AMD A12-9700p

[Drake10114]

Hello,

I am asking this question because my dad is thinking of a new laptop, and I think I found a pretty good 1 from Newegg, that fits the specs I was looking for.

Basic word processing, web-browsing, etc.

Other than it being an Acer (Have bad experiences w/ Acer laptops, due to them being furances it seems), how is the AMD A12-9700p for a processor? From what I can tell it's comparable to an i5 to some degree (previous generations ago)

I was looking for something ~$750 w/ an ssd (for booting), but it appears this is the only model that has an ssd and HDD and isn't $1k CAD and above.

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315445 <-- laptop I'm thinking of

Also aiming for a 15.6" screen, but he might be able to do a 14".

 

[Techstorm970]

Acer Aspire series?!

 

Always stay away from Acer Aspire when it comes to laptops.  Build quality and durability of those things is awful.  In fact, I'd just make it simpler and stay away from Acer.

 

I would say you'd be better off looking for a laptop made by Dell, HP, or Lenovo.  

[Drake10114]

9 minutes ago, techstorm970 said:

Acer Aspire series?!

 

Always stay away from Acer Aspire when it comes to laptops.  Build quality and durability of those things is awful.  In fact, I'd just make it simpler and stay away from Acer.

 

I would say you'd be better off looking for a laptop made by Dell, HP, or Lenovo.  

That's what I was figuring lmfao...

Might look into an older Surface Pro 3, would fit the specs, minus a dvd drive.. but you can always buy 1 off amazon for $20.

How Sturdy are external disk drives, like I'm assuming you can;t let it hang, you have to have it resting on something.

I'll keep searching, Asus had some decent 1's I saw that had a small ssd, but no hdd (but he rarely has tons of files, so should be solid)

Thanks.

[Techstorm970]

12 minutes ago, Drake10114 said:

how is the AMD A12-9700p for a processor?

A12-9700p is a decent processor.  Your dad would be happy with it.  

[skyler_mertz]

You could try browsing eBay or looking for older models. With laptops, you're not going to be seeing a difference between a Haswell processor and a Skylake unless doing heavy CPU bound things. I have an ASUS X550L that i found off eBay for about $400 and spent $100 upgrading the ram to 12gb and putting a 256gb ssd in it. Works amazingly.

[Drake10114]

9 minutes ago, techstorm970 said:

A12-9700p is a decent processor.  Your dad would be happy with it.  

K, good to know. Honestly he can get away w/ a pentium or an i3, but after seeing what local stores had, I can definitely find something better online, too bad it wasn't a desktop.. cause I could build 1 for less lol.

[Drake10114]

10 minutes ago, skyler_mertz said:

You could try browsing eBay or looking for older models. With laptops, you're not going to be seeing a difference between a Haswell processor and a Skylake unless doing heavy CPU bound things. I have an ASUS X550L that i found off eBay for about $400 and spent $100 upgrading the ram to 12gb and putting a 256gb ssd in it. Works amazingly.

Thanks, may consider that, but haven't fully explore amazon's list, dell's list, newegg and NCIX, found a decent new Surface Pro 3 for $790, which would work.

[genexis_x]

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834316039CVF
That's what I've found from Newegg CA

[Joseph Stacklin]

Just now, Drake10114 said:

K, good to know. Honestly he can get away w/ a pentium or an i3, but after seeing what local stores had, I can definitely find something better online, too bad it wasn't a desktop.. cause I could build 1 for less lol.

Honestly you can always go used on ebay and then just slap an ssd into the PC if he really can't handle the speed of an HDD. I bought a dell Latitude E5530 for around $175 last year for my grandmother-in-law and it works dreams for basic Facebook games and basic browsing as well as portability. It's also build like a tank because it's a business laptop

[Techstorm970]

2 minutes ago, Drake10114 said:

That's what I was figuring lmfao...

Might look into an older Surface Pro 3, would fit the specs, minus a dvd drive.. but you can always buy 1 off amazon for $20.

How Sturdy are external disk drives, like I'm assuming you can;t let it hang, you have to have it resting on something.

I'll keep searching, Asus had some decent 1's I saw that had a small ssd, but no hdd (but he rarely has tons of files, so should be solid)

Thanks.

Yeah, you'd want to rest the external drive on something.

 

Asus isn't that great, but they're certainly better than Acer.   Go for it!

[Drake10114]

10 minutes ago, ZM Fong said:

https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834316039CVF
That's what I've found from Newegg CA

Forgot to mention he wanted a numeric pad on the side, which might rule out some tablets..

how is the travel mate from Acer though?

[genexis_x]

3 minutes ago, Drake10114 said:

Forgot to mention he wanted a numeric pad on the side, which might rule out some tablets..

how is the travel mate from Acer though?

Business laptop. Not the best but not the worst.

[Joseph Stacklin]

1 minute ago, Drake10114 said:

Forgot to mention he wanted a numeric pad on the side, which might rule out some tablets..

how is the travel mate from Acer though?

Please look at the dell Latitude E5530

[Drake10114]

11 minutes ago, wolfboytech said:

Please look at the dell Latitude E5530

Not too shabby, definitely a contender.

[Joseph Stacklin]

Just now, Drake10114 said:

Not too shabby, definitely a contender.

Thank you. Sorry to push or be pushy, I just don't want you to overspend for things that could be cheaper.

[Drake10114]

10 minutes ago, wolfboytech said:

Thank you. Sorry to push or be pushy, I just don't want you to overspend for things that could be cheaper.

Oh yeah definitely, after pricing out my gaming pc, I feel definitely more insightful in what to look for and costs.

Sucks you can't get an ssd instead of the HDD on the dells, w/o buying another 1 and doing all the crap.

I'll see, if push comes to shove, I can get that, but I'm leaning towards a surface, mainly because he tends to have them directly on his lap... which hopefully how the surface is made will make him use a laptop stand for sitting.

18 minutes ago, techstorm970 said:

Yeah, you'd want to rest the external drive on something.

 

Asus isn't that great, but they're certainly better than Acer.   Go for it!

How is a Pentium N7300, keep seeing it everywhere on cheaper laptops.

[Joseph Stacklin]

8 minutes ago, Drake10114 said:

Oh yeah definitely, after pricing out my gaming pc, I feel definitely more insightful in what to look for and costs.

Sucks you can't get an ssd instead of the HDD on the dells, w/o buying another 1 and doing all the crap.

I'll see, if push comes to shove, I can get that, but I'm leaning towards a surface, mainly because he tends to have them directly on his lap... which hopefully how the surface is made will make him use a laptop stand for sitting.

I dunno Man, the Surface can sometimes get hot, and is very pricey.. However (that said) it is much lighter than the laptops everyone has mentioned... Unless... You could do a chromebook?

8 minutes ago, Drake10114 said:

How is a Pentium N7300, keep seeing it everywhere on cheaper laptops.

It seems to be similar to an i5. Slightly less clocked (ARK: http://ark.intel.com/products/87261/Intel-Pentium-Processor-N3700-2M-Cache-up-to-2_40-GHz)

[Drake10114]

10 minutes ago, wolfboytech said:

I dunno Man, the Surface can sometimes get hot, and is very pricey.. However (that said) it is much lighter than the laptops everyone has mentioned... Unless... You could do a chromebook?

It seems to be similar to an i5. Slightly less clocked (ARK: http://ark.intel.com/products/87261/Intel-Pentium-Processor-N3700-2M-Cache-up-to-2_40-GHz)

I think chromebooks are 11", which will be too small for him.

The new surface's are expensive, but a 3 or 2 will be significantly cheaper, and he doesn't need bleeding edge or high-end graphics, so older tech should be fine, + he won't suffocate the computer.

[Joseph Stacklin]

1 minute ago, Drake10114 said:

I think chromebooks are 11", which will be too small for him.

The new surface's are expensive, but a 3 or 2 will be significantly cheaper, and he doesn't need bleeding edge or high-end graphics, so older tech should be fine, + he won't suffocate the computer.

15" Chromebook: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Chromebook-CB5-571-C09S-15-6-Inch-Full/dp/B00T03KQ34

 

Yes, and if you don't need to install any 3rd party programs, you could also consider buying a Surface RT?

[Drake10114]

9 minutes ago, wolfboytech said:

15" Chromebook: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Chromebook-CB5-571-C09S-15-6-Inch-Full/dp/B00T03KQ34

 

Yes, and if you don't need to install any 3rd party programs, you could also consider buying a Surface RT?

I think he still wants full windows, for word, etc.

[Drake10114]

36 minutes ago, techstorm970 said:

Yeah, you'd want to rest the external drive on something.

 

Asus isn't that great, but they're certainly better than Acer.   Go for it!

Does it need to be hard, or can it be a sofa arm chair?

[Joseph Stacklin]

1 minute ago, Drake10114 said:

I think he still wants full windows, for word, etc.

Makes sense. Does he have O365?

[Drake10114]

9 minutes ago, wolfboytech said:

Makes sense. Does he have O365?

We do at the office, and ik he sometimes brings stuff home to work on/spreadsheet out, so better off going w/ the full windows, instead of RT.

[Joseph Stacklin]

Just now, Drake10114 said:

We do at the office, and ik he sometimes brings stuff home to work on/spreadsheet out, so better off going w/ the full windows, instead of RT.

Okay. Hmm.. Have you thought about those cheaper "surface knockoffs"?

[Techstorm970]

10 minutes ago, wolfboytech said:

It seems to be similar to an i5.

Absolutely not.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-N3700-vs-Intel-Core-i5-7200U/m33474vsm153577

21 minutes ago, Drake10114 said:

How is a Pentium N7300, keep seeing it everywhere on cheaper laptops.

You mean the Peniutm N3700?  For general use, it's fine.  Your dad would probably be happy with it.  For anything more than general use, though, it's trash.