Comparison of laptop CPUs

[sniper83]

Hi... I'm kind of newb...

I have searched alot to find a comparison between cpu-speed of amd and intel but without any luck.. I'm looking for a cheap laptop for studying purposes but want most value for my money. I'm looking for about 1.8GHz CPU, and know that amd's is quite faster than intel so a 1.8GHz intel should be about same speed as an 1800+; but in the laptop area there might be differences since I can get a 3200+ for the same price as an 1.8 intel.. I know there are difference from celeron, pentium what so ever, but now we are talking celeron in generel i think :roll: .. What should I look for in the cpu-area and is there any kind of comparison-rules in generel for intel and amd in the laptop area..?

 

[sniper83]

Come on, are there no one who knows this.. Pleaze help..

 

[gOJDO]

Depends on the purposes you are going to use your notebook and the budget you have. Please be more specific.
Intel mobile CPUs based on the Core/Core2 are faster and more energy efficient than AMD CPUs at same freqfency.

 

[sniper83]

My budget is kind of small, and it's mostly for study and internet purposes.. It's difficult to compare prices on laptops in Denmark and USA so a maximum price is difficult to set but up to around 1.300 dollars i think.. The budget reach followering CPUs listet with cheapest in top and so on (in GHz):
-
Intel Celeron M 1.4
Intel Celeron M 1.5
Intel Celeron M 1.6
AMD Mobile Sempron 3000+ (1.8 )
AMD Mobile Sempron 3100+
Intel Pentium M 1.7
Intel Celeron M 1.73
AMD Mobile Sempron 3200+
AMD Turion 64 Mobilteknologi (L-32)
AMD Mobile Sempron 3300+
AMD Mobile Sempron 3400+
AMD Turion 64 Mobilteknologi 1.6 GHz (ML-30)

And maybe (a little over Max-Price )
Intel Core Solo 1.667 GHz
Intel Core Duo 1.66 GHz
Intel Pentium M Dothan 2Mb Cache(Centrino) 1.7 GHz /// Very doubtfull because of price ///

Well, can you rate them for me please...

 

[sprite]

Dont get a Celeron or Sempron, bad battery life and sluggish CPUs. Definitely try and get the extra cash for the Core Duo 1.66GHz, failing that go for the Core Solo or Pentium M 1.7GHz (Not the Dothan one)

 

[gOJDO]

Dont get a Celeron or Sempron, bad battery life and sluggish CPUs.

I disagree about Celeron M. It is the same Core architecture with only half L2 cahce, 1MB instead of 2MB. The battery life depends on the entire platform, not only on the CPU TDP. If the Celeron M is in Centrino platform, than it will be as much efficient as Pentium M on the same platform.
The Sempron is good CPU also, not faster than Celeron M clock-for-clock, but the problem is that it comes in less energy efficient platform and thats why it has reduced battery life.

Definitely try and get the extra cash for the Core Duo 1.66GHz, failing that go for the Core Solo or Pentium M 1.7GHz

I agree.

 

[zenmaster]

1) CPU - EZ Choice - Get a Core2Duo. Entry Level Core2Duo are in entry level Laptops.

2) Memory - You want 1gb, but you can often skimp here. It is easy to add/upgrade yourself and you often pay far less than the manufacturer charges for an upgrade. This is also the easiest thing to add in 6months for a year.

3) Graphics - Do you EVER want to play moderately intensive video games on this PC? If so, you may need a "Discreete" video card and not built-in graphics. This is generally the biggest decision on a laptop. For my sis I got her built-in because she will not play games. For my Wife I got a low-end discrete in case I ever need to borrow here laptop if mine goes poof for a few days.

4) HDD - If possible get a 7200rpm drive. Never Get a 4200rpm drive. 5400s can suffice. If you can find laptop that uses the new perpendicular recording which usually run 5400, I would choose that over a 7200 since it would not use as much power as the 7200 but be closer in performance than a normal 5400.

 

[sniper83]

Okay thanks alot.. But none of you mentioned AMD Turion 64, why..?! Is around 100 dollars more for a Core Duo than Core Solo worth it..?

 

[gOJDO]

Depends on the rest of the platform.

 

[kukito]

You also need to look at the processor number for the Celeron M. The 400s are based on the faster Yonah core and 65 nm architecture.

http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/chart/celeron_m.htm

 

[zenmaster]

Historically the "complete" platform with the CoreDuo beats what is around the AMD chip. That is one reason AMD bought ATI so they could design together to make a best of breed solution.

If you are cash strapped, go with the solo and you will be fine.
If you will not be gaming on this laptop (ie no high-end discrete graphic chip) then too high end of a cpu will not be needed in most cases.

If you have a regular desktop, it is needed even less.

The Intel solutions at this point generally beat the AMD solutions on power. Which means either longer batter life or a lighter batter/laptop.

 

[JonathanDeane]

I use a 1.5Ghz Celeron M, 256MB's of RAM that I got for 399.99 from Best Buy its fine for most things (even some light gameing amazingly) But I do plan on getting some more ram as I think getting it up to 1GB would add to my batery time ? When dealing with laptops you come to expect less so when they deliver some decent performance its surprising lol

Main thing to consider when buying a latop is price unless you have some need for faster speeds or want to do gameing (Just use a regular PC for games they are faster and you can upgrade them...)

 

[zenmaster]

Upgrading RAM may help battery life or it may hurt it.

Usually more memory takes more power.
Especially if you go from 1 to 2 dimms which I thing you will.

However, with more memory you will see less swap file usage which decreases HDD usage which will cut power.

With 256 MB, I would expect a lot of swap usage so I would say you would extend batter life.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the previous poster pointed out, usage is important.

If you have a desktop for normal use, then battery-life and light weight are proably key.

If this will be your primary or only PC, then performance becomes more key.

For my Wife and I, Laptops are primary. Our 2 "Desktop" PCs are actually now just "servers" that sit in the office and never see humans for weeks on end. I have a Monster 10lb laptop. (Down from 17lbs last time.) My Wife has a lighter one, but still not super light.

A CoreSolo at a given speed will have better batterlife than a CoreDuo at the same speed. ( Check me on that, but I would think so.) Also a Discrete Video card will reduce battery-life vs Discrete.

Everything with laptops are give/take.

More Power = More Money = Shorter Battery Life
( A monster battery upgrade will help with battery life as well as weight-lifting training)

Less Power = Less Money = Longer Battery Life

 

[sniper83]

Okay... Thank you all alot... The use of the laptop is my secondary pc, and will not be used for gaming purposes.. It should primary be used for study-purposes, programming and internet surfing, so the videocard is not that important..
The conclusion will be to go for a core duo or a solo in worst case