Which processor

Original post by dis0rder

my laptop basically just broke down the other day and i really need one, i can only afford the cheaper ones because i'm almost in my overdraft but i dont know if its worth buying a laptop with a Celeron processor because apparently theyre slow? i cant afford an i3/i5 as i said. would celeron be alright for stuff like spotify, office word/excel, films etc or is it not worth spending money on?

Stretching to a Core i processor is always recommended, even for basic use- it normally means the difference between an acceptable performance and an enjoyable one.

What's your budget?

Reply 2

Original post by dis0rder

my laptop basically just broke down the other day and i really need one, i can only afford the cheaper ones because i'm almost in my overdraft but i dont know if its worth buying a laptop with a Celeron processor because apparently theyre slow? i cant afford an i3/i5 as i said. would celeron be alright for stuff like spotify, office word/excel, films etc or is it not worth spending money on?

Hi there,

I'll give you a bit of advice regarding processors etc.

Obviously, you need to look at what type of processor you are getting, but what is also very important is the clock speed of the processor. This will be listed somewhere in the laptop specifications. It is the clock speed of the processor that will have the largest effect on the laptop's speed.

For example, my 4 year old Acer Aspire has an Intel i5 clocked at 2.67GHz. Its performance is pretty decent. In comparison, my parents have a 2 year old HP Pavilion with an AMD-E processor clocked at 1.7GHz. This laptop is noticeably slower to use.

For low intensity tasks, such as web browsing, documents (word/excel), you'll be ok with a Celeron or Pentium (Pentium is next one up from a Celeron), but even then there will be a bit of a difference in speed between a Celeron/Pentium and an i3/i5/i7 etc. Spotify should also be fine, as long as you have a decent internet connection for streaming media.

With regards to videos/films, there will be quite a noticeable difference - most lower end laptops/processors should be ok - but they're not really recommended as films/videos will be more processor intensive.

It also depends on the price of said laptop - if the price of a Celeron powered laptop is not much less than a decent i3 or i5, you're best off saving up a bit more money and then getting the i3/i5 when you can.

In a nutshell, you should be ok - but make sure to check the clock speed of the aforementioned processor. It should be under the specs of the laptop - if not, then Google the processor and it will give you the clock speed from there. Anything that is clocked at less than 2GHz (especially for Celerons) is not recommended and you'd be better off saving your money for a better machine.
Also, check the price of the laptop... if a decent i5 isn't much more than a Celeron based laptop, save for the i5. If you urgently need a laptop now, and don't want to spend a lot of money, you could also look online for a cheap used laptop, and save the rest of the money for a few months time, when you can buy a better laptop with a more powerful processor.

Hope that helps!

Reply 3

OP

ideally no more than £250 as i haven't found a job yet and i'd literally have to live off my overdraft

Reply 4

Here's a Core i3 laptop from HP with a few pennies for change.

Original post by dis0rder

ideally no more than £250 as i haven't found a job yet and i'd literally have to live off my overdraft

Reply 5

OP

Original post by spotify95

Hi there,

I'll give you a bit of advice regarding processors etc.

Obviously, you need to look at what type of processor you are getting, but what is also very important is the clock speed of the processor. This will be listed somewhere in the laptop specifications. It is the clock speed of the processor that will have the largest effect on the laptop's speed.

For example, my 4 year old Acer Aspire has an Intel i5 clocked at 2.67GHz. Its performance is pretty decent. In comparison, my parents have a 2 year old HP Pavilion with an AMD-E processor clocked at 1.7GHz. This laptop is noticeably slower to use.

For low intensity tasks, such as web browsing, documents (word/excel), you'll be ok with a Celeron or Pentium (Pentium is next one up from a Celeron), but even then there will be a bit of a difference in speed between a Celeron/Pentium and an i3/i5/i7 etc. Spotify should also be fine, as long as you have a decent internet connection for streaming media.

With regards to videos/films, there will be quite a noticeable difference - most lower end laptops/processors should be ok - but they're not really recommended as films/videos will be more processor intensive.

It also depends on the price of said laptop - if the price of a Celeron powered laptop is not much less than a decent i3 or i5, you're best off saving up a bit more money and then getting the i3/i5 when you can.

In a nutshell, you should be ok - but make sure to check the clock speed of the aforementioned processor. It should be under the specs of the laptop - if not, then Google the processor and it will give you the clock speed from there. Anything that is clocked at less than 2GHz (especially for Celerons) is not recommended and you'd be better off saving your money for a better machine.
Also, check the price of the laptop... if a decent i5 isn't much more than a Celeron based laptop, save for the i5. If you urgently need a laptop now, and don't want to spend a lot of money, you could also look online for a cheap used laptop, and save the rest of the money for a few months time, when you can buy a better laptop with a more powerful processor.

Hope that helps!

that was very helpful, thank you!
i found a grade a1 refurb asus with an i3 and 1.8ghz for 220£ on laptopsdirect, would you say it's a good deal?

Reply 6

Asuna Yuuki

9

Original post by dis0rder

that was very helpful, thank you!
i found a grade a1 refurb asus with an i3 and 1.8ghz for 220£ on laptopsdirect, would you say it's a good deal?

Depends. 1.8 GHz sounds like it might be quite an old processor :/
My old laptop has a 2nd gen i3 clocked at 2.4 GHz, and that's starting to feel slow - I'd recommend finding a newer generation core with a more decent speed than that :smile:

I'm currently running a 4.0 GHz i5 desktop :wink:

This is definitely one to look at, @dis0rder... even if the clock is a bit low...

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Asuna Yuuki

Depends. 1.8 GHz sounds like it might be quite an old processor :/
My old laptop has a 2nd gen i3 clocked at 2.4 GHz, and that's starting to feel slow - I'd recommend finding a newer generation core with a more decent speed than that :smile:

I'm currently running a 4.0 GHz i5 desktop :wink:

This is definitely one to look at, @dis0rder... even if the clock is a bit low...

this one looks tempting... would getting it on finance be a good idea instead of paying upfront?

Reply 8

Asuna Yuuki

9

Original post by dis0rder

this one looks tempting... would getting it on finance be a good idea instead of paying upfront?

I couldn't recommend any particular way. Just remember that upfront works out cheaper though :wink:

Reply 9

Original post by Asuna Yuuki

Depends. 1.8 GHz sounds like it might be quite an old processor :/
My old laptop has a 2nd gen i3 clocked at 2.4 GHz, and that's starting to feel slow - I'd recommend finding a newer generation core with a more decent speed than that :smile:

I'm currently running a 4.0 GHz i5 desktop :wink:

This is definitely one to look at, @dis0rder... even if the clock is a bit low...

Where did you find an i5 clocked at 4.0GHz? As far as I am aware, I haven't been able to find those sort of clock speeds on an i5 - not unless you've overclocked it, anyway.

1.8GHz is a little on the low side, but it would be better than a Celeron... The laptop that suggested is 1.7GHz, which is again a little on the low side, but it's cheap enough, will outperform a Celeron (which was what the OP was originally going to get) and will be fine for what the OP needs - Office, Spotify and watching films.

Original post by dis0rder

that was very helpful, thank you!i found a grade a1 refurb asus with an i3 and 1.8ghz for 220£ on laptopsdirect, would you say it's a good deal?

That's quite cheap for an i3, though have you got the full link to the laptop specifications? That way I can take a look and see if it's any good. (Edit: I'd also recommend the i3 that linked to earlier.) An intel i3 will perform better than a Celeron and should do what you need - so long as you're not doing intensive tasks such as gaming, you'll be fine.

Reply 10

OP

laptopsdirect.co.uk/asus-a1-f551ca-sx079h/version.asp
had to type all of this out, my tablet wont copy links for some reason hahaha

however if you look at the reviews for the website they arent very good so that kind of worries me a little

Reply 11

Original post by spotify95

Where did you find an i5 clocked at 4.0GHz? As far as I am aware, I haven't been able to find those sort of clock speeds on an i5 - not unless you've overclocked it, anyway.

They will have overclocked it.

1.8GHz is a little on the low side, but it would be better than a Celeron... The laptop that @Gofre suggested is 1.7GHz, which is again a little on the low side,

Original post by Asuna Yuuki

Depends. 1.8 GHz sounds like it might be quite an old processor :/

Core i series processors will turbo boost when needed, a low base clock isn't an issue and is chosen specifically to improve battery life.

Reply 12

Asuna Yuuki

9

Original post by spotify95

Where did you find an i5 clocked at 4.0GHz? As far as I am aware, I haven't been able to find those sort of clock speeds on an i5 - not unless you've overclocked it, anyway.

Yes, mine's an overclocked 4690k :h:

base clock is 3.5 I think.

Anyway, the new 6600k has a 3.9 GHz clock... pretty close!

Reply 13

Aah I get you, that's why my i5 has a turbo boost up to 2.93GHz. Meaning that I can go up to 2.67GHz normally, then use the Turbo Boost to 2.93GHz when needed.

So I assume that the 1.7GHz/1.8GHz base clock speed of the laptops in this thread will be boosted up to over 2GHz when Turbo Boost is being used?

Reply 14

Original post by Asuna Yuuki

Yes, mine's an overclocked 4690k :h:

base clock is 3.5 I think.

Anyway, the new 6600k has a 3.9 GHz clock... pretty close!

Thought so, but that's still pretty quick!

Are they for desktops or laptops? As I haven't seen that many high clock speed laptop processors.

Reply 15

Vikingninja

Original post by Asuna Yuuki

Depends. 1.8 GHz sounds like it might be quite an old processor :/
My old laptop has a 2nd gen i3 clocked at 2.4 GHz, and that's starting to feel slow - I'd recommend finding a newer generation core with a more decent speed than that :smile:

I'm currently running a 4.0 GHz i5 desktop :wink:

This is definitely one to look at, @dis0rder... even if the clock is a bit low...

Could be slower due to files with age. I did a restore on my PC because of wtf disk usage and it was i7 4770.

Reply 16

OP

There's also this one which has a Celeron processor but it's quite fast I think? https://www.7dayshop.com/laptops-notebooks-pc-s/acer-aspire-es1-512-15-6-inch-notebook-black-windows-8-1-manufacturer-refurbished-with-bullguard-internet-security-hama-sleeve-free-wireless-mouse

Reply 17

Original post by dis0rder

There's also this one which has a Celeron processor but it's quite fast I think? https://www.7dayshop.com/laptops-notebooks-pc-s/acer-aspire-es1-512-15-6-inch-notebook-black-windows-8-1-manufacturer-refurbished-with-bullguard-internet-security-hama-sleeve-free-wireless-mouse

That looks reasonably quick for a Celeron, 2.16GHz - however, when Turbo Boost is factored in, there probably won't be much difference between that and the i3 that Gofre linked to earlier.

I've tagged Gofre into this post and hopefully he'll be able to give you a more in depth comparison between this laptop and the one he said about earlier.

Reply 18

Original post by dis0rder

There's also this one which has a Celeron processor but it's quite fast I think? https://www.7dayshop.com/laptops-notebooks-pc-s/acer-aspire-es1-512-15-6-inch-notebook-black-windows-8-1-manufacturer-refurbished-with-bullguard-internet-security-hama-sleeve-free-wireless-mouse

Original post by spotify95

That looks reasonably quick for a Celeron, 2.16GHz - however, when Turbo Boost is factored in, there probably won't be much difference between that and the i3 that Gofre linked to earlier.

I've tagged Gofre into this post and hopefully he'll be able to give you a more in depth comparison between this laptop and the one he said about earlier.

Don't choose based on clock speed, it's rarely the most relevant indicator of performance and definitely not when it comes to most basic tasks. A 2GHz processor from four years ago would get annihilated by a modern 1.2GHz processor, for example.

The relevant thing here is that the Celeron is a dual core processor but lacks the multithreaded cores that set the Core i series of processors apart as the best mobile processors. In an i3 processor its two cores will be comprised of two threads each, which can act similarly as their own individual cores. This allows dual core Core i processors to function similarly to quad core processors when a large number of processes need to be performed simultaneously, and is quite a bit more useful than having a higher clock speed.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 19