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Originally Posted by mvadg Hey Joxter, Since you are answering so many questions, I have a set of my own, request your inputs. |
I should probably start charging consultation fees. I'll be able to buy that Lamborghini before I know it!
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Originally Posted by mvadg I am not a gamer, but would like the GPU to assist in normal everyday tasks.
[*]I'm disappointed with the laptops I've owned that've had so-so GPUs on them. I think my previous laptop a 2nd gen i5 with a Radeon H7550M never really used the GPU. I tried everything to force it to use the GPU but really never mattered. Are discrete GPUs only for dedicated games? Or can they bring their processing power to assist everyday browsing, video viewing, etc.? |
Technology has come a long way since you bought that laptop. The new Ryzen 4000 mobile processors change the game with their inbuilt graphics. In fact, they are powerful enough to play all of today's AAA gaming titles at the lowest graphics settings and resolution.
Here's a gaming benchmark test of the inbuilt graphics on the Ryzen 4600U, which is AMD's equivalent of the Intel i5 U-series processors:
Quite impressive right? These inbuilt graphics should easily be able to handle the task of web browsing and watching videos, albeit at normal resolutions - 1440p & 2160p (4K) might not be so smooth.
To answer your question about discrete graphics cards though, they definitely take all the graphics processing load off of the CPU, and provide a much better experience in all aspects of the display, and not just for gaming, so are recommended if you can afford them. From my own personal experience on my desktop right now, I faced a hardware issue with my graphics card, and had to give it in to the service center, and am now running on the integrated graphics on my 8700K - the integrated graphics on this CPU are now old and outdated, so not to be compared with what you get on the Ryzen 4000 chips, but watching videos in full screen at 1440p or 2160p are a bit glitchy, and I notice that scrolling down webpages takes longer, and some are taking a lot longer to load as well, and this is where the dedicated graphics card has made that difference for me.
Modern day laptops seamlessly switch between integrated and dedicated graphics without you even noticing, so you will definitely not face the issue of trying to force your laptop to use the dedicated graphics.
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Originally Posted by mvadg [*]Are the new AMD processors going to have the same problem, because I notice that the laptop CPUs don't come with graphics capabilities? Will such a laptop require an addon graphics processor or does AMD believe that the CPU will be able handle all the graphics processing without impacting the user? |
The new Ryzen 4000 mobile processors all come with inbuilt graphics - not sure where you got the information that they don't? You can see that
here.
Personally, I think that the Ryzen 5 4000 series will have the graphics performance you're expecting, but if you're not confident, then go for a laptop which also has dedicated graphics - that would also be the better choice anyway!
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Originally Posted by Cyborg I can’t seem to find this combo of the Air i7 + 16GB RAM + 256GB anywhere. |
It looks like you can do the configuration of a Macbook with the specifications you want only in an Apple authorized store. You can find the nearest one to your location using this
link.
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Originally Posted by Cyborg Will the Word, Excel program for iOS be available only from the store or online as well and how much would that cost approximately. |
Only from the App Store. I don't know how much it costs, and I cannot check that either as I am in Belgium. Maybe someone else here who has a Macbook can check the store and confirm how much MS Office costs in the Apple App Store?
Edit: I see that others have already provided the pricing while I was typing this very long post, lol.
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Originally Posted by Cyborg How much will Air with the above configuration cost and where will I get it? |
Unfortunately I don't have the answer to this, and I think you can only get that answer in the Apple authorized store, as they don't allow you to configure online and get the price - that's honestly quite inconvenient.
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Originally Posted by poloman For your use case i5+8GB+128GB model is more than enough. |
He said that he wants the laptop to go the distance, hence my suggestion of i7 + 16GB. As a heavy Excel user myself, I can tell you that 8GB of RAM when working with multiple or large spreadsheets is not enough, and the RAM is soldered in a Macbook, so cannot be upgraded later. The i7 will keep the Macbook feeling snappy even further on in it's life.
You're suggesting only for the present, and I am suggesting for the present+future. Just to ensure that we don't confuse him further.
Cheers