Yonah: Low-voltage vs normal, whats the difference?

[aakerman]

I'm looking at a T2400 and an L2400 cpu.

The latter is a low-voltage merom cpu, 1.66ghz, and the former is a normal merom cpu at 1.83 Ghz.

They are in the same notebook, but the one with the low-voltage is much more expensive. What is the difference between the two in terms of battery life and performance? I have been unable to find any reviews comparing them...

 

[aakerman]

Sorry - typo, I meant Yonah not the next-gen Merom 🙂

 

[fbrdphreak]

Looking at a Thinkpad X60? If so, the X60 and X60s are not the same notebook. The X60s is thinner, lighter, and accordingly gets much better battery life.

You can read my commentary on the battery life on these two pages in my review:
http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=127&part=full&page=5
http://www.laptoplogic.com/reviews/detail.php?id=127&part=full&page=12
In the second link, the conclusion, you can see where I quantitatively compare the power consumption to a T2400. It is a rough estimate, but still valid.

P.S. You can hit the "Edit" button in the bottom right corner of your original post to change the title.

 

[aakerman]

Thanks - no I'm looking at an LG T1 🙂 Already have an IBM that I'm selling because of bad service experiences.

According to your review, a low-voltage might get 8 hours, whereas a standard voltage would get like upwards of 7 .. is this correctly understood?
Not that much of a difference, considering that the TDP rating on a standard voltage is twice as high as on the low-voltage!

 

[fbrdphreak]

That is my guesstimate, yes. And that is the life on a Thinkpad X60s with a ~70Whr battery.

Frankly, get the L2400 if you can. There is no performance difference and the L2400 has overall lower power consumption; it will also generate less heat if you plug it in and run @ 100% CPU usage.

 

[aakerman]

But it's much more expensive... =) So you're saying a 1.66 Ghz L2400 is just as fast as a 1.83 GHz T2400?

 

[fbrdphreak]

Oh sorry, got my numbers confused. The L2400 & T2300 are identical in performance; the T2400 is clocked a bit higher. The clock speed difference in performance is little, personally I'd rather get the Low Voltage chip. It costs more, but you get what you pay for.