Laptop n00b here... have some questions...

[Wonderclam]

I just bought my very first laptop.. it's a used Dell Precision m4500. I unknowingly overpaid for the thing.... $250.

It's got an Intel i5 m580@2.67Ghz dual-core processor, 500GB HD and 4GB of RAM. It's pretty big for a laptop with a 15" screen. It's supposed to be a "workstation" laptop.

This thing is gets pretty hot... it's an older laptop from 2010. My questions are:

-Do the new laptops run cooler than this one?

-Do newer laptops have longer battery time? I'm assuming my laptop has an older processor and it may suck in more juice than newer ones.

-I tried upgrading my RAM to 8GB, but didn't work. I bought 2 x 4GB sticks of Corsair ValueSelect 1600 mhz SO-DIMM DDR3L. Would not get to Windows before it would reset itself. I returned the RAM and I don't want to keep trying over and over buying and returning RAM if it didn't work. Will I have this problem with OTHER laptop brands? I want to have a minimum of 8GB, preferably 16GB of RAM on my laptop.

-All new laptops have either Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Will I have problems downgrading to Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate?

I'm going to cut my losses and re-sell this laptop, go to Best Buy and get newer laptop, with better speccs and I won't have any problems upgrading the RAM.

 

[Aspiring techie]

New laptops will run cooler. The only ones that will run hotter are the ones with beefy i7s and beefy graphics cards.

New laptops use less power, so the battery life is longer.

The RAM problem probably isn't because of the brand. The laptop might not accept a new type of RAM and that's that.

You can still get laptops that have windows 7. They will be refurbished, but they will look and perform just like new ones. There's no way to downgrade to Windows 7 from Windows 8.1 or 10 unless you wipe the hard drive and manually install Windows 7. Even then, I'm not giving you any guarantees.

Just as a tip, avoid laptops that have a Pentium Nxxxx or a Celeron Nxxxx CPU. They are tablet CPU's with higher clock speeds, but awful performance. (their ipc is less than a Pentium 4)

 

[boosted1g]

They run fairly cool, but your problem could very well be that the fan needs to be cleaned out.

Yes, newer laptops have more effiecent cpus that get around 3-4hr battery life. Now mind you your battery is 5 years old too

No reason it should have not allowed the upgrade unless it just did not like something specific about that particular set of memory

You will need a valid windows license to install windows 7, a windows 8 license does not work for windows 7, vista, xp, etc.
You will also need to convert the disc from GPT back to MBR for windows 7 to install to.

Do look at what you are getting. What you can get at best buy for $250-300 is really not any better then that 1st generation i5.
You will want at least something an i3 in it, and you should understand the numbering convention. mXXX = 1st generation 2xxx = second generation, 3xxx = 3rd and you get the idea. Any new laptop you buy should be 4xxx or 5xxx. The 3xxx is still a good little chip but don't want someone to be able to trick you into thinking a 3xxx chip laptop is the latest and greatest.

 

[jaguarskx]

Current generation mobile CPUs generally consumes less power and generate less heat than older mobile CPUs. But that depends on the CPU model itself. "U" model Intel CPUs are dual core CPUs that consumes 15w of power like the i5-5200u. These CPUs are used in ultrabooks. "HQ", "MQ" and "MX"are quad core CPUs that consumes 47w of power like the i7-4700MQ. These CPUs are not used in ultrabooks because they consume too much power and they require better cooling solutions which adds thickness and weight which basically kills the ultrabook concept.

Since current generation CPUs generally consumes less power than older CPUs the laptops can have better battery life. It also depends on the capacity of the battery as well. Because CPUs are generally more efficient now, some laptops have smaller capacity batteries which allows for lighter weight, but the battery life might not be much better than older laptops. Some ultrabooks using current generation Broadwell Core i5 "U" model CPUs can get 9 - 11 hours of battery life on "average use". Examples are the Dell XPS 13 (2015) and Lenovo ThinkPad T450s laptops which are relatively expensive. Most ultrabooks will probably give 5 - 6 hours of battery life. "Average use" varies from person to person and absolutely does not involve playing games unless it is Solitaire or Minesweeper.

While you can potentially install Window 7 on newer laptops, you are going to run into driver issues. If the brand name does not provide Window 7 compatible drivers for devices like the wireless card, bluetooth controller, ethernet port, then your laptop will not be fully functional.

 

[Wonderclam]

How much faster are the new laptop CPUs than my Intel i5 m580?

 

[jaguarskx]

Based on average performance improvement of each generation from 1st gen to current 5th gen CPUs and assuming the same number of cores and the same clockspeed...

You should get about a 25% - 30% average performance increase going from 1st gen to 5th gen.

 

[velo3100]

To answer you question in order:

1. Yes newer laptops will run cooler but that will depend on the cpu model. Y and U cpu's will generally run cool unless they are being pushed by a strong gpu. M cpu are more powerful but can produce a lot of heat if it is under heavy load.

2. This will again depend on the cpu model. Y and U cpu's will have a longer battery life but m cpu should have a better life than the one you have but have worse than the Y and U cpu's.

3. You shouldn't have any problem upgrading ram as long as it is not soldered and you buy the same speed as the manufacture's

4. You shouldn't have any problems downgrading as long as the manufacture supports it. You will have to do a clean install.