14.1' Poker Laptop Recommendation

[Drew1]

My laptop is Asus u45jc-a1

i3 m370 @ 2.4 ghz processor

8gb ram that is upgraded from 4gb ram

250gb ssd samsung that was upgraded last year from a 7200 rpm 500gb hard drive.


While playing 20 tables and running HEM2 and Tableninja 1, there is considerable lag. I also have tons of chrome web pages and also listen to music when i play. I would say the moment i hit close to 20 table is when the lagging is a big problem because i start sitting out in my tables though i do have the never sit out option for Tableninja. So many times it cause lot of hands to fold.


Im looking for a 14.1 laptop thats an i7 laptop. Reason is because 15.4' laptop always look a bit too big and bulky for me. Also i will be connecting it to an external monitor so the laptop size whether 14.1 or 15.4 shouldn't be any issue. Also prefer 14.1 because i feel its the perfect laptop size without being too heavy. Also I like a laptop that looks good, thus my asus one was a very nice looking laptop which is why i bought that one many years ago. I also thought at that time i3 was good enough.


Also once i get the laptop, i would then immediately replace whatever hard drive is in the computer with my current samsung 250gb ssd hard drive right since that hard drive will probably be a 7200 rpm hard drive? And also if it only has 4gb, then i take my two 4gb ram sticks and replace the new computer ram so i could have 8gb ram total like I do now?


Also is there a chance if i have someone do a clean reinstalltion of my laptop and wipe the hard drive and everything, then theres a chance my current laptop will be good enough to handle 20+ tabling with HEM2 and Tableninja 1 along with music and lot of tabs? Thing is I don't know how to clean my computer and make it faster. Because if i could then i would prefer it because i still like this laptop a lot especially the look of it. Or should i just upgrade because i7 is very important and i3 is not good enough?


From what i see online, is basically my only option for an i7 and it being 14.1 the two lenovos?

Lenovo U430

Amazon.com : Lenovo IdeaPad U430 Touch Ultrabook 14-Inch Touch-Screen Laptop, (Intel Core i7-4500U processor, 4GB Memory, 500GB Hard Drive) : Computers & Accessories

Lenovo Y40

Lenovo Y40 Laptop | 14" High-Performance Gaming Notebook PC*| Lenovo US

[Drew1]

Someone suggested me get this one

XOTIC PC | Sager NP2740 (Clevo W740SU) - New 14" Sager Notebook


They also said those 2 laptops i posted aren't good because they aren't true quadcores and those aren't that much better than my current laptop one. Thoughts? They said it being a u series is the thing. They even said if i got an i5 that was quad core it would be faster than those i7.


So basically if i get one of the lenovos, its a waste since even though i7, it isn't going to be much faster than my i3 one?


Also i like to mention i have never done anything to my database in hem such as vacuum or anything like that b/c i dont know how to. Could that be the reason for the lagging? Then again when i used this laptop a few years ago, i did notice it lag whenever i hit a certain number of tables but i didn't do anything about it b/c i used to play on a desktop that was an i5-750 processor.

[Patvs]

-Yes replace the regular laptop HDD with your SSD.

-Your old RAM may not fit in the new laptop, but it's recommended to also have 8 GB RAM in the new laptop.

-No lag on your current system: when the lag occurs, go to Windows Task Manager (right click on the Start bar: Start Task Manager), what's the CPU Usage? If it's 80%+ with peaks to 100%, the i3 is the problem.

-With a SSD you don't have to vacuum the databse. (except to win back diskspace, but it won't improve performance)




-i3/i5/i7.
There are dual (2) core i5s, quad (4) core i5s, dual (2) core i7s, quad (4) core i7s, but also hexa (6) and octa (8) core i7s.
There are slow i7s, and slow i5s.

The slow i5s/i7s (and the dual core i5/i7) are mainly some of the "mobile" CPUs designed for laptops (all favoring being enery efficient).

The last two years Intel has (annoyingly) released more of these slow CPUs that are still marketed as i5 / i7, but are not automatically faster than for example the fastest i3.

See Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - NotebookCheck.net Tech for a list of all the CPUs.

[Drew1]

-Yes replace the regular laptop HDD with your SSD.

-Your old RAM may not fit in the new laptop, but it's recommended to also have 8 GB RAM in the new laptop.

-No lag on your current system: when the lag occurs, go to Windows Task Manager (right click on the Start bar: Start Task Manager), what's the CPU Usage? If it's 80%+ with peaks to 100%, the i3 is the problem.

-With a SSD you don't have to vacuum the databse. (except to win back diskspace, but it won't improve performance)




-i3/i5/i7.
There are dual (2) core i5s, quad (4) core i5s, dual (2) core i7s, quad (4) core i7s, but also hexa (6) and octa (8) core i7s.
There are slow i7s, and slow i5s.

The slow i5s/i7s (and the dual core i5/i7) are mainly some of the "mobile" CPUs designed for laptops (all favoring being enery efficient).

The last two years Intel has (annoyingly) released more of these slow CPUs that are still marketed as i5 / i7, but are not automatically faster than for example the fastest i3.

See Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - NotebookCheck.net Tech for a list of all the CPUs.

Thanks for the response. Well i replaced my currently laptop HDD with an SSD drive last year already. This was before i relocated to canada so i could play on pokerstars again so i wanted to make sure my laptop was fast enough to play on it with an ssd. I upgraded the 4gb to 8gb ram later on so with ssd 256gb samsung and 8gb ram, i thought i shouldn't have any issues.


When the lag occurs, yes cpu usuage does go from 80 percent to close to 100 percent. However i noticed this happened recently when i wasnt playing any poker and didnt have hem2 or tn1 opened and just had lot of web browsers opened. When i normally just web browsing computer usage is normally less than 60 percent and almost always 3gb or less of memory being used. What is strange though is before i upgraded the ram from 4gb to 8gb, it rarely hit 4gb ever but when i upgraded to 8gb many times it will go 4.6gb. Is it b/c my ram got to 8gb which is the reason for this?


Also at the moment i never vacuumed database ever. But doing so might help a bit?


Are the dual core i7s the ones i posted in my links with the two lenovo laptops? both are i7 u4510 processors. So these are the dual core i7s? But they aren't slow i7s? Not sure difference between slow i7 vs dual core i7. Yes i read these are very energy efficient so these are laptops you don't want for online poker then?


So you are saying the i3 370m right now that im using... the i7 u4510s are not going to be that much significant improvement over my current system? Someone did say my i3 isn't fast because it isn't turbo boost i believe. Also back then when i played mainly on a desktop... i used hem1 and tableninja1 only and desktop was a dell xps 8100 that is i5-750 processor. I didn't have an ssd and it rarely lagged if ever when 20+ tabling. Someone told me thats because the i5-750 processor is a quad core and thats the reason? Thing is i got this laptop back in 2010... i got the i3 370m asus laptop back in late 2010.


So even my current i5-750 desktop processor would be faster than a laptop i7 u4510 laptop? It would however be slower than a laptop hq4700 though right? So even my current i5-750 desktop without an ssd would be faster than a i7 u4510 laptop with an ssd?


So you would suggest the laptop i buy, make sure its an i7 and its a 4700hq or mq processor thus quad core and don't bother with one of those u4510 dual cores?

[Drew1]

Also another question. You mentioned lot of these mobile laptops they are releasing they do so because its energy efficient. The thing is i prefer a 14.1 laptop over a 15.6 laptop because its much smaller. I wouldn't want a 13 inch laptop because that is too small however.


The thing is majority of the time, i would have my laptop connected to an external monitor so i rarely would only use laptop by itself on the smaller screen. I don't like looking at a 14.1 laptop all day as screen size is very small.


So would you suggest me not going with a 14.1 laptop then and go with a 15.6 one instead? I dont like 15.6 laptop because they are very big and bulky and eventhough almost always the laptop will be inside... i would prefer a smaller laptop as if i ever go outside with it, i dont want to have a big bulky laptop outside. And the thing is since its going to be attached to an external monitor, i would prefer it to be a smaller one but not smaller than 14 inch of course.


But would you say the sager one i posted is a very good laptop since its i7 4700HQ processor and someone told me everything else about the laptop is very good? And most importantly its 14.1 so its the right size for me?


Would you say the lenovo y40 one is good/bad besides the processor? Someone said its not a good laptop overall.


I'm curious if majority of ppl who use hem2 etc who uses laptops, do most of them have 15 inch laptops because it seemed like almost all of them do and very few have a 14 inch one.


The last thing i want to do is get a new laptop then it perform similar to my current asus i3 370m processor with the lag.

[Patvs]

CPU 80% not running HM2: Which browser are you using?
If your CPU hits 80% with a lot of browser tabs open, you should look into which tab (which website) causes this.
Likely there is a website which either uses JAVA, SHOCKWAVE, or FLASH, or some plugin causing this.

4 GB vs 8 GB RAM: which program is using up so much RAM?
If it's HM2 it's normal it will use more RAM if is sees there is more RAM available.
But other programs should not use more RAM because you've doubled the amount of RAM.

Vacuum/Reindex: it shouldn't improve performance. It can reduce the size of the database.
Small database will be faster than a big database (but the effect of this will be smaller with an-already-fast-SSD)

Slow i7: Don't get a dual-core i5/i7.
You also don't really need an i7 to begin with. The only advantage of the i7 (vs i5) is hyperthreading but HoldemManager
doesn't support hyperthreading. (there are hardly any programs/games that do)
(it's only useful for video/audio de/encoding)

i3 370m vs i7 u4510s: Intel Core i3 370M vs 4510U
This i7 is only marginally better. And not very fast.

So you need a quadcore i5 (or i7), similar to your desktop i5 750.

Compare the CPUs at CPUBoss

[Drew1]

'm using chrome. I stopped using firefox because its really slow and lags.

Yes when using chrome, i took a look and some tabs for some reason use a lot of space. Example i have lot of tabs open and many use 150000kb. However there was one tab that was using 2,000,000 kb.


When i used the laptop when it was 4gb, even when it lagged, the most it would use up is 3.5gb maybe. However majority of the time it rarely hit 3gb even when lagging when playing poker. Most of the time it was 2.5gb or so. Once i upgraded it to 8gb, the same stuff that i was doing before... such as if it show 2.5gb being used, it would be 3gb or more. Is that strange? Also recently when im not playing any poker, most of the time it shows me using at least 3.8gb and many times it would show 6gb using. I have no idea why this is happening.


Okay thanks for telling me about the dual core i5 or i7 is not good. So basically for laptop, make sure i5 or i7 quad core.


I'm curious but do you know anyone that uses a dual core laptop whether an i3 or i5/i7 and they have no problems with lagggin when playing 20 plus tables?


Another thing but do you think its big difference if i get a 14.1 laptop vs a 15.6 laptop if they have same i7 quad core specs? Again i wanted to get a smaller size laptop and never liked a 15.6 as i always felt it was too big even though the laptop will rarely leave the apartment. I did read smaller laptop with quad core processors tend to get hotter compared to the bigger laptop such as 15.6. Is that true or false? But the sager np2740 one probably shouldn't be an issue because its a very good laptop right?


Also another question. I used HEM1 and TN1 back many years ago on my desktop and never had any lag. I did try a bit with my laptop back then and i did notice a bit of lag on it when 15 tabling it but stopped mainly b/c i didnt like playing on a small laptop. But if i played on my desktop i5 750 now, i probably wouldn't have any problems at all with hem2 and tn1 and 20 plus tabling? Reason i ask is b/c the desktop is back in the usa... im there as well but as you know i cant play on stars inside the usa. Reason i ask this is b/c i was wondering if hem2 and tn1 now uses more resources than hem1 and tn1 back in say late 2010. What about using hem1 and tn1 now on my old desktop i5 750?


I had read that hem1 and hem2 now uses more resources than back then so i wanted to know if it is true or not.


Also, you would suggest 250gb or more ssd at the minimum right? I bought the 250gb samsung ssd a while back for my asus i3 laptop and currently still have over 90gb available. The new laptop im getting i will get a new ssd drive as well so i was wondering if 250gb is the minimum or should i might even get 500gb? The thing is this... i dont want to ever format my computer ever again and i want all the stuff saved on hem2 to stay there. Does that make sense?


Also would it be a horrible idea if i get an i7 quad core laptop and don't get a ssd but just use my current ssd and put that one in the new i7 quad core? I figure thats probably bad idea since my computer slow now and putting the same ssd in the new one isn't a good idea?


What about if i get new ssd for the new laptop but want to transfer all the hem2 files from this computer to that one? I know that can be done but that takes a very long time right? Most importantly... if there are corrupt files in my hem2 or in my ssd in this asus i3 laptop, wouldn't there be a chance doing this might make the new ssd drive not good if it transfer corrupt files. Because i'm thinking just get new ssd drive and start from there and dont put any old stuff from old computer to it.

[Patvs]

Heat issue: no idea which laptop gets hotter.

If a 14.1 laptop with a quadcore i5 is really expensive, and the laptop will rarely leave the apartment also consider just getting another desktop (or playing on your old desktop).

Also you can use Apple MacBooks and just run Windows on them. The MacBooks are more expensive but have fast CPUs.


HM2 uses a lot more resources than HM1.

250 GB should be more than enough for a large HoldemManager database.
I only use a 80 GB SSD myself. (with a 2 TB external drive for media)


i7 quadcore + your current SSD is also fine.


Transfer database: backup/restore is risky if there is a corruption in your old database.
But you can also just move all the handhistory files to the new computer. Import all the handhistory files into a new empty database.

[Drew1]

Hi. Well the thing is i will most likely get the sager np2740 which is i7 quad core and 14.1. I didn't really check to see any i5 quadcore laptops.


Actually the reason why i asked this question is b/c im from the usa but i have to go outside the usa to play online poker. Thus when i go to canada, i can't bring my desktop there. So if i could play online in the usa or if i was not an america, i wouldn't have any problem because i would be playing on my current desktop which is i5-750 and probably it would be good enough. And if it isn't i would just get an i7 quadcore and wouldn't bother with a laptop as i rarely used a laptop to play. Only need laptop b/c i have to travel to another country everytime.


Yes i heard about macbooks but if i do that, i would be paying lot more then buy parallels i believe which it is called then i would be using windows on it correct? But if thats the case, then my macbook would be pretty much a windows computer? Thus it would still get viruses and get slower compared to a mac with the OS system? I dont know much about macbooks besides that.


Thats why i was also thinking if i should get the 500gb instead of the 250gb ssd. Because if it fills up, then i don't want to transfer the database. But i would be able to shrink the hem2 database pretty easily right? Thats what i did recently and i went from 2700mb to 2300mb or so vacuuming full... But most likely i will just go with 250gb ssd.

[Drew1]

I'm going to get the sager.

XOTIC PC | Sager NP2740 (Clevo W740SU) - New 14" Sager Notebook


But can someone tell me what i should or shouldn't upgrade?





One person said get the 250gb ssd hard drive. I assume they mean as the primary one? I see you could get ssd for that or the mSATA SSD Drive ( Slot 1 ). I assume just get primary? Is it if i get tor MSATA SSD Drive slot 1, that mean i get 2 hard drive one thats the 250gb ssd one and the default 5400 rpm one? But u could only put one hard drive in a computer right? Thus no point in the 5400 rpm one as its too slow? So that mean i would have to manually switch the hard drive if i get two of them?


Someone suggested me to upgrade wireless card for 35 dollars more. Thoughts on this? Is the default wireless card not that good? Even if i upgrade wireless card, shouldn't i upgrade to the 50 dollar one instead of already upgrading to the 35 dollar one?


Operating system. Im really confused here. So i don't get any windows 7 or 8 if i don't buy it? Im very confused with the descriptin as it says windows 7 64 bit cost money to buy as i have an asus laptop that i bought many years ago from xoticpc and im sure it came along with it. Can someone explain this?