2nd laptop purchase help

[BoomShaker]

Which would you pick? I already purchased a Toshiba Satellite P500-ST5807. Now they are no longer being sold. But the one I have fits my needs well. So now I have to make another decision. Looking to pick up a back up laptop. My main need is speed. When mixing on the fly I have found out a slow processor or hard drive speed can kill you. So having done my homework I have these so far. But am asking you guys for your imput. If you were gonna pick up a laptop for power and speed which do you like the best? 15" screen is a minimum for me. However, would price be a big factor for your decision too?

Dell i5 Ram 6gb up to 8gb, Processor speed 2.53GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz) HD 5400rpm (need 7200) $899.00

Toshiba i3 Ram 4gb up to 8bg, Processor speed 2.4GHz HD 7200 $699.00

Toshiba i7 Ram 4gb up to 8gb, Processor speed 1.73GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz) HD 5400 (need 7200) $899.00

Toshiba i5 Ram 4gb up to 8gb, Processor speed 2.53GHz (with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz) HD 7200 $799.00

Dell i5 Ram 4gb, Processor speed 2.53GHz, HD 7200 $899.00

All are DDR3, and have esata usb ports, battery life depends on model, Anything I forgot to mention here in order to get your input. Just let me know.

Thanks again.

[nemowolf]

Apple Mac Book Pro, upgrade to the highest specs you can afford.

Alienware, do the same.

PS: Dell is a manufacturer not a model and im almost sure that just listing a processor does nothing to help us identify which particular laptop your looking at. Cheers!

[BoomShaker]

Apple Mac Book Pro, upgrade to the highest specs you can afford.

Alienware, do the same.

PS: Dell is a manufacturer not a model and im almost sure that just listing a processor does nothing to help us identify which particular laptop your looking at. Cheers!

That's cool, what would you need me to list in order to give you a better idea my friend?

[BoomShaker]

Side question: if a system comes with a 5400rpm internal HD, but I will mainly be using an external HD @ 7200rpm. Does the internal slow me down any @ 5400rpm? Or is this more of processor matter? Or what part of the laptop controlls this portion(speed) of it?

(sorry if it's a dumb question, techy stuff is not my forte)

[nemowolf]

That's cool, what would you need me to list in order to give you a better idea my friend?

How about a model number? Dell makes a few laptops these days, so knowing if your looking at an Inspirion vs a Latitude vs a Vostro is going to change the overall package your looking at. Like wise, each manufacturer tends to have their "Consumer", "Media", and "Professional" grade models that all have different options and standard features.

When your shopping for a car, listing the the Horse Power is great but what does 1,000HP do for you when your driving a boat? That make it clear?

[BoomShaker]

How about a model number? Dell makes a few laptops these days, so knowing if your looking at an Inspirion vs a Latitude vs a Vostro is going to change the overall package your looking at. Like wise, each manufacturer tends to have their "Consumer", "Media", and "Professional" grade models that all have different options and standard features.

When your shopping for a car, listing the the Horse Power is great but what does 1,000HP do for you when your driving a boat? That make it clear?

Got it! I'll post those up when I get home today. Thanks again.

[nemowolf]

Side question: if a system comes with a 5400rpm internal HD, but I will mainly be using an external HD @ 7200rpm. Does the internal slow me down any @ 5400rpm? Or is this more of processor matter? Or what part of the laptop controlls this portion(speed) of it?

(sorry if it's a dumb question, techy stuff is not my forte)

What moves faster, a car going 72 or 54? As a device that requires rotation for the reading heads to actually get at the data, something that spins faster can have data read and written faster. So to extend the example ... if your car is going 72 down the highway, how many more signs can you read in an hour if your travel that extra 18 miles?

As a more side note; if techy stuff is not your forte, why are you purchasing another laptop at all. What do you need a "backup" for as the one you have works just fine? Why do you need a laptop specifically over a desktop?

[BoomShaker]

What moves faster, a car going 72 or 54? As a device that requires rotation for the reading heads to actually get at the data, something that spins faster can have data read and written faster. So to extend the example ... if your car is going 72 down the highway, how many more signs can you read in an hour if your travel that extra 18 miles?

As a more side note; if techy stuff is not your forte, why are you purchasing another laptop at all. What do you need a "backup" for as the one you have works just fine? Why do you need a laptop specifically over a desktop?

Nice analogy. However my question was not so much which is faster but rather, does the internal HD speed being slower compromise the external speed? I am assuming since you're reading the external HD the internal really has nothing to do with it? Yes, No?

Again, my first laptop has a 7200 in it. But I can't buy that exact one anymore. On the back up I am finding some great prices but mostly come with a 5400 internal. Hence the reason for my side question.


I am not a techy, thats why I come here. As for purchasing another laptop over a desk top and the purchase of another laptop as a back up. I am a mobile dj. (quit the clubs years ago) I have a back up HD but not another laptop. If one laptop goes down I can quickly switch up and keep on going. In the same sense that a photographer and videogropher always brings a back camera or video recorder. If my one and only goes down I can always switch up to cd's. But having a back up laptop would be a plus.

Thank you for your help so far my friend.

[nemowolf]

Nice analogy. However my question was not so much which is faster but rather, does the internal HD speed being slower compromise the external speed? I am assuming since you're reading the external HD the internal really has nothing to do with it? Yes, No?

Again, my first laptop has a 7200 in it. But I can't buy that exact one anymore. On the back up I am finding some great prices but mostly come with a 5400 internal. Hence the reason for my side question.


I am not a techy, thats why I come here. As for purchasing another laptop over a desk top and the purchase of another laptop as a back up. I am a mobile dj. (quit the clubs years ago) I have a back up HD but not another laptop. If one laptop goes down I can quickly switch up and keep on going. In the same sense that a photographer and videogropher always brings a back camera or video recorder. If my one and only goes down I can always switch up to cd's. But having a back up laptop would be a plus.

Thank you for your help so far my friend.

Your computer has an operating system which is run off your internal drive. If your OS is running "slow" because the system is constantly having to wait for the page file to move data, then its your hard drive. You can offload most of this by upping the RAM but there will ALWAYS be some amount of page file on your local drive. The slower speeds wont do anything since your running MP3s and the size doesnt really compare to running CAD or RAW files even. So it wont really matter one way or the other. You may see a couple of second increase in boot times but nothing your doing will be directly effected beyond search times for files on your drive.

Since your a DJ, it would be like replacing the motor on a belt or Direct drive setup. Once you know what to replace it with, cake. You can always get the laptop with a 5200 HD and buy a replacement.

PS: Unless you worked with vinyl ... your just a CDJ. CHEERS!

[ShyguyXPC]

Nice analogy. However my question was not so much which is faster but rather, does the internal HD speed being slower compromise the external speed? I am assuming since you're reading the external HD the internal really has nothing to do with it? Yes, No?

Again, my first laptop has a 7200 in it. But I can't buy that exact one anymore. On the back up I am finding some great prices but mostly come with a 5400 internal. Hence the reason for my side question.


I am not a techy, thats why I come here. As for purchasing another laptop over a desk top and the purchase of another laptop as a back up. I am a mobile dj. (quit the clubs years ago) I have a back up HD but not another laptop. If one laptop goes down I can quickly switch up and keep on going. In the same sense that a photographer and videogropher always brings a back camera or video recorder. If my one and only goes down I can always switch up to cd's. But having a back up laptop would be a plus.

Thank you for your help so far my friend.

The external Hard drive runs at what ever speed of drive is in the case.

the Drive in the External Case, is what matters, if its a 5400RPM drive it will run at 5400RPM, if its 7200RPM, it runs at 7200RPM.

another limiting factor is the Connector port it uses, most likely USB 2.0, some are eSATA but these require an external power connector, as do some 7200RPM drives.

But the Speed of the External Drive has nothing to do with the Laptop its plugged into, unless for example your external is a USB 2.0 drive, and the laptop is older with a USB 1.0/1.1 type port. Which is a lower bandwidth connection.


The laptop itself may be weaker in processing stuff, or slower with other things running in the background, but the actual accessing of data from the drive shouldn't change. There may be a bottleneck with the CPU doing a million other things and data from the external is waiting to be processed, but the actual physical reading of data from the drive shouldn't change. Unless the Drive itself is heavily Fragmented, or parts of it are going bad.

[BoomShaker]

Awesome explanations. You guys are the best! Thanks again.