Althon Sempron how do they measure up?

[ScottAnthony25]

Hello group,

i'm doing some laptop shopping and i'm working what all the processors are and how the perform.

could some one explain what ones are good and what ones to stay away from?

have had great luck with pentium chips for desktops and horriable luck with celerons.
never really gave AMD a chance.

hoping to get a laptop that wont needed to be traded in or upgraded anytime soon.

please let me know the best investments for the money.

 

[Cerb]

The socket A Sempron (not 3100+) is even with Athlon XP equiavlents at the clock speed. The speed ratings are based on a Celeron D.

Sempron = AthlonXP (approximate, as 166MHz FSB vs. 133MHz FSB makes exact ratings not work out)
2200+ = 1700+
2300+ = 1900+
2400+ = 2100+
2600+ = 2200+
2800+ = 2400+

[*]AthlonXPs tend to be even with Pentium4 B chips for the rating (and at lower ratings, superior).
[*]Northwood Celerons totally suck. A moderately fast PIII will feel faster than anew Celeron. Taking a [*]cache-heavy design and disabling cache does not make for something you'll want to use.
[*]The newer Celeron D is not too bad, but not great. You don't want to steer clear of them at all costs, but they aren't really good.
[*]Socket-754 Semprons (currently only the 3100+) are only a little shy in performance to their fully-enabled siblings (Sempron 3100+ <5% slower than a Athlon64 2800+).
[*]Pentium-M is good. Almost even clock-per-clock with a Athlon64 in performance, and they use even less power (hence enthusiasts wanting SFF desktop pentium-M boards). However, laptops using them are expensive.
[*]Celeron-M is also nice. Not as good at power saving, and half the cache of the Pentium-M, but very close in performance.

If you want true mobility, a Penitum-M (possibly Centrino, but for actual use, wireless is wireless) would rock. If you're fine with it always plugged in, any other is good. If you need one cheap, the Athlon XPs and Semprons will offer the best value for the money.

If it is for basic desktop use, stock and maximum capacity of RAM, and HDD speed, will make the real difference, unless it is a Celeron.

Good luck.