Laptop processors

gizmoleeds

Thanks then everyone, now I just gotta wait for the next good Dell offer to come round. :beer:

wobbley

I dont know about the very latest ones but up until about 3 years ago virtually all laptops used 'mobile' processors. Only a few like the cheapo Dixons/Currys/PC World 'Advent' brand tried to cut costs by using 'desktop' processors. These were easily spotted as they hardly ever quoted a battery life as they were less than 1 hour ! and you could fry eggs on them 'cos they ran so hot ! I would thin it a safe bet though to stick with a reputable brand. I always recommend Dell as the earlier poster.

gizmoleeds

wobbley wrote:

I dont know about the very latest ones but up until about 3 years ago virtually all laptops used 'mobile' processors. Only a few like the cheapo Dixons/Currys/PC World 'Advent' brand tried to cut costs by using 'desktop' processors. These were easily spotted as they hardly ever quoted a battery life as they were less than 1 hour ! and you could fry eggs on them 'cos they ran so hot ! I would thin it a safe bet though to stick with a reputable brand. I always recommend Dell as the earlier poster.

Since my post at lunch time I have ordered a Dell Inspiron 6000 with a Pentium M (mobile) processor. Cheers for the advice though.

parkersages

We see many ads about students needing a TV licence whilst at Uni, but if they have a laptop with a Tv card do they need one as this is a mobile Tv?

pdmonks

gizmoleeds wrote:

Since my post at lunch time I have ordered a Dell Inspiron 6000 with a Pentium M (mobile) processor. Cheers for the advice though.

One thing to note with Dell is that I've had 2 laptops from them in the past six months from the Dell-Outlet UK store on their website, which is basically refurbished or returned machines at discounted prices. My belief is its ones they get back from ppl who decide they dont want them or something stupid has gone wrong and theyve replaced the part. As the machines are already built you can do a search on loads of criteria to see ones they have in stock with the spec you want!

Both of the laptops I ordered were in absolute A1+ condition (as new), came with all software manuals cables etc and compared with the "new" unit of the same spec from Dell, were substantially cheaper eg, £1000 new machine was obtained from Outlet for circa £650

The link is
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfh

hope its useful to someone!
-peter

paul_h

parkersages wrote:

We see many ads about students needing a TV licence whilst at Uni, but if they have a laptop with a Tv card do they need one as this is a mobile Tv?

Yes, it still needs covering with a licence held by the user at the residence.

Whether TV licensing would check if your laptop is capable of receiving the Teletubbies is another matter - the dinky little USB freeview adaptors available now (barely bigger than a usb memory stick) could be concealed very easily I would imagine... not that I would condone any form of law breaking.

ard123en

just to add fuel to the fire what about a amd 64 bit cpu or a mac?

johno69

Whether TV licensing would check if your laptop is capable of receiving the Teletubbies is another matter - the dinky little USB freeview adaptors available now (barely bigger than a usb memory stick) could be concealed very easily I would imagine... not that I would condone any form of law breaking..

These USB freeview adaptors still require an actual aerial connection right?....sorry if that seems a dumb question, I gather they do or would I be wrong.

PhoneGuru

People forget (and quite often dont realise) that overall computer speed actually has very little to do with the processor speed.

It has everything to do with how quickly it can get data out of main memory, or off the hard disk. Generally, more RAM and faster hard disk will have a more cost effective performance increase than a processor upgrade will (unless your doing something like doubling the clock rate of the processor).

More RAM means data is stored in memory, rather than HDD swap file. So the PC doesn't have to get it from the disk. If the PC has a fast Front Side Bus speed, it can get the data faster from memory as well. However, most normal user's wouldn't notice huge differences in this department.

Generally, dont go for the fastest processor you can get, buy something downrated by about two grades and use the money you save to double the system RAM (about 1GB minimum) and get a faster HDD if you can. SATA preferably. In general use it will be faster than the solution with the faster processor and reduced memory.

My last laptop (company purchased) was a Dell Latitude D400. 2GHz Penitum M, but ensured we upgraded the RAM to 1GB..yes RAM. That makes all the difference !

My home PC only has a an Athlon 2400 XP, but 2GB RAM and a 7200 RPM Hard Disk, it's faster during general use than pretty much any other machine I'v used once it's booted, purely because of the RAM and all programs reside in memory. PC manufacturer's never ship enough RAM as standard...

Also, if your thinking of a PC upgrade, generally (not always, but most of the time), if you want to change your processor, you'll need a new motherboard and new RAM as well to match it up. If your going to do that, might as well get a whole new system.

gizmoleeds

parkersages wrote:

We see many ads about students needing a TV licence whilst at Uni, but if they have a laptop with a Tv card do they need one as this is a mobile Tv?

From what I understand, based on other threads on this subject, a laptop can be used by a student without a TV licence provided:

1 their parents have one; and
2 the laptop is not plugged in while it is being used as a TV (nor is the TV adaptor).

The only condition on the TVLA website for a portable device is that it is powered "solely by it's own internal batteries" - which an unplugged laptop is.