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Which CPU is better for a laptop?
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The only thing you successfully proved is that in your highly isolated case, you saw a "night & day" difference between the Celeron M and Pentium M, which you have nothing but your opinion to back up. Or would you like to pony up some numbers? :roll:
Even if you manage to provide proof of a "night & day" difference (which we all doubt), then you have successfully proven that those particular applications (which have what, maybe a 1% userbase among all laptop owners) are faster on Pentium Ms vs. Celeron Ms.
Yet I can easily provide benchmarks showing that the performance between the two processors is quite small, using applications which have 100x more users than your two development applications.
The guy asking for advice did not mention what his laptop was being used for, yet you immediately provided him with poor advice based on an isolated experience which has yet to be proven with any numbers, only your vague statement of a "night & day" difference. Those much wiser than you provided a more general comparison of the two processors which showed them to be more alike in performance.
Thanks for playing!
ValuedCustomer
Senior member
Dude, I (w/ my team) support 5,500 users w/ around 3/4 on laptops.. if I?d had just one or two bad experiences from the 100s I've built and rebuilt (and rebuilt, and rebuilt..) I'd have kept my mouth shut and we wouldn't be having this conversation. - maybe the C-Ms are just fine for the average user w/ 30 or so processes running but w/ a corporate image installed, 50+ processes and resource hogging apps running at the same time there's just no comparison. If you choose not to believe that, go right ahead.
jpeyton, not that I have any experiance with either the C-M or the P-M (so I am not going to speculate on how they compare), but I'm curious what benchmarks you think would show real usage? How do you plan to show that half the cache and a slower FSB has little effect on performance? By using a benchmark program that doesnt stress bandwith I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to prove that the same speed C-M and a P-M are not much different (same as a Duron vs Athlon, or Sempron vs A64).
I think even you conceeded that the C-M is bandwith limited compared to the P-M, but how much that effects performance is probably going to depend on what it is used for. So it might be possible that both you and ValuedCustomer are correct (ever consider that?).
I think even you conceeded that the C-M is bandwith limited compared to the P-M, but how much that effects performance is probably going to depend on what it is used for. So it might be possible that both you and ValuedCustomer are correct (ever consider that?).
Look, ValuedCustomer (heh), I don't mean this personally, but you have to understand why there might be some skepticism here. It's not an issue of "choosing not to believe you", it's an issue of weighing the evidence. Every benchmark in every single review that I've seen says the Celeron-M is more or less comparable to the Pentium-M, and all you have in your favor is your word. Honestly, no one here has any reason to believe you're telling the truth about your job, let alone that you're telling the truth about everything you can say. This is NOT intended as an insult, it's just a simple fact that one anonymous forum user's word is not as strong as a mountain of reliable evidence.
I support 32,500+ laptop users, and in each and every case I have found the Celeron-M laptops to perform EXACTLY THE SAME as Pentium-M laptops.
See, you can say whatever you want on the World Wide Inter-Web(tm)! That doesn't mean others should automatically take it as truth.
Comparing Dothan to Dothan, it's been shown that even the gap between 1MB of L2 and 2MB of L2 is tiny with the P-M. The same goes for 400MHz vs. 533MHz (and mind, many Dothan P-Ms have 400MHz FSBs), although it's "small" instead of "tiny". Remember that the P-M is in fact a P6-- it really doesn't care too much about having gobs and gobs of bandwidth, no matter the application. It would be possible for platform to influence results, but ValuedCustomer said that everything was the same, so that's right out.
I support 32,500+ laptop users, and in each and every case I have found the Celeron-M laptops to perform EXACTLY THE SAME as Pentium-M laptops.
See, you can say whatever you want on the World Wide Inter-Web(tm)! That doesn't mean others should automatically take it as truth.
The "bandwidth limiting" you refer to is exceedingly minor. Basically, a 90nm Celeron-M has just 1MB of L2 cache and a 400MHz FSB. This is the same as a Banias-core Pentium-M, which is why it's so hard to believe what ValuedCustomer is saying.
Comparing Dothan to Dothan, it's been shown that even the gap between 1MB of L2 and 2MB of L2 is tiny with the P-M. The same goes for 400MHz vs. 533MHz (and mind, many Dothan P-Ms have 400MHz FSBs), although it's "small" instead of "tiny". Remember that the P-M is in fact a P6-- it really doesn't care too much about having gobs and gobs of bandwidth, no matter the application. It would be possible for platform to influence results, but ValuedCustomer said that everything was the same, so that's right out.
Well remember that not all Pentium Ms use the 533MHz FSB right now, and not all new laptops are using the Sonoma chipset either.
Examine a CPU review on a major website to see what applications would be used. The Tech Report is a highly regarded site among people here. Photoshop, Video/Audio Encoding, Mobile Bechmark Suites, Raw FPU/Int Performance, etc.
You're trying to take your highly specific experience and apply it to a general user, which is why I think your advice is poor. You're also completely ignoring the original poster's situation. They have a choice between two budget processors, but instead of recommending the stronger one within their budget, you tell them that it's crap, without regard to how relevant your argument is for the original poster.
Guess what? A laptop with a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 W/ HT is better performing and can handle multiple processes better than a mid-level Pentium M; that doesn't mean I would recommend that CPU to the original poster, however, because a) Pentium 4 laptops have poor battery life, b) Pentium 4 laptops are much more expensive and c) we have no idea what the original poster's uses for this laptop will be.
...And don't forget your flesh being burned off from the heat produced. 😀
Definitely go with either Celeron M or Pentium M (preferably the latter). "M" have much better battery life, much less power consumption, and will be plenty fast enough for the typical laptop applications. P-M is really decent in gaming as well (if that matters to you.)
ValuedCustomer
Senior member
And like I've said (ad nauseum) you can believe/think anything you want.. I can only relate my own experiences/trials & tribulations w/ the subject matter and form an opinion from that. Quote me all the benchmarks on earth and that's still not gonna convince me that I'm not seeing what I'm seeing.
Honestly, this started off w/ me being sarcastic and purposely ignoring the choice of what in my day-to-day experience has lead me to believe is a processor I would in no way be happy w/ and another that, as I stated, I don't know squat about.. sarcasm is a tough bird in the context-free world of 1s and 0s.
Thanks shoRunner for backing me up 🙂. This review is filled with synthetic benchmarks that don't show real world performance because the benchmarks target a specific component/area (not bandwith, the main thing that differs between the P-M and the C-M) . Of all the tests isn't LAME the only one that would stress bandwith (but doesn't the P-M do poorly in this type of app? it appears to be CPU limited in this case thus not stressing the bandwith after all).
"Tomshardware" has a reputation for botched processor articles in case you didn't know.
imported_michaelpatrick33
Platinum Member
From what I have seen of the replies I believe the Pentium M is better than the Celeron M except where the Celeron M is better than the Pentium M :roll: :laugh:
For battery life, yeah, probably. For raw performance.. close call. Probably depends on the application. I don't think there'd be a big difference either way.
These are probably pretty different laptops that you're looking at. The Celeron-M and Sempron-M run on different platforms usually not seen in the same chassis, and there are some differences (build quality and others) you can't see in specs. So, uh, exactly what notebooks are you looking at?
imported_rod
Golden Member
Intel Centrino's by far.
RoD
RoD
PleasurePaulie64
Member
Yeah, that Acer machine is very good.. Has 15" screen, and damn good for the price. We have sold about 25 of them in the last 2 weeks, and only had 1 DOA. So that's pretty impressive compared to other brands... Acer are normally fairly good. As I said, I'd probably get the ram upgraded to 512mb, but if you're using it for basic stuff it is more then enough.
If you're comparing the previous model Acer that has a 1.4ghz Celeron M for similar price. It only has a 14" screen, and IMHO the build quality of the unit is not as good as the newer Sempron model. - I'd easily go the Sempron Model.
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