I need a pc for multitasking, but do not know anything about computers

[Cheesegrinds2]

Hi, recently I have been looking into the world of pcs. I honestly know very little about computer parts and really just know which parts are which. I want a computer that can support multiple programs running at once. I often use Android Studio as well as sony vegas, photoshop and youtube/internet browser. On my laptop, which is an HP Pavilion g6-1d60us Notebook PC, there is a constant slowdown when using multiple programs at once. ( I have two monitors.) I know this is an extremely basic question, but I was wondering which part of the computer affects how many programs I can have running, because I was interested in buying a laptop or PC for multitasking as well as gaming. I do know that graphics cards affect the performance of games, but what part should I look into buying if I were to build a PC that can be used to run multiple heavy programs at once. (Which one is good for multitasking.)Thanks! If there's any links you guys can give me with more information, please feel free!

 

[kanewolf]

Memory size is the first thing that impacts multi-tasking. You have to have enough RAM to hold everything without going back to the disk. Next is disk speed. An SSD might speed up your laptop. Then CPU. If all the cores are busy, then something has to wait. Graphics is the least likely to impact multi-tasking.

 

[mp5mafia]

What resolution and refresh rate screens are you using/planning on using and what budget man?
By Gaming you mean AAA titles, right?

 

[geofelt]

Your laptop comes with one 4gb ram stick. Adding a second will allow more tasks in ram without the need to use the page file.
Go to the Kingston or similar web site and access their upgrade app.
Enter your laptop make/model and you will get a list of supported upgrades.

How much of your hard drive are you using?
You can get a major boost in overall quickness by replacing the slow 54oo rpm hard drive with a ssd.
Samsung has a nice ssd migration utility that can do the job.

Past that, your cpu will be the limiter.
The amd processors are not fast, but there is nothing you can do about that.