Which new laptop do I buy?

[sethspearman]

Hello,

Thanks in advance for your help with my question. I have purchased a new hp laptop with great specs (dv8233cl):
*****************************
Microprocessor 1.66 GHz Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology featuring Intel® Core? Duo processor T2300
Microprocessor Cache 2MB L2 Cache
Memory 1024MB 667MHz DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Memory Max 2048MB
Video Graphics NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
Video Memory 128MB discrete + 128MB shared
Hard Drive 200GB (5400RPM) Dual Hard Drive (100GB x 2)
Multimedia Drive LightScribe 8X DVD±RW and CD-RW Combo Drive with Double Layer Support
Display 17.0? WXGA+ High-Definition BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
Fax/Modem High speed 56k modem
Network Card Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless Connectivity Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Sound Altec Lansing
Keyboard Notebook keyboard with scroll bar and integrated numeric keypad
*****************************************

HP has another LAPTOP (sorry I forgot to write down the model number) with literally the same specs except that it has the comparable AMD Turion 64 processor. The price of these is exactly the same.

I bought mine at Sam's and could take it back and get the other one.

I guess it reduces to: What is better, hyper-threading or 64 bit?

WHICH ONE OF THESE WOULD YOU BUY?

Seth

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: sethspearman
Hello,

Thanks in advance for your help with my question. I have purchased a new hp laptop with great specs (dv8233cl):
*****************************
Microprocessor 1.66 GHz Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology featuring Intel® Core? Duo processor T2300
Microprocessor Cache 2MB L2 Cache
Memory 1024MB 667MHz DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
Memory Max 2048MB
Video Graphics NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
Video Memory 128MB discrete + 128MB shared
Hard Drive 200GB (5400RPM) Dual Hard Drive (100GB x 2)
Multimedia Drive LightScribe 8X DVD±RW and CD-RW Combo Drive with Double Layer Support
Display 17.0? WXGA+ High-Definition BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
Fax/Modem High speed 56k modem
Network Card Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless Connectivity Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Sound Altec Lansing
Keyboard Notebook keyboard with scroll bar and integrated numeric keypad
*****************************************

HP has another LAPTOP (sorry I forgot to write down the model number) with literally the same specs except that it has the comparable AMD Turion 64 processor. The price of these is exactly the same.

I bought mine at Sam's and could take it back and get the other one.

I guess it reduces to: What is better, hyper-threading or 64 bit?

WHICH ONE OF THESE WOULD YOU BUY?

Seth

Core Duo doesn't have hyperthreading, it's a dual core, it has 2 physical cores. I have several 64bit capable CPU's but don't use the 64bit at all. But I have plenty of uses for the dual cores..Also, Merom is supposed to be pin compatible with core duo, so with a bios update you may even be able to upgrade to Merom when it comes out. Then you will have a dual core and 64bit.

 

[Bobthelost]

What are you doing with the laptop? If the majority of the applications where CPU speed is at a premium are not SMP then the turion will be the better choice, a faster single core CPU that you use to the full is better than a slower dual core CPU that has one spare core to look pretty.

 

[sethspearman]

Guys...thanks for the replies.

Just to REALLY compare the two machines.
Intel is T2300 - 1.66 Ghz
Turion is ML-37 - 2.0 Ghz

I know that comparing clock speeds on these chips is apples and oranges.

What would you buy? I am leaning toward sticking with what I have (core duo)?

Seth

 

[stevty2889]

What are your main uses for the computer going to be? I personaly would stick with the core duo, but I do a lot of things that benifit from dual cores. Both machines are gonna be pretty quick, so I don't see any real reason to switch one for the other.

 

[corkyg]

When it comes to regular laptop use, I would also go with the Centrino - I find it cooler running and less power hungry. IMHO, for most users that require portability and travel, reliability is more important than an edge in performance. As a desktop replacement, it is another ballgame and the AMD choice might be better there. For travel, I would never get such a large screen - very difficult to even open it up on an airplane seat tray.

 

[thescreensavers]

If your goign intel you should get a toshiba not an HP personnaly the toshibas are much better built and longer lasting then any hp my friends have.

if you want upgradeablility to 64 bit os's then turion the way to go.


I have a turion MT-40 which uses on 25 watts of power not like the hp's they uses the ML serise which uses 35 watts.

My laptop is fast I saw an artical that the MT-40(2.2ghz) compares to the amd athlon 64 3700+
and the mt-32(1.8) 3000+

 

[hilstu]

I'm not sure I'd consider these notebooks as across-the-board "desktop replacements". While processor speed is important, so is the speed at which you can access your hard drive for data reads and writes, especially if you do more than Web browsing and/or word processing. Most notebooks are limited to 5400 RPM harddrives (including the models you're looking at), and if you use your notebook for anything that requires a lot of harddrive accesses, this can be a large bottleneck for performance.

If you go to the HP site for the Pavillion notebook, you can build your own Pavillion. The dv8233cl is a "ready-made" computer with components that will work for many people, but you might find some benefit in fine-tuning your notebook configuration, depending on your use. The dv8233cl is also available at Costco in the US, and sells for $1499 IIRC (included so you can compare it with the Sam's Club price), but buying a custom-configured notebook isn't any more costly (unless you opt for more costly components, of course).

One of the options available for the Intel versions of the dv8xxx notebooks is a 7200 RPM SATA harddrive. The SATA interface improves the data transfer rate considerably, and the 7200 RPM speed improves access rates to approach that of most desktops. (The AMD version does not have any SATA drive options.)

You can also get a non-SATA 7200 RPM drive for the Intel version, which I would recommend as a minimum if you want something that really approaches desktop performance.

Pavilion Configuration Page

 

[hilstu]

I think it depends on one's use at to whether the slower dual core Intel or the faster single core AMD would be the better choice. The advantage to the dual core is that if several things are going on, each core of the dual core can work on separate tasks, while the single core has to divide processing time between all the tasks. This could give the slower dual core an advantage.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

You're going to be shooting yourself in the foot by buying non-64bit. Vista is going to come out in both releases, but it was already clear that the 64-bit version would be better supported and have more features. The 32-bit was just trying to please the rest of hte public. In reality, MS doesnt give a sh!t about 32-bit customers for Vista.

 

[hilstu]

Just like harddrive speed and interface, 64-bit processing depends on one's use. Some people use primarily Excel, Word and email on their notebooks, and none of these factors would mean very much to such users for the foreseeable future. So I think a blanket "shooting oneself in the foot", without knowing just what sort of user sethspearman is and what applications will be used, might be overstating the situation a bit.

If this notebook is indeed to take the place of a desktop, then it's a different story. But we still need to know more than we do right now: If the applications used are harddrive intensive, I'd have to say 64-bit processing is a dubious improvement when you're stuck with a 5400 RPM drive rotation and an ATA interface, but if most of the work is done in memory, drive speed isn't as much of an issue, and 64-bit may, **may**, indeed be the way to go. So, again, it all depends on the the sort of use this computer will be put to.

 

[Venomous]

At least you get both 32/64 bit on the same disk. However, im no so convinced that their will be much 64 bit driver support looking at the current XP 64 release.