Comparing 15-f272wm and 15-271wm

[FinallyFarm]

Can't find any significant difference between two models.  Planning to purchase one but don't know if I should differentiate.  Pls help.

Also, is there a significance to the title "Flyer Red" shown on many ads for these models?

thx

[Huffer]

I think one is silver and one is red. Before you buy, understand these laptop use a very low-end budget processor and we get many complaints here about how slow they run. If you can swing it, get a laptop with at least an Intel Core i3 processor. Just sayin' 

[FinallyFarm]

thx for the quick response.  I havea f233 that my wife uses for normal things and seems to do quite well for our pedestrian needs with the exception of some streaming.  I think that the quad core will probably crank things up enough to solve any remaining issues on that.  Our video does not include any gaming or anything that requires that type of speed.  I've been trying to use CPUBoss to compare processing and according to them the N3540 performance rates a 7.2 while the N3050 in f233 is rated at 5.7.  Further comments on my novice guesswork would be appreciated.  

[Huffer]

Here it is compared to a very low-end i3....the N3540 is about 3/4 as fast. 

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-N3540-vs-Intel-Core-i3-5010U

Since you already have a similar model and are happy with it I would say go ahead and buy this as long as you are getting a significant price break. 

[FinallyFarm]

thx again for the help.  still scratching my head.  I notice many dual core processors have higher ratings than quad core.  Is there a simple explanation for this?  I looked for a processor model number indication of the difference but couldn't devine one.

thx

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

We could have a lengthy seminar on this. It is too simplistic to just say 4 cores must be twice as fast as 2 cores. Not true. The software you are running has to be optimized to actually use 4 cores. Professional content creation software like Photoshop and video production software is. Most games (not all) are not so they run just as well on a dual core as a Quad Core. Dual Cores tend to have higher clock speed than Quad Cores. So a 2.8 ghz dual core is going to be faster for most things you do than a 2.2 ghz Quad Core. And then it is not even all about clock speed. You have to consider cache and bandwidth i.e what does the processor do on each clock cycle? 

So the manufacturers sell these low end processors and tell people Oh it's a Quad Core and people assume that must mean it is very powerful. The devil is in the details and the details are getting more complex all the time. 

[FinallyFarm]

At my age, I doubt I could sit through that seminar but I believe you it would be a long one.  Your quick explanatio was helpful, though, and I appreciate your time.  Just one more question if I may:  if I use a performance benchmark like CPUBoss's Performance number, can I get an approximation of the relative speed for video streaming?

Thx again.

[Huffer]

No you would also have to factor in the speed of your internet connection. It can be a bottleneck regardless of the processor/GPU but assuming you have a good download speed, yes the next bottleneck would be the video then the processor. So pay attention mostly to the video benchmarks for streaming. 

[FinallyFarm]

thx.  think I'mm finally out of questions.

[urgentmessage]

if your looking to upgrade memory for this unit go with ddr3l 1600 mhz 8 gig single stick picked up off ebay kingston stick real cheap for under 50 bucks came from china work i also bought cheap windows 10 pro key off ebay btw witch wokrs great you can make pictures out of videos and snap on youtube witch you cant do in home rofl