well, this is our group answer for question 1 which is regarding our ideal laptop/desktop. since all of us are not a gamer, we choose a moderate performance of a laptop.
for microprocessors, we choose intel core i5 because it provide higher performance compare to other intel microprocessors except intel core i7. this microprocessors give us a better performance compared intel i3. in terms of prices, intel core i5 might be a bit expensive, we don't really care as long as it provide what we needed. Essentially, the Core i5 processors have more capabilities than Core i3 processors. Core i5 will be better for media creation, multi-tasking, and if we used to regularly complain about our PC being slow. Core i3 will be sufficient for people who want a PC that's faster than an Atom-powered tablet or netbook, but don't want to spend any more than they have to.
In addition to generally faster base clock speeds, Core i5 processors have larger cache (on-board memory) to help the processor deal with repetitive tasks faster. Larger cache sizes help multi-tasking as well, since background tasks will be ready for when we switch focus to another window. On currently available desktop processors, i5 CPUs have up to 6MB of L3 cache, while i3 processors have 3MB.
Turbo Boost refers to Intel's "overclocking" feature built into its processors. Essentially, it allows the processor to run faster than its base clock speed when only one or two processor cores are needed (like when we're running a single-threaded task that we want to be done by now). Most Core i5 processors use Turbo Boost but Core i3 processors don't feature Turbo Boost.
for RAM, we choose 4GB. This is because although 2 GB is enough for a home user, there will be when we want to upgrade it. by using 4 GB straight away, we don't have to upgrade quite instantly. what we are trying to say here is we need to think further ahead. From what we found out in the internet, it says that if we are using windows XP than 2GB is enough if we open a browser with 10 tabs running, music player, and other windows programme. but if we are windows vista or windows 7 than 2 GB is not enough compared to 4 GB. Since we are the type to open a lot of programmes than we should choose 4 GB of RAM.
For operating system, we personally choose windows 7. It is easier to use compare to windows 8. Although there are a lot of operating system now, we decided to compare windows 7 and windows 8 because those 2 are the main operating system nowadays other than apple. We decided to leave out apple os because it is harder to find all softwares and hardwares for apple in Malaysia. for those who are not used to apple software might find it hard. back to our main purpose, windows 8 are designed mainly for tablets and touchscreen computers. To us, for a non-touchscreen laptops it is quite useless to use windows 8. But if we think further ahead a lot of computers will be broken down then we have no choice but to use windows 8 since all the computers and laptops are using windows 8 nowadays. Still to us windows 7 is the best when it comes to normal operating system.
