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aetherspoon · 15 days ago

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I have some extra stuff about this, as this is a good explanation but needs some tweaks on the details. Especially for laptop information; in 2025 most people buy laptops, and most of their post is only applicable to desktops than laptops. So I've added more below, trying to stick with the analogies they had. This is super long. I'm sorry.

Storage

Hard Drives/Solid States

One thing the previous poster missed is why you might want the slower one vs. the faster one. Namely, they're a LOT cheaper for the storage they can hold, and in desktops they have a much higher capacity. Most computer users don't need that type of capacity anymore, so if you specifically don't know you need it you probably don't.

Most hard drives are also physically larger than most SSDs - you can't fit a normal hard drive inside of a laptop, for instance. The ones that can fit inside can only work with older laptops (and aren't very good; they haven't made new ones in years but there is a glut of stock around).

With these you need to worry about RPM, which is how fast its parts move. Higher number the better.

Also, higher number = louder, typically. SSDs are silent.

Solid States and Nvme

Those are both solid state drives - one is SATA and the other is NVMe. Most times in 2025, you'll just see "solid state" storage and it means the latter, especially in laptops. There is also a third type, called eMMC - you'll find this in very cheap laptops (and phones/tablets, coincidentally) and never in desktops. These are very slow, often slower than hard drives even.

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Memory

As for RAM size, 8GB is usually the minimum bit 16GB is decent for most people.

In the year 2025, I would not buy a computer with 8 GB of RAM (or less) unless if you really need to scrimp and save. Your computer would still work, but it is the equivalent of having a messy desk when opening a web browser requires a freaking drafting table to fit all of the books on it. You can still make it work (by making trips back and forth to grab more books - slowing you down), but for a new computer I wouldn't bother.

Also, many laptops (and some desktops - mostly Macs) have what is called "soldered on RAM" - instead of being labeled "DDR4" or "DDR5", you should see something like "LPDDR4x" or "LPDDR5x". This gives you faster memory, but they can't be upgraded; they are literally stuck on the motherboard.

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CPUs

Speed is the primary part of the CPU. Usually measured in GHz (billions of things per second). Larger the better.

That last part is not actually true, with a lot of data in here either old or desktop-only, making it a bit misleading. Not the previous poster's fault, this stuff is hella obnoxious and intentionally confusing (and has been for over twenty years now). :(

GHz can really only be compared with other processors of the same brand, type, and generation with the same number of cores. It is effectively worthless as a comparison point unless if you're just comparing options between models of computers (or models of the same generation of CPU if you're building a desktop). It gets especially confusing on laptops, because you have both a base and boost clock and do different things (desktops have this as well, but you're usually not going to have a confusing mix).

Cores. How many different "people" are at the table lower bound is often 4 but can be 6 or 8.

And this one is even worse now. Cores aren't necessarily equal to each other - so an Intel CPU might have ten cores, but only two of them have any power behind them and are outperformed by an AMD CPU with six cores. To use the analogy, you might have ten people in the room but six are teenagers and two of them are literal children - you're probably not doing as much as the room over with six adults.

Somewhere you can probably find some arcane string like "2P+6E+2LP-E" somewhere; that means two P-cores, six E-cores, and two LP-E-cores. What matters for an Intel CPU are the P cores, which will the adults in the room. E-cores are more energy efficient but can't really do all that much performance-wise. LP-E cores are even more energy efficient and can do even less. The E and LP-E cores are technically not even the same generation as the P cores, just for even more added insanity.

AMD has a similar-but-less-annoying comparison with their c-cores, but those just don't have as high speed. They're at least the same generation.

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CPU Naming Conventions

Yes, this gets its own section because ZOMG this is the worst. I hate marketing so damned much. this is a heck of a lot more complicated than the previous poster mentioned, mostly due to laptops.

Intel is usually i🟥-🟨🟨🟧🟧🟧.

Not anymore, actually. The latest generation is this:

Core (sometimes "Ultra") 🟥 🟨🟧🟧 (often with a letter or three after).

Also, the letters after don't mean a huge amount in the Desktop world (unless if you're looking at miniPCs), but matter a huge amount in the laptop world.

If you see a "U" after, that's an "U"ltrabook CPU. Think low energy consumption but also lower performance. Some CPUs have "UL" as well, just to make my job hell.

If you see a "P" after, that's a "P"erformance CPU. In the most recent generation, this is now "H" for "H"igh Performance. This is your middle-of-the-road CPU.

If you see an "H" after, that's a "H"igh Performance CPU. More energy consumption than P, also more performance. In the newest generation, this is now "HX", because an X is cooler or something?

AMD — specifically Ryzen — has a similar naming scheme. Ryzen 🟥 🟨🟧🟧🟧.

Also not anymore, but only for laptops because AMD is allergic to consistency. I would expect their next generation of desktop CPUs to change conventions as well, because they ran out of numbers.

Their naming convention has changed TWICE since the previous poster's posted convention, and both are in use simultaneously:

Ryzen 🟥 🟦🟧🟨🟧 (potentially with a letter or two after). Yes, they shoved the actual processing generation in the middle of the mess. The blue square is the current year of CPU release minus 2016. So you can find a 7735HS and a 7640HS and, even though the first number is larger, the second CPU is actually newer (and likely more powerful). This is up to last year.

The new version:

Ryzen (words here) (potentially letters here) 🟥 🟨🟧🟧

Basically, the same as what Intel went with. The words there are all marketing and/or AI bull, feel free to ignore that.

Also, like Intel, those random letters matter more for laptops.

If you see a "U" after, that's an "U"ltra low power CPU. Think low energy consumption but also lower performance. Fun fact, Ultrabook is a copyright of Intel, so AMD can't use it.

If you see an "H" or an "HS" after, that's a "H"igh Performance. This is your middle-of-the-road CPU. I honestly have no idea what the "S" stands for, but they're used for lower power consumption. In the latest naming convention, this just doesn't have any letters here. Thanks, AMD.

If you see an "HX" after, that's a "H"igh e"X"treme performance CPU. Yeah, they also use the "X" for cool. Again, higher performance but higher power draw.

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More CPUs!

There is also another type of CPU now - ARM-based ones. You'll primarily find these in phones, tablets, Macs, and some specific Windows laptops. Two major brands for computers - Apple and Qualcomm.

At the moment, just... avoid Qualcomm in a laptop. They're more of an experiment at the moment, and explaining them would make this post twice as long.

For Apple, they have a pretty easy naming convention:

Apple M🟨 Word

Yellow square is generation (at the moment of posting, M1-M4) and there is often a word after that generation - "Max", "Pro", or "Ultra". Unlike everyone else, they use this simple convention for both laptops and desktops (and some iPads). For once, good job marketing.

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GPUs

AMD's flagship is Radeon. Numbering scheme is 🟨🟧00. Same as above for GeForce.

Yet-again, AMD likes changing naming conventions. Numbering scheme is now 🟨0🟧0 like nVidia, starting with the most recent graphics card as of this reply.

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Power and Laptops

One thing to note on GPUs (and CPUs) on laptops though - it is utter hell to compare them, where two laptops with the identical CPU and GPU might perform wildly different. This is because of power limits.

Basically, laptops (and other small form factor desktops like miniPCs) can be smol beans. You can only put so much power into said bean before it cooks itself from heat, so you have power limitations where certain components can only draw so much power. Laptops will literally bake themselves to death otherwise; if you are old enough to remember the X360's red ring of death, that's exactly this problem.

So, laptop manufacturers will configure a CPU and GPU to only produce so much heat before slowing down... and they like to not bother advertising how much power that is. So your Yummy Biscuts 12345 14" laptop probably performs worse than your Yummy Biscuts 12345 16" laptop, as larger = generally better for cooling. The 16" one probably eats more power though.

VRAM. Video RAM. Like normal RAM but for the GPU. Basically the desks that all the toddlers share. Not as important. Some GPUs with lower RAM work better than those with higher RAM. Check reviews first.

Let me give a better analogy here, as this can be super important for a gaming PC.

Video RAM is a lot like system RAM, only instead of a desk I'm going to say it is a sheet of paper for an artist. If you specialize in smaller bits of art, you don't really need a big sheet of paper... but if you want to draw big things, you definitely need a bigger sheet of paper.

Video RAM is really where games throw their lovely textures and pictures for displaying on that giant sheet of paper we call a monitor. The higher the resolution you run your game at (usually the same as your monitor), the more video RAM you need.

If you're looking at playing a really high end game at 4k resolution, you probably need a lot of video RAM; more than 8 GB potentially, which rules out a lot of GPUs.

If you're running at 1080p instead, you don't need as much video RAM. Unused video RAM doesn't really do anything for you, so going with a faster GPU with less video RAM is probably fine.

Most graphics cards have 6 or 8 GB of RAM from nVidia and 8 to 16 GB of RAM from AMD.

Power Supply Unit (PSU) just supplies enough power.

Something not mentioned is the efficiency of the power supply. If you're buying computer parts, you'll likely see some rating slapped on the side that says "80+" and some type of metal next to it. This is the efficiency rating. The higher the efficiency, the less power is wasted when powering your computer... sorta. It gets a bit in the weeds here, but generally it goes Null (no 80+ rating at all, almost always a fire hazard now) < "White" (80+ but no metal mentioned - usually older) < Bronze < Silver < Gold < Platinum < Titanium.

Power supplies are vital for building your own desktop, and pretty much ignored by everyone else. If you are building your own, just search for a PSU Tier List online, go for something rated at least a B-, and you'll be fine.

why is shopping for computer shit so difficult like what the hell is 40 cunt thread chip 3000 processor with 32 florps of borps and a z12 yummy biscuits graphics drive 400102XXDRZ like ok um will it run my programmes

#computers #I hate marketing

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