One of my side hobbies along side fixing anything that has a plug is playing DJ in night clubs and bars.
I often find myself browsing DJ groups on social media and seeing posts about other DJs looking to source a new laptop and the age old arguments over whether you should spend a little, or spend a lot and whether you should go with a Windows computer or Apple MacOS computer.
But something else caught my eye when looking at some of the suggestions. The price gap between a second hand laptop, a new laptop and the outrageous prices being charged for hardware that is clearly very dated.
NewEgg is a fine example of a retailer and it’s sellers playing on technical inability and lack of understanding of computer specs.
Example
Filters used: Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 250-500GB Storage.
For around $440-445 Canadian, what do you get? A 6th Gen (Q3 2015), a 4th Gen (Q2 2014) and a 2nd Gen (Q1 2011) all with very similar solid state storage sizes. Where is the logic in this when you compare the brands, the age and certainly the benchmarks?
Looking at the various benchmark sites, and comparisons of spec’s the 6300U vs the 2520M – There is a big difference between these two. Across the board the 6300U is about 20% faster in all areas, and has a far lower TDP at 15W vs 35W, meaning battery life and performance be far better.
When you compare the 6300U and the 4210M on the benchmarks they are pretty much identical however the memory speed supported on the 6300U is far faster, and the TDP again is far lower with the 4210M being rated at 37W.
For just a mere $200 more (granted they’re currently on sale, and budgets don’t always stretch!) you can jump up to the latest 10th Generation processors or 8th generation. Again some outrageous pricing between generations! That said the jump from 8th to 10th generation comes with a mix of opinions.