The Student Room Group

Is it even possible to buy a laptop that doesn't lag??

I have NEVER had a good laptop in my 5y+ career of owning one. I've had an ACER, a Dell, a Lenovo, a Toshiba and a chromebook, all of which have been slow and sluggish (though some more than others).

I never spend more than £500 on them- is this the reason? Am I picking the wrong specs? I'm not a 'noob' with computers; I know my way around them, I uninstall stuff I don't need, delete excess cookies and caches occasionally etc. Am I expecting too much from cheapish laptops? Should I splash out on buying one good one which will last for a long time?
Depends on what you use the laptop for, brand name doesnt mean that much, its specs that are important
Original post by madmadmax321
Depends on what you use the laptop for, brand name doesnt mean that much, its specs that are important


I use them as a desktop computer pretty much; homework, surfing the internet, the occasional game, but nothing too major
Original post by madmadmax321
Depends on what you use the laptop for, brand name doesnt mean that much, its specs that are important


Is the processor the most important bit for a laptop's speed?
I know a lot of people hate on Mac specs and I agree they are in many ways inferior. But honestly, their software runs so smooth and is extremely secure, IOS never lags, along with the hardware the IOS experience and lack of lag are why I enjoy them.
Original post by lukerules1234
I'm not a 'noob' with computers; I know my way around them, I uninstall stuff I don't need, delete excess cookies and caches occasionally etc.


:rofl::rofl:
Original post by GovernmentEarner
I know a lot of people hate on Mac specs and I agree they are in many ways inferior. But honestly, their software runs so smooth and is extremely secure, IOS never lags, along with the hardware the IOS experience and lack of lag are why I enjoy them.


hmm, possibly. I've always immediately declined Macs but I will give them a chance if I can't find any others
Original post by Nebuchadnezzaṛ
:rofl::rofl:


Have you watched the IT crowd? I'm not like Jen basically :s-smilie: though you probably think I am after reading my post lel
Original post by lukerules1234
Is the processor the most important bit for a laptop's speed?


To an extent but there are other factors

1. processor
2. ram (if you use all of your available ram then the laptop will slow down a lot)
3. hard drive/ssd (affects boot time, loading of applications etc)

It is unlikely that the processor is the issue for web browsing etc, gaming maybe depending on the processor, the games and the graphics card (which I assume is a integrated one if it is sub 500)

Maybe you have apps you dont use running in the background as well
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by madmadmax321
To an extent but there are other factors

1. processor
2. ram (if you use all of your available ram then the laptop will slow down a lot)
3. hard drive/ssd (affects boot time, loading of applications etc)

It is unlikely that the processor is the issue for web browsing etc, gaming maybe depending on the processor, the games and the graphics card (which I assume is a integrated one if it is sub 500)

Maybe you have apps you dont use running in the background as well


web browsing speed is down to the internet connection yais?
Original post by lukerules1234
web browsing speed is down to the internet yais?


Loading of web pages, buffering videos etc is but if you use all your available ram that would slow your whole laptop down
Reply 11
If you use it as a desktop, why not just get a desktop? The components are almost always better in desktops priced in the same range. I invested in a £1200 desktop 5 years ago and I use it for pretty much everything (surfing, gaming, Photoshop). It hasn't slowed down much at all, even with 5 year old specs.
Original post by madmadmax321
Loading of web pages, buffering videos etc is but if you use all your available ram that would slow your whole laptop down


what is a recommended processor? I3 + ?
Original post by s.xw
If you use it as a desktop, why not just get a desktop? The components are almost always better in desktops priced in the same range. I invested in a £1200 desktop 5 years ago and I use it for pretty much everything (surfing, gaming, Photoshop). It hasn't slowed down much at all, even with 5 year old specs.


I will be going to uni next year, and I need to occasionally take it into school, so I would prefer to have a laptop
Original post by lukerules1234
what is a recommended processor? I3 + ?


I would go for an i3 but it depends, what games do you run? depending on their demand you will need a graphics card (this would be what causes lag in games that arent related to internet issues)

No modern laptop should run slow/lag when just browsing the web etc so if yours is then it is either an old laptop (4+ years old) or you are running something that is using up processing power (could be running in the background) or you are using all your ram (too many tabs open, too many applications running at the same time etc). If it is just slow to load applications then that might be because you have a mechanical hard drive.
Original post by lukerules1234
hmm, possibly. I've always immediately declined Macs but I will give them a chance if I can't find any others


Have you got through five laptops in five years? :shock:

Macbooks aren't perfect, but I've had the same one for the last five years and it's still in great condition, it's fast and I'm confident it won't need replacing soon.

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