In Part Two, <\/em>Test-driving Intel\u2019s Optane in a new PC<\/em><\/strong> (AskWoody Plus <\/em>2019-06-10<\/em><\/a>), you saw the initial rough specs for my new PC. I also noted how a vendor\u2019s sale pricing sent me in an unexpected but interesting direction. In place of my planned solid-state drive (SSD), the sale essentially offered a free, enhanced drive system: a 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive combined with a 16GB <\/em>Intel Optane drive accelerator.<\/em><\/strong> I bought it — and it was awful!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Part Three, <\/em>Optane disappointment leads to a \u2018Plan B\u2019<\/em><\/strong> (AskWoody Plus <\/em>2019-06-24<\/em><\/a><\/strong>), you saw how I got back on track with a hardware\/software combination that\u2019s blazingly quick on both hard-drive reads and writes!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But myriad details didn’t fit into the original article, leading to questions like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hi, Fred. Would you share with us the specs of your latest laptop search and purchase? It appears you ended up with an HP but tell us more, even though you already said our requirements and yours would be different and specs would change all the time. Thanks!<\/em> — Ed Scheer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Sure! I omitted brand info to avoid any appearance of endorsement. (I buy my hardware and software the same way you do; and pay out of my own pocket.) My choices simply reflect the options that were available to me at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new PC is basically a 17″ HP Envy 17t-bw000<\/strong> — a fully-current business\/office-oriented desktop replacement<\/em><\/a> class of laptop running an Intel i7-8550U CPU (4 Cores, 8 Logical Processors) on an HP mainboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original spec sheet appears below, with some personal data greyed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the time I was shopping, HP was running a “$150 off” sale that included 16GB of RAM, a\u00a01TB Seagate Barracuda\u00a0HDD, and a 16GB Optane board. But as you saw in the AskWoody articles, the PC now has 32GB of RAM (up from 16GB) and a 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD in place of the HDD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original HDD is now sitting on my desk; the Optane board is still in the PC, but disabled (Windows sees it as a generic 14GB disk.) I’ll remove the Optane board next time I open up the laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other maybe-weird part of this purchase is the DVD-writer included in the bundle. I hardly ever use DVDs or CDs any more, but the PC wasn’t offered without the optical drive. Still, it’ll be good to have a DVD option if\/when USB-based recovery tools fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In all, with Optane out of the picture, this laptop is a solid performer (see PassMark scores, below). I’m reasonably confident that the this laptop should provide adequate performance for the next several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, none of this is an endorsement. My choices in this purchase simply reflect the options that were available — including the very weird “free Optane” sale — at that time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=3012<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n COMMENT \/ QUESTION<\/strong> on THIS ITEM?<\/strong> See the<\/em> Comment box<\/strong> at bottom of this page!<\/em> LangaList readers are sending in questions about some of the details in the recent three-part series on spec’ing, buying, and setting up a new Optane-equipped PC. Quick recap: In Part One, Taking the plunge with a new PC (AskWoody Plus newsletter 2019-06-03), you saw how I used Windows\u2019 built-in performance tools to identify system bottlenecks,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,29,30,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-askwoody-plus","category-hardware","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-MA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3517,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/04\/in-pc-w-8gb-ram-16gb-optane-memory-and-1tb-hd-what-is-the-benefit-of-the-optane-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":3012,"position":0},"title":"“In a PC with 8GB RAM, 16GB Optane memory, and 1TB HD, what is the benefit of the Optane memory?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-10-04","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently purchased a similar Optane-equipped PC, benchmarked the hell out of it, and used it in real life \u2014 before ripping Optane out of the PC. I documented the results in these three articles: Part 1, \u201cTaking the plunge with a new PC\u201d (AskWoody Plus newsletter 2019-06-03), gets the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2918,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/10\/june-10-newsletter-now-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":3012,"position":1},"title":"June 10 Newsletter now available","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-06-10","format":false,"excerpt":"This week\u2019s new\u00a0AskWoody Plus newsletter is posted now, and you can read it for free, here. In this issue: WINDOWS 10 1903:\u00a0How to work and play in Win10\u2019s new Sandbox BEST OF THE LOUNGE\u00a0The new Windows Update explained LANGALIST:\u00a0Test-driving Intel\u2019s Optane in a new PC BEST UTILITIES:\u00a0Freeware Spotlight \u2014 Graph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AskWoody Plus"","block_context":{"text":"AskWoody Plus","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/askwoody-plus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2987,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/24\/june-24-newsletter-now-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":3012,"position":2},"title":"June 24 Newsletter now available","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-06-24","format":false,"excerpt":"This week\u2019s new\u00a0AskWoody Plus newsletter is being emailed and posted; and (for now) you can read it for free. In this issue WOODY\u2019S WINDOWS WATCH:\u00a0Why I recommend pausing Windows updates every monthBEST OF THE LOUNGE:\u00a0Customize the initial Windows 10 installationLANGALIST:\u00a0Optane disappointment leads to a \u2018Plan B\u2019BEST UTILITIES:\u00a0Freeware Spotlight \u2014 System\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AskWoody Plus"","block_context":{"text":"AskWoody Plus","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/askwoody-plus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3147,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/05\/back-issues-open-and-free\/","url_meta":{"origin":3012,"position":3},"title":"Back issues open, and free!","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-08-05","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0AskWoody Plus newsletter is on a short Summer break. But all previous issues are archived\u00a0here, and for now, they're open and free. Click on over! Some recent highlights: LANGALIST:\u00a0Win10\u2019s 18-month \u2018service life\u2018 complicates updatesWINDOWS 10:\u00a0Create an MS Family to share your computing resourcesBEST OF THE LOUNGE:\u00a0Microsoft quietly adds new telemetry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AskWoody Plus"","block_context":{"text":"AskWoody Plus","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/askwoody-plus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3179,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/12\/back-issues-open-and-free-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3012,"position":4},"title":"Back issues open, and free!","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-08-12","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0AskWoody Plus newsletter is on a two-week Summer break. But all previous issues are archived\u00a0here, and for now, they\u2019re open and free. Click on over! Some recent highlights: LANGALIST:\u00a0Many ways to track down a PC\u2019s energy problemsBEST OF THE LOUNGE:\u00a0BlueKeep exploitation expected soon?PATCH WATCH:\u00a0Wrapping up July Windows and Office updatesWINDOWS\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AskWoody Plus"","block_context":{"text":"AskWoody Plus","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/askwoody-plus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5937,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/10\/let-your-pc-start-the-new-year-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":3012,"position":5},"title":"Let your PC start the new year right!","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2022-01-10","format":false,"excerpt":"Taking a little time now to thoroughly check and proactively service your Windows PC can pay off\u00a0big time\u00a0in the coming year. Whether you\u2019re planning to move to Windows 11 or stick with Windows 10 (or even 8.1!), this easy-to-follow annual checkup is preventive medicine that can help ensure that your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AskWoody Plus"","block_context":{"text":"AskWoody Plus","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/askwoody-plus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fred Langa","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Langa-2-100.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3012"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3033,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions\/3033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"packing](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blurred-proof-of-purchase.jpg?fit=636%2C1024&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/passmark-hp-32gb-final-edit.jpg?resize=599%2C353&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"[seperator]\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEPERATOR-short-grey.png?resize=104%2C6\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/em>NEW QUESTION? <\/b>Ask<\/em> here<\/a><\/font><\/u><\/b>!
(Want free notification of new content? Click<\/em> <\/strong>here<\/a><\/b>!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"