i7-7500U is good for programming and virtual machines?

[RRGT19]

Hi,

A friend is selling me this laptop:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1TS-000A-01AB4

• Intel Core i7-7500U 7th-Generation Intel Core i7-7500U processor (4M cache, up to 3.5 GHz)
• 16GB, 2400MHz, DDR4
• 1TB 5400 RPM hard drive
• AMD Radeon R7 M445 graphics with 4G GDDR5 graphics memory

 

That processor has 2 cores and 4 threads.

Is it good for programming, visual studio, adobe, eclipse, android studio, virtual machines, etc...???

He is selling me the laptop very very very cheap because he wants to buy another one, I just need to buy a SSD 2.5" to replace the crap HDD.

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

It has "4 Cores" and the more cores a CPU has the better it will be for your stated applications 

[PlayStation 2]

It's effectively a mobile i5 branded as an i7.

I'd try finding an i7-xxxxHQ CPU if you can.

[RadiatingLight]

yeah sure, if you get it for cheap.

VMs might be tricky, since if you allocate 1 core to a VM, you only have a single core for your main OS.

 

however, a desktop with Ryzen would be WAY better if you don't need the portability.

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, TheAmazingCookieFromSquare said:

It has "4 Cores" and the more cores a CPU has the better it will be for your stated applications 

it doesnt, its a dualcore.

 

i wouldnt say it'll be "good" for the stuff you mentioned, because there's defenately way better stuff out there, but if it's cheap why the flip not?

[ARikozuM]

It's a dual-core which is going to suck for your needs. Get a quad-core (I believe that "Q" or "H" signifies that it's a quad-core) with or without HT. 

[Jurrunio]

If you can't get a desktop, then you will need a mobile processor that has "H" or "M" at the back. "U" ones suck for any hardware-intensive work.

11 minutes ago, TheAmazingCookieFromSquare said:

It has "4 Cores" and the more cores a CPU has the better it will be for your stated applications 

4 fake cores. It's 2 cores 4 threads.

[RRGT19]

20 minutes ago, manikyath said:

it doesnt, its a dualcore.

 

i wouldnt say it'll be "good" for the stuff you mentioned, because there's defenately way better stuff out there, but if it's cheap why the flip not?

 

12 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

If you can't get a desktop, then you will need a mobile processor that has "H" or "M" at the back. "U" ones suck for any hardware-intensive work.

4 fake cores. It's 2 cores 4 threads.

he is selling me the laptop at $531

I saw people programming using ultrabooks without problem, using visual studio, etc..

but I have a lot of programs opened and tabs on the browser....

 

 so I don't know what to do..

Notice that I need to spent another 140-160 on a good SSD 500GB.

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

2 hours ago, manikyath said:

it doesnt, its a dualcore.

 

i wouldnt say it'll be "good" for the stuff you mentioned, because there's defenately way better stuff out there, but if it's cheap why the flip not?

 

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

If you can't get a desktop, then you will need a mobile processor that has "H" or "M" at the back. "U" ones suck for any hardware-intensive work.

4 fake cores. It's 2 cores 4 threads.

Yea that's why I quoted "4 cores"

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

1 hour ago, RodoGodo19 said:

 

he is selling me the laptop at $531

I saw people programming using ultrabooks without problem, using visual studio, etc..

but I have a lot of programs opened and tabs on the browser....

 

 so I don't know what to do..

Notice that I need to spent another 140-160 on a good SSD 500GB.

You see storage isn't an issue here. Nor is programming or Visual Studio. Programming C++ (I'm guessing because of visual studio?) does not take much at all. You can write codes on machines with Celeron

It's the fact that you stated Adobe and VM's. You might want 4 physical cores instead of hyper threaded ones for best performance. I used to run virtual machines and unless you're running windows XP on your VM allocating 1 core is pretty shitty IMO. From my experience, I would allocate at least 2 cores to a win 10 VM. Your results may vary because I don't really know anything about running VM's on hyperthreaded cores and whether or not if that is even possible since I never had an i7 or anything of that nature. Also for Adobe products (again guessing, this time to be photoshop or video editing software) you definitely want at least 4 physical cores but its 1000% possible to get by with 2 cores and 4 threads. Just expect longer render times. 

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, RodoGodo19 said:

 

he is selling me the laptop at $531

I saw people programming using ultrabooks without problem, using visual studio, etc..

but I have a lot of programs opened and tabs on the browser....

 

 so I don't know what to do..

Notice that I need to spent another 140-160 on a good SSD 500GB.

The thing is "virtual machine". Just programming itself, a U chip is enough for 80% of the time.

 

I myself wouldn't bother with an expensive SSD. Just a basic 120GB one to hold the OS is enough

5 minutes ago, TheAmazingCookieFromSquare said:

 

Yea that's why I quoted "4 cores"

Call it 4 threads instead

[loculus]

What are you even doing with your virtual machines? Anything performance intensive? If it's just to test or compile or whatever related to programming, and you're not running multiple at a time for something mission critical, you probably don't need something that powerful and this would be acceptable.

 

Which Adobe products are you talking about, and again, anything intensive there?