Best type of system for calibre

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You don't need a 1TB SSD. 1 TB HD yes. Also if you can, get a 256GB SSD for use with the OS and programs. That way the system will run faster especially when booting and patching/updating.



Yes, I agree that an i5 at minimum and 8GB at minimum.

Also, you should get an HD screen (1920x1080) at 15.6" or 17.3".

When you get 17+, you usually get a real Number pad, just like a desktop has.

Can you even buy a i5 Laptop with a lower res screen, these days?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You don't need a 1TB SSD. 1 TB HD yes. Also if you can, get a 256GB SSD for use with the OS and programs. That way the system will run faster especially when booting and patching/updating.

1TB SSD is probably overkill, better off spending the same money on a bigger HQ HDD and a smaller SSD as the system drive. I have a half empty 256GB SSD for installed software, users, appdata etc, and I download to it, but all my data is either on a 500GB WD-VR or a 3TB WD-Black.

I replaced the WD-VR HDD as my system drive with the SSD to reduce noise, performance-wise they're much of a muchness. But access to the data I have on the WD-VR is lightning fast

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also, you should get an HD screen (1920x1080) at 15.6" or 17.3".

Assuming size and weight aren't an issue.

Originally Posted by theducks

When you get 17+, you usually get a real Number pad, just like a desktop has.

- but how many people need them when they're out and about especially if you use a desktop at home.

Originally Posted by theducks

Can you even buy a i5 Laptop with a lower res screen, these days?

I sure can ==>> http://www.centrecom.com.au/laptops?...,41&orderby=10

I would also recommend you get Windows 10 Pro, it gives better control over updates and upgrades and it has some useful utilities - such as the group policy editor. IMO MS should have rebadged Pro as Consumer and Small Business and scrapped Home.

BR

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

When you get 17+, you usually get a real Number pad, just like a desktop has.

Can you even buy a i5 Laptop with a lower res screen, these days?

You can get a keypad on some 15.6" laptops. Yes, you can still get laptops with an i5 or i7 that has a resolution of 1366x768. I would stay away from any laptop with less than 1920x1080 resolution.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by kacir

You haven't asked about operating system.
I personally have a very good results with using Mint Linux as operating system to host my library (and many other things I need to do at home). In Linux you do not have to have an antivirus that will want to examine each of thousands little files before they are written to or read from the disk.

I use windows now. Several programs I use are not available for Linux. I don't have the patience to play with things that I had even ten years ago.

But you did remind me to double check my antivirus settings. An update somehow erased some of my exclusions of ebook types (lit, epub, mobi, cbr)

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

1TB SSD is probably overkill, better off spending the same money on a bigger HQ HDD and a smaller SSD as the system drive. I have a half empty 256GB SSD for installed software, users, appdata etc, and I download to it, but all my data is either on a 500GB WD-VR or a 3TB WD-Black.

I replaced the WD-VR HDD as my system drive with the SSD to reduce noise, performance-wise they're much of a muchness. But access to the data I have on the WD-VR is lightning fast


Assuming size and weight aren't an issue.


- but how many people need them when they're out and about especially if you use a desktop at home.


I sure can ==>> http://www.centrecom.com.au/laptops?...,41&orderby=10

I would also recommend you get Windows 10 Pro, it gives better control over updates and upgrades and it has some useful utilities - such as the group policy editor. IMO MS should have rebadged Pro as Consumer and Small Business and scrapped Home.

BR

I'm afraid I chew up space.I currently have ummm about 10 or 12 TB on this system (including my external drives). My SSD is only 256 and isn't large enough for most stuff lol. Keep my os on it. Figure a 1TB would be good as it would be large enough for my entire library and OS. Figure if I did that, I could use the 256 ssd as an "add library" drive.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by theducks

When you get 17+, you usually get a real Number pad, just like a desktop has.

Can you even buy a i5 Laptop with a lower res screen, these days?

I have been looking on Tigerdirect and too many of them are kind of low rez. The price of 17" laptops has gone up a lot since I bought the one that I killed by accident (death by spilling cola).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

I have been looking on Tigerdirect and too many of them are kind of low rez. The price of 17" laptops has gone up a lot since I bought the one that I killed by accident (death by spilling cola).

How much are you willing to spend at most?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

I have been looking on Tigerdirect and too many of them are kind of low rez. The price of 17" laptops has gone up a lot since I bought the one that I killed by accident (death by spilling cola).

Cola (citric acid) and salt water eat circuit traces almost faster than you can crack open the case and flush with water.

I used to service POS systems. A trouble call with 'Spill" in it was bad news.

I lost a Laptop to spilled coffee.. into the (vented) power brick. Blew the backlight before the brick died.

[Katsunami]

Personally, these are my findings with regard to system specs required to run calibre.

- For normal usage, basically any computer built in the last 5 years will do, especially with 8GB of RAM.
- For importing very large batches of books, an SSD is an advantage.
- For converting a lot of normal books, CPU-power/number of cores is most important.
- For converting huge books (think: Delphi Classics), memory is most important.

My recommendation would be:
- Get an SSD, or at the least an SSD/HDD hybrid drive.
- Get a CPU with as much cores (even logicals) as you can if you convert many books.
- Get at least 8GB of RAM, 16GB if possible, if you convert very large books. Make sure you don't run out of memory when converting 2-3 very large books at once.

A 4-core i5 with 16GB of RAM should be able to convert three Delphi-sized books at the same time. My main laptop has a 4-core i7 with HT (so it has 4 'real' cores and 4 'logical' cores) and 32GB of RAM, and I have set calibre to convert 6 books at the same time. It never runs out of either power or memory, and I can still use the computer for normal desktop tasks while it converts books.

[JSWolf]

An SSD is best for the OS and programs. To get a large enough SSD to also hold all the data, you'd need a large SSD and that ups the price.

I would say get at least a 256GB SSD for the OS and programs. Also get at least a 1TB hard drive for the data. I don't find Calibre to be too slow at all using a hard drive.

As for 16GB of ram, you don't need it. 8GB is plenty. a quad core 5th or 6th generation i5 or i7 would do for the processor.

As for the screen, a 15.6" or 17.3" full HD (1920x1080) screen because you'll want the most real estate for the Calibre GUI.

If I knew how much you were looking to spend, I could see what I could find for you.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

An SSD is best for the OS and programs. To get a large enough SSD to also hold all the data, you'd need a large SSD and that ups the price.

True enough.

I would say get at least a 256GB SSD for the OS and programs. Also get at least a 1TB hard drive for the data. I don't find Calibre to be too slow at all using a hard drive.

My laptop has a 64GB SSD (and has had so since 2011), which is plenty for the OS and software if you keep it clean of temporary files. With 128GB, you're completely safe, except if you use gargantuan programs.

As for 16GB of ram, you don't need it. 8GB is plenty. a quad core 5th or 6th generation i5 or i7 would do for the processor.

You're too quick to make such statements. If you convert 3-6 books at a time (and 6 is easily feasible on a 4-core, HT-equipped CPU), you *will* need 16GB of RAM if your books are large enough. I've done plenty of conversions (mainly Delphi Classics) in which the memory usage easily exceeded even 16GB.

Even LadyKate herself stated that on her 32GB equipped system, the memory usage is at around 35%, which would come down to 11.2GB. Therefore I'd certainly go for 16GB; especially because DDR4 memory is so cheap now that it's almost for free.

As for the screen, a 15.6" or 17.3" full HD (1920x1080) screen because you'll want the most real estate for the Calibre GUI.

Assuming you can read a 15.6 inch screen at 1920x1080. By default, Windows 10 will set the screen scaling to 125%, which basically gives you the same screen space as a 1536x864 screen at 100%.

[JSWolf]

When you have more memory, you get more of a ram cache. That means more memory used. If you are converting books that take a lot of ram, do them one at a time. Besides, you can always add more ram later on if it really is needed.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

If you convert 3-6 books at a time (and 6 is easily feasible on a 4-core, HT-equipped CPU), you *will* need 16GB of RAM if your books are large enough. I've done plenty of conversions (mainly Delphi Classics) in which the memory usage easily exceeded even 16GB.

I know I'm better off running multiple conversions in a single one-at-time queue. The dozen or more conversions I do every day will finish sooner than running several in parallel. They seem to be constrained by disk I/O rather than CPU or RAM. These are relatively small 'books', generally less than 100K English words, primarily DOCX to EPUB. But I don't watch the conversions, there's always something else to do whilst they're running, so that's a factor too

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Assuming you can read a 15.6 inch screen at 1920x1080. By default, Windows 10 will set the screen scaling to 125%, which basically gives you the same screen space as a 1536x864 screen at 100%.

I have done at least 10 upgrades from 7/8 to Windows 10, and half a dozen fresh installs. The only occasions the display scale setting didn't default to 100% were on a couple of upgrades where the current system settings were already otherwise.

BR

[JSWolf]

Even if Windows 10 sets the display to 125%, it can still be set to 100% if wanted.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Assuming you can read a 15.6 inch screen at 1920x1080. By default, Windows 10 will set the screen scaling to 125%, which basically gives you the same screen space as a 1536x864 screen at 100%.

It isn't being able to read at 190x1080 on the small laptop screen that is the issue, it is the ability to use an external monitor with the laptop.

While I want a laptop for the ability to take it to the living room when sitting with my housemate's stepmom who has Alzheimer's and needs to have someone around at all times (she is a danger if she tries to do something in the kitchen), it would be useful to be able to use it connected to an external monitor to do comparisons between databases which isn't possible with only one system as can only use one instance of calibre on my main system.