Processors

Fabio

Hi all,
Just wondering what are the best processors out their for (a) laptops and (b) home computers...

I always thought the Intel Pentium range of processors were the best around for home PC's but am not too sure. I was under the impression that an Intel Celeron processor was one of the budget buys on the market (though this PC I am using has a pretty quick 3.33ghz celeron in it).

To be honest I am not even sure of the qualities I should be looking for in a good processor but thought I'd at least ask the question as I have been wondering...

Stephen

Pentiums are no more. They've been replaced by the Intel Core series. Core 2 Duo (or Core 2 Quad if you've got buckets of money) processors are the current best all-rounders.

What CPU you need really depends on what you want to use it for.

TerrorFirmer

The Pentiums were never the best apart from maybe a brief few months at the launch of the early P4 line years ago. Still fine processors though for all purposes though, just that similarly priced AMD Processors are better.

The new Intel Core 2 Duo are better then anything else right now generally speaking.

Celeron Processor is also fine. As Stephen said it all depends on what you use it for. Many spanners insist that they need the fastest processor available and then swan off to type up a few word documents and watch a movie, trying to convince themselves that's it's vastly superior to their 'old' Celeron or P4 etc.

Celeron M in laptops are decent too. They are pretty much Pentium Ms with less l2 cache, and although the Pentium M line is old stuff now it's still perfectly good for alot of tasks including games if you so wished. Although that said you will never find a Celeron M paired with a good graphics option in a laptop, so that point isn't particularly valid.

matt-dublin

Wouldn't touch a celeron processor,

Pentium M processors are generally good and cheap for laptops.

Intel core duo's are hot sh1t at the moment.

I have a couple of them here in the office and their performance outdoes some of my highend pentium 4 servers.

Fabio

Basically what I'd be looking for is a processor for a laptop, that won't eat batteries as snacks and will be quick enough to load Windows quickly (no more 2minute loading time from the moment I press "on").

It has to be able to run Flight Simulator 2004 nicely too!!! But that would depend more on RAM would it???

What is the big difference between a 1.6ghz processor and a 3.0ghz processor??? The 3ghz one is theoritically faster right? But how much power does the average user need?

matt-dublin

pentium m 2.0 ghz with 2mb l2 cache should het ye there

riptide

For a laptop stay away from Pentium 4's. They eat battery and are very hot. Go with Pentium M 1.8 - 2.0Ghz or Core 2 Duo ~1.6Ghz