Presario V5000 vs. Netbook

[rcazador]

Hi,
My uncle left his old notebook (Compaq Presario V5000), with me. It's got a 64 bit Turian Processor, 1.87 GB of RAM, 15" screen and a 80Gb hard disk.

I want to know whether it would be better to keep this or to exchange it for a basic Netbook,(Acer A250 or something around that range).

I have a nice desktop for all the processor intensive work, so this notebook will be for basic entertainment, a few documents and such.

What do you think I should do?

 

[WoodButcher]

Can the compac be upgraded? Does everything work? disc drive?

I would be inclined to keep it if everything works, I have an acer netbook 10.1" and with the memory/ hard drive upgrades cost me around $350, I would have been better of w/ a low end laptop for my needs. The atom is not fast so find reviews to compare the atom to the one you have. Google is your friend on this.

 

[Rottie]

keep v5000 it has a powerful cpu than atom and it can do everything atom cant do for example if you plan to play game or video or photo editing on the go. everyone include me have 2 to keep netbook and notebook

 

[rcazador]

well truth is I have a dell Ispiron with specs similar to the Compaq(which works fine except for bwttery life). So is it still wise to keep the Compaq

 

[Decembermouse]

I still don't think I'd trade a powerful machine for a netbook :\

 

[TimeKeeper]

If your V5000 come w/ MT-32, then it is only little faster than Atom N270. (385 vs 304 Passmark) If you upgrade your netbook to 2GB w/ Win 7, then, I doubt you will notice the different in performance between them.

Now, you have a powerful desktop at home, I doubt you would ever want to use a laptop at home?

So, it comes down to portabililty and battery life.
Let's say, if you just want to hang around coffee shop/ library/ one day vacation doing web browsing, facebook, MS office, youtube, or read Anandtech review, DO you Really want to carry around a 7 lb brick, PLUS AC charger?

p.s. I have been through couple netbooks, MSI / ACER and Asus and I will recommend Asus 1005ha-V ( 8 hours battery ) or 1005ha-p ( 10 hours battery + BT )
* seriously, don't get those netbook w/ small battery so you can save few dollars. You will be looking for AC outlet all the time.

 

[rcazador]

If your V5000 come w/ MT-32, then it is only little faster than Atom N270. (385 vs 304 Passmark) If you upgrade your netbook to 2GB w/ Win 7, then, I doubt you will notice the different in performance between them.

Now, you have a powerful desktop at home, I doubt you would ever want to use a laptop at home?

So, it comes down to portabililty and battery life.
Let's say, if you just want to hang around coffee shop/ library/ one day vacation doing web browsing, facebook, MS office, youtube, or read Anandtech review, DO you Really want to carry around a 7 lb brick, PLUS AC charger?

p.s. I have been through couple netbooks, MSI / ACER and Asus and I will recommend Asus 1005ha-V ( 8 hours battery ) or 1005ha-p ( 10 hours battery + BT )
* seriously, don't get those netbook w/ small battery so you can save few dollars. You will be looking for AC outlet all the time.

Thanks for the heads up, I just checked the 1005 and it rocks.

 

[Decembermouse]

Yeah don't get one with the old N270 though, get the new one. I think it's the N540? It uses way less power and you will get several hours more battery life. Also it's very slightly faster. IF you decide you need a netbook, that is. I'm not a huge fan of them considering how much better battery life is getting in fully functional laptops, and the fact that they don't cost much more than netbooks...

 

[TimeKeeper]

Yeah don't get one with the old N270 though, get the new one. I think it's the N540? It uses way less power and you will get several hours more battery life. Also it's very slightly faster. IF you decide you need a netbook, that is. I'm not a huge fan of them considering how much better battery life is getting in fully functional laptops, and the fact that they don't cost much more than netbooks...

Intel Atom 230 @ 1.60GHz........................ 314
Intel Atom 330 @ 1.60GHz........................................ 624
Intel Atom D510 @ 1.66GHz............................................... 660
Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz .....................304
Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz....................... 315
Intel Atom N450 @ 1.66GHz............................ 343
Intel Atom Z520 @ 1.33GHz................... 250
Intel Atom Z530 @ 1.60GHz.................... 296
Intel Atom Z540 @ 1.86GHz.................... 306
Intel Atom Z550 @ 2.00GHz .................................351


Z540 is just little bit, actually, no different from N270 in performance.
N450 is little faster than N270 in regular web/text/office, but UNbearable in video/youtube/3d.


Both Z540 and N450, specially N450 will achieve better battery life.

 

[Decembermouse]

Yeah, no Atom I know of is gonna be great with multimedia processing, with the wimpy chipsets and in-order design... someday they'll be faster, 64-bit, 32nm, out-of-order, have a good chippy...

 

[F1shF4t]

For videos Ion is probably the best, but you still have to put up with Atom for every other task.

I got a gateway LT31 which has an amd athlon 64 1.2ghz in it, which supports 64bit and make the system quite snappy. Even used photoshop on it. But its hopeless for videos. 720p is a slideshow.

Its an alternative if you willling to put up with only 5h battery life.