Laptop to desktop comparisons?

[Pandamonium]

I want to find a laptop that performs nearly as well or better than my current PC, but I have never seen a laptop to PC comparison of any sort.

PC Specs:
Gigabyte GA-7VRXP (KT333, integrated USB 2.0, RAID, LAN, and Sound)
Athlon XP 1800+ @ 1.1Ghz (200mhz FSB)
512MB PC2100 @ PC1600
MSI GeForce 3 Ti200

And for kicks I also use:
Seagate Barracuda IV 80GB
Pioneer 16X DVD
Plextor 24/10/40 ATAPI

I've found that this machine offers enough power for my uses (Office programs, web surfing, email, gaming, occasional graphic design, etc) and want to find a laptop that offers similar performance. I'd prefer a thinner laptop and have no problem with external devices. I'm leaning towards a Dell Inspiron 4150 since I can get a Super XGA+ LCD and it doesn't appear to be too large. My main concern is that a 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 won't be able to push nearly as many pixels as my GeForce 3 Ti200 does and will hamper my ability to game. Does anyone know how the Mobility 7500 stacks up against a stock Ti200? Also, I've read somewhere that Intel should be releasing a refined laptop CPU that ought to draw less power, etc. When is the ETA of this chip/where can I find more information about it? Thanks.

 

[topaz22]

I think that that laptop would outperform that machine (running at those underclocked specs) any day. The hard drive performance may lag (because many are 4200rpm), but if you have the same amount of memory, and a P4, and a Mobility Radeon, you should be good to go.

why are you underclocking your machine?

 

[Pandamonium]

Well my case doesn't have the best airflow in the world - I'm trying to keep the noise levels down so I only have four fans cooling my system (2 x PC Power & Cooling Silencers for CPU and exhaust, 1 x Generic PSU exhaust, 1 x Ti200 fan). Despite my use of a Swiftech MCX 462 and Arctic Silver 3, I get IDLE CPU/Case temps of 60/46 Celsius when running underclocked and 68/56 Celsius when running at stock speed. I haven't yet found a game or program that actually brought my computer to its knees, so I don't really have a problem with running underclocked.

Are you absolutely sure a Mobility 7500 is par with a Ti 200? Is there any resource that does these kinds of cross platform comparissons?

Also, is there any word on new laptop CPU developments?

 

[PCMarine]

Why did you buy a 1800+ and underclock it, when you coulda picked up a cooler running and cheaper duron or celeron?

 

[Pandamonium]

I wanted to go AMD for cost issues and preferred the XP line because it slaughters Durons. Since the 1500+ would have been the coolest running of the XP line and there was a negligible price difference between that and the 1800+, I opted for more power. I also didn't expect heat to be nearly as prevalent an issue as it turned out to be.

As it turned out, my motherboard ran with a 200Mhz FSB by default and I kept putting off flipping the switch to bring it to a 266Mhz FSB. Eventually I realized I didn't even need 1.1Ghz and when I decided to try 1.533Ghz one day I found that I had some heat issues that were solved by keeping my machine underclocked.

 

[topaz22]

SVC GC68,
or..
get a
SLK-800 and a 80mm low rpm fan. you'd get a nice performance boost to run the cpu/fsb/memory all at 133mhz.

I'm not sure about speeds of the mobility 7500, but the processor should easily make up for any lost power. From what I can tell, it will be perfectly fine for any of today's games.

 

[KoolHonda]

From what I've read the new Banias CPUs are geared more towards business apps and the P4Ms will be better for gaming. Also,I'd stay away from the 7500 and if you can wait a few weeks the new mobile version of the GF4 ti4200 will be showing up which should equal if not surpass your GF3 ti200.

 

[Pandamonium]

Are the P4M's slated to be replaced by anything in the next 6 months? Where can I find info about Banias or the new mobile nVidia GPU?

 

[KoolHonda]

Just do a search for Banias and several articles should come up. It looked like the Banias would be phased in this year with the P3Ms getting phased out. The P4Ms should be around for awhile. Same goes for the 4200 GO. Also its looking like 7200RPM laptop drives will be coming out soon, so I'll be doing some serious upgrading to this Dell or buying a new Toshiba.