Hello all,
I basically have this machine:
http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-hp-e1y29ut-aba~7HEWW3M8.htm
ie. HP Elitebook 8570p, i5-3340m, 1366 x 768 screen, ships with 4GB RAM. The only difference between the model I linked to is that my machine has the AMD Radeon HD 7570M dedicated graphics card.
I'm trying to purpose-build this laptop for 2 tasks:
1. I work as a writer and have lots of small sensitive files, so I'm looking for excellent data reliability and backup options.
2. I also screencast, thus I will be hooking the 2 USB 3.0 to a document camera and USB mic, and from there I will be recording screen/voice. Obviously I'll need decent performance for this, though I'm not sure how much is truly necessary.
I have about 300 dollars to upgrade the machine (I bought the raw laptop for 700 at the HP outlet).
In terms of upgrades, I'd like to ask about a couple issues:
1. I'm definitely going for an SSD, likely a 120gb or 250gb Samsung EVO, however I'm thinking of switching out the optical drive in order to put in a 2nd HDD for storing videos and music (and for a backup partition). That 2nd HDD might not cost anything since I could use the 320 that comes with the machine, or I could use a 750gig that I already have in my current obsolete laptop. For example, for cost savings, I might just do the 120-gig EVO, keep the 320HDD (7200rpm) for a single backup plus 200-gig data partition. Does this seem like a good gig for what I'm doing? I also have some external HDD options available through the USB3.0 or eSATA port, which will allow me to keep more music and movies handy, though not ultra-portable. On that note, for screencasting, if I do have a 7200 RPM internal, do you think I should use the SSD just for OS/programs and vital work documents/photos, while actually recording to the 7200? Or should I also record directly to the SSD? I want to make sure I'm getting a good clean stream, no audio blips or fps slowdowns. I don't game or use many HDD-intensive programs, so I'm thinking I can do everything on the SSD, even a 120.
2. The other issue is RAM. I'm definitely upgrading to 8 or more; I can replace the 4-gig stick with a name-brand 2x4gigs for about $50 (DDR3 Latency 9 1600), or I can go to 2x8 for about $140-$165 depending on latency. I'm aware the price might come down on those, but I'm looking to build the machine now and those are the best prices I've found in the last 48 hours. In some sense I'd like the 16gigs, but maybe 8gigs of RAM is not going to be the bottleneck here anyway? I'm thinking if I have an SSD and 8 gigs of RAM, the bottleneck will be in the video card or the processor, which are good but not stellar. In that case, maybe the 16 gigs wouldn't do much for me. I'm not rich so the extra $100 would hurt a little bit, however if that's what is needed to get an excellent machine, I guess I'm willing to pay. I've also heard about RAMdisk, and maybe that's a good solution for recording video streams? It's more volatile as I understand, but in case of crash I'd only be losing the screencast itself, not any vital data, at least that's how I understand it. I'm not sure how this solution compares, speed-wise, to the SSD/HDD combo.
Short version: any advice about turning this 8570p into a good writing/screencasting workhorse would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I basically have this machine:
http://www.provantage.com/hewlett-packard-hp-e1y29ut-aba~7HEWW3M8.htm
ie. HP Elitebook 8570p, i5-3340m, 1366 x 768 screen, ships with 4GB RAM. The only difference between the model I linked to is that my machine has the AMD Radeon HD 7570M dedicated graphics card.
I'm trying to purpose-build this laptop for 2 tasks:
1. I work as a writer and have lots of small sensitive files, so I'm looking for excellent data reliability and backup options.
2. I also screencast, thus I will be hooking the 2 USB 3.0 to a document camera and USB mic, and from there I will be recording screen/voice. Obviously I'll need decent performance for this, though I'm not sure how much is truly necessary.
I have about 300 dollars to upgrade the machine (I bought the raw laptop for 700 at the HP outlet).
In terms of upgrades, I'd like to ask about a couple issues:
1. I'm definitely going for an SSD, likely a 120gb or 250gb Samsung EVO, however I'm thinking of switching out the optical drive in order to put in a 2nd HDD for storing videos and music (and for a backup partition). That 2nd HDD might not cost anything since I could use the 320 that comes with the machine, or I could use a 750gig that I already have in my current obsolete laptop. For example, for cost savings, I might just do the 120-gig EVO, keep the 320HDD (7200rpm) for a single backup plus 200-gig data partition. Does this seem like a good gig for what I'm doing? I also have some external HDD options available through the USB3.0 or eSATA port, which will allow me to keep more music and movies handy, though not ultra-portable. On that note, for screencasting, if I do have a 7200 RPM internal, do you think I should use the SSD just for OS/programs and vital work documents/photos, while actually recording to the 7200? Or should I also record directly to the SSD? I want to make sure I'm getting a good clean stream, no audio blips or fps slowdowns. I don't game or use many HDD-intensive programs, so I'm thinking I can do everything on the SSD, even a 120.
2. The other issue is RAM. I'm definitely upgrading to 8 or more; I can replace the 4-gig stick with a name-brand 2x4gigs for about $50 (DDR3 Latency 9 1600), or I can go to 2x8 for about $140-$165 depending on latency. I'm aware the price might come down on those, but I'm looking to build the machine now and those are the best prices I've found in the last 48 hours. In some sense I'd like the 16gigs, but maybe 8gigs of RAM is not going to be the bottleneck here anyway? I'm thinking if I have an SSD and 8 gigs of RAM, the bottleneck will be in the video card or the processor, which are good but not stellar. In that case, maybe the 16 gigs wouldn't do much for me. I'm not rich so the extra $100 would hurt a little bit, however if that's what is needed to get an excellent machine, I guess I'm willing to pay. I've also heard about RAMdisk, and maybe that's a good solution for recording video streams? It's more volatile as I understand, but in case of crash I'd only be losing the screencast itself, not any vital data, at least that's how I understand it. I'm not sure how this solution compares, speed-wise, to the SSD/HDD combo.
Short version: any advice about turning this 8570p into a good writing/screencasting workhorse would be much appreciated. Thanks!
