Intel processors

[MagicalDean]

I am looking at buying a laptop, but I'm getting confused by the processors. I am looking at getting it for Uni where I will be studying Computer Science for 3 maybe 4 years. I want a laptop mainly for this and partly for gaming. Would it be better for me to get an Athlon or an Intel? And are there any that are particularly good

Another thing, is the speed of Pentium Ms measured different to the Pentium, because otherwise the speeds seem to be quite a lot slower than the Pentium?

Thanks for any help

 

[DragonQ0105]

Laptop Speeds are generally lower than Desktops because of cooling and space issues - a Top-End Laptop is generally twice as expensive as an equivalent Desktop.

If you can afford it, you can buy Athlon64-based Laptops, which would give the best performance especially for games, but if not, then I have to admit that (unfortunately) Intel dominate the Laptop Market with its Celeron and Pentium4 'M' Class Processors.

AMD do sell Athlon-Ms and Sempron-Ms I believe, but I am not knowledgeable when it comes to Mobile Technology. You'll have to wait for someone else to reply I'm afraid.

 

[MagicalDean]

Ahh, thats quite helpful though So cheers! But if anyone else does reply, then whats the difference between Celerons, Pentium-Ms, Desktop Pentiums, Athlons, Althon-Ms, etc I sooo wish I knew these things :$ Ta for the help!

 

[LloydSev]

By comparison, speed rating to speed rating they are the same laptop to desktop(basically).

The PentiumM 2.0Ghz processor will run about the same as a Celeron 2.0Ghz desktop chip. However, the laptop performance is further reduced by lower performing video components and such as well.

the biggest difference is that the mobile parts perform using less voltage, and such producing less heat..

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[MagicalDean]

Ahhh Its all starting to make sense. Would I be right in saying that a desktop processor in a laptop will draw a lot of power and create a lot of heat then?

 

[DragonQ0105]

Generally, yes.

 

[MagicalDean]

Aha Cheers

 

[paparazi]

1)Look for the mobile versions of processors "they use less power" so battery life is greater

2) Look for full versions of each manufactures chip, so for instance as with desktop CPU's it follows with laptops:
Full mobile P4 is better the Celeron
Full Athlon mobile is better than Sempron.

3) Look for a high end graphics chip, again the same as a desktop, graphics performance comes from a good graphics processor "GPU" some high end laptops that are good gaming machines have high end gphics chips, SEE LIST:

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=3&var1=98&var2=0

Martin


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Participate and help others.

 

[cdogg]

Check out some of these links:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/cpus/a/PentiumM.htm

http://www.technolopedia.com/centrino.htm

http://www.cpuscorecard.com/all_cpus.htm

http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20050119/sonoma_alviso-09.html

Bottom line is that a Centrino's speed rating is not a reliable way to gauge performance. For example, a 1.6GHz Centrino will typically match or outperform a 2.4GHz P4 desktop (gap is like 800MHz). But due to memory limitations, the higher up you go with Centrino, the smaller that gap gets. For example, a 2.2GHz Centrino may have a hard time outperforming a 2.8GHz P4 (gap = 600MHz).

Therefore, the comments that a 2.0GHz Centrino is about the equivalent of a 2.0 Celeron desktop is way off...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
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[MagicalDean]

Cheers for the help guys I'll sort it all out in a few weeks, I'm too worried about exams at the moment But thank you all! (Anymore advice will be greatly apprechiated!)