What's so good about Centrino vs P4?

[DonIsHere]

I'm getting a couple Dell laptops for work. The Inspirons have a choice between P4 and Pentium M, while the Latitude line of laptops are Pentium M-based. I skimmed the article on AT about Pentium M "Revolutionizing the Mobile World" and am still confused.

What's so good about the Pentium M VS a mobile P4?

thanks.

 

[Matthias99]

It uses WAY less power (mostly because it has a much higher IPC and a shorter pipeline, like those chips that *other* CPU company makes...). And at the same clockspeed, a Pentium M is much faster than a Pentium 4 (the P-M 1.8Ghz roughly equals a P4 2.4Ghz in most tasks).

 

[Carbonadium4]

I just got the newer p4, the D800, had a i8600 last month.. was too slow.. the new p4m has 2 mb cache compared to the old p4m with 1mb cache. I had a i8500 before and it was locking up big time.. 4-5 times through out the day.. the i8600 with the p4m runs cooler.. which model are you looking at ?

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: Carbonadium4
I just got the newer p4, the D800, had a i8600 last month.. was too slow.. the new p4m has 2 mb cache compared to the old p4m with 1mb cache. I had a i8500 before and it was locking up big time.. 4-5 times through out the day.. the i8600 with the p4m runs cooler.. which model are you looking at ?

you use wrong terms, p4m is not the same as Pentium M. There is:

Pentium 4
Pentium 4 M (I think the difference from a normal P4 is that it alows speed stepping, to save power)
Pentium M (Banias 1Mb cache)
Pentium M (Dothan 2Mb cache)

 

[Carbonadium4]

too many.. too confusing.. i gave up

 

[sailor420]

Battery life is the big one. My T40 will go 4-5 hours on one charge.

 

[RussianSensation]

Basically in lame terms, Centrinos are more efficient by doing more work per clock cycle. My dad's Dell Inspiron 600M 1.7 is about as fast as a P4 2.6, has longer battery life (you could get a longer battery life with non-centrino's but an additional battery weighs more)

So basically if you are looking for portability (smaller size and weight), and longer battery life (this could imply longer connectivity to the Internet) then centrino is a better choice because no one likes to travel with a heavy laptop on long trips or even drag a 7.5 lbs beast home every day from work.

If the laptops will be located at work for the most part, then it's cheaper to go for a normal desktop replacement laptop (usual P4 line)

 

[dullard]

Benefits:
1) Low power gives longer use on a battery. About double the time is typical.
2) Low power means you will not burn your lap or your desk.

Tie:
1) The Centrino does much more work per clock cycle, but runs at a lower frequency. Net result is performance is about the same. For a rough estimate, multiply the Centrino frequency by 1.4 to 1.6 and that is how it will perform if it were a P4.

Drawback:
1) The Centrino is a touch more expensive.