laptop processors

DamoKen

Hi guys, girlfriend is buying a new laptop and asked me to help pick out the best one within her budget. As laptops are not my area though the whole area of laptop processors is a bit of a minefield for me. So anyway just wrote down the processor names from a number of different machines within her budget I was looking at in PCWorld, Dixons etc. Would really appreciate any help on pros/cons of each.

To start with though I'll give the budget, intended use.

budget is anything up to €800.

use is mainly college work, no memory intensive apps there as it's mainly dissertation work using word and the like. House use would be watching dvd's, surfing and burning the odd cd/dvd.

Here's the list of processors from the machines I was looking at, all within a +-€200 range of each other.

Intel chips:
core solo T1350 1.86GHz
core duo T2050 1.6GHz
Pentium M 735 1.7GHz
Celeron M 370 1.5GHz
Celeron M 380 1.6GHz
Celeron M 410 1.46GHz

AMD:
Semprom 3100+

Out of the Intel chips the Celeron chips were cheapest, but the machines themselves were generally higher spec'd than laptops with the Pentium M for instance. So question there would be, for the intended use, would a Celeron M 380 with 1024mb ram & 80gb hard drive be better value than a Pentium M for an extra €100 but 1/2 the ram and disk space?

Cheers

TerrorFirmer

Given your requirements i'd recommend going for the Celeron. Sure, for an extra hundred, the Pentium M is considerably better, but in fairness given your requirements there's zero point, and you have the gig of ram and more storage space as a bonus. Plus, as well as that, you wouldn't notice any difference whatsoever in the uses you have described between a Celeron and a Pentium M anyway. It'd only really become noticable for encoding, games, intensive apps, alot of multitasking etc.

center15

Id go for the Core Duo I have the 1.6ghz chip and it's a great chip and it has great power saving features on it for longer battery life.

DamoKen

cheers guys, just looking at the Celeron 380 on dell for 699 with 1gb ram, for an extra €48 you can get the Pentium M Processor 735a. Would it be worth it? I heard the power saving on the Pentium M range is significant so would there be a noticeable difference in battery life as well as some added power if ever needed?

myownslave

Anyone still know anything about the availability of the Core 2 Duo? Have so far only seen it on one HP laptop. It was meanto to be on general release in August and September, but not much sign of it yet.
And when it does come out, would you say it will only be on the high-sepc machines? I'm lookin to buy a laptop within the next 2 weeks and wondering if there's any point in holding out for a Core 2 Duo, cos I spy a very good deal on a Dell Inspiron 6400, and not sure if that deal will be there for long more! http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...hs1&l=en&s=dhs

jimmycrackcorm

If you can get a core duo for €800 then do so. With more anti-virus/ anti-spyware / software firewall etc the dual core is a good bet despite only being used for a disertation etc.

abetarrush

Do me! [:p]

Would an Intel Pentium M 735A Processor 1.7GHz be mucho better than an AMD Sempron 3000+ ???

DamoKen

abetarrush wrote:

Do me! [:p]

Would an Intel Pentium M 735A Processor 1.7GHz be mucho better than an AMD Sempron 3000+ ???

sorry question there was would it be much better than the Celeron 380?

As to the core duo, didn't see any for 800, that was a question from myownslave who helpfully muddied the waters.
myownslave, not having a go at you mate, but it's a lot easier to get answers to any questions you have when you start your own thread, plus it prevents the original thread going off topic.

cheers

TempestSabre

Theres no doubt that the pecking order of cpus is dualcore2, dualcore, pentium M, celeron m. But you pick a budget and go with what you fit in, based on your liekly usage. If I was buying a laptop for me I'd go dualcore/dualcore2. But if it was for a basic user who didn't need it to be all that mobile or all that powerful, I'd have no problem going with a celeron to save money.

For example I bought a machine for a friend off the outlet. Insprion 1300, XP pro, Celeron 380, 1GB ram, DVDRW, 14.1, 120GB HD, WiFi. Cost about 550 incl vat. The main priorities (for a basic user) where in this order.

0. Cheap as possible.
1. DVDRW (expensive to add later)
2. Widescreen, low res, easier on the eyes for a basic user
3. 1GB ram (don't need to mess with upgrade)
4. Wifi (they always ask for this eventually)
5. Low power CPU (to save cost) Speed/battery life unimportant
6. Large HD (easy to expand, with a 2.5 external)
7. Any version of XP would do

If it were for me I'd be more picky and buy a better screen, better keypad, dualcore, and better battery life. 640m with dualcore and a 9cell battery etc. I don't play games on an laptop, I've a desktop for that. If I played games my spec would be different.

TempestSabre

DamoKen wrote:

cheers guys, just looking at the Celeron 380 on dell for 699 with 1gb ram, for an extra €48 you can get the Pentium M Processor 735a. Would it be worth it? I heard the power saving on the Pentium M range is significant so would there be a noticeable difference in battery life as well as some added power if ever needed?

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2004/03/09/does_everything_have_to_be_a_centrino/page3.html

Is that €48 +VAT though?

TempestSabre

abetarrush wrote:

Do me! [:p]

Would an Intel Pentium M 735A Processor 1.7GHz be mucho better than an AMD Sempron 3000+ ???

At what? The Sempron would be a better price probably.

myownslave

DamoKen wrote:

sorry question there was would it be much better than the Celeron 380?

As to the core duo, didn't see any for 800, that was a question from myownslave who helpfully muddied the waters.
myownslave, not having a go at you mate, but it's a lot easier to get answers to any questions you have when you start your own thread, plus it prevents the original thread going off topic.

cheers

Oh so that's the way its gonna be then Damo?! Bring it on!
Only messin, point taken. My apologies lads.

DamoKen

cheers for that link Tempest, think from reading that the extra €48 is more than worth it!

myownslave wrote:

Oh so that's the way its gonna be then Damo?! Bring it on!
Only messin, point taken. My apologies lads.

no worries myownslave, just a friendly pointer on my part regarding the etiquette of forum threads