len_mullen Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 I just refurbished six laptops. For all but two, simply replacing the disk with an SSD and adding RAM left me with a very serviceable computer. The other two were fitted with lighter operating systems. The one I use is a Lenovo Ideapad 310. i7-6500u @ 2.50 GHz, 12GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD running Windows 10. Camera is not great and the keyboard is not backlit. I paid $390 six and a half years ago plus another $50 for the SSD. Were I looking for a laptop, I'd want a 15.6/17.3" screen, >8GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a camera with a shutter, and a backlit keyboard. I don't see any of those. The only laptops I have (reluctantly) recommended this year... ASUS Vivobook 17.3" Laptop, Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB Memory, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Home, Midnight (F1704ZA-SB52) 4.6 87 Reviews | $399.99 $699.99 42% off ASUS Vivobook 15.6" Laptop, Intel Core i5-1235U, 16GB Memory, 512 GB SSD, Windows 11 Home, Midnight (F1504ZA-SB54) 4.3 38 Reviews | $399.99 $679.99 41% off Summary: i3/17.3" 8GB plus backlit keyboard vs i5/15.6 16GB of RAM without backlit keyboard Per Asus product page each has a 720P shuttered camera and an expansion slot for memory which is probably filled on the 15.6" model. Is there a case for having more than 8GB of RAM? Sure there is, but the bang for the buck starts to trail off. The time when more than 8GB of RAM becomes useful and starts paying for itself is when you're running several resource-heavy applications simultaneously -- especially high-end image or 4K+ video processing, CAD, or 3D modeling. Happy Shopping! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cllehto Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nirvana4all Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 2 hours ago, len_mullen said: I just refurbished six laptops. For all but two, simply replacing the disk with an SSD and adding RAM left me with a very serviceable computer. The other two were fitted with lighter operating systems. The one I use is a Lenovo Ideapad 310. i7-6500u @ 2.50 GHz, 12GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD running Windows 10. Camera is not great and the keyboard is not backlit. I paid $390 six and a half years ago plus another $50 for the SSD. Were I looking for a laptop, I'd want a 15.6/17.3" screen, >8GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a camera with a shutter, and a backlit keyboard. I don't see any of those. The only laptops I have (reluctantly) recommended this year... ASUS Vivobook 17.3" Laptop, Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB Memory, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Home, Midnight (F1704ZA-SB52) 4.6 87 Reviews | $399.99 $699.99 42% off ASUS Vivobook 15.6" Laptop, Intel Core i5-1235U, 16GB Memory, 512 GB SSD, Windows 11 Home, Midnight (F1504ZA-SB54) 4.3 38 Reviews | $399.99 $679.99 41% off Summary: i3/17.3" 8GB plus backlit keyboard vs i5/15.6 16GB of RAM without backlit keyboard Per Asus product page each has a 720P shuttered camera and an expansion slot for memory which is probably filled on the 15.6" model. Is there a case for having more than 8GB of RAM? Sure there is, but the bang for the buck starts to trail off. The time when more than 8GB of RAM becomes useful and starts paying for itself is when you're running several resource-heavy applications simultaneously -- especially high-end image or 4K+ video processing, CAD, or 3D modeling. Happy Shopping! I would add that normally the price increase to get a system with more than 8GB ram is much more than just getting a computer and upgrading the RAM. Make sure to look up the specs to make sure the laptop you are looking for is expandable to a greater RAM size. Increasing RAM is normally the one easy thing that can be done to a laptop after purchase. Almost everything else in them is made harder to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
len_mullen Posted November 23, 2023 Author Share Posted November 23, 2023 2 minutes ago, nirvana4all said: I would add that normally the price increase to get a system with more than 8GB ram is much more than just getting a computer and upgrading the RAM. Make sure to look up the specs to make sure the laptop you are looking for is expandable to a greater RAM size. Increasing RAM is normally the one easy thing that can be done to a laptop after purchase. Almost everything else in them is made harder to work on. Just need to make sure 1) the memory is upgradable, 2) you are capable of doing the upgrade, and 3) you get the right RAM. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts