Intel Atom vs P4

[asad393]

Hi guys.... I am an Electrical Engg Student ( Communication Group ) . I need a laptop for my studies but i can't afford a full fledge system thats why i decided to buy a netbook. I want to know weather an Intel Atom Processor of 1.6 GHz will be able to run C++ compiler. Thats the software i would mostly use. seconldy i would use linux but i know linux can run easiily....as i have a p4 in my home....2.4 Ghz so i wanna know weather a P4 2.4 ghz which i have and runs these things quite good..so a Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz will run them or not...as Atom has better Cache and processor technology than p4..please help...

 

[GhislainG]

An Atom is fine to compile C++. Even an old PII could do that (though it would take longer).

 

[asad393]

An Atom is fine to compile C++. Even an old PII could do that (though it would take longer).

It means that netbook would be fine for me...

 

[GhislainG]

It won't be fast, but it should be fine and it's easy to carry around.

 

[asad393]

tell me weather it would be fast then a p4 processor or not.... if its better than p4..then its fine for me

 

[mickey21]

An Atom is technologically superior yes than a 8 year old P4, yes.

 

[GhislainG]

tell me weather it would be fast then a p4 processor or not.... if its better than p4..then its fine for me

Which Atom processor? There are several models that run at 1.66 GHz. I would expect the Atom to match the P4 2.4. A notebook isn't a laptop. If you need a lot more power, than consider a laptop like an Acer 5733-6696 with an i3-380M processor (or a similar unit with a fast enough CPU). They cost less than $400 and they are far more powerful than a P4 2.4 or any Atom processor.

 

[CaedenV]

An atom is roughly the equivilant of a P4, except that it uses 10Watts instead of requiring a small nuclear power plant to run. Be aware however that there are some odd things that refuse to run on Atoms (or at least mine), but I have no idea if compiling is one of those things.
One word of advice; As a student, or buying anything for a production environment where your time is dictated by your CPU, buy yourself something that will last a while, and will be slightly more powerful than you think it needs to be. Watching progress bars is not what you want to be doing with your time. an i3 or i5 laptop is only $200 more than a base model Atom netbook.
That's just 20hrs at a part time job for something that will save you well more than 20hrs of homework time throughout your college career. Plus you get a larger screen, better battery, bigger/faster HDD... you get the picture. Not saying you should blow $600+ on something that can walk away, but you can get a lot of hardware for $500 compared to $300

 

[asad393]

well brother you also said the truth... i am gonna do 3D modeling in AutoCAD after a couple of months...and a netbook will be a less thing for that...i am thinking on your advice...

 

[asad393]

so what about this one guys http://h40059.www4.hp.com/uk/homelaptops/product.php?id=LT126EA&experience=direct

 

[GhislainG]

It isn't that powerful. Compare processors at http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

 

[asad393]

so can you recommend a nice laptop in 400 $ i can't offord anything above that...

 

[GhislainG]

Where are you located and where can you buy? Your budget is in US currency, but you provided a link to a UK site.

A few weeks ago I bought an Acer 5733-6696 with an i3-380M for $375. It obviously isn't a great laptop, but it's quite good for the price.

 

[asad393]

the link was just for specifications... I am from Pakistan but i will buy from US.. My uncle will bring that for me who is in US. their laptops are much cheaper than pakistan thats why....

 

[GhislainG]

Then start checking prices (they can vary a lot) at various US stores. Will you buy a model that's also available in Pakistan? If not, what will you do if it breaks down and you can't get it fixed in your country?