Looking for a new laptop

[palexand]

Hi! This is my first post here after spending yesterday reading as much as I could. I'm wondering if anyone could give me some recommendations. My current laptop is a Walmart $300 special from two years ago. It has an Intel Celeron processor 2.2 gh with a 160 hard drive and 3 gb ram. I have since upgraded my camera to a 5d Mark 2 and am now processing raw files. I wanted to get Lightroom 3 (currently only have PS CS) but when I downloaded the trial it is very slow. I have to wait about fifteen seconds for the picture to come up and then my adjustments don't happen as I do them so I can't see how far to take things without a lot of fiddling.

So if you've gotten this far here is my issue-I don't really have a lot to spend on an upgrade, my dh would like to keep it in the $500 range. I really need a laptop due to our house space-I don't have a dedicated space to work, plus I do like the portability. I am just a hobbyist-no clients or anything-so I don't need the be all end all of machines but would like something that will allow Lightroom to work significantly faster than it is on my current machine.

These are the two I am looking at-will either of them make a difference compared to what I'm using or do I need to bite the bullet and start saving?

Toshiba Satellite A6665D-S6096 TruBrite LED 16-Inch Laptop-Phenom Quad Core Processor P940 1.7 gh 2 MB cache, 4 GB Ram, 500 G Hard Drive, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Graphics with 256MB-1917MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory Cost is $579

HP Model Number: 362-372US:Intel Core I3 Processor, 4 GB Memory, 320 g hard drive, Intel HD Graphics Price is $499

If you gotten this far I appreciate it and would love any advice. I've been reading and trying to research for the last two days and am confusing myself more than helping myself.

Thanks,
Trish

[Rson]

Sony VAIO VPCEE31FX/BJ Notebook PC - AMD Athlon II X2 P340 2.2, 3GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, DVDRW, 15.5 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com


I really like Sony's, they have a Matte screen and solid hardware.

[palexand]

Thanks for your help and the link. So, a dual core would be about the same as the i3 or the quad core? This is what is so confusing to me-the more I read, the less I understand. Is the processor not really what I should be worried about? Thanks again for your help.

[Rson]

On a laptop it is a sum of it's parts, Well rounded systems seem to work better.

For your price point, go well rounded.

[Rson]

Look at this:

38% Coupon Dell Latitude E5410 14.1-inch Core i3/i5/i7 Laptop - LogicBUY

[palexand]

Thanks again for your help-the Dell looks really promising. DH and I will be sitting down to really discuss this soon so these options really help.