Purcahsed first decent latop 'Ultranote' spec inside and questions

[geeovana]

Just purchased the below spec:

Chassis & Display UltraNote: 14" Glossy HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3210M (2.50GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM) 2GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 2GB)
Graphics Card Intel® HD Graphics 4000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-2230 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD
Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery 2 DAY DELIVERY TO CHANNEL ISLANDS (VAT EXCLUSIVE) (£19)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity 1
Total Order Price £387.50

1st question - I have a laptop at the moment that i will be selling. I have upgraded the ram in that to 8gb of the same stuff i have ordered above. (hence the low 2gb amount' My plan was to take one of the 4gb sticks out of that and stick it in here to have 6gb and leave the 4gb stick in the old laptop to sell to hopefully get a better price for it. Do you think 6gb is enough or will it be better on 8gb and just hope it doesn't effect the price oft he old one to much when i sell it with just 2 GB?

2nd question - I am a student and get free access to and Microsoft software and have the choice of windows 7 and 8 to choose from to install on it and was wondering what peoples opinions that have used both would recommend? I haven't had a proper use of windows 8 only the app screen which really put me off and contemplating just sticking with 7

any help would be appreciated

Cheers

 

[l shneier]

Just purchased the below spec:

Chassis & Display UltraNote: 14" Glossy HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3210M (2.50GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM) 2GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 2GB)
Graphics Card Intel® HD Graphics 4000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-2230 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD
Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery 2 DAY DELIVERY TO CHANNEL ISLANDS (VAT EXCLUSIVE) (£19)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity 1
Total Order Price £387.50

1st question - I have a laptop at the moment that i will be selling. I have upgraded the ram in that to 8gb of the same stuff i have ordered above. (hence the low 2gb amount' My plan was to take one of the 4gb sticks out of that and stick it in here to have 6gb and leave the 4gb stick in the old laptop to sell to hopefully get a better price for it. Do you think 6gb is enough or will it be better on 8gb and just hope it doesn't effect the price oft he old one to much when i sell it with just 2 GB?

2nd question - I am a student and get free access to and Microsoft software and have the choice of windows 7 and 8 to choose from to install on it and was wondering what peoples opinions that have used both would recommend? I haven't had a proper use of windows 8 only the app screen which really put me off and contemplating just sticking with 7

any help would be appreciated

Cheers

in term of spec it looks good enough minus a couple of quires as to why you chose them one is whyb did you chose the i5 over a i7 i expect this has something to do with student buget constraint similar the the situation i'm facing with getting an ultranote my self and also proably why your planning to upgradethe ram manually rather than by a 4gb/ 8gb now. the other is based on my assumption of a tight student budget and my own experience with my laptops hard drive why have you gone for a small ssd hard drive the weight between the ssd and hdd are about 50g at most so negligible for when your taking to and from uni. this hard drive is going to find it self struggling for space if you don't constantly keep on top of data management along with that ssd are traditional more expensive than their hdd counter parts to prove this if we look at prices of your ssd for one pound cheaper you could have gotten the 1tb wd Scorpio blue hdd which would easily see you through any data issues. in terms of windows 8 versus 7 i've little time with 8 only whilst i was back home for Christmas but its a decent os once you get used to it you might find certain programs lacking drivers initially but that should patch itself soon the only issue with 8 is it is obviously designs for a touch screen interface so is a bit counter intuitive to start with but once you work out what to do it becomes very simple and easy to work with one of the most major issues i have with it is the metro version of internet explore's history not being synced with the desktop version which can be a bit annoying/frustrating if you open the wron one. i only had traditional office 10 on that laptop so don't know how office 13 differs from metro to desktop but i hope this has helped

 

[Toxophilix]

Regarding the RAM, have you checked that the memory you have is compatible with the 2GB you have ordered and that the 2/4 configuration is supported? Assuming it is, I don't think you'll notice much difference between 6 and 8 GB on your new machine. However, I'm also not sure if there's a big difference between 2 and 4 GB in the resale value of your old laptop - not sure - but I guess you could compare prices online.

Regarding Windows 8, I used it for a week and went back to 7. Some people do evidently like 8, but all one can give in answer to this question is one's subjective view, and you'd have to pay me a lot of money to use Windows 8. But people differ ...