Wednesday 25 May 2011

Laptops: Their strengths and flaws.

Laptops, are they a viable replacement for desktops or not? Well it completely depends on the situation and the user. Some people will never come to grips with laptops, we can assume these people are hardcore gamers and overclocking enthusiasts, but to them, we don't mind, they can do as they please.
With a laptop you get mobility, and it's good knowing you can access all the programs you need wherever you are.
But when purchasing a laptop, what would be classified as a good choice and what would not? We're here to find out.
No matter what the budget, you should not have to settle for a Celeron or a Pentium now, 1st generation i processors are very cheap and much more effective in comparison to the forms which cam before it.
Depending on whether you want to do some casual gaming or otherwise, a dedicated gpu is advisable, unless you're tempted to get Llano, but we'll come to that later.
2gb of ram was acceptable and plentiful when a 32bit system was more common, but with the greater increase of 64bit systems on the market 2gb isn't really enough anymore, i would advise 3 or 4, I personally have never got over 4gb myself and that is with a lot of things running, more than enough.
When taking into account doing some heavy cpu related tasks, I always considered Intel as a more compitent choice due to it's Multi-threading, having a relatively powerful gpu to go with it was expected.
In the idea of Llano, as stated in a previous update it still clings to the K10 architecture which means it's not going to compete with Multi-threading or Intels laptop cpus yet, but with the on chip die and gpu heightened ability, in comparison to the Intel HD which is available on Intel chips, it is multiple times more powerful.
As far as hard drives go, get the size which is most attractive to you, my laptop is used for just occasional minecraft and some browsing online, so I have a 320gb hard drive. I feel no need for more.
One of the flaws with owning a laptop is the usability of a powerful laptop, or a workstation replacement laptop, because a laptop is meant to be portable and once it gets to a certain point then the battery is just insignificant.
Also laptops suffer from a serious problem, with a desktop computer, you can have a large case with efficient airflow, or remove the side to help with cooling, with a laptop you need the base so you can rest it on your legs, removing panels isn't as effective. Cooling on a laptop is difficult, the idle temperature you can expect to be higher than normal on a desktop, as we know, the cooler something runs the more efficient it will be, therefore the greater battery life it will have.
I'll continue this again in another update, there's a lot to put.

For now, goodbye. I hope you enjoyed the post.

AMDs comeback.

The new release from AMD are coming into fruition, APUs, Accelerated Processing Units.
Their releases are for june, in which Llano for the laptops and desktops are available.
The Llano is the only new release hanging on to the original K10 architecture which was shown with the Phenoms beforehand, both the Zambezi and the Bulldozer will be composed of a new architecture.
Although this being said, the Llano is which has an on chip graphics die, the chips being focused more on balanced gpu usage with our ever changing ways of using computers.
The Llano are being released at Computex on June 1st, and the on the 7th for the desktop.
With the ever prominent AMD ethics of chip pricing, you can expect a Llano to cost approximately $300-350.
AM3+ compatible motherboards are already on the market, AM3 chips are compatible, so investing in a motherboard now and waiting is possible, just not advised.
In my opinion I cannot wait until these hit the market, how they take on SandyBridge will be very interesting to watch.
I'll probably be buying one relatively soon after release, i'm very excited.

Until about later on today when I update once again!
Goodbye.