. I was also thinking that there won't be any margen for error, one memmory channel failing for example but the other still working. Do you people think this should be a concern and a potencial show stopper, or is it just the way they build the things these days?

 

[ODTech]

I'm currently in this same boat, though I already narrowed it down to i5 or i7 and Dell, reason for Dell is their excelent support in SA, I'm not really willing to look at anything else, I guess it's like my thing for Seagate drives.
One thing I noticed about the Dell machines and I'm not sure if this should be a concern if looking at future upgrades is that they only have 1 RAM slot so RAM will have to be replaced, you can't just add another stick. I was also thinking that there won't be any margen for error, one memmory channel failing for example but the other still working. Do you people think this should be a concern and a potencial show stopper, or is it just the way they build the things these days?

It's like with everything these days, they give you less value for your money. The one RAM slot is to cut manufacturing costs, same with the lack of a panel on the bottom to upgrade ram and hdd.

Look at the more expensive models or business class for better options.