older laptop but more memory or newer one for general use (no 3D games or HD movie, some light .net/vb/python/sql programming)

[Lenny Wi]

Hi,

My friend is giving away 2 of his laptops, one of them to me as I don't have a laptop, need one to bring to class. I get to pick. I already have a main desktop at home for my 3D gaming, HD multimedia, etc etc. This laptop will just be for when I am on the road, in the classroom, in the library, etc. Purpose will be mostly just web browsing, emails, music, and some light programming such as .net, php, python, sql, java, etc, though i will be mainly using my home computer for my computer projects, i will probably spend use the laptops too for when I am not at home and during classes.

Though, if I do want to watch HD movies, will the older laptop be able to handle it? not really important just curious. I assume the newer iwill be able to right? I probably won't be watching much movies if i am on the road anyway.

So the specs are:

laptop #1 :

CPU: AMD Turion 64 x2 TL-60 (Tyler) - dual core at 2000mhz
Memory: 4 GB of 4 GB max - two DDR2 5300 333mhz chips running in dual channel mode
IGP - nVidia GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M

laptop #2 :

CPU: Intel Atom Z3740D (BayTrail-T) - quad cores at 1333mhz
Memory: 2GB of 2GB max - DDR3 1333 667mhz in single channel memory mode
IGP: Intel HD Graphics Gen7 4EU (Valleyview)

OS is same in both, HD in both are similar specs, also similar in size and weight.

So for my purposes above, which of these laptops should I use? will the 2 GB differences outweight the performance gain in the atom over the amd turion which is a 6 years older CPU? or the atom will do better and run faster for all the general apps up to VS and SQL server for programmng even though it has half the amd turion's memory?


Thanks!

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'd look at the Atom one. Should have far better battery life, and I think you'll find that's one of the things you'll notice the most.

 

[Lenny Wi]

I'd look at the Atom one. Should have far better battery life, and I think you'll find that's one of the things you'll notice the most.

tru tru. But if i am going to use this to do work when I am not home to use my computer, I will probably be at a coffee shop, someone's place, library, train, etc etc where i will probably be by an outlet where I can plug the thing in a lot of the times. Other random tasks for fun I suppose I can always use my cellphone if i can't use the laptop It would be nice to have though but wouldn't be my prime concern. Visual Studio 2012 alone eat about 1 GB of ram, and i will have several other Dev Apps (i.e. SQL Server 2012 , Crystal Reports, etc) I want install so not sure if only 2 GB ram would run fine even with the newer atom? or I might be better off with a 7 years old AMD CPU since i will be having 4 GB memory? Or 2 GB would still be the better choice because atom is superior than turion 64 x2? I could always invest in a new laptop but don't really want to as it would be a waste since i will be using it only sparadocially and I already invest a lot $$ on my home computer the question is whether either of these laptops have the beefpower for me , i can tolerate some slowness i suppose

 

[velo3100]

It depends on if you run these programs at the same time. If you do then the first option will be the best as both cpu's will take very long to compile code. The atom is the better choice if you want battery life as it is newer and more power efficient than the amd. I am not sure if the amd can cope with hd video but that will depend on the res of the screen. The atom should be able to handle hd video very easily as phones have atom cpu's nowdays