Question Is a Gemini Lake laptop fast enough for typical use?

[bononos]

How decent is the N4000 celeron for a laptop? Is it decent enough for typical use or is it too slow like atom netbooks?
Need to replace an old core2 laptop for parents which broke at the hinges, which was getting abit too slow at this point anyway.

 

[bononos]

.............
C2D or Gemini Lake level of performance with 4-8GB RAM and SSD is perfectly acceptable. Puma+ is using Carrizo, so its actually a decent core. Both Intel's low power and Core platforms are far more power efficient, but that's really a side point.

The old laptop was actually abit too slow even for ordinary browsing even with an ssd. Webpages was loading slower than I would like and it ran abit too warm and the fan spins up often.

I looked up passmark and the n4000/n5000 is around 2x faster vs core1/2. I got a refurb'd ivy bridge laptop and it seems to run pretty good and doesn't heat up.

 

[IntelUser2000]

I looked up passmark and the n4000/n5000 is around 2x faster vs core1/2. I got a refurb'd ivy bridge laptop and it seems to run pretty good and doesn't heat up.

It's really not. Per clock, the chips in the Gemini Lake platform are about the same as Peryn-class Core 2. At least, they benchmark about the same. In passmark, you want to make sure you are comparing the single threaded scores on Core 2 with single threaded scores on Gemini Lake.

Ivy Bridge is 20-25% faster per clock than Core 2. It's a big difference but not that big.

I'm not sure why that laptop is so slow? Did you check to see its not stuck at the LFM(Low Frequency Mode for saving power), which is at 800MHz? I've seen two laptops that exhibited that problem. If its running hotter than you think it should, you could try removing the dust and seeing if the thermal paste has dried and needs new ones.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I don't know if it's OT for this thread, but Staples has a Stoney Ridge-based Dell 11.6" 3000-series Inspiron laptop for $119.

Edit: It has 32GB eMMC, and a 1366x768 11.6" screen. Built-in battery. Really low-end.

 

[bononos]

It's really not. Per clock, the chips in the Gemini Lake platform are about the same as Peryn-class Core 2. At least, they benchmark about the same. In passmark, you want to make sure you are comparing the single threaded scores on Core 2 with single threaded scores on Gemini Lake.

Ivy Bridge is 20-25% faster per clock than Core 2. It's a big difference but not that big.

I'm not sure why that laptop is so slow? Did you check to see its not stuck at the LFM(Low Frequency Mode for saving power), which is at 800MHz? I've seen two laptops that exhibited that problem. If its running hotter than you think it should, you could try removing the dust and seeing if the thermal paste has dried and needs new ones.

No its not stuck at LFM. I did some checking and the cpu sucks, its the neutered Pentium Merom with half the l2 disabled, so no wonder it feels slow. Only the fastest Penryn's are close to the Gemini lake in single thread passmark.

 

[IntelUser2000]

No its not stuck at LFM. I did some checking and the cpu sucks, its the neutered Pentium Merom with half the l2 disabled, so no wonder it feels slow.

I see. That sucks.

Yea, Gemini Lake looks awesome. 6W and unlike the Core Y-series devices, they don't really throttle. Plus their lineage is from the mobile(Android) Atoms so it gets good battery life. I want to see how the 10nm successor core Tremont(Gemini is Goldmont Plus) will do.

I don't know if VirtualLarry's recommendation can help you? If it does you can just transfer the SSD into there?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I don't know if VirtualLarry's recommendation can help you? If it does you can just transfer the SSD into there?

See my thread in Hot Deals, I have some tear-down pictures of the board and insides. There is NO SATA 2.5" bay, nor connector for one. There are some solder points, unsure if there is also a BIOS lock-out on the SATA port on the eMMC model.

I only mentioned that because of price. @killster1 we get it, you're not a fan of low-end laptops. If you know of any better ones, available full new retail box, for same or cheaper, PLEASE let us know, start a thread in Hot Deals, whatever. $120 though is a pretty low bar to get under.

 

[lakedude]

This idea of a CPU being "fast enough" is a curious one. IMHO several factors other than raw CPU power are more important, especially for content consumers. A content creator might need a bit more horsepower...

For example the storage plays a huge part in percieved quickness.

Another factor is internet connection speed. A slow connection is going to bog the whole system down.

Finally hardware decoding of modern video compression formats is critical. A Core2Duo might be just fine if paired with a modern video card that supports HEVC.

I've recently discovered that my phone is plenty fast enough for most of my (non-gaming/non-distributed computing) needs. The points mentioned above are what seem to be the key. Fast storage, a good connection and H.265 support will make a slow (within reason) CPU shine.