AMD Machines?

I'd like any opinions on AMD-chipped machines.
Office Max has a great special on laptops w/ AMD chips.
17", 6GB RAM, 1TB drive, AMD quad-core processor
for $400.

mathedman wrote:

I'd like any opinions on AMD-chipped machines.
Office Max has a great special on laptops w/ AMD chips.
17", 6GB RAM, 1TB drive, AMD quad-core processor
for $400.

Been using AMD exlusively for all my personal machines for over a decade
running Linux and Windows, both natively and in VMs. Never any problems.

Stef

On 11/16/2014 12:28 PM, Stef wrote:
mathedman wrote:

I'd like any opinions on AMD-chipped machines.
Office Max has a great special on laptops w/ AMD chips.
17", 6GB RAM, 1TB drive, AMD quad-core processor
for $400.

Been using AMD exlusively for all my personal machines for over a decade
running Linux and Windows, both natively and in VMs. Never any problems.

Stef




Ditto

In message , Wolf K
writes
On 2014-11-16 1:05 PM, mathedman wrote:
I'd like any opinions on AMD-chipped machines.
Office Max has a great special on laptops w/ AMD chips.
17", 6GB RAM, 1TB drive, AMD quad-core processor
for $400.

No problems. Go for it.

I've just been discussing this, in relation to older machines, on the
Microsoft W10preview forum.
It's the ATI stuff that may come with AMD that has been my problem. All
is fine until you need to find the drivers for the "ATI display", which
on machines I've encountered are actually also the main chipset drivers.

So, on an old Vista machine, I ended up having to load the chipset bits
of the wrong display drivers. Then it worked fine. The ATI website is
the most difficult I've ever encountered from a major manufacturer, with
stuff buried in all sorts of odd places.

Another example - I had to find the so-called "usb filter" to make my
usb 1.1 audio interfaces work properly on AMD/ATI machines. Lots of us
searched and searched and eventually someone found the driver or patch
or whatever it was buried in a zipped application at the end of a long
chain on the ATI gaming site.

My opinion is therefore, OK and good value for the basics, but for
predictability in the future and round the edges, I'd now always avoid
ATI.
--
Bill

On 11/16/2014 01:05 PM, mathedman wrote:
I'd like any opinions on AMD-chipped machines.
Office Max has a great special on laptops w/ AMD chips.
17", 6GB RAM, 1TB drive, AMD quad-core processor
for $400.

I think AMD got a bad rap yearssssss ago. Now I think it's a 50/50
deal. Some purists still harp on Intel.

On 11/16/2014 4:51 PM, Big Al wrote:
On 11/16/2014 01:05 PM, mathedman wrote:
I'd like any opinions on AMD-chipped machines.
Office Max has a great special on laptops w/ AMD chips.
17", 6GB RAM, 1TB drive, AMD quad-core processor
for $400.

I think AMD got a bad rap yearssssss ago. Now I think it's a 50/50
deal. Some purists still harp on Intel.


Unless you need bleeding edge processor speeds, The AMD
processors are generally more bang for the buck than Intel's.
You need to consider supporting chips sets as well.
Both AMD and Intel processors have multiple support chipsets, and it can
get confusing as to which motherboard is appropriate for a specific use.

Laptops are a different breed, in that they are often much slower
than a desktop in the same price range. Besides that, the graphics
support can be problematic down the line when the laptop uses OEM/model
specific video drivers.

mathedman wrote:
I'd like any opinions on AMD-chipped machines.
Office Max has a great special on laptops w/ AMD chips.
17", 6GB RAM, 1TB drive, AMD quad-core processor
for $400.

Before buying, search for the processor here.
Get the PassMark number, compare to your current processor.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

For example, the AMD A8-5550M CPU (Passmark = 2982)
is a bit faster than my current processor. But not enough
so you'd notice. It uses 35W TDP. So for $400, I might manage
to buy a laptop that didn't totally suck.

Another product uses an E2-3800 processor (Passmark = 1617),
and the computer is only about $40 cheaper. This would be
a particularly bad bargain. It uses about half the electricity.
Um, big deal. I don't particularly want to buy stuff that
is *slower* than what I currently own.

This one has a A10-5750M, for $597. Passmark is 3372. Or about
double that slightly under $400 one with the 1617 Passmark has.
Laptops with that 5750M processor, span a price range of $600 to $1600.
Weird.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...0B2000YUS-156/

Based on those few datapoints, the A8-5550M is looking pretty
good on the AMD side.

I have not carried out any check, to see what an Intel would cost.

Paul