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vikrambajaj
8y

I currently have a 3+ year old laptop.

Dell Inspiron 15 3521:

OS: Windows 10 Pro
RAM: 8GB (4+4)
Processor: Intel Core i5 3rd Gen
Video/Graphics Card: AMD Radeon 8730M 2GB (and Intel HD 4000)
Hard Disk: 1TB

It's slowly becoming sluggish and has clearly outdated hardware. I want to pursue a Master's degree in CS (Machine Learning oriented).

Should I consider upgrading? Build a PC instead? Suggestions?

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  • 1
    8y
    @KnightsOfCode Thank you for the detailed response :)
    I wasn't expecting any responses, tbh. :P

    I'll be going to the States for my Master's next fall, so I was wondering of I should buy one here, or wait till I get there. Also, I'm not sure if the assignments would require high performance.

    Any opinions?
  • 7
    8y
    My laptop is older than that and serves me just fine. You can extend the life of your current machine easily by maxing out the RAM and replacing the hard drive with an SSD. Then get a USB enclosure and use your 1TB drive as external storage. It'll feel like brand new 😉
  • 0
    8y
    @kvsm Will consider doing so :)
  • 1
    8y
    @KnightsOfCode Okay :) I guess I'll wait then :D
  • 2
    8y
    You really don't need to buy a new machine. All need is an SSD or if run vm-s than extra ram.
  • 2
    8y
    I have similar config except for nvidia 760M. Replace your HDD with an SSD. Even cheap 240Gigs is fine. If yours has an CD drive, remove that and use a 2.5" cradle adapter to put in your old disk. Upgrade to 16Gigs. DDR3 is getting cheaper and cheaper. If that doesn't cut it, get an upgrade next year in states. Plus you can have a alternate machine to do extra work on.
  • 2
    8y
    Yeah, my first thought was SSD.
  • 0
    8y
    @flag0 thanks!
  • 0
    8y
    @perix2 haha, my bad
  • 0
    8y
    @drRoss I'll have a look at SSDs :)
  • 0
    8y
    @trollFeeder Okay :) Seems like getting an SSD is the general consensus. :P
  • 1
    8y
    @vikrambajaj youu do realise you have better specs than the macbook pro 13 "mid 2012
  • 0
    8y
    @party101 Well....I do now
  • 1
    8y
    I just bought the newly released Dell xps 13 9360 and I'm loving it
  • 0
    8y
    @Dunky13 Awesome :)
  • 1
    8y
    Increase the ram to 16g and a ssd of 256 or 512 should take you through your masters. Instead of windows go for Linux distribution as primary os.
  • 0
    8y
    @suhail thanks! I'll keep that in mind :)
  • 1
    8y
    @suhail @vikrambajaj Lol, the Linux bit is utter tosh.
  • 1
    8y
    I threw a SSD into my 2011 MacBook and it's now running fast again. Worth considering :)
  • 0
    8y
    @drRoss why so? :P
  • 1
    8y
    @vikrambajaj People on here will tell you that Linux is their saviour if you so much as mention your PC feels a bit sluggish today.
  • 0
    8y
    @drRoss Hahaha
  • 1
    8y
    @drRoss Linux is always the saviour. 😁 M running arch for rpi in under 50mb of ram as a torrenting box. how awesome is that?
  • 1
    8y
    Could you do a fresh install? Following the upgrade path reaaaally slowed down my laptop. After going nuclear, the laptop worked like new. I'm not too sure about going with Linux, cause you might need Office(although there is Office online with OneDrive) at university, or some other windows only software.

    But if Linux is your goto then I'd suggest Lububtu. It's just my favorite so far.
  • 1
    8y
    @GnoeJuan I still have about 10 months to leave for the US, if I get accepted into a grad school that is. I might clear the laptop and do a clean install before leaving :)
    Until then, I guess I'll make do with what I have :D
  • 1
    8y
    I don't think your laptop needs any upgrade, with a similar setup I'm full stack developing hosting around 20 services, navigating a lot etc... Even in my computer (amd phenom 2 485 16 gb ram ddr3) sometimes I host all this services, play overwatch and have Firefox with 20 tabs or something like
  • 0
    8y
    @Nastrand okay :) thanks!
  • 1
    8y
    Your hardware is perfectly fine. I've got a 6+ year old computer with similar specs running like new. Backup important data, wipe that drive clean (or get a new one if you want) and install a solid Linux distro. Your life will never be the same.
  • 1
    8y
    @perix2 Depends on the person and the domain. Experiment with some live cds and pick one that works. For a student like OP I'd check out a well-known distro like Ubuntu or Fedora.
  • 0
    8y
    @luminous-flux haha okay:)
  • 1
    8y
    @perix2 go with archlinux or any red hat distribution. If you want a nice GUI and hassle free usage Ubuntu or fedora should suffice.
  • 1
    8y
    Just dual boot linux and save your windows install for games. Itll help you stay on task too
  • 1
    8y
    If you want performance, delete apple from your head. You're getting ripped off. So if all you need is a powerful computer and dont care about portability, build a desktop. Else, dell laptops are pretty good (XPS developper edition has ubuntu preinstalled).
  • 0
    8y
    @BirdLawExpert I'm using a VM with a Ubuntu guest instead :)
  • 0
    8y
    @madrix999 👍
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