Choose between 2 laptops

[Gar1ndan]

Hi everyone, i just wondered if i could ask your opinion on which laptop i should buy. I'm looking at two at the moment, as they are around the right price for me.

The Acer Aspire 1682WMLi - £609.95:-
Intel Pentium M 725 1.6 GHz
512 MB DDR SDRAM - 333 MHz PC2700
60 GB HDD
15.4" TFT
ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 with 64Mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
DVD1RW (+R double layer)
3 in 1 card reader
2 hour(s) Battery Time
3 kg

and the Acer Aspire 3023WLMi - £619.95:-
AMD Mobile Sempron 3000+
512 MB DDR SDRAM - 333 MHz PC2700
80 GB HDD
15.4" TFT
ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 with 128Mb
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
DVD1RW (+R double layer)
6 in 1 card reader
3.5 hour(s) Battery Time
3Kg

As you can see they are very similar. I know that the Pentium M is better than the Mobile Sempron, but at the same time the X600 with 128Mb is better than the 9700 with 64 (though not by much). Apart from that the 3023 has 80GB Harddrive where the 1682 has 60, and the 3023 has a 6in1 reader where the 1682 has a 3in1. For me theres hardly anything 2 choose between, they both come in the same chassis and are the same weight...........

but the bit that gets me is that although the 1682 has a pentium M which is supposed to run cooler and on less power, the notebook has only 2 hours battery life whereas the 3023 with Sempron has 3.5??? I have checked these figures on several sites and magazines and it appears they are correct. Obviously as with any notebook user, battery life for me is quite important.

Another thing i should mention is that Acer also does the 1691WLMi laptop (slightly out of my price range) which is basically the same as the 1682, just slightly more powerful, but this also has a confirmed 3.5 hour battery life, and was praised in WhatLaptop for its long runtime!?! So what do you think?

At first i thought mayb the 9700 Radeon in the 1682 drew more power than the X600, but thats not the case as the 9700 is also in the 1691 laptop. So is it just that the 1682 has a worse battery? That seems strange.

Anyway, so theres not much between them but which should i go for? Battery is important, but is the Pentium M really that much better? Because if so maybe i should go for that? Any thoughts?

p.s sorry for the long post

 

[NoToRiOuS1]

hmm...i definitely think that the pent-m is better. BUT the thing is that the type of comp you should get really depends what you're gonna use it for. if for gaming then just basic gaming like CSS or a bit more like BF2 and such. because if gaming is a concern then you have to weigh in the GPU much more. if you'll be doing a lot of multitasking, you have to weigh in the proc much more. size of hd...well you want to opt for the one thats faster(4200rpm, 5400rpm or 7200rpm). i dont know what you plan on doing with your laptop but i personally would not worry about a diff of 20gb, as id be more concerned over which is the faster one.
the battery life seems kinda weird...i would've thought the sempron system would give a 2hr life and the pent-m system would you give you the better battery life...thats a bit confusing. anyways, please provide a little bit more information as to the use of this laptop.

edit: by the way, welcome to the forums!

 

[Jassi]

I vote 3023 because I am an AMD fanboy at heart

 

[melchoir]

1682, I love my 1.6 pentium m with 9700 128mb.

 

[Gar1ndan]

Thanks for the replies, and thanks for the welcome

Well its primarily for work, web design, graphic design, i use photoshop alot which is why i want a dedicated gfx card. I do like playing games aswell but have a home pc, and am not too worried about it being super fast with games. I would prefer the X600 though, but the difference between that and the 9700 is fairly small.

The difference in harddrive doesnt really matter, and the card reader is just handy to have, although in both cases obviously the 3023 is better. I would make some use of the card reader, so the 3023 is better in this respect.

Basically, i'm leaning towards the 3023, but i just wondered if you thought that the Pentium M is that much better than the Sempron, that i should seriously consider the 1682???

The battery life thing is REALLY weird, but it is fairly definate, and is another big plus point for the 3023.

So as the 1691 i mentioned also has a 3.5 hour battery, do people thing that Acer have simply put a rubbish battery in the 1682??

Thanks again

 

[Pabster]

The Dothan (Pentium M) is vastly superior to a Sempron. The choice should be easy

 

[fbrdphreak]

First there needs to be a clarification:
A dedicated graphics card will make NO difference in your Photoshop usage. Graphics cards affect 3D graphics only, not 2D (as far as you are concerned anyway). For Photoshop usage you want at least 1GB RAM, ideally 2GB. Also a 5400RPM drive is a must, with 7200RPM helping out even more.

The Pentium M does get better battery life than the Sempron. I would imagine the P-M notebook will have a crappier battery; perhaps a 6-cell versus an 8-cell. Also, in comparing battery life time you need to know how they measured it. Perhaps the P-M notebook battery life was measured using something like the BatteryMark Conditioning test, which drains the battery rather quickly. I don't know and neither do you Find the battery capacities and I will tell you which will last longer.

Other than that it is you weighing your options. The VRAM on the X600 will help with texture loading in newer games like HL2 & D3.

The Pentium M will also be slightly faster than the Sempron.

At this point it is up to battery life IMO. But in the end I would actually probably go with the X600 & Sempron, mainly for the graphics card.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Pabster
The Dothan (Pentium M) is vastly superior to a Sempron. The choice should be easy

Actually this Sempron is most likely a Socket 939 variant, perhaps Socket 754, meaning it is an A64-based Sempron and not an AXP-based Sempron. It will keep up decently in performance and shouldn't have a TDP greater than 35W, possibly even 25W.

 

[Gar1ndan]

Hi, thanks for your replies again.

fbrdphreak - I have tried to look at more specifications. I can't seem to find the rpm of the drives, only that its an ATA100 on both

The battery does appear to be better on the 3023, could you confirm it for me. The 3023 is as follows:-

ACPI power management supporting Standby and Hibernation modes
60Wh Li-Ion battery pack
Up to 3.5 hours battery life
2.5 hours quick charge; 3.5 hours charge-in-use
90W AC adapter

and the 1682 is:-

ACPI power management supporting Standby and Hibernation modes
32W Li-ion battery pack
2-hour battery life (actual battery life might vary, depending on usage and configuration);
1.5-hour rapid charge
3.5-hour charge-in-use
65 W AC adaptor

So yes, but that seems quite strange doesnt it, oh well.

At this point i think im decided on the 3023.

I also looked up the Sempron, and although i couldnt find what socket it is i did find....AMD Sempron 3000+ (25W). Does that mean its a good one? So do you think i should go for this? I think so.

One other thing, their are two '3020' machines from Acer, the 3023 and a weaker 3022. The Acer site lists both as having X600's with the 3022 having 64Mb and the 3023 having 128Mb as i said before. However, on the very same site it says........

Graphics
ATI® MOBILITY? RADEON? X700, with 128 MB VRAM, supporting ATI POWERPLAY? 5.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 and PCI Express?, or
ATI® MOBILITY? RADEON? X600, with 64 MB VRAM, supporting ATI POWERPLAY? 5.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 and PCI Express

which kind of indicates that the 3023 should have an X700. Also on the description of the machine on the same site it says........

Available with either 15? or 15.4? Widescreen CrystalBrite TFT displays driven by ATI® X600 or X700 graphics cards on PCI Express bus

again indicating an X700 on the 3023.

I also found a forum post the other day which said the same thing, one person bought a 3023 thinking it would have an 128Mb X600 and when it turned up it was an 128Mb X700!!!!! On the same forum though there were one or two others whose 3023 was indeed an X600. Doesnt that seem really strange?

Thanks for the help, sorry for blabbering on again

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Acer often offers the same model number but with different graphic systems. U should email the shop where u plan to buy at and make sure what it comes with, cuz a x700 mobility is really the minimum if u not only want to play a performance demanding game but enjoy it with some lite eyecandy. a x600 is not much behind but like i said, its not enough performance if u want antialiasing, shadows enabled, and all the stuff that make games like GTA San Andreas or else look smooth.

 

[fbrdphreak]

First, the 3023 has what appears to be a 6 or 8-cell battery, which is why it gets good battery life. The 1628 has what appears to be a 4-cell battery, which is why they claim 2 hours. The Pentium M notebook will have better battery life, providing you buy a larger battery later.

however I agree, the 3023 looks to be the one to get.
As Bling pointed out, there are going to be numerous GPU options with those Acer 302x models. COnfirm what GPU your particular one has through the vendor who is selling it. If you can get an X700, go for it; if not the X600 128MB.

Oh, and the Sempron 25W is good; that means it uses less power, almost as low as the Pentium M. That is a great budget chip

 

[Gar1ndan]

Thanks everyone :heart: