New Laptop Here In U.S.

[OnMyWay]

Computers are much cheaper in the U.S. so I decided to buy a new laptop while here.  Headed home to Subic Sunday.

My desktop and laptop in the Philippines are both 5+ years old and have become dogs, so I wanted to replace them both with a good laptop.  After researching on Amazon for several days I came across a good deal at Best Buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-2-in-1-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i7-12gb-memory-512gb-solid-state-drive-gray/5606601.p?skuId=5606601

I really wanted to get a SSD for the operating system and ended up with this one with only an SSD, but fairly large at 512 gb.  It would be nice to also have a regular hard drive but the price jumps up a lot when you have both.  I have about 10 TB of external drives that I store almost everything on, so 512 should be fine.

It is a fairly large laptop at 15.6 inches and I would have preferred one size down at 13.3, but to get similar features in that size, the price almost doubles!

At this time, I can only judge the performance on startup and shut down speeds, and they are fantastic!  Complete shutdown in 5-10 seconds, and startup in around 10.  I'm hopeful that these will remain good due to the SSD.

I still need to clean up all the unwanted software, but I won't have time until I get home.

[robert k]

Nice to have an up to date machine.

[Jollygoodfellow]

12 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

At this time, I can only judge the performance on startup and shut down speeds, and they are fantastic!

Of course and as time goes on and more programs are added etc it will be a bit slower. 

[Jake]

15 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Computers are much cheaper in the U.S. so I decided to buy a new laptop while here.  Headed home to Subic Sunday.

Right on Don, very nice specs especially for that price point.  I really like that SSD with a whopping 512 gigabytes.  My only suggestion would be getting a spare power adapter and/or laptop battery.  Hopefully you already have a voltage regulator?  

Well done sir!  

[OnMyWay]

16 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Of course and as time goes on and more programs are added etc it will be a bit slower. 

Yes, of course, but I am hoping that this is minimized with the SSD.  I will keep all of my data on an external drive which will be backed up to another external drive.  Only Windows and program files on the SSD.

[OnMyWay]

13 hours ago, Jake said:

Hopefully you already have a voltage regulator?

I think I don't need that with a laptop power source???  Input 110-240, output ??

I have one for my desktop which I am not sure what I will use for now.

[robert k]

5 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Yes, of course, but I am hoping that this is minimized with the SSD.  I will keep all of my data on an external drive which will be backed up to another external drive.  Only Windows and program files on the SSD.

More of a matter of how many programs you allow at start. If you only allow a minimum and put shortcuts to the rest on the start screen, your laptop can remain zippy. You can even turn off certain windows services you don't use which are automatically enabled, such as games. If I want to play a game, I get it from someplace other than windows, I don't need that constantly running and you could always turn it back on if you wanted.

[Jake]

 

On 6/4/2017 at 5:39 AM, OnMyWay said:

I think I don't need that with a laptop power source???  Input 110-240, output ??

I have one for my desktop which I am not sure what I will use for now.

Sorry Don for not writing coherently, sometimes I experience a short between my ears.  Anyway, the power adapter or AC power adapter is the one plugged into a wall.  The adapter itself (black box) is inline with the incoming AC (120vac or 220vac) and converts that AC input to DC, which is then plugged directly to the laptop's battery.  

Sometimes that power adapter, which is basically a small power supply circuit board, may be overworked due to incoming AC fluctuation, sometimes very severe like during lightning spikes or unstable or pending brownouts.  The power adapter will eventually fail under those severe and repeated conditions.  

Now having an automated voltage regulator should smooth out and protect your new AC power adapter, as well as other sensitive consumer electronics:

 

This one is 1000W unit plugged into your wall and the regulated AC outputs (3) are conveniently located for you. 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2017 by Jake

[OnMyWay]

On 6/5/2017 at 6:22 AM, Jake said:

Sometimes that power adapter, which is basically a small power supply circuit board, may be overworked due to incoming AC fluctuation, sometimes very severe like during lightning spikes or unstable or pending brownouts.  The power adapter will eventually fail under those severe and repeated conditions.  

Most of the time it will be plugged into a UPS at my desk and when I use it elsewhere in the house it will be on battery.  I believe the UPS also protects from surges (but not sure).  As mentioned, our power is relatively stable here in the Freeport so I'm not too worried about fluctuations except lightening.

I have a regulator like the one you pictured but it stopped working.  I need to get another for my home theater and TV.  That one on Lazada looks like a nice price!

Brain functioning at 50%.  26 hours of travel from LAX with two small kids!  Drove from Clark to Subic at 2 AM and bed at 4 AM.  More on that ordeal later!