Pentium 4 vs Centrino

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs Pentium 4 vs Centrino

I'm trying to find out information regarding these 2 processors. I would like to know if a Centrino processor is as powerfull as a Pentium 4. I'm looking at purchasing a laptop and I'm confused if I should buy a P4 running over 2Ghz or a Centrino running around 1.3Ghz. I havent got any straight answers from anybody who could tell me. In other words I want a medium powered laptop with decent graphics in case I want to play a game or to along with my business use. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Randy

Reply to randy1001

Generally the mobile chips are scaling processors, depending on power consumption they function at various rates... with no scaling active (plugged into ac) it will function slower than a standard p4. I really don't know exactly how much however.

Shadus

Reply to shadus

the pentium-m is basicly a p3 with 1mb of l2 cache and sse2. it is faster per clock than the p4 but doens't clock as high.

Reply to ZER0

That "general" feeling you have is somewhat different with Centrino.

Centrino has an excellent performance per clock, which basically means that a 1.6Ghz or so Centrino can match a 2.4Ghz Pentium 4. They don't clock as high - the top centrino is a 1.7Ghz chip - but they have several interesting power-saving features which make them more appropriate for laptops/notebooks than the Pentium 4 M's. Very interesting pieces of hardware, these centrinos.

(be careful with the distinction: Pentium M is Centrino, Pentium 4 M is just a lowered-voltage Pentium 4.)

Mephistopheles

Reply to Mephistopheles

To Clarify, Pentium 4 is the name of the processor and Centrino is the name of the platform. Centrino platform is made up of Intel Pentium M processor, Intel Chipset and Wireless network. Centrino platform is designed towards low power high preformance. Pentium M processor is based off of Pentium III processor with SSE2, High Processor side Bus (400Mhz), 1MB cache and some other preformance features like micro ops fusion etc. The way I see it is Centrino 1.3 Mhz would preform more or less like Pentium 4M 1.8Mhz to 2.0Mhz. I could be wrong about this. Major advantage of Centrino platform is the battery life. You will probably get about 30 to 60 minutes more in battry from centrino platform.

I hope This helped. Also Tom's Hardware did a review on Centrino when they were released. You should read that and decide.

KG

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity." - Sarah Chambers

Reply to Kemche

Yes, Kemche is right. Centrino is the name for the whole platform, including chipset, processor and wireless network. And just to clarify, the 1.4-1.5-1.6-1.7Ghz Centrinos that are out use a "Banias" core. The Centrino processor family will soon get another member, "Dothan", which carries some architectural improvements, as well as a full 2MB cache, instead of 1MB, as in Banias. Dothan will debut at 1.8, 1.9 and 2.0Ghz. I'd expect a 2.0Ghz Dothan to perform very well, but I won't risk trying to guess. The introduction of Dothan should severely cut prices for Banias-based centrino platforms...

Mephistopheles

Reply to Mephistopheles

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