Intel Pentium M Processor speed differences?

[ArchStudent]

Howdy all,

just curious about the difference in speed with the Intel Pentium M Processors.

Is there much of a difference between a 1.4GHz and a 1.7GHz in performance?

 

[DannyBoy]

What do you intend on doing on the machine?

 

[ArchStudent]

perhaps some video editing from a DV camera, mp3 burning, and dvd ripping and burning... plan to make some cool dvds

programming as well as "maybe" some gaming... still undecided on the gaming though

 

[replicator]

Well, I just recently acquired an R40, which has P-M 1.5GHz, and I think it runs fine for my needs, which is occasional gaming (radeon 7500 32mb), programming, and school work. I'm sure 1.7Ghz is significantly faster, but the dollars you need to spend for that increase isn't worth it, at least in my opinion. Depends on your own budget too.

According to the benchmarks i've seen on the net, Pentium M 1.4 has roughly the performance of a Pentium 4-M 2.0Ghz , and the Pentium M 1.7 is slightly better than Pentium 4-M 2.6Ghz. (From intel's website anyhow)

Right now, Pentium M 1.5 is only a few bucks more ($30) or so than Pentium M 1.4 (although notebook manufacturers seem to hike up the price alot more), but a 1.7 chip is about twice the price as the 1.4. So dollar for dollar, I'd go for a 1.5 or 1.6 if you are budget conscious.

 

[Frightcrawler]

of course, since 1.7 is still considered "new", its going to cost alot. I agree, 1.5 or 1.6 is best. In my opinion, 1.7 is currently a waste of money.

 

[Frightcrawler]

oh, i forgot to add, you do have two more options.

1. Pentium 4-M (i dont recommend it for what your gonna use your laptop for)
2. Wait for Dothan.

dothan is the new pentium-m processor. basically, its going to feature a 2(!) mb L2 cache.
it should arrive in january or late december.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: Frightcrawler
oh, i forgot to add, you do have two more options.

1. Pentium 4-M (i dont recommend it for what your gonna use your laptop for)
2. Wait for Dothan.

dothan is the new pentium-m processor. basically, its going to feature a 2(!) mb L2 cache.
it should arrive in january or late december.

Won't that additional cache take up more electricity, making it less mobile?

 

[UltraWide]

Any Centrino will be fine. I don't think it makes much difference for general use.

 

[thuned]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo

Originally posted by: Frightcrawler
oh, i forgot to add, you do have two more options.

1. Pentium 4-M (i dont recommend it for what your gonna use your laptop for)
2. Wait for Dothan.

dothan is the new pentium-m processor. basically, its going to feature a 2(!) mb L2 cache.
it should arrive in january or late december.

Won't that additional cache take up more electricity, making it less mobile?

No. From my understanding,
1. pentium-m turns off the cache that it's not using
2. if it IS using the cache, it means it'll finish the job about 20x faster than if it is using ram instead. once it's done, it'll shut off the cache.

 

[firtol88]

Anyone worried about the price of a 1.7 P-m shouldn't think about Dothan for a while on launch they will be substantially higher than 1.7s are now.

As for the performance boost it should be similar to 3.2 P4c vs. 3.2 P4ee or not that great but if you want the fastest you'll pay the money.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: firtol88
Anyone worried about the price of a 1.7 P-m shouldn't think about Dothan for a while on launch they will be substantially higher than 1.7s are now.

As for the performance boost it should be similar to 3.2 P4c vs. 3.2 P4ee or not that great but if you want the fastest you'll pay the money.

A 1.4 Pentium-M to 1.7 Pentium-M is a hella lot more than a 3.2C to 3.2EE.

The 1.7 will always be faster. Looking at the review benchmarks (AT), its more like going from a 2.2Ghz P4 to a 2.8Ghz P4.

 

[firtol88]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: firtol88
Anyone worried about the price of a 1.7 P-m shouldn't think about Dothan for a while, on launch they will be substantially higher than 1.7s are now.

As for the performance boost it should be similar to 3.2 P4c vs. 3.2 P4ee or not that great but if you want the fastest you'll pay the money.

A 1.4 Pentium-M to 1.7 Pentium-M is a hella lot more than a 3.2C to 3.2EE.

The 1.7 will always be faster. Looking at the review benchmarks (AT), its more like going from a 2.2Ghz P4 to a 2.8Ghz P4.

A 1.8 Dothan will cost alot more than the 1.7 Banias does now but when compared to a 1.7 Banias will only offer a performance increase similar to that between a 3.2 P4c and a 3.2 P4ee .


A 1.8 Dothan will cost considerably more than the 1.7 Banias does now but will only offer a performance increase similar to that between a 3.2 P4c and a 3.2 P4ee. Thus if the jump from 1.6 to 1.7 is cost inhibitive waiting for Dothan to hit wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.


Anyone worried about the price of a 1.7 P-m shouldn't think about Dothan for a while, on launch they will be substantially higher than 1.7s are now.

As for the performance boost it should be similar to 3.2 P4c vs. 3.2 P4ee or not that great but if you want the fastest you'll pay the money.


Now you can argue that it would be closer to a 3.06 P4c vs. a 3.2 P4ee but we won't really know for a while anyway.