Dual-core vs intel core

[Noles81]

What is the difference of amd dual-core E1-1200 Accelerated Processor and intel core i5 - 2450M? Trying to find a laptop under $500 (or close to) as possible for my son. Something he can game with and take to college.
Thanks

 

[nekulturny]

The E-1 is a lower end APU from AMD. The i5-2450M is a stronger CPU from Intel. For the mobile market you have somewhat of a tradeoff in that price range.

AMD has stronger graphics (which is relevant for playing games on), and Intel has stronger CPUs but weaker graphics. Now in your price range, the AMD laptop CPUs albeit somewhat weaker to equivalent Intels are still powerful enough that they will handle pretty much as well as one should really expect from a laptop. I'd look at something like the A8-4500M quad laptops.

I don't know how keen you are at shopping for a computer from Walmart, but this should fit the price range:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Toshiba-15.6-Satellite-L855D-S5220-Laptop-PC-with-AMD-A8-4500M-Accelerated-Processor-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium/20895605

Laptops are some what compromised when it comes to being gaming platforms, but any higher than that and really you'd have to look at laptops with discrete graphics chips, and their price to performance ratio is grossly out of proportion with desktops. (For example you could easily spend $3000 on a laptop that wouldn't game as aggressively as a desktop system that cost $1000)

 

[rds1220]

The I5 is a much better CPU. It can process and execute instructions more efficently than the APU giving better overall performance. Unless you are doing something that needs the slightly better graphics, like gaming I would take the I5.

 

[nekulturny]

I'm curious how much better the i5 is than the A8. I've been googling around trying to find extensive benches on it, I can't seem to find anything.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-4600m-trinity-piledriver,3202-8.html

I did find this but its the A-10 (one level up from the A8-4500M. i5 definitely has it beat in the CPU performance department, gaming definitely gets ugly for i5s HD3000 graphics.(several of the games are downright unplayable).. but I have to wonder what kind of things your son is majoring in. If "college stuff" entails running Microsoft Office and internet to research stuff, hell my 5 year old Dell XPS Intel Core2Duo can and and I do use it for that very same purpose, and it cant "execute instructions" as efficiently as an i5-2450M for sure lol. '

I guess if hes going into a major like broadcasting, or graphic design that requires CPU heavy programs like photoshopping and video editing the i5 would be the way to go.

And because I'm in the mood for a good trolling. No offense.

 

[Noles81]

Thank you so much for your reply. I did check out the Walmart website and actually headed over there this afternoon. My son is not sure what he wants to major in...possibly architect..but I know that would be an entirely different computer headache. He really is looking for something that will work with online gaming, not slow as his current computer is. As far as college, just basic internet, word, powerpoint, etc for now.

I did compare the Tosiba that you recommended (Toshiba 15.6" Satellite L855D-S5220 Laptop PC with AMD A8-4500M Accelerated Processor) to the Asus Intel Core i5-2450M (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-Matte-Dark-Brown-15.6-K55A-RBR6-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i5-Processor-and-6GB-Ram-Memory-and-750GB-Hard-Drive/21621694)

Of course, both were out of stock. The manager told me the Asus was definitely a better machine, but I am not sure how much I trust that. Both were the same price (although the Asus was on rollback). The manager also stated the i5 was a newer processor than the AMD.

Any thoughts????

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I did compare the Tosiba that you recommended (Toshiba 15.6" Satellite L855D-S5220 Laptop PC with AMD A8-4500M Accelerated Processor) to the Asus Intel Core i5-2450M (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-Matte-Dark-Brown-15.6-K55A-RBR6-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i5-Processor-and-6GB-Ram-Memory-and-750GB-Hard-Drive/21621694)

LOL, I just recommended that very same Asus laptop to a friend of mine (that he ultimately bought). He was dead set on Asus, though. He bought it online last week, so he hasn't received it yet, but I'm pretty sure I made the right recommendation (for him, especially). It looks like a laptop that I wouldn't mind having myself.

 

[nekulturny]

Thank you so much for your reply. I did check out the Walmart website and actually headed over there this afternoon. My son is not sure what he wants to major in...possibly architect..but I know that would be an entirely different computer headache. He really is looking for something that will work with online gaming, not slow as his current computer is. As far as college, just basic internet, word, powerpoint, etc for now.

I did compare the Tosiba that you recommended (Toshiba 15.6" Satellite L855D-S5220 Laptop PC with AMD A8-4500M Accelerated Processor) to the Asus Intel Core i5-2450M (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-Matte-Dark-Brown-15.6-K55A-RBR6-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i5-Processor-and-6GB-Ram-Memory-and-750GB-Hard-Drive/21621694)

Of course, both were out of stock. The manager told me the Asus was definitely a better machine, but I am not sure how much I trust that. Both were the same price (although the Asus was on rollback). The manager also stated the i5 was a newer processor than the AMD.

Any thoughts????

Heh, lol.. Asus is a definitely a good brand for laptops, but then again so is Toshiba. Acer.. not so much.

The Walmart guy is completely incorrect about the i5-2450M being newer, The i5-2450 is part of a generation codename called "Sandy Bridge", Ivy Bridge is the latest Generation from Intel, that particular i5 was released first quarter 2012. The A8-4500M was released about 3 or so months ago. Although age of the CPU is definitely not a huge consideration since clearly the slightly older Intel CPU does outperform the newer AMD processor in terms of CPU power, (but loses in the graphics side of the equation).

Just so you can see which one is older:

i5-2450M datasheet from Intel
http://ark.intel.com/products/53452/Intel-Core-i5-2450M-Processor-%283M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz%29

A8-4500M datasheet
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-A8-Series%20A8-4500M.html

But yea, for powerpoiont, internet and word, you will not need anything more powerful on the CPU side of things than the A8.. Like I said, I use a 5 year old laptop for those kinds of things just fine, and I'm a 2nd year PC tech student.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

One other thing to add to my post above. How much is the Asus laptop in-store?

My friend saw it in-store for $598, but he got it on Walmart.com for $498. Hell of a deal for an i5, IMO.

Edit: I just saw that it was a Roll-back (like it was online), so it probably was $498 in-store, but it wasn't in our store here, for some reason. I figure the reason it was reduced is to liquidate the Sandy Bridge stock.

 

[nekulturny]

Yea, it is a nice deal for an i5. but without a discrete graphics like an Nvidia 630M, you can keep those lousy HD3000 graphics for the money, good deal or not.

 

[ddpruitt]

Word of advice, don't get hung up on CPU power for a laptop. Look at the features you want, price range, and then look at the performance your getting.

Laptop performance is dependent on how well all the components are put together.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Yea, it is a nice deal for an i5. but without a discrete graphics like an Nvidia 630M, you can keep those lousy HD3000 graphics for the money, good deal or not.

That's true, but my friend's not a gamer (he seriously never plays games), so that wasn't even a consideration for him.

 

[nekulturny]

That's true, but my friend's not a gamer (he seriously never plays games), so that wasn't even a consideration for him.

Who never plays games? You mean not even farmville or nothin? Comeon! Everyone does something. Minesweeper? :lol:

 

[amuffin]

Who never plays games? You mean not even farmville or nothin? Comeon! Everyone does something. Minesweeper? :lol:

A P4 can handle that.

 

[nekulturny]

A P4 can handle that.

Heh, I dunno about that one. My old Dell 8200, I still had it hooked up til the point I build the rig in my sig in February. I had Ubuntu 8 on it (I think it was 8), and I had my laptop, but I kept the Dell as my "media center", I updated Ubuntu to whatever the latest version at the time was, it lagged so bad, it wouldn't even run .avi videos anymore. It was a Pentium 4 1.8GHZ single core, back in the 32 bit days.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Who never plays games? You mean not even farmville or nothin? Comeon! Everyone does something. Minesweeper? :lol:

Seriously, nothing, LOL. Nah, he just wanted something with a strong CPU and wanted to go with Intel. I obviously wasn't gonna steer him away from Intel, lol (especially for only $498).