Laptop is faster than my desktop...correct???????

[JungleMonkey]

QUESTION

I am a designer and I mainly use Adobe and 3d software. I DONT play games.
I have 2 computers.

COMPUTER_1 (desktop)- CPU- AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67 GHZ)
Video Card- GeForceTi 4600 (128Mb)
RAM- Total 3 SLots- (1x256) (1x512) (1x512) = 1256Mb It's older RAM 2-3 years old.
(HD-7200 rpm)

..........................................................

COMPUTER_2 (laptop) Dell Precision M60 Workstation

CPU- Centrino 1.6GHZ
Video Card- Quadro FX Go 700 (128Mb)
RAM- Total 2 slots- (1x512Mb) Planning to buy 1x1GB to take total to 1.5GB PC2700_RAM
(HD-7200 rpm)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUESTION

Am I right in assuming that the laptop will be the faster machine to work on and that there is no point putting any money into the desktop?

Down the road depending on $$$ I will buy anew desktop but I need to be set for next 5 months with my 2 machines. Any advice????????????

 

[InlineFive]

Since those two are so close running on AC power I would test both to determine what feels "fastest" to you. I say AC power because the laptop will go down to about 600Mhz on battery power.

 

[dennisjai215]

well when ur using adobe and 3d software you really do need the ram.. so when u have 1.5gb of ram then yeah i believe ur laptop would be faster...
put them side by side set them on the same task.. .close excess programs and render.. and see whos faster =D

 

[JungleMonkey]

Both will be on AC power when I do real work. Testing together can't be really done properly until I buy the 1GB memory stick for the laptop. 1GB RAM is $350US+ so I wanted to get general advice before I put the money down.
Isn't the centrino 1.6 supposed to be lot quicker than a standard 1.6 GHZ AMD/Intel CPU?

Plus the 333Mhz PC 2700 RAM on the laptop is faster than whatever I have in the desktop. I think it is 133;hz on the desktop.

The Quadro FX Go 700 is probably better than the GeForceTi 4600 for my type of work.

Any more comments?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Laptop > Desktop.

However, the desktop can be upgraded to beat the laptop probably for less than the cost of that 1GB SODIMM.

- M4H

 

[Regs]

I could only imagine the cost of a 7200 RPM HDD for a desk top. Yet, the Desk Top 72k RPM hard drives are still faster with lower latencies. So your Desktop has the advantage of hard drive speed which is crucial. I'm suprised everybody here forgot that lap top hard drives are much slower than their desk top counterparts. Even comparing the same spindle speeds.

 

[JungleMonkey]

Guys the laptop HD IS 7200rpm as well if you did not notice

My mobo can't take a higher speed CPU. To upgrade the desktop I will have to replace MOBO, CPU, RAM....might as well replace the graphic card then. You see then it's almost like building a new desktop.
Hmm I don't know what I should do!!!
Right now I don't have too much money coming in although I have tons of savings but I rather not touch the savings yet or my wife might blow a fuse and them I will have to replace her as well

 

[SagaLore]

If the specs are nearly identical, the desktop will always be faster. It's because laptops have to take shortucts to reduce everything to a size that will fit together so tightly, while reducing power needs and heat output. The laptop ram has a much larger bottleneck - the cpu has some stuff cut out of it, even though the hard drive spins just as fast it's also slower.

 

[JungleMonkey]

One last bump.

So everyone thinks that I should spend my money more towards the desktop. OK

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
If the specs are nearly identical, the desktop will always be faster. It's because laptops have to take shortucts to reduce everything to a size that will fit together so tightly, while reducing power needs and heat output. The laptop ram has a much larger bottleneck - the cpu has some stuff cut out of it, even though the hard drive spins just as fast it's also slower.

Mind sharing what the cpu has cut out of it?

 

[FishTankX]

Originally posted by: cRazYdood

Originally posted by: SagaLore
If the specs are nearly identical, the desktop will always be faster. It's because laptops have to take shortucts to reduce everything to a size that will fit together so tightly, while reducing power needs and heat output. The laptop ram has a much larger bottleneck - the cpu has some stuff cut out of it, even though the hard drive spins just as fast it's also slower.

Mind sharing what the cpu has cut out of it?

In the case of the Pentium-M, it's low on execution units so it has a poorer multitasking ability. Not to mention on battery power it feels slightly less snappy due to the power saving features and the jump to 600mhz

 

[imverygifted]

Your desktop suits your needs better. put the money you were gonna put towards the 1x1GB and get some really good matching memory for your desktop then run it at tight timings. the athlon xp 2000 should beat a 1.6Ghz mobile cpu and most likely your HD on your desktop will run a bit faster so if you using for 3d software definitely put ur money into your desktop because it has much more potential

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: FishTankX

Originally posted by: cRazYdood

Originally posted by: SagaLore
If the specs are nearly identical, the desktop will always be faster. It's because laptops have to take shortucts to reduce everything to a size that will fit together so tightly, while reducing power needs and heat output. The laptop ram has a much larger bottleneck - the cpu has some stuff cut out of it, even though the hard drive spins just as fast it's also slower.

Mind sharing what the cpu has cut out of it?

In the case of the Pentium-M, it's low on execution units so it has a poorer multitasking ability. Not to mention on battery power it feels slightly less snappy due to the power saving features and the jump to 600mhz

He isn't running off battery power, so that isn't an issue.
Look up some benchmarks on Pentium Ms. They are some very efficient processors. I would definately argue they are a more powerful design than an athlon xp at the same speed. The only real thing holding them back is the lack of good chipset support.

 

[JungleMonkey]

Thanks for making my decision even more difficult :-( GRRRR!!!!!

 

[bobalong]

you should be able to find a bundle deal for a core upgrade (MB, CPU, RAM) which will work out the same price at the 1GB ram for the Laptop.

Try and find a 2.5 Mobile Barton (hard to find now - but you can easily OC on nearly all MB's - even value ones)

Leave the laptop as it is - everyone knows they a a dog to upgrade (even if you put more ram in it now - six months down the line you will be wanting more power from it again)

 

[nortexoid]

as it stands, the laptop is probably slightly faster. if all you're upgrading is memory, then no point in investing it in the desktop. if you want to upgrade something to get a speed boost, then you could upgrade the laptop memory. but for the same money you could upgrade your cpu to presumably a barton or sempr0n (depending on your mobo chipset) and still have as much memory as your upgraded laptop would have, but now you have a faster desktop than the laptop.

i would drop ram in the laptop.

 

[JungleMonkey]

nortexoid by "i would drop ram in the laptop."you mean -

A- drop the idea of RAM in the laptop and uograde the desktop

OR

B- Just put more RAM in the laptop and postphone the desktop...

 

[stevty2889]

As it stands right now, the proccessor in your laptop is likely much faster. A 1.6ghz pentium-m is equal to around a 2.8-3.0ghz P4, which is greater than a A-xp 2000+. If it will cost you less to add a 1gig SODIMM to you laptop, than to completely re-vamp your entire desktop, then I say just add the ram to the laptop. I think your video card in your laptop is better suited to your purposes as well. You would need an new motherboard, new CPU(A64 2800+ or P4 3.2ghz at least), new ram, probably a new PSU, and new video card to get your desktop to where it would be better than your laptop would be with the extra ram. Granted once the desktop was ahead of the laptop it would be easier to upgrade, but for now I think you would be better just adding ram to the laptop.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: imverygifted
Your desktop suits your needs better. put the money you were gonna put towards the 1x1GB and get some really good matching memory for your desktop then run it at tight timings. the athlon xp 2000 should beat a 1.6Ghz mobile cpu and most likely your HD on your desktop will run a bit faster so if you using for 3d software definitely put ur money into your desktop because it has much more potential

No, if you want an "accurate" idea of how fast the centrino processor is, all you got to do is multiply the clock speed by 1.5. So in the case of my processor, I have a 2.55GHZ equivalent P4 processor (1.7). If you only need to do video editing/3D rendering at home/work, maybe you should get an external enclosure for a desktop HDD, and hook the HDD into the laptop's USB port (assuming it's got USB 2.0, otherwise it's useless).

You can either put the "scratch disk" on the external drive and/or you could put everything on the external drive and on the laptop (two operating system installs) and then when you feel like doing video crap, just plug in the external HDD and force the computer to boot from that (works). USB 2.0 is just like having a drive on the IDE bus, it's very snappy and sufficient for 7200RPM drives (dunno about SCSI drives though...) If you can, try to get a docking station that will let you put a drive in there (in docking station) so that you don't even need USB 2.0 (port underneath laptop supports fast speeds).

 

[Philippine Mango]

BTW for ram, look for corsair Value Select ram for laptops (not overclocking anyways). The ram is so damn cheap like you can get a stick for 100$ thats 512MB (upgraded IBM laptop from 512 to 1GB and it's much better for gaming). The corsair value select ram for laptops is the cheapest you'll find (I was surprised to find this out).

 

[otispunkmeyer]

can he flash that ti4600 to make it a workstation card like you can with the FX series and the 6800 series? if he could do that then even more reason to stick with the desk top

 

[JungleMonkey]

From my understanding only crucial and kingston make ram for the dell M60 workstation. I am in Europe and currently the 1GB crucial stick will cost 300Euro which is roughly $400-USD.
Checked on Kingston site and they are charging $500-600 USD for the 1GB stick. They must think I am mad!

So crucial is the best option if I go the laptop route. My laptop still has 2 year gurantee+insurance left on it. If I damage it I get a new one. SO maybe I should go the laptop way. I can always buy a brand new desktop if lot of work starts rolling in.
Funny thing is that I can get a brand new although crap desktop for $400. Hmm!!!!!
Btw my laptop does have 3xUSB2 ports and 1xfirewire port.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: JungleMonkey
Guys the laptop HD IS 7200rpm as well if you did not notice

The seek times and access times though are slower than that of a Desktop 7200K HDD.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Just a suggestion Outpost.com has some under $200US "Premium" branded (it's actualy legacy electronics) 1GB cas 2.5 PC2700 sodimms that work in pretty much anything that will take cas 2.5 PC2700 memory I've got 2 runing in my Emachines M6805 and it's been great so if you could get that for your laptop it would be a better idea and prolly cheaper than your other options. Also as an FYI your laptop is prolly slightly faster than your desktop unless what your running takes more than 512mb of ram. Upgrading it to 1.5GB of ram should make it faster in pretty much all situations than your desktop period.

 

[SagaLore]

Centrino versus Pentium4

The mobile processor does win. But then again, it has an enhanced core, so if a P4 (or P5?) equivilent came out, it would be undoubtably faster.

The real bottleneck is in the laptop motherboard and drive, memory, etc.

laptop versus desktop performance It would take awhile to explain where all the bottlenecks are and why...