Industry Standard Computers
St. Clairsville, Ohio
(740) 695-1520
30 Years In Business - 30 Years Experience with Computers - 25 Years with Networks & Security
The oldest system builder in the area, maybe in the state!
Best Labor Rate in the Area, $25 Shop, $40 Outside
First off we can buy you 'Throw-Away Laptops' remove most of the crapware from them and install all the software they should have come with like Adobe, JAVA, Firefox, anti-spyware program, etc. We will NEVER sell you an HP/Compaq. They all contain spyware, read the License Agreement!
It is all about Gigahertz (GHz). This is the single most important item to consider for a faster laptop. The faster laptops have higher GHz ratings. Think of GHz as MPH. 2.2 GHz being the slowest speed I find in a laptop as being functional for anything. I have a 2.2 GHz laptop with 6GB of RAM and a 5400 RPM hard drive, used to watch Hulu, plugged into my TV, and doing 2 or 3 things at once is taxing everything it has.
Now 99% of our customers currently buy 2.6 & 2.8 GHz laptops with 8 GB of RAM and Solid State Drives or 7200 RPM hard drives with 3 yr. manufacturer's warranties with Windows 7 or 8 Professional versions. $950-$1300.
Since most laptops on the market from "Big Box Stores" and "On-Line Stores" are refurbished or contain used parts, you can find a wide variety of processors (CPU) available.
Without being really technical, in laptops in a GHz to GHz comparison Intel are always faster than AMD.
Today, 5-21-2013, the slowest NEW processor for a laptop currently being made is a Dual-Core Intel® Pentium® 2030M 2.50 GHz 2MB Cache. (In the desktop world we at ISC quit selling 3.x GHz Intel Dual-Core or Core II Duo chips 4 years ago in new computers.) The next step us is a Dual-Core Intel® Core™ i3-3120M 2.50GHz 3MB Cache [ +$60.00 and worth every penny; lots of internal fixes in the 4 yr. span between these.]
Again trying not to be technical, Intel i3 are the bottom, i5 next, i7 at the top. GHz to GHz comparison i7 is faster that i5. In the Desktop world 2.5-3.6 GHz range in speed currently available as NEW. Between i5 and i7 internal configurations change from dual core to quad core. But GHz should be FIRST consideration not number or cores! (Windows 8 is a single core operating system. It is like driving your Porsche on a 2 lane highway vs. a 4 lane highway with no curves or traffic.)
Next consideration is the RAM.
32 Bit processors (CPU) or operating systems can only use 3.2 GB (gigabyte) of RAM regardless of how much is installed.
2 GB of RAM is pitiful!!!
4 GB is Okay.
6 GB is adequate.
Under 99.9% of all software currently used 8GB is overkill. Difference in price between 4 GB and 8 GB is about $35 at time of purchase.
Next consideration is Hard Drive speed.
Unless you buy custom, 95% of all laptops have 5400 RPM drives in them. (We have not sold 5400 RPM drives since 7200 RPM ones came out.) Some manufacturers of hard drives make faster hard drives than their competitors due to internal designs. Seagate is usually always on top in the hard drive industry; Western Digital next. (You will not find these brands in brand name laptops; too expensive.) Seagate or WD is worth about .1 GHz and the 5400 to 7200 is worth about .1-.2 GHz in speed. (Guess what brand we use most of the time?)
Today we have electronic hard drives vs. the original mechanical hard drives. These NEW drives are called "Solid State Drives" and they are 20-30% faster than a 7200 RPM drives. We currently, unless someone wants to save money or has to have lots of storage, sell only these faster drives.
Now again this is 5-21-2013 and what is listed below is taken from 2 on-line stores (cheaper than any Big Box Store pricing. Note: Throw-Away means use until it dies average is 1.5 yrs. or plan to pitch in 2 years or less with it being just way too slow. Shipping is not included in prices, $15-$45.
Throw-Away $300-$600 range.
NOTE: In Sept. 2013 all Win 7 computers are all discontinued, refurbished or used; unless bought from someone like ISC.
Speed from bottom to top, 15 inch screen size and only the ones who did not state "refurbished".
1. Bottom: Asus brand, Celeron 1.6 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 320GB 5400 RPM hard drive, 90 day warranty. (Celeron is much lesser grade than a Intel Dual Core!) $299.99
2. Top: HP brand i5 2.5 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, no warranty told. (Old stock, you know because HP's MS Office 2010 was pre-installed as a Demo.) $599.99
Throw-Away $601-$950
1. Bottom: Lenovo i5 2.5 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 7200 RPM hard drive (a surprising exception) $616
2. Top: HP i5 2.7 GHz, 4GB RAM, 500 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, unknown warranty (at best 1 yr.) $815.
Get the idea yet? Call us for the fastest laptops in the area.
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pages on this website written by employees of ISC, © Copyright 1999-2015
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