With the i series stuff, particularly in a laptop, the integrated graphics they come with really isn't good enough for more than a few fps in the larger modpacks. I have an i5 3210m (3rd gen) (with the HD4000 graphics built in) and a radeon 7670m graphics in a switchable system (that is really annoying and doesn't always work properly). When I have had driver issues or whatever and minecraft tried to run on the built in HD4000 0-2 fps but when it used the radeon, it runs fine, (although still not like a decent desktop) over 60 fps (I limit it to 60 usually) until bases get too much stuff in. Obviously with a newer laptop it is likely to be a bit better with improvements in performance (mine is now over 3 years old HP). Back on the main topic, it really comes down to personal preference on what operating system you prefer and what you are going to be doing for work on it (and also considering the cost for what you get). All the sort of general use stuff (browsing, word, powerpoint, watching stuff etc) will work fine on basically anything you buy, but some software may not work (have a friend doing engineering that couldn't use some modelling software on his macbook).
I actually got my desktop through DigitalStorm after talking with a friend who based his recommendation on I wanted something that works good, but wouldn't cost a fortune. Depending on how much you have to spend, you may want to consider them as well.
It's not just the processor you need to consider, I have a 3rd gen i5 and it runs fine with 4GB ram allocated (8 total) and a radeon 7670m dedicated graphics card (2GB i think) which is in a switchable hybrid system with the HD4000 built into the i5. When it works correctly and runs on the radeon it runs fine, but if something goes wrong and tries running on the HD4000 it fails or I get like 0-2 fps. So yes, a 6th gen i5 will be fine for minecraft, but it isn't the only thing needed. The SSD, I'm not sure, I've heard it is better to have minecraft on a HDD before as it does lots of writes to disk and this reduces the lifespan of the SSD, but I'm not sure if this is still the case or even true so don't take my word for it (I have a 1TB HDD and it's fine also more storage )
The issue you are look at here is the fact that you are looking at a laptop. You are going to pay 50% to 100% more for a laptop with the same power of a desktop. Plain and simple. Along with the fact that upgrades are limited if nonexistent for laptops. Get a laptop for school, and use it for school. Get a desktop for everything else.
I played MineYourGalaxy like that for a few months. Didn't even notice until I built my current PC, and now anything sub 60FPS is jarring. Sometimes upgrading isn't always the best thing
I spent $500 on a desktop and am very happy, went from unplayable to 60fps or more on the bigger packs in chugga_fan base. A laptop that has the same power? Over $2k. If you want affordable you will not play minecraft perfectly. If you want to be able to play modded minecraft, at high fps, expect to pay for it.
booker, my laptop, kinda general dell inspiron 2015 computer, about $350 at walmart, aint nothing special about it, no modifications or anything. it can run on infinity evolved with over 20-30 fps and sf2 with up to 40 fps if you modify a few settings. my laptop has a quad core i3 processor (so i have 4 of the little guys in my laptop) and i run just about any modpack just fine.
My buddy said that he is looking into options that the school offers students like discounted rates on laptops. This would seem the best course of action, unless the laptops they are promoting are so far beneath my requirements to warrant me purchasing from companies directly. Don't worry about going "techy" on me; I have some general understanding of what things mean .
Hey, heard rumors that Minecraft does not uses multiple processor cores. Please tell me that I'm wrong.
Mainly those rumors are right. There is some stuff that is being handled in async threads but most of it and the core is all single threaded. A dual core processor with great single threading performance outperforms a 16 core processor with bad single threading.
Which doesnt mean that you should fit your PC/Laptop to a inefficient Minecraft implementation. Is that the newest benchmark test? I can also agree with looking at Lenovo, they have Laptops in all price ranges (and usually you get what you pay for). Bought last year a new Laptop and it works fine, after having used a Lenovo machine for more than 9 years which still stable (but not fast) The first one was a highend Thinkpad modell, which I can recommend if you need a machine that gets carried around a lot and has to be robust to outer influences. They test those machines against some military standards. My new one is not so robust, it is a Y70-50 modell, with focus on multimedia and gaming. Carrying it around might not be a good idea in the long run.
What happens when you use surveillance hard disk in a gaming desktop? (Ik what happens, just want to confirm)
What do you mean surveillance hard disk? If your talking about what I think you are, It'll act like a normal hard drive.
I think he may be talking about drives like WD Purple. Yes, as bobthepig said, you can use them. Although only if you have one lying around. Buying one just for a desktop isn't a good choice, as it may perform slightly worse in terms of random write/read actions (it's also being said the data might get corrupted sooner than on a normal desktop drive). If you're looking at Western Digital drives - WD Blue and Black are great. Avoid Greens though.
Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 15.6" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 12GB Memory - 512GB Solid State Drive Gray I7569-1832GRY - Best Buy This is the computer I am now considerring, as opposed to the Dell XPS 15. This computer offers many of the similar specs aside from the GPU. The GPU here is a very basic Intel HD Graphics 520 compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5 offered by the XPS. I am a little concerned about the performance I should expect from this GPU; I am not confident it can run modded minecraft to my satisfaction, but I really don't know much about graphics cards.
The Intel on this is an on-board graphics much the same as the Intel HD 4000 I have in my laptop although over 3 years newer. I also have a separate graphics card that runs fine. When something goes wrong and minecraft tries to run on the HD 4000 I get 0-3 fps. I have no idea how well the HD 520 will perform, (likely a bit better) but it won't be as good as a dedicated graphics card.
