Laptop Processors - Whats the difference??

stinky101

Hi

I am going to get a lap top soon, but wanted to know some differences in processors.
On the dell website it has ones like
- Intel® Pentium® M 740(1.73GHz 2MB L2 cache 533MHz FSB)& ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 graphics
- Intel® Pentium® M 750(1.86GHz 2MB L2 cache 533MHz FSB)& ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 graphics
- Intel® Celeron® M Processor 370 (1.50 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 400MHz FSB)
- Intel® Centrino Mobile Technology with Intel® Pentium® M Processor 770 (2.13GHz 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)

To me it looks like there are 3 main times, a Pentium M, a Celeron Pentium M and a Centrino Mobile.

Coulld someone tell me which is best out of Ms Celerons, Centrinos and anything else i need to know!

Thanks

newfoundglory

Centrino describes a number of things the machine must have in order to be called centrino. Its collectively the CPU, mobo chipset and wireless network interface. All centrinos have Pentium M processors, which are speedstepping (meaning when extra speed is needed the processor steps up by having additional voltage applied by drawing more power from the battery), Intel chipset and wireless.

Celeron is the same as Pentium, with lower front side bus speed and less cache.

Pentium M is just that. A Pentium M speedstepping processor on its own.

I recommend a Pentium M centrino system. I have a 745 1.8GHz... A Samsung M40...

stinky101

Is a Petium M Centrino better than just a 'Pentium M'??

Thanks

iamnew

newfoundglory wrote:

Centrino describes a number of things the machine must have in order to be called centrino. Its collectively the CPU, mobo chipset and wireless network interface. All centrinos have Pentium M processors, which are speedstepping (meaning when extra speed is needed the processor steps up by having additional voltage applied by drawing more power from the battery), Intel chipset and wireless.

Celeron is the same as Pentium, with lower front side bus speed and less cache.

Pentium M is just that. A Pentium M speedstepping processor on its own.

I recommend a Pentium M centrino system. I have a 745 1.8GHz... A Samsung M40...

sorry to interrupt this thread, but what do you think of your samsung laptop? I'm thinking of getting one of them (X20) or a hp nc6120.

It would be good to hear what you think.

Thanks for your help.

blinky

The ones with the ATI mobility X300 will be better in terms of performance.

Rave

The Pentium M processor is a processor that Intel designed pretty much from the ground up for notebook/laptop use. It's a fast processor but it uses very little power and runs cool. It's designed so that when it's not doing much work (E.G. when playing back a dvd or just typing a letter), it'll slow itself down and switch parts of itself off to save power (this is called SpeedStep). The bigger the number, the faster the processor- the 770 is obviously the fastest of the three you listed, and the most expensive.

The Celeron M is a cutdown version of this processor- it has a smaller cache and a slower front side bus, so it's not quite as fast. It doesn't have SpeedStep either. However, it's still a very competent processor, and it's cheaper.

As newfoundglory says, Centrino describes a system that, as well as the Pentium M processor, also uses Intel's chipset and wireless network controller. If the manufacturer buys all three parts from Intel they can slap a Centrino sticker on the notebook and benefit from the brand association benefits of Intel's massive advertising budget;). To be honest, while the Pentium M (and Celeron M) are excellent processors, the Intel networking stuff is pretty average, so it's not worth getting hung up about having a Centrino laptop as long as it has a Pentium M processor.

The X300 refers to the laptop's graphics processor. Whether you want to pay extra for that depends pretty much entirely on whether you intend to play 3D games- if not, don't pay extra for it.

Finally, if you're still shopping around, you could consider a laptop with an AMD Turion processor. Overall they're competitive with the Pentium M (they may use a smidge more power hence slightly less run time off battery) but they also might be cheaper. Don't even consider a laptop with any flavour of Pentium 4 or Pentium 4 Mobile unless you'll never use the battery or use it on your lap. They're horrible power hogging, lap burning monsters:eek:.

newfoundglory

iamnew wrote:

sorry to interrupt this thread, but what do you think of your samsung laptop? I'm thinking of getting one of them (X20) or a hp nc6120.

It would be good to hear what you think.

I could write a whole load about what I think of it... but to summarise, I can't really fault it. A family friend got one, and after playing with it, I decided I had to get one myself. I too was shopping for HP, Dell and Sony then came across this beast. The screen is fantastic. Its high brightness and clear. DVDs play and look great on the 17" widescreen.

But that said, I guess the laptops features match my requirements. Its not really for games, but still produces some amazing graphics, like with scorched3d for example. I use it mainly for programming and mp3s. I also use it for all my graphic design (Creative Suite 2 runs great... InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat...), plus all the usual ms office, macromedia etc.

It also works great with FreeBSD and Linux, which was quite a good selling point for me!

It recently had 2 week field test while i was travelling up and down the United States east coast. I had free internet access for the whole 2 weeks because the wireless on this thing can pick up networks which are quite a distance away. It found networks everywhere...

iamnew

newfoundglory wrote:

I could write a whole load about what I think of it... but to summarise, I can't really fault it. A family friend got one, and after playing with it, I decided I had to get one myself. I too was shopping for HP, Dell and Sony then came across this beast. The screen is fantastic. Its high brightness and clear. DVDs play and look great on the 17" widescreen.

But that said, I guess the laptops features match my requirements. Its not really for games, but still produces some amazing graphics, like with scorched3d for example. I use it mainly for programming and mp3s. I also use it for all my graphic design (Creative Suite 2 runs great... InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat...), plus all the usual ms office, macromedia etc.

It also works great with FreeBSD and Linux, which was quite a good selling point for me!

It recently had 2 week field test while i was travelling up and down the United States east coast. I had free internet access for the whole 2 weeks because the wireless on this thing can pick up networks which are quite a distance away. It found networks everywhere...

Thanks very much for that! I too read about the wireless capabilities of the laptop, and I think you've helped me make up my mind.

Thanks again.

James240

i have an AMD Sempron Is that AMD's version of a Celeron??

blinky

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