Fund raising for a new computer. Will there be a discount on Windows 8?

[Tiger Feet]

Hi,

I have a few questions to ask.

I am disabled and I use speech recognition on the computer to work it. I am in the throes of trying to fund raise for a new computer. The computer I have a moment is only 4 GB and a dual core processor. Although it is okay, the speech recognition program is quite a resource hog and when I have quite a few applications open with it at the same time on the task bar, it can tend to crash. I have selected a computer from your website. The specifications for it are below.

Question 1
I am assuming that with these specifications, by doubling the ram and going for an i7 quad core processor, it will not only be faster in loading up but also I should not have the problem as explained above. Is this the case? I've also gone for a 7200 rpm over the 5400 rpm. I'm assuming this makes a lot of difference?

Question 2
I have deliberately gone for 2x 4GB for the fact that later on down the line, I may be able to afford more ram in the form of 2x 8GB. Is this achievable and the most sensible thing to do in this case?

Question 3
Because I am fundraising with a few charities, I don't know exactly when I'll have the exact amount of money to purchase the computer. Once I have all the money together, I am supposed to purchase the computer and then let the charities know. I know that Windows 8 is coming out shortly and I would just like to know, would I be able to get this operating system at a discount should I have to purchase the computer with Windows 7 on it? (and how much would it cost?)

Cheers

Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3820QM (2.70GHz) 8MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE
(7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year
Labour)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days

 

[GarionV]

Question 3
Because I am fundraising with a few charities, I don't know exactly when I'll have the exact amount of money to purchase the computer. Once I have all the money together, I am supposed to purchase the computer and then let the charities know. I know that Windows 8 is coming out shortly and I would just like to know, would I be able to get this operating system at a discount should I have to purchase the computer with Windows 7 on it? (and how much would it cost?)

Check out https://windowsupgradeoffer.com/en/Home/ProgramInfo

You'll be able to upgrade to Win 8 Pro for £14.99 so long as you purchase a Windows 7 PC before 31 Jan 2013 and it will be available for you to Upgrade when Win 8 is released (DVD will be available for extra fee apparently). So check with PCSpecialist when you place the order that your order will meet the requirements.

 

[PCS]

1. The faster i7 processor and 8GB of RAM should have no issues in handling your speech recognition software smoothly and crash free.

2. The chassis can accept 2 modules in total. To make the chassis as future-proof as possible select 1 x 8GB because this will allow you to buy another 1 x 8GB module in the future, taking the RAM to 16GB. If you buy 2 x 4GB you will have to replace both modules.

3. As above, posted by GarionV.

 

[Tiger Feet]

Thank you both for your invaluable information.

 

[AzY]

I would go with a Intel® Core™i7-3610QM, it would save you £300 and would be more then good enough for most needs. What will you primarily use the computer for, as the i7-3820QM is a complete overkill for most things.

 

[Tiger Feet]

I would go with a Intel® Core™i7-3610QM, it would save you £300 and would be more then good enough for most needs. What will you primarily use the computer for, as the i7-3820QM is a complete overkill for most things.

What is the difference between the two processors? Would I notice the difference between them?

If I went for the i7-3610QM, I could then get 16 GB of RAM and a 750 GB hard drive.

Just out of interest, what's the difference between a 750GB WD Scorpio with 16 MB cache and a 750GB Seagate Momentous XT Hybrid with 32MB cachet? What will I notice in the differences of these two drives?

Cheers

 

[PCS]

The 3610QM is a slower processor than the 3720QM and 3820QM. The 3820QM is 17% faster than the 3610QM.

The 750GB Seagate Momentous XT Hybrid with 32MB cache is faster than the 750GB WD Scorpio with 16 MB cache because it used SSD chips to cache more commonly accessed file and therefore decrease access time.

 

[ahall91]

The XT hybrid uses a solid state drive that caches commonly used files - this basically means it will boot up faster, and your most commonly used programs (operating system along whatever program/s you use the most) will load quicker too everyone I've known that's bought one of the hybrid drives has been amazed by the performance of it - something like that (or a solid state drive if it's within your budget, although they are very expensive for large storage) is often the biggest upgrade you can get for a computer. I'm definitely getting the 750 or the 500gb XT momentus with my next laptop having seen the difference it makes!

 

[Adli]

i would recommend the Hybrid Drive. it will make your PC load programs a lot quicker, and the smart Cache should learn that your Voice Recognition software is used frequently. this will mean it loads and runs the program a lot faster than it would if it was on a non-hybrid HDD. im using the 750GB HDD as i don't rely on any programs, but for you i think it would be a great idea to have a hybrid drive

 

[M3zxu]

Something cool if you'd feel like trying it http://www.emotiv.com/index.php . Could work wonders compared to a speech recognition software once you get the hang of using this thing. Hope you'll get the funding for your laptop.

 

[Tiger Feet]

i would recommend the Hybrid Drive. it will make your PC load programs a lot quicker, and the smart Cache should learn that your Voice Recognition software is used frequently. this will mean it loads and runs the program a lot faster than it would if it was on a non-hybrid HDD. im using the 750GB HDD as i don't rely on any programs, but for you i think it would be a great idea to have a hybrid drive

Now I am completely confused. I can only do one or the other. I can't do both. By that I mean; If I went for the i7-3610QM processor, I could then get 16 GB of RAM and the hybrid 750 GB hard drive.

If I went for the i7 3820QM processor, then I would not be able to get the hybrid, will probably have to drop down to a 500 GB hard drive and only be able to get 8 GB RAM.

So now you know these facts, what would be the best way to go?

Cheers

 

[Adli]

Now I am completely confused. I can only do one or the other. I can't do both. By that I mean; If I went for the i7-3610QM processor, I could then get 16 GB of RAM and the hybrid 750 GB hard drive.

If I went for the i7 3820QM processor, then I would not be able to get the hybrid, will probably have to drop down to a 500 GB hard drive and only be able to get 8 GB RAM.

So now you know these facts, what would be the best way to go?

Cheers

i think the better processor would be the best option. if you choose 1x8GB of ram instead of 2x4GB then if you need a RAM upgrade in the future you can buy another stick of 8GB and put it in the free slot instead of having to buy two new sticks. if you run out of space on your HDD you can use an external one to store files or buy another internal one and have it fitted. RAM and HDDs are a lot easier to upgrade than a processor

 

[Tiger Feet]

i think the better processor would be the best option. if you choose 1x8GB of ram instead of 2x4GB then if you need a RAM upgrade in the future you can buy another stick of 8GB and put it in the free slot instead of having to buy two new sticks. if you run out of space on your HDD you can use an external one to store files or buy another internal one and have it fitted. RAM and HDDs are a lot easier to upgrade than a processor

That's what I thought. Having a faster processor will load up the machine quicker as well as the programs anyway, won't it?

With selecting these specs, will it be L3 cache as opposed to L2 cache?

Cheers

 

[ahall91]

That's what I thought. Having a faster processor will load up the machine quicker as well as the programs anyway, won't it?

With selecting these specs, will it be L3 cache as opposed to L2 cache?

Cheers

L3/L2/L1 cache refer to different caches within a processor - all processors (modern) will have L1, L2 and L3 caches - they're basically used to cache data of various sizes - the L1 cache is the smallest size but data in there can be used very fast, and the L3 cache is the slowest but it can store more (in a roundabout way)

The wikipedia article explains how it works, but can be a bit complicated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_cache#Multi-level_caches - this gives a bit of an overview.

But to answer your question, yes whatever processor you pick should have 3 levels of caching, and if you're concerned, you can always double-check on intels website - just search the processor model number (it will be like 3610QM, 3720QM, 3820QM or something)

 

[Tiger Feet]

L3/L2/L1 cache refer to different caches within a processor - all processors (modern) will have L1, L2 and L3 caches - they're basically used to cache data of various sizes - the L1 cache is the smallest size but data in there can be used very fast, and the L3 cache is the slowest but it can store more (in a roundabout way)

The wikipedia article explains how it works, but can be a bit complicated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_cache#Multi-level_caches - this gives a bit of an overview.

But to answer your question, yes whatever processor you pick should have 3 levels of caching, and if you're concerned, you can always double-check on intels website - just search the processor model number (it will be like 3610QM, 3720QM, 3820QM or something)

Okay, thanks for the information. It's all pointing to if I go for the top processor, I cannot really go wrong. As one other poster said, I can easily add more RAM and another drive if I need to at a later date

Cheers

 

[Meladath]

Personally I highly recommend getting the 3610QM and a hybrid drive.
The extra processor speed will make your laptop faster, but by such a marginal amount it will be barely noticeable. The hybrid SSD/HDD drive however, will make boot times MUCH (possibly over 50%) faster, plus all your mainly used programs will also load up much faster. Not to mention, it will save you money that you can spend on more ram.

If you are not going to be gaming, I highly recommend going for a cheaper laptop entirely, as the main reason that the expensive laptops are expensive on this website, is the GPU they use, if you aren't going to be gaming, this is a waste of money really, money you could spend getting an actual SSD (faster than a hybrid drive) and a normal HDD, or even just a hybrid drive, and you save some. You will notice everything loading faster, everything being faster, unless you are gaming, your frame rates will be much lower.

I recommend going for something like this.

£799, uses a hybrid drive.

Voyager: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x 1080) (£35)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Battery
Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

 

[Tiger Feet]

That sure does make it a lot cheaper. I will not be using it for gaming so much. What's the difference between the 'Voyager II' and the 'Optimus III 17.3 screens?

If I manage to get the right money together, I could afford the top processor but do you think this is serious overkill for me and I don't need to go that mad? Would I notice the difference between this and the 3610QM to any great extent?

Cheers

 

[AzY]

I agree, if its not for gaming go with the voyager, much cheaper and you can get better components
I would stick with the 3610qm, but if you really want to go with the i7 3720, the 3820 will be a overkill for most things tbh.

Chassis & Display Voyager: 17.3" Glossy HD LED Widescreen (1600 x 900)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3720QM (2.60GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days

Price: £875.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Tiger Feet]

Personally I highly recommend getting the 3610QM and a hybrid drive.
The extra processor speed will make your laptop faster, but by such a marginal amount it will be barely noticeable. The hybrid SSD/HDD drive however, will make boot times MUCH (possibly over 50%) faster, plus all your mainly used programs will also load up much faster. Not to mention, it will save you money that you can spend on more ram.

If you are not going to be gaming, I highly recommend going for a cheaper laptop entirely, as the main reason that the expensive laptops are expensive on this website, is the GPU they use, if you aren't going to be gaming, this is a waste of money really, money you could spend getting an actual SSD (faster than a hybrid drive) and a normal HDD, or even just a hybrid drive, and you save some. You will notice everything loading faster, everything being faster, unless you are gaming, your frame rates will be much lower.

I recommend going for something like this.

£799, uses a hybrid drive.

Voyager: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x 1080) (£35)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Battery
Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

Wow! that does make it a lot cheaper. Thanks for your recommendations You mentioned it would be even faster with a SSD drive as opposed to a hybrid. If so, what SSD should I go for?

I have been advised in the past assuming you are not a power user to go for something with at least 8 Gb of RAM, any i7 chip (cache is far more important than chip speed) with 2 hard drives, if it doesn't break the budget. It was recommended I go for a relatively small 160 Gb solid-state hard drive for the operating system and a larger traditional 7200 RPM spinning hard drive for the secondary drive.

Does this sound sensible? What does it all mean, keeping the drives separate like this?

If I did it this way, could somebody list out exactly what I would need to get for this kind of setup and the price please?

I assume with two drives, PC specialist puts them in as specified?

Cheers

 

[AzY]

If your going with a ssd and a secondary storage drive stick with a 5400rpm drive, cheaper and you really wont need your secondary storage drive to be that fast as you are not going to be using it that much and will hardly notice.
If you want 2 drives go with this, but you cant have a optical disk drive as the configuration wont let you, if you want the disk drive, stick with the 750gb hybrid.

Chassis & Display Voyager: 17.3" Glossy HD LED Widescreen (1600 x 900)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk 120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 750GB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD7500BPVT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 2nd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days

Price: £805.00 including VAT and delivery.


Or if you want the disk drive go with this

Chassis & Display Voyager: 17.3" Glossy HD LED Widescreen (1600 x 900)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3720QM (2.60GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk 750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days

Price: £770.00 including VAT and delivery.