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Centrino vs P4 in laptops

S

spwango

Senior member
Hey all,

I'm in process of trying to obtain a new laptop for the office--I'm a desktop guy, so this mobile stuff makes my head hurt. I don't travel much--perhaps once a year--I need a machine I can do software development on at home. Am I better off going with a P4-based laptop or a centrino-based laptop. (I don't have a choice of brand).

thanks,

spwango
 
Originally posted by: spwango
I'm in process of trying to obtain a new laptop for the office--I'm a desktop guy, so this mobile stuff makes my head hurt. I don't travel much--perhaps once a year--I need a machine I can do software development on at home. Am I better off going with a P4-based laptop or a centrino-based laptop. (I don't have a choice of brand).
Click to expand...
What brand are you required to get? All laptops are not equally good within a brand. More often than not, even though the brand name is the same, different laptop series are made by different actual manufacturers. 70% of laptops worldwide are made by Taiwan-based companies. Dell and HP/Compaq for example, make no laptops themselves.
 
Is there a website out there that lists that kind of information? I've turned up a whole pile of nothing looking for specs and reviews on the net.
 
Originally posted by: spwango
Is there a website out there that lists that kind of information? I've turned up a whole pile of nothing looking for specs and reviews on the net.
Click to expand...
The best websites to find out who makes notebooks for whom are DigiTImes and Taiwan High Tech. These are news sites, however, and not nicely compiled lists. The best publicly available list was the "bring on the orders" list at Taiwan High Tech but they have deleted this page from their website. I have gained a pretty decent understanding of the laptop market by doing my own research. If you tell me what brand of laptop you are required to buy then I can probably tell you the good and the bad ones in that brand.
 
Originally posted by: spwango
Hey all,

I'm in process of trying to obtain a new laptop for the office--I'm a desktop guy, so this mobile stuff makes my head hurt. I don't travel much--perhaps once a year--I need a machine I can do software development on at home. Am I better off going with a P4-based laptop or a centrino-based laptop. (I don't have a choice of brand).

thanks,

spwango
Click to expand...


If you are not going to be travelling much and not planning to rely extesively on battery power, go for a P4.
 
Originally posted by: mcleo19
If you are not going to be travelling much and not planning to rely extesively on battery power, go for a P4.
Click to expand...
My initial thought was to respond as you have, but if it turns out he has to buy a Dell, then I would not recommend any of their Pentium 4 models. Their Inspiron 51XX models in particular I would avoid like the plague.

 
Originally posted by: BargainSeeker
Originally posted by: mcleo19
If you are not going to be travelling much and not planning to rely extesively on battery power, go for a P4.
Click to expand...
My initial thought was to respond as you have, but if it turns out he has to buy a Dell, then I would not recommend any of their Pentium 4 models. Their Inspiron 51XX models in particular I would avoid like the plague.
Click to expand...



I agree...if it has to be a dell, get a Latitude P-M (d600 or d800; Inspiron 8600 and 600m are not bad either)...those Inspiron 1100/5100 are too bulky and not the best quality.
 
If you do software development, get an Athlon..... ZE4560 or Presario 2195..... compiling is one of the strongest points of the K7, and it should beat any P4 quite handily.... Anyone disagree? 😉
 
I'm a big AMD pimp myself--just got done building an Athlon 64 system at home--that said, AMD is not option for me in this case.

So, what I don't understand is how the centrino chips compare to the P4 chips in terms of performance (I understand the battery life is greater with the P4 chips)--What is the difference, in terms of processing power, between say a 1.5Ghz M P4 vs a 2.8 P4?
 
well, it's a topic that has a lot of depth to it.
to oversimply things Pentium-M is more like a Pentium III architecture, shallow pipelines compared to P4 and higher IPC, somewhat like an Athlon XP in terms of IPC. Due to this short pipelines the MHZ are lower, but performance higher when compared to the P4 variety. There is no straight up comparison for "Centrino" vs. P4, but a Pentium M @ 1.6ghz is as fast as a P4 @ 2.6ghz or more sometimes. It all depends on what you are running, but the Pentium M was designed as a mobile CPU so it has obvious advantages built-in when used in a laptop. In absolut terms, I would get one if money were not the main concern.
 
Originally posted by: spwango
Thanks for all your help...I've gotten it narrowed down a bit more--I have basically got it down to:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=306519&pfp=BROWSE (presario x1030us--1.4 Centrino, 40GB drive)

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=310021&pfp=BROWSE (presario r3030us--2.66P4, 60GB drive)

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=310017&pfp=BROWSE (pavillion zv5030us--2.66P4, 40GB drive)



comments on those models?
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The latter 2 have higer performance memory, but use shared video memory, which I am not a huge fan of. I think dedicated video will improve performance more than faster memory. The centrino is also more mobile, so I would go with a.

I love the widescreens, but I would shoot for a WSXGA+ screen. Also, for that $$, make sure that the HD is at least 5400RPM.

BTW - This Athlon 64 laptop would put those three to shame...
emachines Athlon 64
 
Originally posted by: spwango
Thanks for all your help...I've gotten it narrowed down a bit more--I have basically got it down to:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=306519&pfp=BROWSE (presario x1030us--1.4 Centrino, 40GB drive)

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=310021&pfp=BROWSE (presario r3030us--2.66P4, 60GB drive)

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=310017&pfp=BROWSE (pavillion zv5030us--2.66P4, 40GB drive)

comments on those models?
Click to expand...
I'd go with the first one or with HP's equivalent, the zt30XX. It's the most well rounded laptop of the three with the best graphics performance. There's a forum dedicated to these specific models here.
 
i just got an x1000 at hpshopping for $1915 shipped (final total will be $1815 after i get the $100 mailin rebate. darn CA tax 🙁 ). i didnt bother with ebates, but there's a 10% code floating around that expires soon.

1.6ghz
256mb (will toss that and get 512mb pc2700 kingmax from newegg)
80gb 4200rpm hd (there's a replacement 50gb hitachi 7200rpm hd that people have been swapping out for better performance)
wsxga+
dvd+r/rw drive
64mb mobility radeon 9x00 series

ill be using this as my desktop replacement for the system in my sig.
 
I am a little confused... The ''no choice" is regarding the machine brand or the CPU brand.....? If the NO choice is regarding the laptop brand, I suggest again the ZE4560 (Xp-M 2500+, wireless 54g, 512 MB PC2100...) or the presario 2195 (same configuration). Both of them for a little over $1000.

Does anyone how good for compiling the P-M is, specially compared to the K7?

Alex
 
Thanks for the help all--availability limited me, and I ended up going with the 3050 (not in my list--it's similar to the 3030 with a DVDR and a 2.8Ghz P4). At least I learned some things though 😀

Thanks again for the help!

spwango
 
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