Would you get a new laptop with Intel Celeron N3450, or slightly older with Intel Core i5 4310U? I'm talking both having 256 GB SSD, 8GB RAM and only iGPU? Both for pretty much same price.

Shit, I should have put it as question...

@athlon I would go for the i5.

While the iGPU of the Celeron is better, Celerons have other drawbacks.

If you plan to install more than 8GB RAM in the future, the Celeron will not allow it.

On the other hand, the Celeron is a bit more modern but - as every Celeron - has a restricted instruction set (SSE, AVX) . Also it is a "real" quad core, but has a lower frequency (base tact and "burst").

If you don't know yet, you can compare Intel-CPUs side by side: https://ark.intel.com/de/compare/...

I work IT and I never like dealing with all of our company's slow computers, basically anything under i5. If this is gonna be a personal computer and your daily driver though I would try to save up for something with the power and speed of a i7-8th gen. I did and I have no regrets.

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compa...

The i5 is only dual core so the difference in threaded workloads is not massive. But the difference in single threaded performance is. The battery life is probably better with the Celeron.

The Celeron is a 4 core cpu with a 6W TDP and support for only 8GB of ram.

The i5 is a 2 core cpu with HT and 15W TDP and support for 16GB.

So Celeron for battery life, but i5 if you need the performance with 1 or 2 threads.

Both are good, I would go for the Celeron as it most likely is a thin, fanless design and I have a desktop at home.
If you don't have a desktop/a better laptop already, go for the i5 as it is most likely a bit more powerful.
(Also, at the same clock speed, a Celeron core will be slower than a i5-i7-iwathever core)

Toss them all out and buy a Mac book air or pro. Yeah, they're expensive but the things just work - no trying to make drivers work, etc. I used to be a windows fool and linux saved me from that hell. But you've still to sometimes figure out is it the hardware or the os or the driver.

@martygeek i would strongly advice against macbook air, those things are extremely underpowered and impossible to upgrade, the latest macbook pro is ok:ish if you get the 32gb model but the price is way too high for what you get. I would recommend a thinkpad instead (the p52/p72 are much cheaper at similar specs and significantly faster at max specs, + they are certified for RHEL so you can easily install a good OS on them (it just works).

I think I'll actually go with Celeron, because if I need to do some heavy work, I have a proper desktop PC. I currently own i7-2620 laptop (yes, I know it's a stone age) and I constantly complain about the heat, the loudness of fans and battery life. It drives me nuts especially on the airplane. But in fairness to it, I bought that laptop way before I got my desktop.

@martygeek Sounds like an awful idea for me. I do enjoy using Linux and it fits my workflow better. It just doesn't get in my way when I try to do stuff like Windows with its updates or Mac with its clunky window managment.
Also, under 400€ (I'm tight on the budget) you get what? 2012 MacBook Pro at best? Or last gen MacBook Air with its awful performance and screen?