Laptop Recommendations

[Lpoolck]

I currently have a HP Pavilion DV6 which is 5 years old, I went to use the Garmin VIRB edit software on the laptop but the graphics card is below the minimum requirements to run the software.

I am therefore looking to upgrade and I was wondering if anyone knows of any good deals for a laptop? I mainly use my laptop for surfing the web so I was thinking about a chromebook due to its speed light operating system (plus not a massive fan of windows 10) however I will also need the laptop for a few applications such as Garmin Connect/Express, and hopefully Garmin VIRB/video editing software, and some word documents (I know you can use google docs as an alternative) so guessing that this is not a viable option.

I am looking for a screen size of 15" as that is what I currently have and find it a nice size, I do not think I could have a smaller screen. I was looking for a hard drive of 500gb as I currently have 300gb of data on my current laptop (I know I could always get rid of my photos/videos/docs onto an external hard drive but I don't think I could be bothered with the extra inconvenience). I was also thinking about getting a laptop with a SSD drive but the prices for the laptops with a 500gb SSD that I have seen are £1,500 plus which is more than I was thinking about paying, which was around £600 - £800.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

If you have an A-m-a-z-o-n account,have a look at their Warehouse Deals.There are always some good deals on laptops.

 

[fossyant]

You can upgrade the laptop to SSD after purchase. £100-£120 for a 500GB SSD and transfer kit (USB 3.0 to SATA caddy).

Garmin software may not run on Chrome - you'll need to check this. You could get an i5 laptop.

Are you sure your laptop can't run the software. A Memory upgrade and a SSD will help.

 

[Lpoolck]

If you have an A-m-a-z-o-n account,have a look at their Warehouse Deals.There are always some good deals on laptops.

Yeah I have prime - I have checked it out, thanks for the tip! Some good discount just on items where the packing is damaged!!!

You can upgrade the laptop to SSD after purchase. £100-£120 for a 500GB SSD and transfer kit (USB 3.0 to SATA caddy).

Garmin software may not run on Chrome - you'll need to check this. You could get an i5 laptop.

Are you sure your laptop can't run the software. A Memory upgrade and a SSD will help.

Yeah I have tried the Garmin software on my laptop and it works until you try to play the video within the software - I am having to use my partners laptop instead. The issue is definitely with the graphics card as I have the same memory and better drive than what my partner has in her laptop. My laptop is already a core i5. Cheers.

 

[fossyant]

Don't forget there have been a few versions of the i5.

It's likely you have in-built on chip graphics rather than a separate graphics card. My laptop is an I7, but has a Nvidia GT740, as well as the on-chip intel graphics.

Can you look a the Computer System settings on both computers. Mine says Intel I7 4700, which is a 4th generation chip. We also have a laptop with a 3rd series i5.

 

[Lpoolck]

Don't forget there have been a few versions of the i5.

It's likely you have in-built on chip graphics rather than a separate graphics card. My laptop is an I7, but has a Nvidia GT740, as well as the on-chip intel graphics.

Can you look a the Computer System settings on both computers. Mine says Intel I7 4700, which is a 4th generation chip. We also have a laptop with a 3rd series i5.

My laptop has the intel HD graphics 3000 as well as AMD Radeon HD 7400m series, my partner has the intel HD graphics 4000. My laptop has the i5-2410m @2.30GHz

This is my laptop: HP Pavilion dv6-6156ea

 

[fossyant]

Have you set the Garmin software to use the AMD Radeon ? It will default to the integrated display as it's not a game/ 3d software.

I force Zwift to use my Nvidia. Right mouse click the icon, then select 'Run with Graphic Processor' and chose it or select 'Change default processor'. Within the driver software you can automatically pick or browse the programme and select it.

Your machine should run it.

 

[Lpoolck]

Have you set the Garmin software to use the AMD Radeon ? It will default to the integrated display as it's not a game/ 3d software.

I force Zwift to use my Nvidia. Right mouse click the icon, then select 'Run with Graphic Processor' and chose it or select 'Change default processor'. Within the driver software you can automatically pick or browse the programme and select it.

Your machine should run it.

Thanks for the help - however when I click the VIRB icon it doesn't have a "run with graphics processor" as an option.

I have right clicked on the desktop and went into the the graphics properties and I am unable to find any menu/submenu that will allow me to change the default graphic processor for an application...

 

[fossyant]

Thats odd - it should have. I can't see why your machine won't play the videos you are editing, it's fast enough. Is the Radeon's drivers upto date ?

 

[Lpoolck]

Thats odd - it should have. I can't see why your machine won't play the videos you are editing, it's fast enough. Is the Radeon's drivers upto date ?

Yep, I know its fast enough, got enough RAM, drive good enough etc. It's just the graphics card that isn't up to the requirements in order for the videos to play within the VIRB software.

The Radeon's drivers are up to date, I have even went into its settings menu and there is no ability for you to select VIRB to run the Radeon as the default to try and bypass Intel HD 3000.