Guest scaryscotsman Posted September 19, 2003 Report Posted September 19, 2003 Hi everyone. I'm thinking of getting a laptop and need some expert advice (ie, from people who aren't on a commision!). I really don't care about size or battery life, plus I'm gonna have a 802.11g set up instead of the 802.11b of the centrino. So, my question is will a P4 2.8Ghz(bog standard "desktop" style) chip outperform one of the new 1.6Ghz Pentium-M chips? Thanks in advance.
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 Moved to General OT. The Pentium-M chips are good because they are more efficient than that desktop counterparts. So expect less heat and more batterylife from them. However as these don't seem to be particulary important to your needs i'd go for the full pentium, you can't beat their raw number-crunching power. Take a look at the fujistsu-siemens laptops (if you haven't decided on one already) at www.buyalifebook.com
Guest spacemonkey Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 Definitely, I would expect lower performance in a Pentium-M at the same clock frequency as a P4. So in this case you'll get significantly more power out of the desktop chip. Be aware, that even though you don't care about battery life, the P4 desktop chip will probably mean that you have a very short battery life indeed. Also, another thing if you are after a good performance machine, laptops often have inferior IO and graphics capabilities when compared with their desktop counterparts. It's cos they are in a nice pretty little box. I'm not saying don't buy a laptop, but just consider your options and what you want it for.
Guest Stuart P Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 Intel quote the new 1.7GHz pentium M as outperforming a 2.6GHz mobile pentium 4. You get the better performance-per-clock of the old P3's, and a front side bus running at 400MHz (PC1600 memory). Battery life is a no-brainer. The pentium M can switch core voltage then processor frequency through multiple points without having to reset the system. The level 2 cache is dynamic - it only powers up as much as it needs at the time. Manufacturers are quoting Centrino notebooks with battery life well over 6 hours!! Putting either of the processors you mention into a notebook, I would imagine the 4200rpm of a typical 2.5" hard drive will impose more of a limit on the system's performance. Stu.
Guest scaryscotsman Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 Thanks for all your advice. I already have a semi-decent desktop, I just need the laptop for portability (but nowhere without a power supply). I was looking at one with a 60Gb 5,400rpm drive plus Ati 9600 64Mb graphics and 512Mb DDR. Multivision seem to do some nice ones at a decent price. Thanks again everyone.
Guest scaryscotsman Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 also, is it worth paying £40 to upgarde to XP professional from XP home?
Guest jackofall Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 also, is it worth paying £40 to upgarde to XP professional from XP home? yes Ive found pro a lot more stable than home its suposed to be more stable home crashed a bit but pro never has ;)
Guest mcwarre Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 Blah Blah, Forget INTEL what about AMD more bang for your bucks. 4get compatability that is old skool. Far better. lol
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted September 20, 2003 Report Posted September 20, 2003 Not any more unfortunately, ever since the P4 2.4C chips hit the market AMD have begun to quite noticeably lag... They're still damn good value, and the Athlon 64's will kick arse, but if you want power "now", go for a 2.4-3.2Ghz P4.
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