May I Have Advice About I3 / I5 / I7 Processors, Please?

hi.

i'm going to buy a used laptop on ebay.

right now, i have an HP elitebook 8530p. the processor is a core 2 duo t9550. when i watch live streaming video, such as sports, the CPU usage is 100%. and sometimes the stream becomes unwatchable.
the GPU is radeon hd 3650 mobile.

1 of my questions is about ultra low voltage processors. i like that they run cool, and don't require a loud fan. but are they powerful enough for live streaming video?

also, i play video games, mostly emulators. the core 2 duo can play ps1, n64, and saturn games. but it can't play ps2, xbox, gamecube, and dreamcast games.

what processors do you recommend?

thanks a lot for the advice.

 

Too many variables to answer that. Even an i7 can be bottlenecked if there is, for example, too little RAM, a lack of free disk space, or a very slow Internet connection.

An i3 is typically plenty fast for streaming because that is basically just "displaying" videos. It is not really "computing" like it needs to do with advanced games where the actions of all the displayed objects are constantly changing due to user inputs.

That said, a decent i5 is typically a great compromise between power and cost. But again, lots of RAM (at least 8GB), plenty of free disk space (and a SSD will help too) and a good network connection is essential too.

 

thanks for the reply.

is an i5 ultra low voltage processor, 4200U for example, powerful enough to play live streaming videos for several hours?

as for video game emulators, i read that some of them, such as pcsx2, require a powerful processor. would any ultra low voltage processor be powerful enough?

i'm planning on buying a laptop with a 256 gb ssd, 8 gb ram, and a radeon or geforce gpu. my internet connection isn't the fastest. but it's not bad.

 

As posted by Digerati, you need a fast internet connection.
The best hardware available cannot overcome a slow and/or throttled internet connection.

 

5 minutes or 5 hours, time does not matter when it comes to power. Heat build up can be an issue, however. So ensuring good ventilation is always a must.

IMO, no notebook makes a good gaming rig (or "desktop replacement". Makers can pack the power of a PC into a tiny notebook case, but not the cooling. And considering a full tower case can be challenged to keep the innards properly cooled during heaving gaming, it is no wonder a tiny notebook case would be too.

 

Digerati,

thank you for the info / suggestions. they will help.

i should have asked before i bought the elitebook. it was made in 2008. i've had it for about 5 years. i bought it on ebay, used.
at the time, i didn't what i3 / i5 / i7 are. and i didn't know what dual core, quad core, etc. are.
the only thing i knew about was processor speed. i thought that higher gigahertz always was better.
i had a chance to have an i3 laptop that is 1.9 ghz. i thought that the core 2 duo was better because it's 2.6 ghz.

i will look for an i5, ssd, 8 gb ram, and discreet GPU.
it's o.k. if it can't play ps2, gamecube emulators.
as i said, my core 2 duo can play streaming videos, and some emulators. but, after about 1/2 hour, the CPU usage is 100%.
also, i think that the CPU and GPU get too hot. an i5-U would be nice to prevent the heat.

thanks again.

 

Speed is important but definitely not always better.