The "What Notebook Should I Get?" Guide!

[Shadowmage]

Processor Choice

1. Pentium M

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipset...doc.aspx?i=2129

Overview:
This processor runs at low wattage - 21W to be exact - to provide amazing battery life. Notebooks with this processor usually have weak batteries, yet have amazing battery life, running from 3 to 5 or even 8 hours. These notebooks also tend to be lighter, since the Pentium M can be easily cooled. Processor speeds range from 1.5ghz to 2.16ghz. The Pentium M can only use DDR333.

Performance: High
The Dothan core is roughly equivelent to the AMD64 in performance. Therefore, a 2.0ghz Pentium M is roughly equal to a 2.0ghz AMD64 Mobile.

Note: Performance ratings are for the top processor of the class (755).

Business Applications: High
Multimedia Encoding: Mid-Low
Gaming: High
Workstation: Medium

Supports: MMX, SSE, SSE2


Tweak Support:
unknown - PM me or post here for multi adjustment/fsb adjustment software.



Pros:
1. Low power
2. Low heat output - lighter notebooks!
3. Powerful (if choose the 755)

Cons:
1. Expensive
2. 1.5ghz-1.8ghz chips offer lower performance
3. No 64bit support
4. Low memory bandwidth

Overall Mobile Performance rating: 9.5


2. AMD 64 Mobile

This is just a lower voltage version of the AMD64 socket 754 with a 1MB cache. There is the DTR (71W) version the Mobile (62W) version, and the True Mobile (35W) version. The Mobile is just a DTR set at 1.4v, which is a setting all DTR models can run. Therefore, choose a DTR whenever possible, as you can tweak it to run at 1.4v (or less!) with programs.

Performance:

Note: Performance of a 3000+ 2.0ghz desktop compared to the 2.0ghz Dothan and 3.2ghz Pentium 4

Business Applications: Mid-High
Multimedia Encoding: High
Gaming Performance: High
Workstation Performance: Mid-High

Tweak Support:

See my guide. There are so many tweaks for this, I wrote a guide specially for it!

Pros:
1. Cheap - a $200 AMD64 is roughly as powerful as the $500 755.
2. Immensely tweakable, thanks to PowerNow! and 3rd party tweak programs.
3. 64 bit support
4. Hardware antivirus support (I doubt its usefulness)

Cons:
1. Higher heat output
2. Higher power intake

Overall Mobile Performance Rating: 9

3. Celeron M/AMD XP M

Ah ha! The AMD XP Mobile... look familiar?

This is what it's REALLY intended for! Not in your desktop computer!

Both are good VALUE solutions. The AMD XP M offers more performance at the cost of a slight decrease in battery length. Your choice: battery vs. power!

3. Others

DO NOT GET ANY OTHER PROCESSOR, UNLESS YOU'RE A CHEAP B@ST@RD!
I will not cover any other processor in this guide, because it does not deserve my attention!

I will however, reap criticism on the lesser laptop processors.

Pentium 4 M
High Heat - If you value your lap, don't buy this!
High Power intake - Bye bye batteries!

Pentium 4
See above Pentium 4 M, then multiply the suckiness by 2!

Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
If you get this for your laptop, you deserve to be butt-raped by Goatse man.


Celeron
1. It's a crappy Pentium! WOW!

AMD Sempron
Roughly same TDP and power intake as the AMD64 DTR, but much less powerful. nuff said.

AMD XP Mobile
It's a low power chip (35W or 45W), but its power is lacking. It's probably the 3rd best choice for your laptop.



OK, now on to the Mobile VGA cards!

nVidia 6800 go/ATI M28
The mother of all mobile VGA cards! They all sport 12 pipes and 256bit memory. The M28 kicked some 6800 butt in Anandtech's latest review, but that's probably because it was a lower-clocked version (300/300). These are slightly less powerful 6800 nU/X800 Pro video cards. Remember that X800 Pro easily beats the 6800 nU.

There is no information regarding heat/power, but I will assume that it's higher than others.

Pros:
1. Extremely powerful!
2. Pci-Express format
3. Upgradable modular design
4. Possible multi-GPU support

Cons:
1. Expensive
2. Higher thermal output
3. Higher power intake


Radeon 9800
This is about equal to the performance of a Radeon 9800 desktop version. It is built from the X800 core, except it's limited to 8 pipes. It still have 256bit memory, fortunately. Unfortunately, it's only sold in Dell computers at the moment. This will soon change, due to the entrance of the 6800/M28. It uses the AGP format.

Pros:
1. Very good performance

Cons:
1. AGP interface
2. Non-upgradable (since it's the best AGP card)
3. Rare

Radeon 9700/9600
This is basically a Radeon 9600 Pro. The 9700 is simply a speed bump of the 9600. The only other improvement is the use of low-k tech, which means cooler GPUs. This has been on the market the longest out of all the 'high end' GPUs.

Pros:
1. Decent performance
2. Common to find

Cons:
1. AGP interface
2. Most likely non-upgradable
3. Uncomparable to Desktop GPU performance (9600XT is now low end)

Radeon X600
This is the first PCI-Express GPU. It's basically a X800 core limited to 4 pipes and 128mb memory. The good thing is that it's most likely upgradable. The power of this processor is comparable to the Radeon 9700 Mobility.

Pros:
1. PCI-Express
2. Upgradable
3. "High end" performance

Cons:
1. Performance is high for a laptop, low for a desktop.

nVidia 5700/5650 go
This is the second-highest nVidia offering. It is no match for the Radeon 9700/9600, because it uses the old FX architecture, which even nVidia fanboys now admit is crap. High clock speeds, high power consumption and lower performance describes this GPU. There is a reason why the Radeon 9700 Pro is used in most gaming laptops... hinthinthint... However, nVidia remains the OpenGL leader, so if Doom3 is your #1 priority, then go for it!

Anything that is not a GPU listed above is not good for playing the latest games on your laptop, unless you wish to run them at 800x600.




Recommended Notebooks:

1. Ultra-Highend DTR - Price: Unlimited
This is for the user that doesn't want to move the computer from his desk, aside from lugging this thing to LANs.

I recommend the Hypersonic Aviator EX7

http://secure.hypersonic-pc.com/scr...sid=Aviator_zx5

All DTRs with the 6800 go (M28 has not even been released yet!) use the Pentium 4. However, since this is the DTR category, we will overlook the fact that the laptop weighs 12lbs.

Pros:
1. nVidia 6800 go: nuff said
2. 17" screen
3. Hypersonic has a GREAT dead pixel policy
4. Gigabit ethernet
5. RAID 0 Hard drive

Cons:
1. 12lbs - I'll overlook this since it's a DTR
2. Pentium 4 - Again, only P4 laptops carry the 6800 go... sigh...


2. Midrange Gaming Notebook - Price: ~$1500-$2000
This class is for the user who doesn't mind lugging 7-8lbs or so and wants top-notch gaming performance at a decent price.

I recommend the Ibuypower Battalion 101 S Turbo

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/...or.aspx?mid=123

This is my notebook. Great price, for a great AMD64 notebook based off of the awesome Uniwill chassis. I like the Widescreen aspect too.

Pros:
1. AMD64 processor
2. Radeon 9700 128mb
3. 15.4" widescreen

Cons:
1. Some people don't like Ibuypower
2. Weight: 7.8lbs
3. 1280x800 resolution is distained by the SUUUUUUXGA freaks
4. Radeon 9700 128mb - No Radeon 9800 or 6800/M28 computer in this class avail

3. Lightweight Gaming Machine With Long Battery Life That's Cheap
Some people want it all. Of course, that means you have to balance out the specs. If you focus on everything, you end up with a laptop that's mediocre with everything.

I recommend the Acer TravelMate 3201XCi

http://www.newegg.com/app/View......-115-143&depa=3

Fortunately, ACER specially designed a laptop for you guys who want it all. It's not the greatest performer (about equal to an AMD64 2600+), has decent - but not great game performance (Only 64mb VGA RAM), and has a pretty darn good weight of ~5lbs. Good thing it's upgradable.

Pros:
1. Above average battery life
2. Newegg is a trustworthy store
3. Acer is a trustworthy brand
4. Above average VGA card
5. Great weight

Cons:
1. Mediocre performance (1.5ghz Banias = 1.5ghz AMD64)
2. 64mb VGA

4. The Cheap-@$$ Miser's Notebook
Ahh, the person who wants the cheapest notebook. No doubt it's crap, but hey, whatever floats your boat....

I recommend the Acer Notebook TM2301LC

http://www.newegg.com/app/View......-115-153&depa=3

Pros:
1. It's cheap ($699)
2. 15" LCD panel
3. 6.2lb is pretty light

Cons:
1. Crappy Celeron M
2. Crappy 30gb hd
3. only 256mb RAM
4. Integrated Intel Extreme(ly cr@ppy) VGA


(c)2004 by Shadowmage

 

[cheesehead]

Hypersonic has a computer identical to the one mentioned above (by Ibuypower) at the same price. HyperSonic, however, has a better reputation for quality.

 

[Shadowmage]

Hypersonic has a similar notebook at a higher price.

 

[cheesehead]

Many of the parts upgrades are slightly cheaper, and I found out that my configuration actually ended up costing 10$ less. I, for one, am not complaining.

 

[ai42]

Celeron M
Celeron = a crappy Pentium 4. Nuff said

Celeron
1. It's a crappy Celeron M! WOW!

FYI...
Celeron M(obile) is based on Banais Pentium M CPU with lower cache and no SpeedStep so it does have rather impressive power specs, but of course not quite as nice as Pentium M.

Celeron are based on P4 Northwood CPUs which of course is the desktop counterpart. AKA Celeron D(esktop) which again is the desktop counterpart.

 

[The Internal]

worth the glance, I prefer power and bang for buck over battery life though, so the AMD 64 gets my vote.

 

[Abhi]

Good effort....

You need to remember, There a lot of people that buy sub $1000 laptops. People also buy laptops just to surf the web and do word processing. For them, a celeron M is fine.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: ai42

Celeron M
Celeron = a crappy Pentium 4. Nuff said

Celeron
1. It's a crappy Celeron M! WOW!

FYI...
Celeron M(obile) is based on Banais Pentium M CPU with lower cache and no SpeedStep so it does have rather impressive power specs, but of course not quite as nice as Pentium M.

Celeron are based on P4 Northwood CPUs which of course is the desktop counterpart. AKA Celeron D(esktop) which again is the desktop counterpart.

Yep, the Celeron M isn't all that bad, but laptops with desktop Celerons are the ones to avoid like the plague. Mobile Celerons (P4 based) have double the cache of the desktop versions but are still anemic performers and suck power like mad compared to the P-M and Celeron M.

 

[AmigaMan]

Good idea doing a writeup. Just a suggestion, perhaps you should organize it so it's based on price instead of power. As mentioned earlier, a lot of people buy laptops to surf the web in their underwear on their recliner watching football and drinking a beer (not me of course . So in my case a high powered, desktop replacement, second-mortgage-requiring laptop isn't an option. Apparently my boss at work disagrees and that's why I have one of those. But I digress, if I were to go out and buy a new laptop today, I'd buy the cheapest slowest one out there and a Celery would work fine for me in my underwear on my recliner drinking beer watching football.

 

[skunklet]

what about the new efficeon? huh? huh?

 

[joe360]

About rating the Dothan performance in gaming high, the best video card I've seen with the Dothan is the Ati 9700. Wouldn't that drag down the performance more to "medium" than "high"?

 

[fbrdphreak]

Sticky!

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Quote:
Cons:
1. Expensive
2. 1.5ghz-1.8ghz chips offer lower performance
3. No 64bit support
4. Low memory bandwidth

lower performance? its not like i'm an intel hater but i AM a super AMD fanboy, and i for one think your Con #2 is wrong. the 1.5 GHz Dothan will pound my buddy's P4 Dell (2.4 GHz 533 FSB Northwood i believe) into the dirt. Thats just like saying because the Athlon 64 3000+ only runs at 2 GHz it has low performance
unless of course you meant lower performance in comparison to the other P-M chips

 

[fbrdphreak]

bump it up for a sticky guys!

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: sheik124
Quote:
Cons:
1. Expensive
2. 1.5ghz-1.8ghz chips offer lower performance
3. No 64bit support
4. Low memory bandwidth

lower performance? its not like i'm an intel hater but i AM a super AMD fanboy, and i for one think your Con #2 is wrong. the 1.5 GHz Dothan will pound my buddy's P4 Dell (2.4 GHz 533 FSB Northwood i believe) into the dirt. Thats just like saying because the Athlon 64 3000+ only runs at 2 GHz it has low performance
unless of course you meant lower performance in comparison to the other P-M chips

Yeah I'm not sure what you mean by "lower performance." If you're referring to them having less cache or something you are wrong, as those models can be had with the donthan core.

 

[Shadowmage]

Originally posted by: sheik124
Quote:
Cons:
1. Expensive
2. 1.5ghz-1.8ghz chips offer lower performance
3. No 64bit support
4. Low memory bandwidth

lower performance? its not like i'm an intel hater but i AM a super AMD fanboy, and i for one think your Con #2 is wrong. the 1.5 GHz Dothan will pound my buddy's P4 Dell (2.4 GHz 533 FSB Northwood i believe) into the dirt. Thats just like saying because the Athlon 64 3000+ only runs at 2 GHz it has low performance
unless of course you meant lower performance in comparison to the other P-M chips

Remember, in ALL tests by EVERY site, the tests were with a 2.0ghz 775 Dothan vs the AMD64 line.

The 2.0ghz Dothan was found to be equal in performance to that of the AMD 3200+ 1MB.

Both are 2.0ghz.

The same was found true for the 1.8ghz model and the AMD64 3000+ 1MB.

Therefore, it makes sense that a 1.5ghz Dothan would be equal to that of a AMD64 ~2500+ or so.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Bump it up for a STICKY

 

[Shadowmage]

Thanks for all the interest, people

I have posted a "cheap as possible" laptop as well, if you look at the "recommended laptops" section. Of course, if you're buying a laptop because it's cheap, you can't be picky, which is why I don't review the "budget processors."

A special thank you to fbrdphreak for his enthusiasm. Thanks a lot man!

BTW, the Efficieon is a very unpopular model that runs with low performance and power. It's hardly found in any notebooks, so hence, no review. Not enough interest.

 

[shadowfaX]

another bump for sticky - worthy read.

 

[gbrux]

For those who need to tote a notebook often (like for work on the road), it's the Acer Travelmate 3201 hands down for all around good features.
However, Acer seems to have prohibted resellers from offering this model in alternate configurations. In other words, you can't get more than 512 MB memory (capacity is 2 GB), no hard drive options (4200 RPM only), no optical drive options, and nothing but 1.5 GHz Pentium M. So, upgrading will involve heavy financial lifting.
For example, your other recommended notebooks lack the 2 GB memory capacity that this Travelmate has, but to upgrade the Travelmate 3201 you have to buy two 1 GB sticks of memory and throw the two 256 MB standard sticks away or sell them on eBay. I need the 2 GB because I run a virual Windows Server 2003 network with Virtual PC, which requires a lot of memory for adequate performance. Similar thing for faster hard drive and optical drive. Unknown whether the Pentium M can be upgraded.
Note that this Travelmate comes with Bluetooth.

 

[Conroy9]

Isn't P4 or P4 Extreme Edition still the top performing Intel cpu, if battery/weight is irrelevant?
It's at least not twice as sucky as the P4-M

 

[Shadowmage]

Yes it is.

The P4 EE loses to the latest P4, too lazy to find a link to prove it.

The P4 is only better than the AMD64 at multithreading and vid editing

Both suck at gaming, more than the AMD64 AND the Pentium M.

The only way a P4 can beat an AMD64 OVERALL is after a substantial overclock, which you can't do on laptops anyways.

 

[TerranAce007]

I just ordered an IBuyPower laptop last week. I wish I would have seen this topic before I ordered, but after reading through here, it pretty much confirms what I read elsewhere.

From what I understood, centrino is a very good laptop CPU for the business environment, but it is a bit lacking on gaming, which is why I chose the AMD 64 (Laptop is for college, and I have my priorities in order, as you can see...). I have been an AMD fan since I won the Xtreme Performace contest and got a motherboard and XP1800 cpu two years ago, but I was considering a mobile P4 as my second choice. I had heard that they were fast, but sucked the juice out of batteries like no other. I really wanted a 64bit cpu anyway so I can run a 64 linux distribution.

The specs are this:
IBuyPower 15.4" 1280x800 Laptop in Reflective Orange!
AMD64 3200+
512mb Corsair PC3200 (plan on adding a 1gb stick later for 1.5gb total)
60gb 7200 rpm HDD
Radeon MR9700 128mb
CD-RW/DVD-ROM (since I have a DVD+RW in my desktop that can go in an external enclousre)
3-in-1 Media card reader.
All the other standard stuff like 10/100LAN, sound, 802.11b/g, etc...
WinXP Home for gaming
Fedora Core 3 Linux for everything else.

Price was something like $1613.15 with shipping. I should have it in a week to ten days, and I will let yall know how it turns out.

 

[roguerower]

I was looking on the IBM website for a college pc (thankyou dear god i get to move out) and they had an ATI FireGLT2. Just asking if the card is any good. It says that for media centers and cad its good but what about gaming. thnks