a little help regarding hardware comparison, please.

hi, i bought a new DELL Inspiron 7000. it has -

"New Inspiron 15 7000 Series
4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4500U
Windows 8 Single Language
8GB RAM
1TB HDD
2GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 750M
15.6" WLED Touch FHD Display
McAfee® Security Center 15 Months"

now i find that my the old laptop is also dual core , same as this new i7 one. my old one is - core 2 duo t5250. is this new i7 one better than my old one?? also, i have 2 gb ddr2 ram in my old laptop, is "dual channel ddr3L" faster and/or better?? what is mcafee security center? i know i should have asked these questions before buying, but oh well!

thank you.

 

Yeah it should be lightyears faster, not in terms of just clockspeed, but the whole core architecture is lightyears ahead as welll.

Point in case: It's way faster than your old Core 2 Duo.

Security Center is just McAffe's anti-virus software.

 

are you being sarcastic?? or is the new one actually that fast?? i'm sorry, i don't know about this stuff. what about the ram? my old one says - "ddr2 667". the new one is - "8GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx2) [Included in Price]".

 

No I'm not being sarcastic. All i5/i7 processors support Intel's Turbo Boost, so they can overclock themselves automatically depending on a couple factors (heat, TDP, etc). I mean it's not a top tier processor, but for normal tasks like sending emails/Office/surfing the web it'll run smoother (especially more CPU intensive stuff like Flash). Newer DDR3 RAM with newer chipsets run faster. RAM speed makes a little difference, but overall it's better to have more than faster memory.

 

thank you!

also, i just found out that they're not sending a windows 8 disc with the laptop. i guess i'll call them and ask about it.

 

Pretty much any computer you buy from a major OEM (Dell, HP, etc) will not have a disc of the operating system. Rather, all that information is stored on a hidden partition on the hard drive. I don't know about Dell, but other companies will include a program within Windows that allows you to create recovery media using DVDs or an appropriately sized USB flash drive.

 

Dell will allow you to get 1 set of Windows discs/software in the US, after that they'll charge you. I'm unsure about the UK, you'll need to ask your local Support team there. IIRC Windows 7 laptops currently sold by Dell can't make recovery software for Windows 7 (at least on the Latitudes I've setup recently).

 

would it be possible to download windows 8 from microsoft.com? i don't want to download from elsewhere.

 

Uhh you used to be able to download Windows 8 RC/beta. I don't think they have full Windows 8 images available for free.

 

Not unless you wanted to pay for another license. If you're that worried about it, buy an external hard drive, find some free cloning software, then clone your drive to the external one. Then you can restore from that image any time you need to.

 

Your new computer is a lot faster than what you had:

See PM Score '824' - old cpu:
PassMark - Intel Core2 Duo T5250 @ 1.50GHz - Price performance comparison

See PM Score '3997' - new cpu:
PassMark - Intel Core i7-4500U @ 1.80GHz - Price performance comparison


As already stated: try to order the Restore Disk from Dell, if that is not possible, in the first few times you boot up the computer (after you set it/personalize it to you...) it may ask to create a restore disk (you supply the DVD or USB stick...).


If you do consider cloning to have a type of restore disk (I don't recommend this method anymore): make sure that the 'image' you make is as clean as possible:

Reset your computer to 'as shipped state'.

Do not put (or have) any personal data on it.

Do not connect it to the internet (at all).

Uninstall MacAfee Security Center (and any other bloatware) - remember, when you reset your computer once more to an 'as shipped state', you'll have all the junk programs installed again.

Uninstall any demo programs (or time limited programs... in the future, these won't be any good anyways).

Now, with the notebook in a known state; clone it.


When the cloning is finished; on a NEW HDD or SSD; test the clone you just made (without testing it at least once; you don't have a 'backup' of the O/S...).


Hope this helps.

Good luck and Merry Christmas.

 

i didn't understand any of it but i'll ask my friend to read it and help me out. merry christmas to all of you!

i remember there is a windows key at the bottom of all laptops, if i use a windows 8 dvd from a friend, would i be able to install it using that key?? what about the new version of windows 8 with the start button?

 

If your friend has the same version of Windows 8 than you do, yes you will be able to use his DVD.
Worst case scenario, you can find a Windows 8 iso online without so much trouble, you'd have to mount it on a DVD or a usb drive and use your key.
If you can't find your Windows key at the bottom of the laptop, take it from the system information tab (you can access it by pressing the windows key and the pause button).

Windows 8.1 brings the "start button" back but it does not bring the start menu.. Personally I got used to it and I find the new Windows 8 very good and well optimised. If you do have a problem living without the start menu, download a software like ClassicShell.

 

Make sure that the friend's DVD is just the O/S - if it is a Restore DVD, I would not be attempting this on your system...

Good luck.

 

If it's an OEM copy of Windows 8, you should be able to activate your key with it. Alot of Windows 8 machines are not coming with keys, the BIOS/UEFI will automatically activate if it detected the correct version of Windows 8 was installed.