Performance boost: T6600 (core 2 duo) vs i7 4510U

[Gideon]

I'm a software developer myself and If you can, I strongly urge you to replace the HDD with an SSD!

I can't overstate the importance of this. For development I'd easily have a U-series Sandy-Bridge with a decent SSD over a M series Haswell with HDD.

Be it overall responsiveness of the OS, IDE responsiveness (full-text searches even on 100K+ line projects are literally instant), compilation time, static code analysis, unit-test or application-server startup time. Most of these times might drop by an order of magnitude just by this switch alone! For huge Java projects the difference is perhaps the biggest, but it's still been very very important on Ruby and Node.js for instance.


I went from a T2400 laptop to a i5-2410M (ARK), which was a very decent speedup, and the difference absolutely absolutely paled in comparison, to when I finally switched out the HDD for a SSD in the latter laptop.

CPU vs SSD
For the CPU you'll get a 2-4 times performance increase at best. Here is a comparison of similar generation leap on 4-core desktops with roughly the same clocks:
BENCH. It will not be identical but similar in orders of magnitude.

While with an SSD, the random read/write difference can easily be more than 100x BENCH. You can and will feel the difference.


Why am i so Gung-ho about this ? I used to build every single computer I've had, since 2001, with min-maxing the GPU first, then CPU and then all the rest. Even well into the SSD times, I usually postponed getting it as not a priority. Once I was upgraded to an SSD in my workspace, i didn't believe the difference and understood what an utter fool I've been. For gaming only, going GPU -> CPU -> rest is absolutely fine. For anything else, SSD should be the first priority by far.

</rant>

TL;DR, Bottom line:
If you have developed on an SSD rig, it's just flat out unbearable to develop on a HDD. On the other hand, you sure as hell can develop on a ~2x weaker CPU (with a SSD). I do the latter all the time switching from my desktop to laptop. But every time i have to pair-program with a poor guy with HDD, it's incredible pain.

If you can't afford a drop-in a cheaper high-performance SSD (like EVO 840), then perhaps get a cheaper laptop with SSD and start from there.

For gaming ? Not so much, but for Software Development SSD is absolutely essential.

 

[captainspi]

Be it overall responsiveness of the OS, IDE responsiveness (full-text searches even on 100K+ line projects are literally instant), compilation time, static code analysis, unit-test or application-server startup time. Most of these times might drop by an order of magnitude just by this switch alone! For huge Java projects the difference is perhaps the biggest, but it's still been very very important on Ruby and Node.js for instance.

Whoa, I didn't even consider that aspect. You have certainly painted a very compelling argument in favour of an SSD. Do you have any advice on what kind of an SSD I should swap in? I am on a budget, so I am thinking about swapping in a 70$ SSD (Kingston SSD Drive V300 60 GB) and using it primarily for development. I make use of git so swapping projects in and out won't be a problem, making the 60GB size sufficient for the time being I suppose.

EDIT: Never mind, I didn't realize a laptop can't support a secondary hard drive. I will have to get something much bigger.

EDIT2: I can install a HD caddy to support a secondary drive. Thanks for the input, I will definitely go for an SSD.

 

[Gideon]

EDIT2: I can install a HD caddy to support a secondary drive. Thanks for the input, I will definitely go for an SSD.

The SSD depends on where you're shopping. One of the cheapest decent SSDs is usally Samsung EVO 850 (or EVO 840, if you can get it considerably cheaper). I would prefer 250GB but if you're on a budget 120 could also work. I wouldn't recommend going below that.

These Samsung drives are usually cheaper than other counterparts because of the TLC NAND while still having very fast controllers. Anandtech actually has good info on the subject if you want to know more: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8747/samsung-ssd-850-evo-review/3

I also suggest going the route of an external HDD or HDD caddy if you require lots of storage, rather than getting a huge SSD.

Edit:
Remember that actual usable space in OS is always less than marketed on the drive. 120 GB is actually ~111 GiB[url] and usually some room is also used for Garbage collection or redundancy, so the actual usable space is closer to 100GB in OS.

 

[gmaster456]

Get the Samsung Evo 850. Don't bother with the cheap kingston drives unless you're putting them into an ancient machine, which you are not.

 

[fuzzymath10]

If you want to make the upgrade worthwhile do yourself a favor and boot from an ssd or else that i7 won't be doing much in a hurry.

It already made sense at the time your old cpu existed so it makes even more sense now. More capacity and speed for less money.

 

[Denithor]

I would suggest something like a Crucial MX100 256GB drive for use as your boot & application/software drive. Best ~$100 you will ever spend on a computer component.

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-...=crucial+mx100

 

[Ramses]

Should see if your chosen laptop supports M.2 or mSATA for SSD.
I have a single 500gb EVO in my Envy but there is an M.2 slot so
it will eventually have an SSD on that and 2 or 3 tb hard drive.
Nice to have options.

 

[captainspi]

The SSD depends on where you're shopping. One of the cheapest decent SSDs is usally Samsung EVO 850 (or EVO 840, if you can get it considerably cheaper). I would prefer 250GB but if you're on a budget 120 could also work. I wouldn't recommend going below that.

Hate to bump this thread back up but I will make my purchase tomorrow and swap in a 250GB Samsung EVO ASAP.

Thanks for all the great advice people. You brought the geek equivalent of a 'man stepping down from the mountains with a Gandalf beard' up to speed on pretty much all facets of mobile technology. This thread was invaluable.

 

[.vodka]

Just report back with how blown away you're at the upgrade, with the SSD installed. It'll be nice to hear

 

[VirtualLarry]

You're better off getting a cheap, slow computer so you can complain about it.

Hey, wait a sec... that's my gig!

 

[Blue_Max]

Since you're doing Photoshop, do yourself a HUGE favour and check on screen quality as well. Many Lenovos, for example, had good specs but terrible screens. Some Dell Latitude models had screens ranging from so-so to excellent.