17" 7200rpm vs 15" 5200rpm Laptop
- Thread starter Brina
- Start date
raido KASAI
Ansei Master Badass
If you plan on loading Steam and Skyrim onto the SSD, then the RPM of the drives won't come into play that much for the game itself.
Was curious if there was a reason for getting an external SSD instead of an internal one. The reason I ask is that if the laptop has a second internal hdd drive bay and many do, you could likely get an internal cheaper. You then can load your OS on it too and your boot times are exponentially faster. My laptop with a 250GB SSD boots into Windows in less than 10 seconds. The specific processor in play and RAM will impact that too but the SSD drive is so much faster that having your OS on it makes a huge difference. You could technically load an OS onto the external one, but unless you have that drive hooked to your system, it wouldn't boot. I loved my internal SSD in my laptop so much, two weeks later I bought one for my desktop too.
A few things on size, I've had each before, and each have drawbacks and benefits:
15" PROS: Size is more portable. Battery life will be longer as a vast percentage of power usage is the display. Smaller display use less power. This also factors into weight because if you need an extended life battery to get more life out of one system, an upgraded battery is usually heavier than the basic one out of the box.
15" CONS: On many systems, the 15" is not as high resolution as the ones that are in 17" systems. This isn't always the case but sometimes is. If that is the case then the 15" will show you some amount less of detail. Also for desktops if you decide later to get a bigger monitor, it's an easy purchase to make it happen. If you decide a year from now that you would like the larger screen for the laptop, the only way to make that happen is getting a new laptop. Usually 15" systems have smaller cases and thus usually the keyboard doesn't have a dedicated numeric keypad. Not a game changer for everyone, but depending upon what you use it for, that might make a difference.
17" PROS: Greater size is going to make intricate details more visible. Usually the 17" is an upgraded quality screen with better refresh rates and contrast ratio from the smaller ones where the differences are less noticeable. Again that's not always the case but many tines is. Also the larger case usually means the keyboard is less cramped and often you get the numeric keypad you often don't on a 15"
17" CONS: Less portable, heavier and longer dimensions. Depending on the system, usually that increase in screen size can take somewhere between 20-30% extra battery power to run it. If it's going to be unplugged a lot, that may make a considerable difference. You can usually get better batteries but longer lasting ones add size and weight typically. I also know on my 17" it does give off a bit more heat as it uses more power to run everything. Not a substantial difference from my older 15" but it is a little hotter to the touch if it is sitting in your lap for a long time.
A few other considerations:
The difference in the 2 hard drives is both easy and not that expensive to overcome down the road. You can typically find a 7200 RPM HDD for around $100 and it's an easy upgrade. Even easier if you do have a second internal drive bay
I haven't looked the systems up, but are the CPU's the same? This will have an impact on everything. Skyrim in performance in particular is tied way more to CPU power and system RAM than it is how good the video card is. It is a bit of an oddity though as most other games' performances are tied more to the video cards and the rest is secondary.
The two CPU's you are looking at don't necessarily need to be the exact same, but they should be near the same level if you are price comparing like for like. More than anything else though, CPU prices are the most age-dependent item in a system. There is a gigantic premium for the last one or two that came out whereas one that was released 6-8 months ago often will be drastically cheaper for little discernible difference to the average end user. The price difference is amplified even more in the mobile CPU market
For the record, a friend of mine has a couple years old MSI laptop and he likes it quite a bit. I think his was a 15". My only personal experience with them as a company is one of my desktops has an MSI motherboard and it's given me no problems for 5 years and running.
I'll reply again if I think of some other things I forgot
Was curious if there was a reason for getting an external SSD instead of an internal one. The reason I ask is that if the laptop has a second internal hdd drive bay and many do, you could likely get an internal cheaper. You then can load your OS on it too and your boot times are exponentially faster. My laptop with a 250GB SSD boots into Windows in less than 10 seconds. The specific processor in play and RAM will impact that too but the SSD drive is so much faster that having your OS on it makes a huge difference. You could technically load an OS onto the external one, but unless you have that drive hooked to your system, it wouldn't boot. I loved my internal SSD in my laptop so much, two weeks later I bought one for my desktop too.
A few things on size, I've had each before, and each have drawbacks and benefits:
15" PROS: Size is more portable. Battery life will be longer as a vast percentage of power usage is the display. Smaller display use less power. This also factors into weight because if you need an extended life battery to get more life out of one system, an upgraded battery is usually heavier than the basic one out of the box.
15" CONS: On many systems, the 15" is not as high resolution as the ones that are in 17" systems. This isn't always the case but sometimes is. If that is the case then the 15" will show you some amount less of detail. Also for desktops if you decide later to get a bigger monitor, it's an easy purchase to make it happen. If you decide a year from now that you would like the larger screen for the laptop, the only way to make that happen is getting a new laptop. Usually 15" systems have smaller cases and thus usually the keyboard doesn't have a dedicated numeric keypad. Not a game changer for everyone, but depending upon what you use it for, that might make a difference.
17" PROS: Greater size is going to make intricate details more visible. Usually the 17" is an upgraded quality screen with better refresh rates and contrast ratio from the smaller ones where the differences are less noticeable. Again that's not always the case but many tines is. Also the larger case usually means the keyboard is less cramped and often you get the numeric keypad you often don't on a 15"
17" CONS: Less portable, heavier and longer dimensions. Depending on the system, usually that increase in screen size can take somewhere between 20-30% extra battery power to run it. If it's going to be unplugged a lot, that may make a considerable difference. You can usually get better batteries but longer lasting ones add size and weight typically. I also know on my 17" it does give off a bit more heat as it uses more power to run everything. Not a substantial difference from my older 15" but it is a little hotter to the touch if it is sitting in your lap for a long time.
A few other considerations:
The difference in the 2 hard drives is both easy and not that expensive to overcome down the road. You can typically find a 7200 RPM HDD for around $100 and it's an easy upgrade. Even easier if you do have a second internal drive bay
I haven't looked the systems up, but are the CPU's the same? This will have an impact on everything. Skyrim in performance in particular is tied way more to CPU power and system RAM than it is how good the video card is. It is a bit of an oddity though as most other games' performances are tied more to the video cards and the rest is secondary.
The two CPU's you are looking at don't necessarily need to be the exact same, but they should be near the same level if you are price comparing like for like. More than anything else though, CPU prices are the most age-dependent item in a system. There is a gigantic premium for the last one or two that came out whereas one that was released 6-8 months ago often will be drastically cheaper for little discernible difference to the average end user. The price difference is amplified even more in the mobile CPU market
For the record, a friend of mine has a couple years old MSI laptop and he likes it quite a bit. I think his was a 15". My only personal experience with them as a company is one of my desktops has an MSI motherboard and it's given me no problems for 5 years and running.
I'll reply again if I think of some other things I forgot
