Is a desktop CPU in a laptop advisable?

[Skull_Angel]

I saw an ad for an alienware laptop with a 1.7 P4 mobile chip and an ATI 7500 mobility Radeon. Unfortunately I went to the website and there's no option to configure it with the mobile Pentium 4. I get the impression the mobile version isn't shipping in quantities yet.

I realize that there's no substitute for a desktop system when it comes to hardcore gaming, but I'm away from home for fair amount of time each year and I would like to take my system with me. I also don't consider myself a hardcore gamer so I would be satisfied with midlevel performance for games (about 60+ fps in games such as Quake III).

My questions are how much hotter is the desktop version of the P4 than the mobile version and how large a battery would I need to get a decent (2 hrs+) runtime on battery power?

Also how much less of a "lifespan" would a Desktop CPU have in a laptop than a mobile chip? Alienware does have photos of the laptop on it's site and the cooling system looks fairly impressive.

http://www.alienware.com/main/system_pages/area51-m.asp#

I would appreciate any input about how sensible it is to put a desktop P4 into a laptop and if I should wait for the mobile P4 to become available for the laptop I'm considering buying.

Thanks

 

[FatBurger]

I wouldn't recommend it. P4s run very hot. Alienware would be obligated to replace it if the cooling wasn't good enough, but that might be a few months down the road, and a replacement wouldn't be as easy.

<font color=blue>If you don't buy Windows, then the terrorists have already won!</font color=blue> - Microsoft

 

[ath0mps0]

I saw an ad for an alienware laptop with a 1.7 P4 <i>mobile</i> chip and an ATI 7500 mobility Radeon.

I think you meant "desktop" chip.

My questions are how much hotter is the desktop version of the P4 than the mobile version and how large a battery would I need to get a decent (2 hrs+) runtime on battery power?

Also how much less of a "lifespan" would a Desktop CPU have in a laptop than a mobile chip? Alienware does have photos of the laptop on it's site and the cooling system looks fairly impressive.

Being that the desktop chips used are .13 micron NWs, I would say that it would run no hotter than a Willamette in a desktop system. It would run slightly hotter than a NW in a notebook system, but the real downside is not really heat, but battery life. If you compare a P4M to a P4 desktop side-by-side, same spec batteries will last significantly longer (1-2hrs depending on config) in a system that has battery management on-chip during normal "office" type work. The difference is minimized when both systems are running full tilt 100% processor during a frag session. This is because battery management only works when the CPU is not being used or is being under-used. There has been some discussion of laptop manus using the heat management circuit to increase battery life with desktop processors. If the CPU is down-throttled for what it thinks is heat management, it uses significantly less battery.

The upside to using a desktop processor is that it can be (usually) easily replaced with a faster one. In addition, some desktop CPUs have faster FSBs and other components than their mobile counterparts. The "lifespan" may be shortened from ~10-20 years to 8-18 years, but the CPU is not usually a determining factor is the lifespan of a notebook computer. Other things like battery, screen, mouse, mainboard, keyboard, etc. generally fail long before the CPU. Even more important, notebooks generally are replaced for additional performance; something that can be mitigated if you can replace the proc (1.7GHz) with a higher performing (~2.4GHz?) proc down the road.

I thought a thought, but the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I had thought.

 

[Kelledin]

Myself I'd get a laptop with a .13u Pentium III in it. That would be more than powerful enough for most on-the-road stuff, including Q3A, and much cooler and less power-hungry than either a P4-based or Athlon-based laptop. Also performs very close to an AthlonXP clock-for-clock.

<i>If a server crashes in a server farm and no one pings it, does it still cost four figures to fix?

 

[jclw]

Actually you can run P4 1.6A chips without fans on them.

- JW

 

[FatBurger]

Are you sure about that? I find that a bit hard to believe, unless it's a 10 pound copper heatsink :tongue:

<font color=blue>If you don't buy Windows, then the terrorists have already won!</font color=blue> - Microsoft

 

[Skull_Angel]

Actually, I saw the ad in the May issue of Maximum PC I just got in the mail. Alienware advertised a laptop with a "Intel Pentium 4 mobile Processor at 1.7 GHz"(could have been a typo I guess). It's in print. Check the inside of the back cover. It's just not an option on their website yet.

This has happened with another laptop vendor. I would guess that the companies bought the magazine advertisements thinking they were going to have those CPU's available for sale by the time the ads came out. For whatever reason they don't. It seems only the large companies such as Compaq and Dell have them for sale right now.

Thanks the info you provided though.

So how hot does the .13 micron Pentium 4 run in Fahrenheit degrees?

 

[jclw]

Some people even run 1.8A chips without fans (stock cooling) as well.

- JW

 

[FatBurger]

Stock cooling is not the same thing as fanless, and I've never seen a P4 of any clockspeed with no fan.

<font color=blue>If you don't buy Windows, then the terrorists have already won!</font color=blue> - Microsoft

 

[juin]

Agreed

cheap, cheap. Think cheap, and you'll always be cheap.AMD version of semi conducteur industrie