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TL;DR - desktop computer is slow, can't get it running faster, Dad wants a new laptop, did I pick a good one?
Why I'm Looking for an Office Laptop
My dad complained about the home desktop running slow (it's a dell AIO Inspiron 3455 with AMD A8-7410 APU). After spending most of the day scanning for viruses (none found), cleaning out old programs, and disassembling for dust removal it didn't get any faster (if anyone has some magic tricks for speeding up a W10 machine I'm all ears, seems like this computer is still worth $765 according to amazon but the cpu benchmark is pretty poor). Since it's still running slow he just wants a new computer and decided on a laptop which will spend most of its time being used clamshell style as a desktop but go with him on occasional travel.
What I'm Looking for:
An affordable, office focused (no video editing) laptop that will spend 99% of it's time plugged into its charger with an external monitor and occasionally be used for travel. Hoping to find something that will last a long time and I have a broad budget of around $400 - $800 but prefer $500-$600
256GB SSD or higher, and a good cpu improvement that will hopefully stay speedy for years to come. Not strictly required but I want to get 16GB of RAM.
My Results
After all my searching this seems to be the best deal to me:
$580 HP Ryzen 7 5825U 16GB 512GB link
$700 Dell Ryzen 7 5825U 16GB 512GB link
$800 ryzen 7 5700U 15.6" 16GB 1024GB with Vega 8 link not sure how much vega 8 helps and confused how this has Vega when the CPU is "U" version not "G" version, help?
I saw several i7-1255U laptops in the same price range but this CPU Comparison shows while the i7 is better at single threaded apps it's not a better CPU overall, so I ignored those options.
$450 i5-1235U hp laptop link BUT 12GB of memory, not dual channel (right? I read this wouldn't be dual channel and therefore cost ~15% of cpu)
$370 i5-1135G7 hp laptop link
Questions:
Any know any better options than the HP Pavilion with Ryzen 7 5825U 16GB 512GB for $580 (link)?
Also the above question about Vega and CPU version,
Above question about dual channel RAM, thanks!
got yelled at by a bot to flair this, but don't see the flair button under the post.... edit: nvmd found it
So a s-l-o-w Inspiron 3455. We've upgraded a number of those for our clients in the last few years. Once upgraded, they're pretty serious All in Ones, even with the underpowered CPU.
First, it requires a RAM upgrade that Dell says it won't support.
Timetec 16GB Kit (2x8GB) DDR3L / DDR3 1600MHz PC3L-12800 2Rx8 Dual Rank
Second, you ditch the incredibly slow hard drive with its read/write speeds of 60/20MB/s for an SSD capable of 530/480MB/s.
SP 512GB SSD 3D NAND A55 SLC Cache Performance Boost SATA III 2.5" 7mm (0.28") Internal Solid State Drive (SP512GBSS3A55S25)
And then install a clean, bloatware free, fully updated, version of Windows 10, and you'll be super surprised at how quick it tends to run.
Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
Now on to your other questions.
All right, Vega is a level of AMD Radeon graphics. It was replaced by RDNA. In some advertisements they use the word Vega, while others just call it Radeon.
The letter G at the end of a Ryzen processor indicates it's a desktop processor with integrated graphics.
The letter U indicates it's a mobile power efficient processor, generally under 15 watts.
Has for the Pavilion Laptop 15-eh2097nr, we recently had a number of clients purchased this while it was on special, and they're extremely happy with what they've received! Ironically, two the clients have already upgraded to 32GB 2Rx8 dual rank memory so they could game better on it.
And as far as 12GB and dual channel with the Core i5-1235U processor, it is running dual channel. Just not very efficiently. To save a few shekels, they've stuck in 8GB stick in with a 4GB stick. So basically, it's 8GB dual channel plus 4.
Let our team know if you have any additional questions.