Same price for lower speed Centrino?

[JMaster]

I noticed that a 1.3 Ghz Centrino is about the same price as a 1.9 Ghz P4-M non-centrino laptop. Is the 1.3 actually faster, or is it just more expensive because of the newer technology?

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Doesn't the Centrino just have better wireless connectivity and battery usage? I noticed that the Dell 600m seems really popular here, but I heard that it's not really a Centrino, unless you get the wireless option. Also, the battery life isn't as great as other Centrino laptops.
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[JZilla]

A 1.3 Ghz. Pentium-M should be as fast as a 1.8 Ghz. Pentium 4-Mobile.

Centrino means: Pentium-M, 855 (if I remember correctly) motherboard, and wireless access.

 

[OldSpooky]

The rule of thumb seems to be:

Pentium M 1.6 = Pentium 4-M 2.4
Pentium M 1.5 = Pentium 4-M 2.2
Pentium M 1.4 = Pentium 4-M 2.0
Pentium M 1.3 = Pentium 4-M 1.8

In integer and branch heavy tasks (office stuff, games?), the Pentium M completely trashes the Pentium 4. Anandtech's review of Centrino mobile technology showed the Pentium M 1.6 GHz beating a 2.66 GHz Pentium 4 in integer tasks.

However, I beleive the Pentium 4-M still holds the edge in web content creation and media encoding.

I noticed that the Dell 600m seems really popular here, but I heard that it's not really a Centrino, unless you get the wireless option. Also, the battery life isn't as great as other Centrino laptops.

Centrino is a 3 part combination consisting of the Pentium M processor, the 855 chipset, and the Intel Pro Wireless card. A notebook computer must have all three to qualify for a Centrino sticker. Yeah, basically Centrino = Intel Pro Wireless, since most OEMs will use the Pentium M and 855 chipset.

The Dell 600m has lower battery life than other Centrino laptops (like the IBM ThinkPad T40) because it uses a small 6 cell battery. Dell equiped the 600m with a small battery because they wanted to keep the typical system weight at 5.5 lbs. I do wish they would offer an 8 cell battery.