what makes computers faster thanone another

[spacezip]

I want to buy a new laptop with an optical drive, but I want one with the least amount of wait time between commands, so what makes the computers faster than one another?

 

[Blaise170]

A top CPU, RAM, and an SSD are a good place to start...

 

[sheag123]

processor, amt of ram for multiple tasks and speed of hard drive, (ssd)

 

[Gam3r01]

Typically the CPU, unless its gaming then its that and the graphics card. For you though CPUs should be what you need to look at. Specific models have more cores, other run at faster speeds or GHz, howerver faster speeds may not always mean a superior cpu. If we have a specific comparison on two laptops it is easier to say, without specific CPUs there is no way to tell.
Ram, Hard drives, and an SDD play a role too. But not as much as a CPU.

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

I want to buy a new laptop with an optical drive, but I want one with the least amount of wait time between commands, so what makes the computers faster than one another?

WARNING
This is going to be quite lengthy.

There's no one thing that determines what makes any computer faster than another. There are multiple parts and each of them are necessary for just about any and every task.

When you say "commands" what do you mean? There's billions of processes that are executed by a computer, and even though each part of a computer is necessary for that task to be completed, in this day and age where virtually everything about a computer is streamlined, some parts take a little more precedence than others depending on the task.

For most consumer purposes, general desktop efficiency or in other words just opening or searching for files or initiating programs in general is determined by the speed of your storage device. Basically, when you click on a program to start it up or when you start searching for files across your PC, you're telling your storage device (usually a Hard Drive (HDD)) to go ahead and find all the necessary data for this file. So basically, for those sorts of tasks, as well as something like loading a video game level or even just booting up your computer, the most important thing from a consumer standpoint is the speed and efficiency of the storage device.

Hard drives are one of the few devices in our computers that still use moving parts. Inside a hard drive is a disk, just like the disks you put into your optical drive, except it's much smaller. Because it's a moving part, it's typically one of the slowest part of a machine. For your purposes, in looking at a Hard Drive you'll want one that has a high angular velocity. Typically, the standard spin rate for laptop Hard Drives is 5400 RPM, but there are noticeably faster 7200 RPM Hard Drives available for laptops too. Recently there have been other forms of storage that will one day replace Hard Drives completely (once they become more affordable) such as Solid State Drives (SSDs) and Flash Memory (the type of storage used in USB/Flash Drives). You can find SSDs from about any manufacturer, but they're typically pretty pricey. If you looked for the individual parts, while you could find a good 1 TB HDD for around $60, SSDs are much more expensive going for about $90 for a 128 GB one. However, even the cheapest SSDs are around 20 times faster than some of the fastest HDDs (that's not an exaggeration either). Flash Memory works similarly to SSDs and is much faster than any HDD (though I think still slower than an SSD) but I believe the only ones who offer them as a primary storage device for a PC is Apple.

Again from a consumer standpoint, the most important factor for operations like watching videos, video editing, photo editing, listening to music, music production, and basically most things that don't involve too much more in the way of graphics is your processor (Central Processing Unit (CPU). Your CPU is what actually carries out all the mathematical operations (and a computer is basically one massive, mindblowingly huge set of mathematical operations). If your tasks don't involve much more beyond a word processor or browsing the internet, you don't have to give this much thought, though likely you'll at least be listening to music and watching videos, but even those will suffice with a moderately decent processor. But something like photo editing or video editing or music production is especially CPU intensive so for those you'll want something particularly good if you're doing those operations for a career.

Lastly, for something like 3D rendering in the form of CAD (Computer Aided Design, i.e. programs like AutoCAD or AutoDesk Maya) as well as, of course, gaming, the most important factor is the graphics card (Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)). The GPU, as you might imagine, processes graphics, so of course it's especially important for the aforementioned tasks which are graphically intensive. The better the GPU, the better your experience in those tasks.

This has been a pretty big simplification of what parts are important for which task, but it gives you a good idea as to what part you'll probably want to pay the most attention to in buying a laptop. Of course, every part is very important for every task, just to varying degrees. But for example, if you plan on gaming or doing 3D rendering, you'll want a good GPU but that doesn't mean your CPU can be weak. A weak CPU can mean poor performance even in those tasks. Similarly, if you plan on using a lot of programs at once, you also need to have a sufficient amount of memory (i.e. RAM; not to be confused with storage).

Anyway, hope that gives you a good idea of "what makes computers faster than one another".

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TL; DR?

Well even if you did read it, if you'd like you can specify a budget and what tasks you consider most important and we'll happily find a laptop for you to suit your needs.