Does the Pentium M 2.13Ghz make sense for high end laptop gaming?

[jsrrts]

I'm looking at buying a really high end laptop for gaming purposes.
I want PCI Xpress and am looking at preferably an ATI X800 over a nVidia GeForce6800Go.
Intel just released their latest Centrino Chips, Sonoma, the highest being a 2.13GHz.
Does it make sense to use this chip with one of these video cards.
Couldn't the CPU be a limiting factor here?
In comparison the top of the line laptop gaming systems currently have something like a
Pentium 3.6GHz hooked in with a GeForce6800Go.
Issues of price and battery life aside do the new chips measure up?

 

[Jassi]

You might want to wait for the reviews of any model that offers that combo, currently most manufacturers are only offering the 1.6 ghz version. I dont think the cpu will be the limiting factor considering Dothat core (Pentium M) >>> Prescott (Pentium 4) and the FSB boost will help as well. The X800 and the 6800 mobility versions will be underclocked a bit as well, the X700 was underclocked 26% and probably similar for the others. This will help battery consumption.

 

[imported_haris]

You can't compare mobile Intel CPUs to desktop (or desktop replacement CPUs in some notebooks) CPUs directly. The 2 GHz cpu will perform pretty darn close to top desktop speeds, because it is a more efficient processor than the desktop versions. That cpu should be good for awhile, unless you are the type that likes to upgrade often. If anything is going to be a bottleneck it will be your hard drive or the video card itself.

 

[Burbot]

High-end video cards -> a lot of power consumption -> cooling requires making thick notebook -> enough space to put in a fast A64.

 

[NeuronBasher]

Originally posted by: Burbot
High-end video cards -> a lot of power consumption -> cooling requires making thick notebook -> enough space to put in a fast A64.

-> 30 minute battery life

 

[beyoku]

Originally posted by: NeuronBasher

Originally posted by: Burbot
High-end video cards -> a lot of power consumption -> cooling requires making thick notebook -> enough space to put in a fast A64.

-> 30 minute battery life

3 hours default - 4 hours tweaked - i get on my emachine with athlon64. Depending on when you want to buy you want to wait to see what amd has to offer with it new stuff thats coming out. They have some code name "turion" on something silly. I think it will be based on the next stepping with lower power usage and sse3. If they can get one of these paired with the highend grafx that we see now availible this would best anything that intel has to offer in pretty much eveything sans (batterlife/ centrino & Sonoma) or (media encoding/p4) - i would stay far away from a presott in a laptop. It spells bad news. i have a friend and his has never ran at full speed because of heat.

 

[jsrrts]

Thanks for your posts everyone, appreciated.

 

[beyoku]

how much do you plan to spend AND how heavy do you mind your laptop being. I bought mine for gaming and i kinda regret it. Although it was the fastest thing i could get fro 1250 it is kind of heavy and i have a full time day job = Not a lot of time to actually do any mobile gaming. My rig in my sig has a geforce gts64 that i refuse to upgrade cause it cost me 420.oo for the card. Little advice - if you spend cheap get the fastest thing under 8 lbs - if you spending over 2000 - get the Lightest most powerful thing you can find. A laptop that you could carry everyday and not think about it is what would best. I couldnt afford such a thing though. If you can sacrifice the power of an amd64 to loose more than a couple lbs it is probably worth it.

 

[MIDIman]

Originally posted by: haris
You can't compare mobile Intel CPUs to desktop (or desktop replacement CPUs in some notebooks) CPUs directly. The 2 GHz cpu will perform pretty darn close to top desktop speeds, because it is a more efficient processor than the desktop versions. That cpu should be good for awhile, unless you are the type that likes to upgrade often. If anything is going to be a bottleneck it will be your hard drive or the video card itself.

IMHO - this depends on the application being used. Gaming, perhaps yes, but I've been using a fresh, seriously pimped out Dell 8600 (2.0ghz, 1gb ram, 7200rpm HD, etc.) and when it comes to audio/ASIO performance (in Nuendo, Reason, etc.) it performs about half as well as my Desktop P4 2.8c based system.

i.e. - a Nuendo project that takes up nearly 50% CPU on the Dell, takes up less than 25% on my desktop.

Just my $0.02, only because I was somewhat disappointed.

 

[inhotep]

What was the power management setting for your dell? And video card? dont tell it has an intel extreme II.

 

[YpoCaramel]

Well let's look at the new Acer Travelmate 8100; review from Digi-Life.

2.13Ghz Sonoma, X700 Mobility 128MB, 15.4" screen. Mass 2.86kg.

Battery life is 3-3.8 hours, depending on workload. Just about the same as a similarly configured Dothan machine, by the way.

That's just about the same as the A64, but it's thin - about one inch (30-34mm). Since evidently the X700 doesn't eat up a lot of battery compared to the old M11, I wonder how at T42 or S270 update would last - their screen is smaller and they have bigger batteries available.

 

[Hikari]

The TM8100 looks like just what I'd want. But I saw another link which said it had DDR2 333, while that review shows DDR2 533. The latter is great if true.

EDIT: Looked at their site, and it at least supports DDR2 533 http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm8100.htm

 

[jzdenton]

I'm very interested in the TM8100. Any word on the release date and price? I've seen suggestions varying from 1999$-3999$.

 

[Hikari]

I'm guessing the sites I'm posting next might not really have it in stock, but they say they do:

PCMALL.COM

TM8103WLMI NB PM/1.8 512M-100GB DVD/RW
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/d...asp?dpno=185222
1,929.99

TM 8104WLMI NB PM/2.0 1GB-100GB DVD/RW
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/d...asp?dpno=185223
2,249.99


CDW.COM has it on their site

Acer TravelMate 8104 Notebook
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/de...aspx?EDC=733812
$2,299.95

HARMONY COMPUTER

Acer TravelMate TM8103WLMI-XPP (LX.T7206.085)
http://www.shopharmony.com/product....ACETM8103WLMIXP
$1,889.00

 

[neoreturns]

Ive got a Pentium M 1.8 GHz Dothan in a Compal CL56 with 128 mb 9700 and I get 3.5 hours battery life screen full brightness watching movies. 4 hours just using web with wifi. This is with speedstep set to 600 mhz.

Run it full speed only for games, and its damn fast.